AUSTIN, Texas — Real estate agents could soon be entering a whole new market.
In a historic $418 million settlement, the National Association of Realtors decided to do away with the standard of a long-standing commission set for agents. The move will allow buyers and sellers to negotiate fees and potentially save them more with lower commission costs.
The standard percentage reported is 6%. The trade commission has set these policies for home sales since the 1990s.
Although this will ultimately affect how agents are compensated, some Austin-based real estate groups welcome the pending changes.
Lesley Estes is the Director of Sales for the Byrne Real Estate Group in West Lake. She explained the excitement the team is feeling following the announcement because, according to Estes, this will give the group a chance to have more upfront conversations.
"The difference now is that the consumer's going to be notified of that. They're going to be aware that there's options on the table," Estes said. "I think this is the perfect opportunity for us, as agents, to bring our value to the table."
Estes added there will be more transparency throughout the process.
"They are going to know exactly what they're paying and what they're paying for," Estes said.
Ian Grossman, who is a real estate agent for Douglas Elliman Real Estate and part of a team called the Fenton Grossman Group that offers tips on moving to Austin through a YouTube channel, echoed that the change is a chance for agents to prove themselves in an already competitive market.
"I think it will weed out agents that might not be as serious or might not be able to elevate their service," Grossman said.
Grossman did note a tricky part of the new rule change could be how a seller chooses how much an agent is paid.
"It could, in a sense, put a burden on those buyers that now have to choose between to pay a buyer agent commission. Or 'Do I go through this unrepresented?'" Grossman said. "If buyers and sellers don't see the value that, you know, their agents are providing, then yes, their commissions will be affected by it."
KVUE reached out to members of the Austin Board of Realtors, which provided the following statement:
“The ABoR and Unlock MLS Legal teams are reviewing the details of the proposal and will assess the impact of this proposed settlement on our market. This is a critical development and will take time to be processed by the courts. We’ll have further comment as we learn more.”
The next step is for a federal judge to sign off on the settlement. If and when that happens, the changes to the real estate commissions will take effect in July.