A survey of hundreds of real estate agents suggests that “steering” based on commissions used to be rare. After the Aug. 17 deadline, it may become ubiquitous — but with buyers in the driver’s seat.
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It’s hard to get a large group of real estate agents to agree on anything — but about this topic, they tell a pretty consistent story.
Prior to the NAR settlement, the practice of agents “steering” buyers away from listings that offered a low buyer commission was always rare. Many agents go so far as to say that regardless of the ethics involved, it wouldn’t have even been worth an agent’s time.
But with new NAR settlement rules set to go into effect later this week in MLSs across the U.S., an industry consensus has emerged that so-called “steering” is primed to become much more prevalent — even as it’s guided more by buyers than by agents.
- Fewer than 13 percent of agents who responded in late July to the Inman Intel Index said that the MLS disclosure of a listing’s buyer-side compensation offer has “occasionally influenced” their advice to clients.
- Of that relatively small group, more than half said they simply passed the commission information on to their buyer clients and let them make a decision.
- Only 5 percent of all agents said they had ever engaged in an activity that resembled covert “steering” — such as acting off the MLS info to not share a listing with a client, or to discourage them from offering on a home.
In its monthly survey of 611 real estate professionals, Intel set out to investigate the true prevalence of steering, how steering has actually influenced agent relationships with clients, and how agents and brokers say the practice is likely to play out going forward under the new…