How the Realtors’ legal settlement could change the buyer-agent relationship
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How the Realtors’ legal settlement could change the buyer-agent relationship
There are likely going to be big changes coming to how we buy and sell houses. On Friday the National Association of Realtors agreed to settle multiple lawsuits that accused its members of colluding to keep commission rates artificially high.
The settlement could lower the commissions all real estate agents receive as part of a home sale and, as opposed to the traditional model of home sellers paying the buyer’s agent, it also could mean more homebuyers directly paying their Realtors.
First-time homebuyer Jon Harlan really liked his Realtor. For the better part of two years, his agent put in offer after offer in Portland, Oregon’s competitive housing market, arranged showings and open house visits, and finally guided him and his wife through their purchase of a $600,000 farm house last fall.
Harlan really couldn’t tell you how much his Realtor was paid for doing all that.
“You almost aren’t thinking about compensation at all. And I went into it, like, not knowing that really the seller pays for the commission,” Harlan said.
The Realtors’ legal settlement could mean more agents, including those who are not members of the NAR, charging buyers hourly rates or working on retainer.
Harlan said that would have changed his house hunting pretty dramatically.
“If it were a per-hour thing, I think we would have been a lot different about some of the houses we chose to go look at. We would have been, you know, is this now worth paying for the time?” he said.
That may sound like a more expensive arrangement for homebuyers. But economist Abdullah Yavas at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business said under the traditional arrangement, sellers only technically pay for buyer’s agents. In reality, buyers were still footing the bill.
“We know from the literature that sellers pass on about half of the commission to the buyers in the form of a higher price,” Yavas said. “If the seller now doesn’t have to pay the commission, the price is likely to drop.”
There’s a perk to a commission being baked into a higher home price: Buyers can effectively finance it with a mortgage. Sacramento Realtor Erin Stumpf said many buyers may not be able to afford to pay agents out of pocket.
“A lot of our buyers are using down payment assistance, 3.5% FHA [Federal Housing Administration] loans, and those buyers do not have the resources to pay their agent directly,” she said.
Stumpf said she expects to still work primarily on commission, but she’s open to other arrangements.
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