An epic fight over how real-estate agents get paid could transform the housing market forever
An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders. It often indicates a user profile.Let's say you're ready to sell your house. Trying to find a buyer and sifting through offers sounds like a nightmare, so you hire a real-estate agent. In exchange for their guidance, you agree to pay the agent 3% of the sale price, which they say is industry standard.
In order to access an MLS, listing agents must agree that money from the sale will follow the prescribed, serpentine path. But now two multibillion-dollar lawsuits — Sitzer et al. v. NAR et al. and Moehrl et al. v. NAR et al. — threaten to upend the entire system.
The rule is the primary target of the two class-action lawsuits, both of which are seeking billions of dollars in damages. Sellers, the plaintiffs argue, had no choice but to list their homes on an MLS. This, in turn, meant they were forced to agree to the rules of the databases — including paying exorbitant commissions to buyers' agents who might choose to pass over their properties if they didn't. The first case to reach trial will be Sitzer et al. v. NAR et al.
"Making an offer of compensation is good for the seller, because that is their listing broker making an offer to all the other professionals in the area to go to work, put your time and effort in finding this buyer, because you'll get paid for the work," Johnson told me."I think that's pretty intuitive." Buyers, meanwhile,"benefit tremendously" because they don't have to pay out of pocket for those expenses, Johnson said.
"Everyone's not really paying that much attention," Rob Hahn, a longtime consultant to local MLSs and Realtor associations, told me."I think agents and brokers just figure, 'We'll solve this somehow.'"
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