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Jury Finds Realtors Conspired, Awards Nearly $1.8B in Damages

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Re: Jury Finds Realtors Conspired, Awards Nearly $1.8B in Damages

#141

Post by pc86 »

defen wrote: post #111
pc86 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In many states that just means the other agent gets all the commission instead of splitting it with your agent. You don't get any of it, and it isn't discounted anywhere.

The agent's commission is irrelevant. That just means the buyer needs to make a higher offer to be competitive with someone who is not using an agent.

This whole thing is about agent commissions. The comment I'm replying to says "just list it yourself" in direct response to "I would love for there to be some sort of competition injected into real estate commissions."

How in the world in that context is "the agent's commission...irrelevant?"

Re: Jury Finds Realtors Conspired, Awards Nearly $1.8B in Damages

#142

Post by [deleted] »

majormajor wrote: post #70
RHSeeger wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought a few years back and we didn't really use an agent to find the house at all. Looking into it, I found that a certain percentage of the sale amount goes to pay the agent(s); 6% I think. If there are two agents, they each get half. If one person doesn't use an agent... the other person's agent gets it all. The person without an agent doesn't get to keep their half... it just all goes to the other agent. Wtf...…

> I bought a few years back and we didn't really use an agent to find the house at all. Looking into it, I found that a certain percentage of the sale amount goes to pay the agent(s); 6% I think. If there are two agents, they each get half. If one person doesn't use an agent... the other person's agent gets it all. The person without an agent doesn't get to keep their half... it just all goes to the other agent. Wtf.…

[deleted]

Re: Jury Finds Realtors Conspired, Awards Nearly $1.8B in Damages

#143

Post by xyzelement »

ethbr1 wrote: post #130
ralph84 wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The commission is spelled out in the listing contract between the seller and their agent. The buyer is not a party to that contract and can’t dictate changes to it.

FYI, here's what an example seller's contract from northeast FL MLS looks like: >> Broker will cooperate with and compensate, as stated below, NEFMLS brokers and any broker who reciprocates with NEFMLS. For finding a buyer ready, willing and able to purchase the Property, SELLER will pay BROKER, no later than the date of closing, a broker transaction fee of 5% of the Purchase Price, whether a buyer is secured by BROK…

Yeah agree! Great reference to the contract language. Point being is that there's now a 30K that's freed up for creative use.

Re: Jury Finds Realtors Conspired, Awards Nearly $1.8B in Damages

#144

Post by staticman2 »

ejb999 wrote: post #68
PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've sold 4 houses "by owner". I didn't even use an attorney for 3 of them - just a title/escrow service who take care of handling the deposit, filing the deeds after the funds transfer is complete etc.

buying a house, I would want an attorney - selling the house, I agree, no need for a realtor or attorney if you are willing to do a bit of work yourself.

Where I live, the real estate agents association has model home sale contracts and it's not common or necessary for a buyer to have an attorney.

Re: Jury Finds Realtors Conspired, Awards Nearly $1.8B in Damages

#145

Post by harrisonjackson »

Xeoncross wrote: post #137

Real Estate in the US is like a bunch of little MLS fiefdoms still angry you have access to the internet. Eventually the Real Estate market will adopt like the music industry and others had to. Welcome to the 21st century. Brokers and agents are mostly sales people that drive around showing places. Its the lawyers, inspectors, insurance underwriters, loan originators, and title companies that do the real and/or legal…

Inspectors maybe since they go on site and climb around etc... but every other profession you listed uses the same documents/software for every single deal so I don't know what you mean by "real" work.

Re: Jury Finds Realtors Conspired, Awards Nearly $1.8B in Damages

#146

Post by zone411 »

stuff4ben wrote: post #5

Commission based on home value is a joke. Realtors should earn a flat-rate.

Commissions for the seller's relator are fine, but they shouldn't be based on the full price of the house. This setup encourages quick sales rather than getting the best price. Instead of the realtor earning 3% on a $1,000,000 house, set a base amount at, say, $700,000 and calculate the commission only on the remainder - 10% on $300,000. The same principle should apply to the buyer's agent but in reverse or there should be a flat fee. Their current incentive structure is totally screwed up.

Re: Jury Finds Realtors Conspired, Awards Nearly $1.8B in Damages

#148

Post by conductr »

SoftTalker wrote: post #61
ransom1538 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just sell it / or buy it yourself. It isn't hard by any stretch. You can use a $200 listing broker on a MLS site. That is the big secret. Then it gets on zillow,redfin, etc automatically.

You might not even need to do that much. I sold a home in a desirable neighborhood (I don't mean high-end, just a nice solid middle-class area with good schools, etc) by just putting a "for sale" sign in the front yard. Having commission be a percent of sales has some theoretical advantages. For example you might think the agent is motivated to get you the highest selling price. But in reality they are much more inte…

MLS puts a lot of eyeballs on it and likely can and will increase the sales price. A sign in the yard is not likely to ignite a bidding war. Although I'm glad this worked out for you, it seems like bad advice in general.

> For example you might think the agent is motivated to get you the highest selling price. But in reality they are much more interested in making a sale at any price, because that lets them get paid and lets them move on from marketing your property

This is true. Although, it's just important to remember your contract with the realtor is to sell it at a Listing Price. You have no obligation or liability to except a lower offer or reduce your list price, ever. They are salespeople and lean into the friendship thing, but remember they work for you and treat it as a big important financial transaction like it probably is (to you)

Re: Jury Finds Realtors Conspired, Awards Nearly $1.8B in Damages

#149

Post by manuelabeledo »

poulsbohemian wrote: post #72
riku_iki wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Many sellers will find it advantageous to offer buyer agent compensation so, now conspired realtors charge seller and not buyer. Still looks broken.

I guess you aren't familiar with this having been the system in most markets for decades?

> I guess you aren't familiar with this having been the system in most markets for decades?

Definitely not in most markets. This is very unique to the US.

Also, what's the advantage of paying someone whose goals don't quite align with yours? And isn't it a massive conflict of interest?

Re: Jury Finds Realtors Conspired, Awards Nearly $1.8B in Damages

#150

Post by notaustinpowers »

tylergetsay wrote: post #128
notaustinpowers wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A huge hurdle with trying to cut costs is because of NAR themselves, and local Realtor Associations. Any Realtor is with NAR and a local Association, which heavily restricts what they can do. Not being in a local Association can remove your access to the MLS, reducing your visibility to other agents, and remove your access to the state-specific legal forms. Add in closing attorneys and home inspectors being brought i…

Not only everything you mentioned above -- the associations control access to the homes themselves

Yup! Forgot to mention that. In my area, you have to be a member of the local Association & NAR to access the lockboxes.
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