New rules are going into effect tomorrow That will change the way homes are Bought and sold across the country the National Association of realtorss unveil These rules as part of a landmark $418 Million settlement with a nationwide Group of homeowners this settlement was Announced back in March madora Lee is Here to delve into this with us she's a Money and personal finance reporter for USA Today madora thanks for being here So these rules could help people pay Lower commissions to Realtors right how Would that Work so basically Um everybody will be able to negotiate The what the commissions that they want To pay now um before this before um Homes were listed and the sellers would Pay um both the buyers fees and their Own fees but now they've split that and So the seller and the buyer pay their Own fees if they wish um and the buyer Can negotiate what fee they want to pay Um their Real and that can it's typically been Before the agreement roughly two and a Half to three% for the buyer agent and For the sellers agent um and now the Buyer can say no I don't want to pay you Any fee or I only want to pay you one And a half percent so it's whatever they Can negotiate so that should in theory Save buyers money and also sellers
Because they no longer have to pay the Buyers fee H interesting okay we're We're going to get into a little bit More the big picture in a minute but These rules also affect how homes are Listed for sale how so So usually um when a seller lists their Home the agent to get it on the MLS they Will um disclose what the buyer's fee Would be what percentage they would get Um and they will no longer be able to do That that's taking off the market um off The table because it in theory before Some of the um agents would take their Clients to homes that had higher buyers Fees um so they could earn a little more Commission so they've taken that Off how do you think this will affect The real estate industry as a Whole um I do it's a completely Different way of doing business and People are going to have to get used to It um and at the same time you know now Buyers agents are going to have to prove Their worth they're going to have to Tell be able to explain to their clients Um who or potential clients what it is Exactly they can do Um for them over another agent um and That and you know there's going to be a Lot of negotiation new contracts to have Everybody's going to have to sign Because now you also can't um look at a House um typically without signing a
Contract with an agent um guaranteeing a Commission a certain amount of Commission and what the services will be Exactly they will that they'll be Providing what are you hearing from Realtors I mean are you expecting sort Of an ex exus of people from the Industry as a result of this and and Also all in all from your analysis is This a step in the right direction for The housing Market um as far as Realtors it it could Possibly um steer some people out of the Business um because it'll be difficult Sometimes to convince clients that you Can do something above and beyond what Somebody else can do um it'll make the Ones that are strong um more profitable Possibly and then take out some of the Weaker agents um and you know and I Don't know if that's such a bad thing Because we have a lot of agents in this Um in this country more so than any Other country and so maybe it'll kind of Balance out um and I think that possibly This could end up being in the long term Good for buyers and sellers um and lower Their costs but here's the thing is It'll also be more difficult housing is So unaffordable now and now if the buyer Also has to Pony up some money to pay Their agent that can make buying a h Home as a first home for someone even More expensive um because they'll have
To suddenly Pony up you know thousands Of dollars um for commission fees yeah That is a very important Point all right Major Lee thank you for joining us on What you just described as really just a Revolutionary way of buying and selling Homes thank you You thank you
