Real estate professionals have survived upheaval and change in the past, and we’ll do so again, broker-owner Teresa Boardman writes, even if we don’t yet know quite how.
May is Commission and Compensation Month here at Inman. We’ll sort through the noise and misinformation and provide you with the most up-to-date facts and strategies about how to prosper in the wake of the commission settlements. And look for straight-to-your inbox updates with Inman’s new weekly digest, Commission Chronicles.
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) proposed settlement to its commission cases will change the way real estate agents do business. The rules of the settlement, which have preliminarily been approved by the Sitzer | Burnett judge and will likely begin going into effect Aug. 17, 2024, will decouple listing and buyer-side commissions, remove commission displays from the MLS and require agents to have contracts with their buyer clients before showing them houses.
This isn’t new information. We have known about the proposed settlement for more than a month now. Unfortunately, we won’t really know how the new rules will affect business or agent pay until after they have been implemented and put into practice for a while.
As a veteran in real estate, I’ve been through lots of ups and downs, disruption and even a pandemic. And the one thing it has taught me is that making plans amid uncertainty is a foolhardy task. Here’s why:
When the pandemic hit, there was no plan
Back in 2020, we didn’t have time to update our business plans before the COVID-19 pandemic started. No one had a blueprint on how to navigate the pandemic or how to stay in business.
On March 13, 2020, the president of the United States declared a national emergency. That was followed by national and local “stay-at-home orders.” In some states, real estate was considered an essential service, and we were allowed to work under a new set of safety rules.
March is a busy…