WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THE REAL ESTATE MARKET? 

I’m sure everyone has heard about the big changes that are going to happen in the real estate market and have many questions.

As a seller:
Do I have to pay a buyer’s realtor?
Do I have to pay my realtor to sell my home?
Am I going to save money selling?

These are just some of the questions that everyone is asking since they have been hearing many different versions of this issue on the news channels. Well, the truth is no one knows what is going to happen. Commissions have always negotiable with no maximum or minimum imposed. That said the multi list has always published the buyer agent commission that is being offered on the listing when it was posted on the Multilist (MLS).

In July the MLS will stop publishing the buyer agent commission amounts when they post a listing on the MLS. At that point the buyer’s agent will not know what their compensation will be, if any, when they show the home to the buyer. For the seller this means if they choose not to offer a buyer commission nothing will be published on the MLS listing.    Therefore, the buyer agent will be required to meet the buyer to sign an employment contract before showing any homes to them. The buyer employment contract is not new and has been being used in Pennsylvania for many years. What is new is the seller is no longer required to compensate the buyer’s agent as they were in the past forcing the buyer to pay the buyer commission. For the seller this change means the buyer pool for buying their home could be smaller because most buyers will not have the extra money to pay the added commission along with the other fees related to closing on a home.

As for the seller paying a realtor to sell their home the commission for selling a home has always been negotiable so there is little change in that area except the buyer’s agent commission is no longer required resulting in some savings there if the seller chooses not to pay the buyer commission.  The result of this decision could be a smaller buyer pool for your home resulting in a longer time on the market which could mean selling at a lower selling price.

So to answer the question of whether the seller will save money no one really knows the answer.

So stay tuned we are entering uncharted waters.