The 6% commission, a standard in home purchase transactions, is no more.
In a sweeping move expected to reduce the cost of buying and selling a home, the National Association of Realtors announced Friday a settlement with groups of homesellers, agreeing to end landmark antitrust lawsuits by paying $418 million in damages and eliminating rules on commissions.
The NAR, which represents more than 1 million Realtors, also agreed to put in place a set of new rules. One prevents sellers’ brokers from setting buyers’ agents’ compensation, which critics say led brokers to push more expensive properties on customers. Another ends requirements that brokers subscribe to multiple listing services — many of which are owned by NAR subsidiaries — where homes are given a wide viewing in a local market. Another new rule will require buyers’ brokers to enter into written agreements with their buyers.
The agreement effectively will destroy the current homebuying and selling business model, in which sellers pay both their broker and a buyer’s broker, which critics say have driven housing prices artificially higher.
I’ve never paid more than 3% on my home sales in Austin. Put simply, the market was too hot. I said “I’m not paying more than 3% total” to which most independent Realtors I interviewed said that.they would not do it because it would impact the showings. So I went to the top Realtor in the city and they agreed. All they did was list it on MLS and on their website. The longest sale took less than a month with the shortest being under contract before it was even listed. They just called one of their clients and it was gone in less than two hours.
6% for essentially zero effort is bullshit.
PS: You can list your home for sale on MLS yourself. There are plenty of services that do it for a fixed fee.
All of this is true.