A HUGE ruling in the lawsuit against how real estate commissions are split between a listing agent and the buyer’s agent may have a monumental impact on the future of real estate. Last Tuesday, a jury ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and set damages initially at $1.78 TRILLION DOLLARS! While we all know that NAR doesn’t have that kind of money, it will likely have to find a number to satisfy the plaintiffs. It also will be interesting to see if the Judge eliminates the “Cooperative Compensation Rule” as part of this case because if he does, it will change the way real estate commissions work in a big way. As you know, the listing agent and the home seller have a commission agreement for a set percentage of the total sale. In that agreement, it spells out how much of that commission will be shared with the buyer’s agent in this transaction. If the judge rules that this is illegal, it will now be the BUYER who is responsible to pay the buyer’s agent for services. This could be the beginning of a whole new world in real estate!

Now obviously everything isn’t set yet and all rulings can be appealed, but it is important that you are aware of this story and know that while nothing is final yet; it certainly is the beginning of significant changes in real estate. 

As expected, The Federal Reserve left rates unchanged. Bond prices are improving looking ahead into today’s initial jobless claims and Friday’s October Jobs Report. Again, just information you need to be aware of. 

PLEASE! It is very important that you find and VERIFY information through reliable sources. We have all seen far too many “experts” on social media with “opinions” on what is happening and what the results might be. A simple Google search can bring up official rulings and that is what you need to rely on as a starting point of your research.

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