SPRING HILL, Fla. - TelAve -- The National Association Of Realtors last week announced a bombshell, NAR has agreed on a settlement of a lawsuit regarding real estate commissions to the tune of $418 Million. The Sitzer-Burnett case is a class action lawsuit that was filed in Missouri Federal Court by a group of Home Sellers against NAR and other defendants. On October 31st 2023 with just 3 hours of deliberation the jury in the case delivered a blow to NAR with a surprise verdict that sided with the Plaintiffs. NAR of course was to appeal the case, however just last week announced a settlement agreement with the plaintiffs. In part the settlement agreement will require NAR to pay out $418 Million over the next 4 years, and the Association has agreed to have all commissions removed from MLS as well as abolish cooperation rules that require listing agents to make an offer of compensation to a buyer's agent on MLS. These new rules go into effect Mid July, assuming the Judge signs off the settlement agreement, which has not happened just yet.

Ahead of the rules being implemented one local Real Estate company in the Tampa Bay area has already begun implementing the changes in their brokerage. People's Trust Realty, based in Spring Hill Fl this week has made the decision to adapt to the new rules early ahead of the mid July deadline. In a surprising move the local Real Estate firm has decided to implement changes brokerage wide in how the company will list property going forward including adapting changes to their current listings offered in MLS. This early adaptation means the firms' listings will no longer feature a buyer's agent compensation in the Multiple Listing Service.

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When asked about the recent settlement announcement and the new rules, Steve Fingerman the broker of People's Trust Realty said: "I think it's a good thing for consumers, as they will now have the opportunity to have even more transparency when it comes to selling or buying a home." Fingerman goes on to say, "It was important for us as a company to remain ahead of the curve so to speak and adapt the coming changes early, this way by the time everyone tries to catch up we will already have been accustomed to the changes, plus it puts our clients at an advantage as its attracting far more attention to their listing that what we previously have seen. People are calling, wanting to know what we are doing, and that gives us a great opportunity to discuss the listing and garner more showing appointments." The idea of not having to offer buyer's agent compensation isn't a new one by any means. Sellers even today ahead of any rule change have the option of listing a home with no buyer's rep compensation its just rarely done as cooperation is seen by many Real Estate Agents as an effective way to gain the most exposure to a home listed for sale. To be clear, even under the new rules come mid-July homes sellers can still offer the cooperation of paying a buyer's agent commission it just won't be listed on the MLS. When asked, Fingerman went on to say, "We are not necessarily eliminating buyer's agent compensation, we are giving our sellers a choice and we are also merely adapting early and taking it off the MLS as NAR's settlement will require it anyway, a buyer's agent may still be compensated for bringing a buyer, it will just be a discussion ahead of a showing vs being displayed on MLS".

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The idea behind the rule as part of the settlement according to the Plaintiff's attorney Doug Miller in a recent Fox 9 interview is to uncouple the commission. Attorney Miller in the interview expressed is that a seller should not be forced to pay a buyer's agent who likely working against them. Since the settlement agreement does not remove or prohibit the ability of a seller to offer compensation to a buyer's agent, but merely removes it from the MLS it remains to be seen if home sellers will actually refrain from making an offer to a buyer's agent as a result of the new rules. When asked, Fingerman said, "We've opened up the conversation with our seller clients, and its interesting that we are finding with nearly 100 listings most sellers are not wanting to eliminate the offer of commissions to a buyers agent as they seem to understand the importance of doing so, however what everyone does seem excited about is the prospect of being able to negotiate it and doing so based on the offers they receive."