NAR SETTLEMENT that went into affect on 8/14/2024 has changed the way Virginia Realtors Selling Homes and the MLS do business.

Compensation fields (Formerly Commission) and addendums have been removed from the MLS and MLS fed websites and ShowingTime per the NAR Lawsuit.
They are stressing the point that “Compensation to the buyer agent is negotiable” but it always has been.

Buyer Agents will now have to reach out direct to the seller to find out how much commission you are offering.

So what does this mean to you the seller?
It means that now a Buyer has to sign a Buyer Agent agreement before the agent can do anything.
Compensation to the buyer agent has to be worked out now between Seller and Buyer Agent.

So, if the buyer agrees to pay the buyer agent 3% to find them a home, the agent now has to call you, the seller, to find out how much you are paying a buyer agent to bring you a buyer. If you say 2%, then that means the buyer will have to pay the additional 1% out of their pocket. They already have a ton of fees and are paying top dollar for a home. They will, more than likely, tell the agent to move on to another home. It also means you will need to answer your phones and get back to agents quickly or they will move on.

Here are suggestions for you:

• If an agent calls, you can say “how much are you asking?” before you tell them what you want to offer.
• If you know what you are offering and don’t want to deal with the phone calls from agents asking this question, you can put on your voicemail something like “if you are an agent calling about our home, we are offering 2.5%” or you can put ”willing to offer up to 3% depending on the offer and terms”.
• If you are having an open house – you can certainly put the attached form as part of your Flyer for your open house and you can put the percentage on the flyer or you can put “2.5% Compensation” or whatever amount or you can put ”willing to offer up to 3% depending on the offer and terms”.
• You can reply back to an email in your own personal Outlook or Gmail account.

• What you can't do, is put the commission/compensation in the MLS or on any Realtor fed MLS website.  You CANNOT reply back to an agent in the SHOWINGTIME app with the commission since that website is connected to the MLS.

 

We provide all homesellers with a form that can be used for negotiating with a Buyer Agent.
Simply ask for the agent’s email and send them the provided commission addendum, filled out and signed, so they can make it a part of the offer that they may send to you.  We are here when you are ready to List Your Home.

More info on the NAR Settlement