How the NAR settlement reshaped real estate commissions—and what it means for buyers, sellers, and agent transparency moving forward.

In short, the lawsuit did two things:

1. Agents are now required to enter into an agreement with a buyer before representing them, including before showing them any potential homes. The agreement must clearly state how much the buyer is required to pay the agent for their services, and must clearly make this a buyer obligation. This makes sense because the agent is supposed to be representing the buyer, and the buyer should be the one to determine how much they want to pay the agent and what kind of services they want from the agent.
2. Home listings on MLS platforms can no longer advertise that the seller will "pay" the buyer's agent fee. This makes sense for multiple reasons, including that there was concern that agents were steering buyers towards homes that offered to cover higher buyer agent fees, and that buyers' agents actions would be influenced by sellers' decisions, rather than solely representing the buyer's interests. Buyers may include as a term of their offer a request that the seller "pay" the buyer's agent fee by taking it out of their offer amount, but a seller may accept or reject this term just like they can accept or reject any other term of the offer. Keep in mind that asking a seller to "pay" the buyer agent fee reduces the effective amount of your offer by the amount you are asking them to pay. As such, it's still coming out of your pocket. By lowering your agent fee, you keep more money and can either save it or use it to increase the amount of your offer.
   

See the NAR Settlement Disclosure for Consumers for more information here: https://www.nar.realtor/the-facts/nar-settlement-faqs#consumer

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