For two months we’ve been settling in with the new arrangements for paying the buyer-agents.
I haven’t heard of any buyers yet who got stuck having to pay their buyer-agent because the seller refused to pay. Undoubtably, there are buyer-agents who were paid a partial fee by the seller and then the buyer made up the difference – that’s the intent of the buyer-broker agreement being required now.
Some buyers (especially cash buyers) may prefer to pay for their own agent and take a lower purchase price instead, but that has always been the case.
Strangely, the CRMLS – which provides the MLS for the North SD County Association of Realtors – cannot allow any mention in the active listings of seller-paid commissions being offered to buyer-agents. But now when marking the escrow as closed, they REQUIRE the listing agent to disclose the commission amount the seller paid to the buyer-agent.
Agents who are members of the competing San Diego Association of Realtors are exempt.
I culled this data from the NSDCC sales closed between August 17 and September 18, and between September 18 and October 15 from those that did mention the specific commission amount:
There has been erosion this year. It’s because some agents are weak and desperate, as I mentioned in April.
Is that who you want in your corner?
It is much more important to sell your house for retail, or retail-plus, than save a point on the commission.
Same on the buyer side. If your agent can make a strong case why they are worth it to the seller and listing agent, they are also making a good case for them to take your offer too.
This isn’t the world we wanted. This isn’t the world we asked for. This is what 12 jurors in Missouri thought you deserved (as did the attorneys who charged $100,000,000+ for prep work and a week in court).
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Of the 139 recent sales, nine were marked with zero days-on-market (6%), which are the off-market sales typically. They aren’t as widespread as everyone wants you to think, at least not yet. In 17% of the sales, the listing agent also represented the buyer too, though there isn’t a box to check for unrepresented buyers (the listing agent must input a buyer-agent). I predict that both of these percentages will increasing.
I also predict that former chief counsel for the National Association of Realtors, Katie Johnson, will be working for Compass before too long (and she knows where the bodies are buried).