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How the Realtors' legal settlement could change the buyer-agent relationship

Mar 18, 2024
More agents might start charging buyers hourly rates or working on retainer.
In the traditional model, home sellers pay the buyer’s agent. The NAR settlement could mean more buyers directly paying their Realtors.
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The way real estate agents are paid could be changing. Here's how that could affect buyers and sellers.

Dec 12, 2023
Agents typically split the 5% to 6% commission when a home is sold. Rates could go lower in the wake of class-action litigation.
A wave of litigation targeting the costs to home sellers could shift the economics of real estate representation.
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Thanks to a Missouri jury, the way we buy and sell homes may change

Nov 1, 2023
The jurors found that the National Association of Realtors and a couple of big brokerages conspired to inflate commissions.
Homebuyers could have more power to negotiate lower agent fees, said Susan Wachter of  Wharton.
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Low housing inventory is a boon for homebuilders, a strain for would-be buyers

Feb 27, 2023
Many home owners with low interest rates are reluctant to move. That's pushing more buyers into new houses.
"Over 80% of current homeowners now have a mortgage rate under 4%," said Rafe Jadrosich, of Bank of America. This makes the prospect of having to finance at today’s rate of 6.5% on a 30-year-fixed not so enticing.
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As real estate market changes, broker counsels buyers and sellers to think different

Jul 4, 2022
For buyers, the competition is less fierce, but some sellers still have "pie in the sky" hopes.
The median sale price was $407,600 in May, and mortgage rates have climbed. Some would-be buyers are finding the market less affordable, yet sellers have lost some leverage, says Amanda Pohlman of Keller Williams in Cleveland.
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As the real estate market cools, so does the market for agents

Jun 21, 2022
As home sales decline, the field is becoming more competitive.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

The staying power of Case-Shiller, a marquee housing metric

Apr 6, 2022
It’s not the most timely home price indicator, but it does have advantages, including mapping prices over long periods.
Homes line a Southern California street in 2003. An approach for tracking house prices developed by economists Karl Case and Robert Shiller in the 1980s remains an important market indicator today.
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