Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - This past weekend saw the start of new rules regarding real estate transactions. There must now be a written agreement between the potential buyer and the realtor.
Vienna Laurendi of the Buffalo Niagara Association of Realtors says a buyer that wants to go shopping for a new home to purchase must engage with a realtor in writing, and that written agreement must depict how the agent is going to get paid, whether that agent is going to get paid by the buyer or the seller, and for how much.
More significant is the compensation that's offered by the seller is no longer going to be offered through the multiple listing service.
"We used to publish what was offered by a seller through the multiple listing service. Debt opportunity has now been taken away from us as a result of the NAR settlement. So as a result, we're getting a creative in disseminating that information through other methods, like social media, print, flyers, for sale signs," explained Laurendi with WBEN.
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Laurendi believes things went well with the new changes.
"The only questions I'm getting from practitioners is more about the mechanics, the actual forms that should be filled out, at what time should these forms be submitted to the customer prior to touring homes," Laurendi said.
She feels the shock and awe is gone, and this may be better.
"I really believe that as time marches on, we're going to feel, as a practitioner, a genuine sense of relief. And we're probably going to be asking ourselves, 'Why didn't we do this sooner? Why didn't we have this transactional transparency system in place much sooner?'" Laurendi pondered.
Things went smoothly at Hunt Real Estate, as Peter Hunt says his staff was preparing for the rule change.
"We knew what was going to happen, and so we began a process of education for all of our people across all six regions, beginning probably eight months ago," said Hunt with WBEN.
Hunt says it shouldn't change how he does business.
"It's just going to mean that we have to educate our buyers up front, which maybe some people in the industry were doing and others weren't. Secondly, that's going to be more difficult for our sales professionals to know what they're going to be paid on any given transaction," Hunt said.
However, Hunt says the rules could affect a buyer's budget.
"They want to buy their first house and they're working hard to put the money together for the down payment and closing costs. What if they have to pay a commission on top of that, by virtue of the fact that they signed a buyer agency agreement saying they're going to be paying the buyer agent? The buyer will have to pay that," Hunt explained.
That could mean a buyer may not be able to afford a house they otherwise would've been able to.
Hunt says it's a matter of who's really being helpedm and who's really being hurt.
"The settlements are really doing nothing to help hardly anyone, and they're doing a lot to harm a lot of people, in my opinion, a lot of potential people that want to buy a home," he added.