Realtors Concede the Fee Jig Is Up”

The breathtaking news Realtors reached a settlement with clients paying through the nose to buy or sell a home was tempered by leaving details to be decided by “the market”, instead of reducing the standard 6% gouge.

As the WSJ opined, the “Groundbreaking $418 million legal agreement could drive down commission rates & shrink the number of real-estate agents,” never mind the industry had insisted for years their “trust us” mantra was good for the little guy & first time buyers, who have been able to bury huge buyers' & sellers' realtor fees into mortgages. Now, the WSJ says, the agreement between the National Assn of Realtors & key industry leaders “will make it easier for home buyers to negotiate fees with their own agents & could lead more buyers to forgo using agents altogether.”

Maybe. Many realtors are pissed at their industry negotiators for first, refusing to settle the high stakes litigation, then, settling in an obtuse way, leaving more questions than answers. Many buyers & sellers would also have wanted at least a suggested bright line, a reasonable suggested realtors’ fee between 4 or 5 percent based on demonstrated value, rather than watching the wolves fight each other in the marketplace without some point of reference revealing what each side does (besides posting a property on the various multiple listing services). While antitrust law generally prohibits any price-fixing rate & which was the basis for the case against the Realtors, even ambulance chasing PI lawyers know they tread on quicksand if they dare charge an injured client more than the standard 33% of any recovery. The “nation-wide” settlement will, of course, be appealed & other cases are still pending. But, it would have been nice to have a better idea now of where everybody stands rather than play a “what if” game.

Davd Soul