New Guidelines Just Released
CAARE is thrilled to release the first draft of our model compensation language for consumers hiring Buyer or Seller Brokers. This is the beginning of a series focusing on Realtor fee agreements, which have often been unfairly standardized, making it hard for consumers to negotiate terms.
Key Points Of Our Compensation Suggestions:
- Empowering Consumers: When crediting money directly to the Buyer instead of their broker, we enable Buyers to negotiate their agent’s fees and services, introducing healthy competition into the market.
- Combating Unfair Practices: Our models address predatory pricing practices and aim to save consumers billions in real estate commissions.
- Promoting Transparency: We believe Sellers should not pay Buyer Brokers, eliminating conflicts of interest and promoting fairer practices.
- Encouraging Innovation: Our complex but flexible compensation sections give innovators more options to compete on fees.
Why This Matters:
- Reduces Bribery: Paying someone else’s Buyer Broker is akin to bribery and can influence the advice given to Buyers.
- Protects Fiduciary Relationships: Interfering with the Buyer Broker’s duty to their client is problematic.
- Enhances Competition: Current systems are anticompetitive, preventing Buyers from negotiating effectively.
- Respects Common Law Duties: Our language restores the common law duties that brokers should follow.
Moving Forward
This is just the start! We expect our compensation clauses to evolve as new business practices emerge. Let’s work together to create a fairer, more competitive real estate service market!
Questions?
Whether you are a broker trying to navigate the upcoming changes, or a consumer confused on what you are about to sign, we’d love to talk with you. dmiller@caare.org or wendygilch@caare.org