DOJ to Nosalek judge: Broker commissions should be decoupled BY TAYLOR ANDERSON AND ANDREA V. BRAMBILA INMAN NEWS February 16, 2024
The Department of Justice said a proposed settlement in the major antitrust lawsuit might itself violate federal law and said buyers should negotiate their broker's commission directly The U.S. Department of Justice told the judge in a major commission antitrust lawsuit known as Nosalek late Thursday to deny a proposed settlement between the plaintiffs and real estate defendants and called for rules that require buyers to negotiate broker compensation on their own.
What the DOJ wants In her brief, Leal pointed to multiple similar reforms across the country that haven’t driven down real estate commissions, including changes that were made voluntarily by the Northwest MLS in 2019 and 2022 that are similar to the changes proposed in the Nosalek settlement. The DOJ called for an outcome that completely separates the seller from o ering compensation to the buyer broker, a concept known as “decoupling.” That, Leal wrote, would create a competitive landscape in real estate. “The critical issue is not how much a seller should o er a buyer broker, but whether a seller should set buyer-broker compensation at all,” Leal wrote. She said federal law already allows buyers to make conditional o ers around compensation. As an example, Leal said a buyer could o er to pay $700,000 for a home on the condition that the seller pays $14,000 to the buyer’s broker, which would result in a net price of $686,000. Another buyer for the same home could o er $680,000 and not ask the seller to pay the buyer’s broker. Such a scenario would allow a seller who is considering multiple o ers to compare the net price after factoring in any possible requests to pay a buyer broker. “Those programs do not require buyers to come up with additional funds at closing in order to compensate their brokers in these types of ‘conditional’ o ers,” Leal wrote. “Buyers therefore would not need to come up with additional funds at closing in order to compensate their brokers. Instead, they and other buyers would benefit from increased competition between buyer brokers. How will COLDWELL BANKER – CAMPBELL REALTORS change how we do business in the event of “un-coupling” of buyer agent commissions? We already have our Buyer Presentation done for you to use. Most of you already have it on your website. Both PDF & Online PDF is available.
The presentation includes a one page “Simple Buyer Agent Representation Agreement” that you can use starting immediately if you like. They key to getting it signed by your buyer clients is that you are an agent who can help your buyer clients find “o market listings”. We already have all the tools set up so you can search for such properties using Orange Coast Title’s tools as well as Realist (if you prefer). Most other agents will be stuck using the CAR Buyer Representation Agreement which is 16 pages… the agents in those o ices will have a very tough time getting that agreement signed. They will certainly be less successful than you (especially since they do not have the nice Buyer Presentation that you do). We will be adding the Buyer Presentation & Simple Buyer Representation Agreement to our role play workshops in the future. Direct questions via email to Scot@CampbellRealtors.com