Course: How to Adapt Your Business to NAR Settlement Changes

Since the National Association of Realtors® settlement was announced, there’s been a lot of buzz about its potential impact. 

In our new Zillow Academy course, which we’re sharing here for free for all agents, we aim to provide a high-level overview of what’s changed with the NAR Settlement. We’ve included thoughts from several members of Zillow’s Agent Advisory Board on how they’re adapting their business. The board consists of expert agents from across the country who provide Zillow with feedback on features, products, and services for the real estate industry.

Here’s a look at three of the biggest changes, along with agent insights on how to educate yourself about the latest news, prepare your teams to adjust, and communicate your value to clients. 

1. Compensation offers are moved off MLS

One policy change from the settlement prohibits offers of compensation from appearing on an MLS or any sites that use MLS data, including Zillow. Consumers can still offer compensation outside the MLS through negotiation and consultation with a real estate professional. 

Sellers can also offer buyer concessions, such as covering buyer closing costs, as long as those concessions are not limited to or conditioned on payment to a buyer’s agent or other buyer representative.  

Micah Harper, Team Lead with Exquisite Properties in San Antonio, Texas, conveys the importance of taking time to educate yourself and access resources to help you stay on top of changes: 'We need to learn a new process, but the end result won't be so different from what we do now. Our industry has been changing. It will continue to change.”

Explore our Industry Support Hub for more tools and resources designed to help agents navigate the NAR settlement.

2. Written buyer’s agreements are required before touring

The settlement requires MLS Participants working with buyers to enter into written agreements with their buyers before touring a home. Zillow is offering a new Touring Agreement to help partners navigate these new requirements. (You can find more info about the agreement here.)

Zim Andican and Frank Navazi, Growth Partners at eHomes in Newport Beach, CA, discuss how they prepared their team for changes from the settlement: “It's actually going to be elevating our industry and our profession as a whole, and really highlighting the value we as real estate professionals bring to such an important transaction.” 

3. New disclosures around commissions are required

Agents must disclose their compensation in a written buyer’s agreement, and disclose to clients that commissions are fully negotiable. The amount or rate of compensation in the disclosure can’t be open-ended. For instance, it can’t say, “Compensation will be whatever % is offered by the seller,” and it must say that the agent will not receive compensation for brokerage services from any source that exceeds the amount or rate spelled out in the agreement.

Joe Oz, Team Lead, the Oz Group in New Jersey, talks about the importance of communicating your value to clients and addressing compensation upfront: “When we meet a buyer, we would just pull up and pop open a lock box and start showing a house. It's just gonna look a little bit different now.”

If you have lingering questions regarding your state’s requirements or your own individual business, we recommend you ask your broker, seek your own legal counsel, or speak to your realtor association or MLS rep.