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The inability or unwillingness of the writer to qualify statements with modifiers such as "some," "most," "many," "a few," while only dealing in absolutes makes this article nearly impossible to respect.
Hah.
Barry "litigates." What is his success rate? Much of his screed is twaddle presented as serious fodder.
You actually clicked on the link? Having been fooled into wasting time many times by Yahoo and similar sites into clicking on articles about RE written by people claiming to be RE "experts" despite the fact they have never been in the industry, I didn't bother. They are usually pretentious know it alls that present their misguided opinions as expert facts, irrevokably damaging unsuspecting readers. I don't think I've read a good or accurate article about RE from any of those types I just described.
No different than any other salesperson or business owner spending hours, perhaps months, working on proposals for clients only to not get the bid.
Hours and months are very different. In some industries (plumbers, electricians) they won't even do a diagnosis without being paid a fee. Most are around $90-125 in my area. What other industry besides RE can you work on a job for months and not get any compensation at all?
I'm not doubting that it exists, but off the top of my head I can't think of anything that takes months to put a proposal together.
You actually clicked on the link? Having been fooled into wasting time many times by Yahoo and similar sites into clicking on articles about RE written by people claiming to be RE "experts" despite the fact they have never been in the industry, I didn't bother. They are usually pretentious know it alls that present their misguided opinions as expert facts, irrevokably damaging unsuspecting readers. I don't think I've read a good or accurate article about RE from any of those types I just described.
Anywhere Real Estate, which settled ahead of time, did this:
In addition to monetary compensation, the settling defendants also agreed to make the following changes to their business practices: Prohibit their agents from claiming buyer agent services are free;
No agent should ever have needed to be told to do this. It strikes to the foundation of intellect and integrity..
Require their agents to include the listing broker’s offer of compensation as soon as possible in each active listing;
Of course.
Prohibit their agents from using any technology to sort listings by offers of compensation, unless requested by the client;
Eh. Sorting is not the issue. What is done after sorting would be the issue. Heck, if I find a great house at a higher BA cobroke commission, i.e., more money on the table, it puts me in position to kick a few easy bucks back to the client, right?
Advise their agents there is no rule requiring offers of compensation;
Shame on them if that was not already a firm disclosure rule.
Require their agents to clearly disclose to clients that commissions are not set by law and are fully negotiable;
Shame on them if that was not already a firm disclosure rule.
Eliminate any minimum client commission requirements that Anywhere Real Estate owned brokerages may have;
Easy to circumvent the intent. Brokerages would only need to set up minimum agent commission splits. I.e., agent would have to generate a commission that would pay the broker and, if desired, produce a personal profit.
Firm says, "Your fee per transaction will be 1.2% of the contract price." No minimum commission requirement, but the agent knows they have to cover the split.
Not require their agents to belong to NAR.
In NC and probably some other states, non-members have no legitimate access to the agency and contract forms used in a huge majority of residential property transactions.
Will the firms have contracts and agency documents drafted, or require agents to have qualified legal counsel draft documents?
Not using the NCAR Standard Forms will put agents and their clients at great disadvantage, methinks. I seldom had to refer clients proactively to attorneys to review offer/contracts, but if faced with custom contracts, I would likely send many to an attorney.
You actually clicked on the link? Having been fooled into wasting time many times by Yahoo and similar sites into clicking on articles about RE written by people claiming to be RE "experts" despite the fact they have never been in the industry, I didn't bother. They are usually pretentious know it alls that present their misguided opinions as expert facts, irrevokably damaging unsuspecting readers. I don't think I've read a good or accurate article about RE from any of those types I just described.
Those links relay good information and are relevant to the discussion. The "steering" article links to a 80+ page study, while the Barry report helped start the ball rolling and serves as a foundational reference for the DOJ class action efforts. It has already forced change among some MLS's and the report is hosted on the DOJ website.
Anywhere Real Estate, which settled ahead of time, did this:
1-Prohibit their agents from claiming buyer agent services are free; Agents shouldn't have been doing that anyway.
2-Require their agents to include the listing broker’s offer of compensation as soon as possible in each active listing;Already clearly listed in MLS
3-Prohibit their agents from using any technology to sort listings by offers of compensation, unless requested by the client; I think some MLS have it as sortable data and some don't. Mike already covered this, agents shouldn't make decisions for their clients on what home to show. If the commission is less than they agreeed to in a buyer agency, the buyer just needs to be aware prior to viewing and offering. If agents aren't doing a buyer agency that's a seperate issue.
4-Advise their agents there is no rule requiring offers of compensation; Already covered in our EBA and ERS, and I assume in paperwork in most markets.
5-Require their agents to clearly disclose to clients that commissions are not set by law and are fully negotiable;See above
6-Eliminate any minimum client commission requirements that Anywhere Real Estate owned brokerages may have; and I suppose they won't do it as a franchise for all of it's affiliates with different brokerages but I'm pretty they didn't before either. Local owners can set standards for their agents, and many of them have for years. Otherwise RE starts to turn into the wild west and gets real messy. It's only collusion if the companies collectively decide what the "rules" should be for everyone. I think this is dumb.
7-Not require their agents to belong to NAR.Not that simple. Many times the MLS runs through NAR. Also, unless it's changed recently that I'm not aware of, if the company is a member of NAR all their agents have to be members.
Much of that is lip service IMO. It's basically them doing what they're already doing or should have been doing, with the exception of 3 or 7. #3 is easy to get around by slipping in some language in a disclaimer. #7 they'll have some workarounds but it can be done. They'll have one LLC that's a member of NAR and another LLC that isn't and agents will be placed either or, depending on if they are members. Both LLC's will DBA under the same umbrella anyway.
Mike J or any other agents - agree, disagree, or additional info you want to add?
Those links relay good information and are relevant to the discussion. The "steering" article links to a 80+ page study, while the Barry report helped start the ball rolling and serves as a foundational reference for the DOJ class action efforts. It has already forced change among some MLS's and the report is hosted on the DOJ website.
Much of that is lip service IMO. It's basically them doing what they're already doing or should have been doing, with the exception of 3 or 7. #3 is easy to get around by slipping in some language in a disclaimer. #7 they'll have some workarounds but it can be done. They'll have one LLC that's a member of NAR and another LLC that isn't and agents will be placed either or, depending on if they are members. Both LLC's will DBA under the same umbrella anyway.
Mike J or any other agents - agree, disagree, or additional info you want to add?
I said my piece a few minutes ago.
I DO believe that there will be a fair amount of consumer harm out of this mess. Not that the attorneys care, of course.
NAR was SO feckless for SO long, they set themselves up for a cash grab from their members and themselves.
All of this could have been easily avoided if the Sheiks of Entitlement didn't continually circle the wagons in kneejerk fashion.
One agents opinion. The old way of doing things is on the chopping block.
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