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Did you buy a home anywhere in the United States within the last 4 years and use a buyer’s or seller’s broker? You may have unknowingly paid an inflated price because of that agent’s commission.
Soaring real estate prices have been made worse by fees charged by Realtors. A federal jury recently found that home sellers have had to pay inflated commissions on home sales to cover certain real estate broker fees.
Real estate companies and the National Association of Realtors (NAR) work under a “buyer broker” rule that stipulates the seller is required to pay the commission of the buyer’s broker. The conflict is inherent: The person the buyer expects to negotiate a lower price is being paid a percentage of the sale price by the seller and therefore has no incentive to see that the price is lowered. A higher price means a higher commission to be shared by brokers on each side of the sale. The companies, who are supposed to be adversaries, instead work together to build commissions into the selling price, inflating the price for buyer and forcing the seller to pay fees that the seller otherwise would not have to pay.
If you bought or sold a house and worked with a Realtor or real estate broker, you may qualify to join a class action lawsuit investigation and be awarded damages.
Among other things, this case seeks to increase transparency in the industry about who is paying for what in real estate transactions, as well as seek damages for home buyers and sellers injured by the buyer broker rule. The NAR, the country’s largest trade association, is seeing its hold on real estate sales through its Multiple Listing Service weakening. Because of potential conflicts of interest, some real estate companies have dropped out of the organization and no longer use the MLS to advertise homes.
Transactions—and costs to home buyers and sellers—could change radically if homebuyers were able pay their own agents and brokers set fees directly, potentially encouraging those agents to negotiate commissions rather than siphon commissions off higher selling prices.
Please fill out the form on this page for more information.
How real estate commissions work
Most homes in the country are bought and sold using real estate agents who are part of the NAR. Commissions are non-negotiable and are usually 5-6 percent of the price at which the home sells. At the time of closing the sale, the home seller pays a commission to his or her agent as well as to a buyer’s broker. Based on the way these real estate broker agreements are structured, buyers and sellers may be overpaying for commissions.
Join a broker commission class action lawsuit investigation
If you bought or sold a house in the last 4 years and used a broker, you may qualify to participate in this class action lawsuit.
Please fill out the form on this page to see if you qualify for a FREE case evaluation.
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This article was originally published by a topclassactions.com . Read the Original article here. .