As a real estate broker one of the more obvious issues pushing past the August 17th National Association of Realtors® settlement agreement is the mis and disinformation being pushed with it. I hear many agents, brokers, mortgage brokers, and attorneys alike calling it the law. There was no body of government that made a ruling that is now found in a law book. This is an agreement by a private trade group that all their members must abide by.
Now what do I mean must abide by. In order to be able to be a party to the protection that NAR is offering all parties must abide by the agreement that they made. Failure to abide by the agreement means you are subject to any copycat style lawsuits that arise. This is why all the major brokerages are adapting to these changes and adopting new policies.
The big issue now will be educating the consumer on these changes. The most major changes are the removal of compensation from the MLS and the need for an exclusive buyer contract from the first showing on. Both of these changes do not apply to non-Realtor® firms but it is not to say they won't find it best to abide by the same changes to prevent a new suit against their firm. With these two major changes it is important to remember this is NOT a law so do not call it one. Calling it a law could further confuse the already confused consumer.
As we all know, change is not easy. The best thing we can do in these times of change is stay current on what is going on. For the NAR Settlement make sure to stay current with everything going on. The brokerage you work for should have lots of information and policies that you can follow. The best bet is if you do not know, ask! I hope this helps you navigate these new changes as both a listing broker and a buyer broker.
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