The NAR Settlement - What To Make Of It?

We are just over a week into when the settlement kicked in on August 17. I’m not going to go into detailed history on it (if you’re subscribed to this, you know already the gist of it). So far, what I have seen:

1. Lots of fear being spread on real estate-specific groups on Facebook (Whoever is named “Anonymous Poster” must not get that much sleep).

2. Lots of pouncing upon said Anonymous Poster(s) for clearly not knowing something so vital about their jobs.

3. Amplification of individual sellers’/agents’/buyers’ personalities. Correlation is not causation, but those who were stingy in the game are even stingier now. Those who never sweated it and understood that agents have to make a living - those people are still not sweating it. But the sky is falling for others even more.

4. An influx of agents I’ve worked with in the past joining our office. New faces overall in the office.

The cost of doing business has not changed as far as fees are concerned and the fees themselves have always been negotiable and always will be. Also, doing business with a well trained agent is a bargain in the long run. How, you ask?

Simple. If you’re trying to sell a business (or buy a business), you’re looking at 10%-20% of the total transaction cost as your fee. Attorneys rest my case.

In 5 years time, some agents will seek alternate means of making a living. Some will have aged out of the business. Some new blood will enter, and this will be normal for them. And those in now that stick around - it will be because they adapted. In 5 years time, everyone in the business will look back at this with little emotion.

How am I handling this? Good question. Normally, as anxiety prone as I am, I am not sweating this at all. Our leadership grabbed the bull by the horns and trained us to do Buyer Broker Agreements proficiently and well before the deadline. Our local MLS set their deadline also of August 1. I am at an all-time high with executed Buyer Broker Agreements, it’s now a matter of getting those buyers under contract. That’s where I am now. The forecast calls for a healthy amount of activity for me heading into the Holiday season.

This is the new normal. To all the future buyers and sellers out there, I have two pieces of advice: who you work with matters, and don’t be cheap. You will be much better off.