sh*thead Realtors :marseymalding: Over Losing their 6% Commission on Housing Sales :marseylaughpoundfist: (2024)

Here's a link discussing the lawsuit:

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/03/15/economy/nar-realtor-commissions-settlement

Basically, Realtors pre-internet were useful for assisting in finding houses for clients, having an exorbitant amount of information about said property, and was able to act as a resourceful middle man between the two parties (seller and buyer). Houses were a reasonable price at the time, so a 6% commission seemed reasonable at the time.

Unfortunately for them:

• Websites with aggregated data like Zillow, Homeowners.com, etc. exist nowadays to provide potential buyers/sellers a complete profile on the amenities, surrounding neighborhood, local schools and their rankings are now just a click away…so realtors are no longer these “gatekeepers of information” as previously observed

• Realty prices have skyrocketed 📈 over the last decade and a half, making the idea of paying a “small 6% fee” a lot less appealing than previously. For an example, the cheaper housing in my area is around $500,000. You end up paying $30k for someone with a minimum entry-level high school education to walk you around an open house, shuffles some papers, and email some sh*t. They end up itemizing the 6% between the buying agent/selling agent/etc. but the minimal work involved doesn't warrant a 5-figure commission

• They help with financing, right? not really, that's usually handled by mortgage brokers (also degree not required lol) The majority of realtors know jacksh*t and will just defer your questions about financing and mortgage to the broker…so why are they here again?

I could go on, but I'm pretty sure you're getting a picture of how UsEfUl these agents really are. So let's look at some undereducated, overpaid shills try to justify that 6%:

That's exactly what this is intended to do, which is 100% fair. Selling my house shouldn't come with a 6% tax just because you exist. Additionally, on the buyer side, you should see realtors actually doing the job instead of signing you up for MLS emails and waiting for you to come knocking so you're allowed to enter a house. The whole game will change, whether realtors want to realize it or not. The days of 3% at close are over, 1-2% will be the norm, and sellers who want to self list will no longer be discriminated against. Welcome to the real world in a free market.

The level of entitlement is unreal for realtors. So funny to see their mental gymnastics fail.

Suddenly they “provide protections” for buyers. I've never once worked with a realtor that gave a darn about which home, what type etc they suggested we look at. Every property I've purchased in the past, I've found.

I probably have more downvotes making this point over the years than any other forum. Most of the time representation is horrible. Sometimes comical. OMG do i have stories. Mostly agents are glorified door openers that is it. Most don't even listen to what you want or preview house, they spam you will garbage listings you OBVIOUSLY have had no interest in if they listened. Now, for the good ones - some exist. I argue the value you provide is the physiological game when in a negotiation. And that is fine. But Comps? MLS Listings? Listing properties? Documents that software spits out? Most of that is easy and does not deserve a $30K commission. Or $2K just because you happen to live in a cheaper market yet do all the same work. That is the absurdity. Many don't even take the job that seriously. The commission earned on these high-level properties is such bullsh*t - it's frankly amazing it wasn't disrupted a decade ago, and always the only ones defending it are the realtors themselves who have obvious stake in the matter. A huge win for us.

Many of the dumbest kids I know from high school are realtors now lol

Correct, my realter worked <3 hours and got paid $35K. Really. Technicaly he worked 1 hour fireclty with me, but I am being generous on his paperwork. He was literally a rando I picked in the area i was moving as I had no recommendations other than "top" area realtor. (Good for you Chris, thanks for the box of Xmas chocolates.) Luckily I was not the one paying, it as i was the buyer. Meanwhile, my finance people? They worked for weeks on my file. And got paid WAY less. But if that is not an example of how badly this industry sux i don't know what is. As I said above its insane to me this was accepted for so long.

Sounds like you've done a poor job selecting your real estate agents in the past. You found the property, great, do you know how to write an offer to purchase? What about strategies to use to write the strongest offer to increase your odds of getting your offer accepted over others? You could find a lawyer to do that, not for free though.... Real estate agents do that for free, sometimes at 10pm when a buyer decides to put in an offer. Who's going to check to make sure there aren't any leins on the property, or recent zoning changes, etc.... Sellers agent definitely wouldn't do that for you.... Did you even think to do that for the properties you have bought in the past?

