As you may have heard recently, major Real Estate practice changes have been put into effect as a result of the terms of the nation-wide settlement of a class action anti-trust lawsuit against the National Association of Realtors.

Broadly speaking.....Sellers will no longer automatically pay the commission of the Buyer's Agent/Broker.  Buyers will need to hire an Agent and negotiate directly with them a commission amount to be paid for that Buyer Representation. 

Buyers will also need to sign some form of Representation agreement with any Agent who shows them a home (either in person, or virtually) prior to being shown the home, and will need to enter into a formal Buyer Representation Agreement prior to writing any offer for any home.

The purpose of these changes is to be more transparent as to who works for whom, and for what amount.

Buyers will have the option of either paying for their Agent out of their available funds, OR they can choose to ask a Seller to pay their agent as one of the many terms of the offer they submit on a home.  Seller, as always, will have the option to accept, reject, or counter-offer any term of any offer received.

And Sellers will continue to have the responsibility to pay their own Agent, same as always, based on a prior-negotiated commission amount.

Here is some informational material on the topic, from the California Association of Realtors....

What NAR Settlement Means

What is a Buyer Representation Agreement

9 Reasons Why You Need A Buyer's Agent