How will the National Association of Realtors settlement affect you as a seller?

In case you missed it, in early March (2024) there was a landmark settlement agreement resulting from the verdict in the Sitzer-Burnett's class action lawsuit against the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and other major real estate brokerages including RE/MAX, Keller Williams, Anywhere and Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices. If you haven’t been following along, the suit contended that NAR’s policies drove up commissions and therefore disadvantaged home sellers.

The result of this settlement is that MLSs can no longer be the conduit to offer commissions (“compensation”) from listing agents (“LAs”) to buyer’s agents (“BAs”). The only data field permissible in the MLS going forward will be concessions to buyers. Buyers can use concession money as they see fit. This new concession field will be shown on all real estate sites, including the MLS. Many believe the concession field will replace the no longer legal “offer of compensation” field. No one is entirely sure how this will all play out.

Key changes resulting from the settlement:

MLSs can no longer display offers of compensation from LAs to BAs. Instead, a "concessions" field will be shown.
Listing agents are allowed to publicly display compensation on their own website(s) only.
Though traditional listing agreements between sellers and LAs can still specify compensation to LAs and BAs, going forward, our Get More Offers® limited service listing agreements (SOLO plan) will not speak to compensation and will be updated to include language for offering concessions to buyers.

How does this affect a seller’s ability to offer compensation to Buyers’ Agents?

Get More Offers® has always promoted the idea that sellers can choose what compensation offer they wish to make to BAs.
- In the past, it was common practice for MLSs to require a minimum compensation as a prerequisite to entering the listing. Now that MLSs cannot reference compensation in any capacity, you can choose to offer $0 or any other amount. However, any offers of compensation will need to be made outside of the Multiple Listing Service.
- Compensation offers can be made either as a percentage of the sales price or as a flat dollar amount.
If you decide you want to offer a compensation to BAs, you will have the opportunity to enter this amount on your property’s listing data input form on GetMoreOffers.com and will sign a separate agreement guaranteeing this compensation, should a buyer’s agent procure a buyer for their property.
- We’ll require that sellers sign the Florida Association of Realtors (FAR) approved "Seller to Buyer’s Broker Compensation Agreement” ("SBA"). This agreement will outline the compensation offered and replace the MLS's role in enforcing payment thereof. You'll electronically sign this form at the beginning of listing your house, and you can change it later if needed.

How we will handle the marketing of compensation to BAs and Concession to buyers:

Get More Offers® will display any offers of compensation to BAs along with concessions to buyers on the public property details page of your listing on GetMoreOffers.com.
Get More Offers® will provide optional vinyl decals on our yard signs that will contain a QR code that will resolve directly to property listing page with compensation and concession details, if any, along with seller’s contact information.
Our soon-to-launch affiliate showing platform, “Showing Bee,” will communicate compensation and concessions in a way that is compliant with the settlement.

Our New Role:

Get More Offers® will also hold the role of communicating the offered compensation to buyers’ agents verbally – followed by a system email allowing the agent to view the offer of compensation. Of course, the seller would not sign a contract unless the sales price and commission made sense. This offered compensation is always negotiable until a fully executed contract is signed.

More Responsibility:

Our company receives lots of calls from real estate agents asking about houses listed by FSBOs selling their own homes for a flat fee. This happens even though we explicitly ask agents to contact you directly in agent-to-agent language within the MLS. These new MLS rules will certainly increase the number of these calls we receive.

Don't worry, we're ready to handle this! We're used to high volume and will adjust as needed. We expect agents to call us before showing homes to find out what compensation they might earn if they bring a buyer. If we have a compensation listed on the online system (Get More Offers®), we'll be happy to convey this info. Our goal is to be clear and efficient for everyone involved.

Our Reputation:

For over 20 years, Get More Offers® has been helping people like you sell and rent their homes. Builders, investors, and many homeowners have trusted us to get the job done. We have great reviews (5 stars!) and a strong reputation in the community. Plus, we're here to help 7 days a week, from 8:30 am to 7 pm, so you can reach us whenever you have a question.

Our Commitment:

We will handle increased communication responsibilities, ensuring transparency and support throughout this transition. With over 20 years of experience and a 5-star reputation, we are prepared to assist you through these unprecedented changes.