Zoning I check myself, strategies to writing an offer are readily available and rarely work, leins are the title companies job, but sure you can claim to be doing that if you want..... you don't insure that though, so it means nothing. An offer to purchase is a standard doc that you can download and fill out yourself in Texas/most states.... I'm failing to see what warrants 3% here.

This is great news - a shakeup of the industry that will benefit both buyers and sellers

Unless you're a realtor, that is.

They will finally start to get paid closer to their worth.

The only thing a realtor gives you is MLS access, which is increasingly worthless.

Yeah but also if you have trouble with door knobs they can open the door. This is very good.

They can usually recommend good teeth whitening kits as well, so not totally useless

Hey now. My agent also directly forwarded emails from me to the sellers agent. Re-routing emails is definitely a value add!

Imagine how long it would take you to acquire those technical skills yourself!

Prime example of there being too many realtors. I work 4 months without getting a check, sometimes longer. While financing it; so I'm out hundreds of thousands of dollars. I've spent thousands of dollars trying to get a development off the ground and got no where. I didn't get paid and lost money because I didn't accomplish anything. The fun part… doing the real estate “job” is the easiest part for me and it usually costs me nothing but maybe 6 hours of work.

Realtor: Yeah and any clown with a pickup, and a hammer can call himself a home builder. Prime example of too many builders.

lol... too many builders he says… sharp. My wife doesn't need a job, let alone a second job. Listening to your explanations and ideologies on everything I'm not surprised you need your wife to work. Sorry it took so long to respond. I'm on vacation.

Some realtor coping:

This is Quite ignorant honestly. People who think Realtors just open doors and the money rains down on them are clueless. There are also numerous legal and financial reasons things were structured how they were. I think this is going to hurt everyone… sellers, buyers, and agents together.

Don't forget how much time they spend with clients in a normal market where it takes many viewings to either sell or purchase.

Still not worth 3%

On average, how much should a realtor be worth per hour worked?

No more than McDonald's is paying. I still get more value from the burger flipper than a Realtor.

Without a doubt, the most disappointing thing this associations ever done after 24 years in real estate. Thank you NAR, that bus hurt! I am astounded that with all the fees me and a million and half other agents have paid you year after year, you were unable to express our value in a lawsuit. Nice work, you failed miserably.

Sorry, but the value you guys add is not proportional to the price of the house. 6% is too much. The effort to sell a $1M home and $2M home is not double. Realtor fees should be fixed to the amount of work. Need staging? Ok then it is $x dollars package. Need marketing on magazine or flyers? More $$. But 6% is just stupid. For God sake 3% is stupid. For small value homes maybe fine but when you reach $500k+ is where I see the problem. Making some one hard labor year of work by just walking and showing a house to someone in 1 hour without any degree or special skills is just ridiculous. one more example why USA service cost is ridiculous and unsustainable. Good luck to all of you. Not even your association believe you guys deserve 6%. And they are right.

Why not let the free market handle that? The seller / buyer always has the option to work with flat fee realtors. Those have existed for a long time. You and I both know most sellers (especially luxury home sellers) do not want to work with them because they want the best representation that generates the best return on their asset. Which means, the best agents are worth more than the typical 3% commission. No different than sports agents or marketing influencers. You get what you pay for. These new regulations is an attempt (yet again) to try to regulate the free market and it will fail.

the whole point of the settlement WAS there was no free market, ya dingus. Stop colluding. Stop whining. Compete on price for our business. the whole point of a free market is you are in competition with other realtors to drive down the ultimate cost to consumers. This is supposed to be true of every business, trade, profession, product, service. the NAR is not here to function as your cartel. You live in America. Boo frickin' hoo. Compete!

Commissions always have been negotiable. There have even been flat fee realtors (~$500) per transaction for the longest time “ya dingus”! I have purchased and sold homes with flat rate realtors in the past with no issues. What problem does this ruling fix if fees have always been negotiable?

see, the near-universality of 6% among "traditional" realtors sort of reveal the lack of meaningful competition in the space. the willingness of the NAR to settle (and their loss of a previous lawsuit over this same issue) PLUS the screeching in this thread among butthurt realtors also reveals the lack of meaningful competition in this space, and how it drives transaction costs above what they would be in a truly competitive market. otherwise, what are the realtors here complaining about losing? if this ruling does nothing, why do any realtors care lol? if this doesn't fix a problem, why is everyone whining and crying in this thread over it? if it doesn't change the status quo, what is there to b-word and moan about?

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