Free Republic

Starting in July, the real estate industry is bracing for a sweeping shake-up thanks to a $418 million settlement offered by the National Association of Realtors to overhaul its long-entrenched commission structure for agents and pay compensation to the sellers and real estate brokerages who sued. The NAR got a further blow on April 5, when a federal court cleared the way for the Justice Department to reopen an antitrust probe into the group and its rules regarding home-sale commissions. While the settlement awaits final approval later in the year, a preliminary sign-off by a federal judge on Tuesday means...

The powerful National Association of Realtors last week agreed to settle a big lawsuit and change the way real estate agents get paid — from a standard commission to something truly negotiable. Why it matters: The deal could open up a tightly controlled market to genuine competition, and create opportunities for new players and business models in a relatively old-fashioned world. It could do for real estate what the internet did for stock trading — bring down broker fees. The impact: That'll likely mean lower costs for sellers, who brought the lawsuit as a class action. The impact on buyers...

Radio personality Dave Ramsey has been called out online for delivering out-of-touch real estate advice to homebuyers. “Is it even possible to follow Dave Ramsey’s advice on a mortgage?” one person asked on Reddit — and their skepticism makes sense when you do the math. The ideal way to buy a home, according to Ramsey Solutions, the finance guru’s website, is to buy it outright in cash. But if you’re not sitting on a mountain of money, Ramsey Solutions says the only home loan you should consider is a conventional, fixed-rate mortgage with a 15-year (or less) term. Your monthly...

The recent $1.8 billion jury verdict against the National Association of Realtors and several top brokerage firms highlights mounting legal and market pressures on real estate commissions. A recent Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analyst report estimated that the $100 billion paid in real-estate commissions annually could be cut by 30%, with as many as 1.6 million agents losing their source of income. Commissions are already negotiable, but buyers agents are likely losers as homebuyers are more likely to bypass them, or in the least, negotiate for lower fees. A recent jury verdict against the National Association of Realtors and large...

Headquartered in SoMa, Opendoor is a so-called “iBuyer," or instant buyer, a data-driven real estate buyer that uses pricing algorithms to quickly buy and sell homes. Opendoor has steadily expanded its services metro by metro, and in early 2022, it started buying houses in the Bay Area. Other real estate tech firms like Zillow and Redfin have halted their own buying initiatives amid economic pressure and complaints about the controversial business method. Opendoor went public through a special purpose acquisition company in June 2020 and saw its valuation peak the following February. But the real estate market, at a frenzy...

Boomers and millennials are competing for houses, per a new Zillow report. Boomers are winning. Boomers have more cash to win bidding wars as they take advantage of an appreciating market. Buying a home has been hard enough for millennials, who are struggling with skyhigh prices and a lack of starter homes. Baby boomers and millennials are in a housing war. It's boomers who are winning, according to a Zillow report released this week. It found that so many boomers are active in the housing market that it's become more difficult for millennials to buy a home. As seen in...

Coronavirus cases may be on the rise in some parts of the country, but that hasn’t stopped Americans from looking for homes to buy. And increasingly, those homes are in the suburbs. A new study from Realtor.com found that Americans are showing a more pronounced interest suburban and rural areas as the housing market recovers from pandemic-induced shutdowns. Views of online home listings in May 2020 on Realtor.com grew by 13% compared to May 2019 for suburban ZIP codes, roughly double the rate of urban areas, researchers found.

What is really happening with real estate sales right now? Any stories out there? Seems to be one of the best kept secrets right now. Anyone have any truthful information?

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The home-buying season was a bust. March through August are typically the peak buying months. But this time, Americans bought fewer new homes in that stretch than in any other six-month period since record-keeping began a half-century ago. And sales of previously occupied homes didn't fare much better. They nearly matched 2009's total for the peak buying months. And that was the worst since 1997. Combined, total sales this spring and summer were the weakest on records dating to 1963. The figures underscore how badly the housing market is faring and suggest that a recovery is years...

You always thought those mysterious fees at closing were a total scam. Congrats! You were right. Here's what you can do to avoid paying through the nose. Technology has magically lowered the price of buying everything from stocks to airline tickets. But home buyers now pay eight times the closing costs they paid 40 years ago. Here's how residents of one Minnesota street were overcharged again and again on their home purchases, many by thousands of dollars. And why your street probably isn't all that different. When Lewis Leung was buying his two-bedroom ranch in St. Louis Park, Minn. in...

A major U.S. bank has funded its first home loans to undocumented Mexican immigrants in San Diego County in a move that targets a lucrative, wide-open market while providing new grist for the debate over illegal immigration. The local program, which uses tax identification numbers instead of Social Security numbers, is similar to programs run by small lenders – and two state agencies – around the country that have distributed millions of dollars to undocumented immigrants over the past few years. “There is a huge untapped market out there, but it is a controversial program,” said Sarah Lumbert, office director...