National Association of Realtors to implement new rules August 17th

The National Association of Realtors announced new required practice changes for all real estate agents in the country starting on Saturday August 17. 

“It’s caused an industry change of, of, modifying disclosure basically to restate more clearly and many times that the commission paid for a real estate transaction is negotiable. And it also can be paid by either buyer or seller”, says Larry Doss, Owner and Broker at Ming Tree Realty. 

The new rules come after a class action lawsuit that claimed real estate agents artificially inflated agent commissions on sales.

The National Association of Realtors agreed to pay $418 million in damages. 

“There were claims of not enough disclosure, not enough notification to the consumer that they had a choice in negotiating commissions and who paid commissions. California has been cutting edge on this, and the rest of the country has been trying to get up to California’s standards for decades. So for California consumers, there’s not a lot of change, but there is change, because there’s some blanket changes across the country”, says Doss.

Outside of additional contracts, home shopping for Californians will stay relatively the same.

“Not a lot of change in California other than you’ll see, as a buyer, you won’t be able to go look at homes with an agent or even get deep detail on a property without having a contractual agreement first. And there’s a couple different types of contractual agreements for buyers”, says Doss.

It’s a ten page document full of disclosures like who pays for realtor commissions. If you want an open house, you’ll need to sign in on the mandatory sign-in sheet. And when it comes to buying a house, there are about 30 new documents to sign and initial. 

“In California you’re going to see probably 20 or 30 more pages to sign and initial, but that’s good because it’s going to clearly explain the industry and how California has been doing it for many, many decades”, says Doss. 

The bottom line, Doss says, is giving buyers more clarity about fees and commissions. 

Story by Tucker Caraway