New rules.

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You may have heard about the court ruling that went into effect August 17th prohibiting brokers from cooperating to set their commission rates and providing more transparency and security for homebuyers as well as sellers. We take a look at what this means on the ground.

CHIC (Pearl)

Under the new rules, every National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) agent is required to sign a Buyer Representation Agreement formalizing the relationship between parties before touring a single property. Additionally, properties listed via a Multiple Listing Service (MLS) are no longer permitted to include an offer of compensation to the buyer’s agent in any form or fashion. Buyers can still accept concessions from the seller, such as offers to pay closing costs, and they can still negotiate with sellers to have them pay all or a portion of their agent’s compensation.

GEEK (Kevin)

Like Pearl mentioned, under the new rules, properties on an MLS can’t include an offer of compensation to the buyer’s broker. However, some services allow sellers to communicate to buyer agents that they are open to making concessions. Concessions are generally a credit to the buyer at closing to use for whatever they need — paying closing costs, paying their agent, or covering unexpected repairs. Sellers can also negotiate with the buyer over paying the listing broker’s compensation. This can be in addition to or in lieu of other requests for concessions.