Photo by Tingey Injury Law Firm on Unsplash
Unless you have been living under a rock for the past few months, you should be well aware that big changes are coming in the way we do real estate.
Today’s Wall Street Journal provided a fairly well-balanced report on the $418 million settlement reached between NAR and the plaintiffs in the commission lawsuits.
One of the comments made was that it is expected that at LEAST 30% of the agents in the business today will soon be gone!
If approved by the judge, sellers will no longer offer a buyer’s agent commission as part of the listing agreement. Sellers are still able to offer to pay the buy side commission, but it will no longer be part of the listing agreement.
Additionally, agents representing buyers will have to get a buyer broker agreement signed before an agent can represent them. NAR asserts that all agents will have to abide by these new changes.
What is unclear to me is whether brokerages that are not members of NAR (and local and state associations) will be bound by these changes. In my opinion, I think not.
So, what will you do? I believe that agents who are primarily listing agents will not be affected that much, but if your business is largely based on representing buyers, you have a mountain to climb.
You will have to negotiate your commission with your buyer, or you will have to negotiate it with the seller. Either way, you NEED to up your negotiating game and do it pronto! The new rules are proposed to take effect in mid-July.
I’ve been listening to an Audible book these past few days that offers some very sage advice for anyone who wants to start a side hustle. The author wrote the book to help people who have traditionally felt disadvantaged when it comes to earning a great income. She talks about the steps necessary to start small and build big. Things like choosing your ideal customer, figuring out what they need, figuring out how to deliver what they need, how to charge for your services, and how to scale up.
The entire time that I have been listening to this book, I have thought to myself that agents representing buyers absolutely can take away actionable steps that will work in our industry.
I’m not saying that representing buyers is a side hustle, but, it may well become one as time goes on.
So, what is the name of the book? “Six Figure Side Hustle” by Rachel Rodgers. You may have seen her on Good Morning America.
One caveat, she makes no bones about the fact that the book is for women of color and the LGBTQ+ population. Surprise, as a REALTOR®, you will find value in it too!
The work is an Audible Original, so I don’t know if it is available in print, or on Kindle. But it’s so spot-on that if you don’t have an Audible account, it would be worth your time to get one and listen to the book.
If the reported timeline holds true, you only have 4 months to get it together if buy-side representation is your hustle! So what will you do? Up your skills or make a career change. I think these are your only choices!
