{"id":2386,"date":"2021-07-29T19:24:39","date_gmt":"2021-07-29T19:24:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/preprod.realtrends.com\/blog\/2021\/07\/29\/whats-next-after-the-dojs-withdrawal-from-nar-settlement\/"},"modified":"2025-03-13T02:38:31","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T02:38:31","slug":"whats-next-after-the-dojs-withdrawal-from-nar-settlement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/preprod.realtrends.com\/blog\/2021\/07\/29\/whats-next-after-the-dojs-withdrawal-from-nar-settlement\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s next after the DOJ’s withdrawal from NAR settlement?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The U.S. Department of Justice\u2019s recent withdrawal from an antitrust agreement with the National Association of Realtors raises questions about the future of MLS and real estate commission structures. For now, though, there are no concrete answers to those questions \u2014 only speculation about what might happen next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This speculation ranges from the possibility that the industry will tweak MLS and commissions on its own to the potential that the legal system will force such changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Real estate broker Marian Benton believes Realtors have no issue with any MLS or commission adjustments that improve consumer protection, \u201cbecause they work to get the best deal for their clients, both on the selling side and on the buying side.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo if the DOJ is going to come up with something which is going to help us to do that, then rock on,\u201d said Benton, regional operating principal for Keller Williams Realty in Southern California\u2019s Inland Empire region and operating principal for Keller Williams in the Ann Arbor, Michigan, market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Benton stressed that she was speaking in her personal capacity and not on behalf of Keller Williams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The agreement, announced last November<\/a>, was aimed at resolving issues raised by the DOJ surrounding the MLS and broker real estate commissions. Among other things, the pact called for supplying more information to consumers about broker commissions and opening up lockbox access to agents who don\u2019t participate in the MLS. But on July 1, DOJ pulled out of the agreement<\/a>, citing the restraints it placed on a wider investigation of NAR\u2019s rules and practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a statement, NAR objected to the DOJ\u2019s action. The group said the MLS is designed to incentivize cooperation among brokers who share information on the platform. Meanwhile, NAR added, the complementary commission arrangement \u2014 where the seller\u2019s broker shares commission with the buyer\u2019s broker in exchange for bringing a buyer to the table \u2014 \u201censures greater equity for first-time, low-income and countless other home buyers who otherwise wouldn\u2019t be able to afford a home and professional representation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NAR warned that if the DOJ doesn\u2019t uphold its end of the deal, the group will \u201caggressively protect and defend any challenge to the rights of consumers to have access to a system that is pro-consumer, pro-competitive and creates a highly efficient market for the benefit of home buyers and sellers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A series of assaults?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Steve Murray, senior adviser at RealTrends, said the now-revoked settlement between DOJ and NAR is a continuation of \u201ca series of assaults\u201d by the likes of discount brokerage REX, the nonprofit Consumer Federation of America and others against a system that works the way it was meant to. Murray insists that those who\u2019ve launched these assaults have, thus far, failed to prove their case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt looks like we\u2019re going to go through another whole round of court cases to prove what<\/em>?\u201d said Murray, adding that REX, the Consumer Federation of America and others keep \u201csmearing\u201d Realtors in this ongoing battle. \u201cThey haven\u2019t proven anything \u2014 not yet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a salvo directed at REX, the Consumer Federation of America and others in their camp, Murray said: \u201cWell, let\u2019s go ahead. Let\u2019s get into the courtroom and prove your case. Show that consumers have been harmed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other side<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In a news release<\/a>, REX co-founder and CEO Jack Ryan praised the DOJ\u2019s decision to pull out of the NAR settlement. Ryan called it \u201ca sign of hope for home consumers that the federal government is standing up to finally hold the real estate cartel accountable for overcharging home sellers and buyers tens of thousands of dollars on every transaction and steering consumers to line their own pockets.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a separate news release<\/a>, Stephen Brobeck, a senior fellow at the Consumer Federation of America, also applauded the DOJ\u2019s move. He said the settlement would not have meaningfully altered \u201ca marketplace with high, fairly uniform commissions\u201d and would have undercut several class-action lawsuits seeking to boost price competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brobeck told RealTrends that he thinks Realtors will strive to hang on to current real estate commission levels and will likely succeed in the absence of intervention by the DOJ, the courts or both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Murray said he thought the settlement between DOJ and NAR would have led to changes along the lines of those enacted two years ago by the Seattle area\u2019s Northwest MLS. In October 2019, new Northwest MLS rules took effect that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n