A couple of weeks ago a jury in a Federal court case the National Association of Realtors was found guilty of being part of a conspiracy that caused consumers to pay more for real estate brokerage services. In other words, the conspiracy has kept real estate commissions high.
The jury laid the conspiracy at the feet of every one of the defendants: NAR, Keller Williams, Anywhere (formerly, Realogy), RE/MAX, HomeServices of America, and two of its subsidiaries HSF Affiliates and BHH Affiliates.
The jurors found that the conspiracy had caused the plaintiffs to pay more for real estate brokerage services when selling their homes than they would have without the conspiracy.
It all has to do with how sellers’ agents split their commissions with buyer’s agents.
The plaintiffs who are home sellers in the class action suite were awarded over 1.8 billion dollars.
The National Association of Realtors has stated that it will appeal and there are more lawsuits against real estate companies waiting in the wings.
I have no idea how this will all end. The judge has not ruled yet. I am a member of the National Association of Realtors, which is why I have resisted the urge to write commentary about the lawsuit. I am writing about it now because it is a big deal and may have a lasting impact on the real estate industry and on how real estate is bought and sold.
For some reason, most in the real estate industry seemed to think NAR would win. It will be interesting to see how this affects my business and how the home buying and selling process might change.
There is a lot of confusion among Realtors and a lot of misinformation. The National Association of Realtors (1.5 million members) is not giving us much information right now.
