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 way people buy and sell homes in the U.S. may be about to change, following a landmark settlement proposed by the nation’s top real-estate-industry group. But that may not make things easy for home buyers, one mortgage-company CEO says. The settlement proposed by the National Association of Realtors, which will go into effect in mid-July if it’s approved, would require that listings on the NAR-run Multiple Listing Service — a database of homes for sale — no longer have a field showing how much buyer’s agents will earn in commissions on the sale. In other words, buyer’s agents won’t...

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...

The National Association of Realtors has agreed to a landmark settlement that would eliminate real estate brokers' longstanding automatic commissions, commonly of up to 6% of the purchase price. Instead, home buyers and sellers would be able to negotiate fees with their agents up front. If the $418 million legal agreement is approved by a federal court, consumer advocates predict the ranks of real estate agents will thin, further driving down commission prices. "For years, anti-competitive rules in the real estate industry have financially harmed millions," said Benjamin Brown, managing partner at the Cohen Milstein law firm and one of...

How the year will shape up in the housing market isn’t yet clear, but there are some predictions that things will ease up for homebuyers. We may see interest rates fall and inventory increase. But just because things could be easier on buyers this year doesn’t mean sellers are necessarily in for a tough time. Indeed, better days could be ahead, as some real estate experts anticipate housing sales to pick up in 2024. Rather than getting ahead of ourselves with predictions on what prospective sellers can expect in the housing climate in 2024, let’s back up a bit and...

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...