In case you didn’t know, there was a huge lawsuit and settlment against the National Assocation of Realtors. NAR settled for $465 million and it is changing the way Americans do business with regards to Realtor Commissions.

As always, sellers can negotiate the commission amount they will pay, but now they have the option to NOT pay the Buyer’s agent and should they choose not to, guess who has to pay? YOU! 

While we believe most sellers will conduct business as usual, there may be some who decide not to pay and the onus will be on the buyer to pay their buyers agent’s fee. This could be thousands of dollars out of your pocket.

But the biggest change is, a buyer will no longer be able to tour homes without FIRST signing a buyer/broker agreement so that they know how much they will have to compensate the realtor should the seller not pay their commission. This will be extremely important for buyers to know up front what they will be responsible for.

This will in turn require buyers to be fully pre-approved before ever stepping foot in a home, so that they know what they can or cannot afford for each commission structure that the seller chooses to pay, or not pay, their agent. It will be extremely important to contact a mortgage lender FIRST, so when hiring an agent, you arleady know what you can and cannot afford so that you can communicate this to the agent and come up with a strategy on how an offer will be negotiated.

NOW MORE THAN EVER, you will need an experieinced and knowledgable lender who can navigate and educate you on the differences of financing types, how you will need to negotiate with your realtor on what you will need and what you can afford in different situations.

For a comprehensive strategy, Mac Church can be counted on to assist uyou in determining your best course of action in this new territory of real estate.

For details and information, reach out to Mac at mchurch@acmllc.com or visit his website at www.MacChurchHomeLoans.com