How the NAR Settlement Affects Agents

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NAR’s pending settlement agreement includes important changes to agent and broker business practices. Here are the three main takeaways agents need to know:
  • The ‘offer of compensation’ field is going away
    • Listing agents will no longer be allowed to include offers of compensation on the MLS. This rule will go into effect in mid-July.
  • Buyer agreements will be mandatory
    • Starting in July, all buyer agents are required to enter into a written agreement with their buyers before touring a home.
  • Buyer agents will no longer automatically be paid by listing brokers
    • All forms of compensation have to be negotiated between agents and their clients directly. However, these are the typical ways buyer agents will still get paid.
    • Buyer clients can pay their agents directly
    • Sellers can offer compensation in the form of a concession
    • The listing broker can offer a portion of their compensation to the buyer agent

Our take
The terms of the settlement still need to be ironed out, but from what we know so far, it’s not the end of cooperation between the listing and procuring sides of brokerage. Although the official “offer of compensation” field is gone, the proposed settlement could still let the seller offer money for a buyer to allocate to the buyer’s agent. It doesn’t prevent that offer from being included in general-purpose listing-database fields. Still, the requirement to have buyer agreements, even before you tour, along with the decoupled commissions environment is new and significant.

 

James and David, The Blueprint

March 19, 2024