By Lindsey Moore, Broker-in-Charge
August 17th was a monumental day for the entire real estate industry. This was the day that all members of the National Association of Realtors were required to implement new practice changes which include having to have a written agreement in place prior to showing buyers any homes and providing certain disclosures that better explain exactly how compensation works in a real estate transaction.
At The Legacy Group SC Real Estate, we believe that these are extremely positive changes for both consumers and agents. At the end of the day, these new requirements are forcing us to slow down a bit in the process to make sure that buyers are really ready to go home shopping before we jump in the car to go open doors. This is prompting many important conversations, such as laying the financial groundwork and digging deeper in our conversations to find out what our clients’ goals and motivations really are. Sometimes this even means advising them not to buy right now. When we take our fiduciary responsibility seriously and have the buyers’ best interest at heart, the truth is sometimes it’s not really always a good time for someone to make a move.
As for sellers, the key change that has taken place here can be summarized as more freedom and flexibility. Offers of compensation to buyers’ agents have now been removed from the MLS. This means instead of being locked in to only one possibility from the first initial day of listing through to closing, sellers now can now explore different options to see what will work best in terms of helping them achieve a timely and profitable sale.
If you have questions, we would be more than happy to sit down and discuss these changes with you in depth. You can also learn more by browsing through the new consumer guides linked below that explain all the changes in more detail.
Overall, we are actually quite excited and inspired about the new level of integrity and transparency that this will bring to our profession. We look forward to continuing to serve you with excellence as we seek to infuse compassion, experience, and comprehensive market knowledge into all of our endeavors.
What the NAR Settlement Means for Home Buyers
What the NAR Settlement Means for Home Sellers
Consumer Guide to Written Buyer Agreements