Who and what should have been the real focus in the National Association of Realtors (NAR) antitrust lawsuit?
The NAR lawsuit was rife with specious arguments but one of the most prominent is the notion that agents who belong to NAR were somehow colluding to fix commissions.
Did they know?
Didn’t the attorneys know that as agents we have no choice but to entrust our license to a broker and that makes us beholden to that broker’s commission structure, fee schedule and rules? Didn’t they know that the brokers in any transaction get paid first and give agents a cut of that commission?
Didn’t they know that agents work for free until the deal closes and the agent pays all their own business costs from their commission, on top of additional legal and administrative fees their broker may charge?
Did the attorneys know that many brokers require their agents to be NAR members and therefore automatically subject to NAR’s authority? Did they know a NAR membership is the only way to gain access to the agent’s state association? Did they know that the NAR and the State association are connected to the local MLS association and therefore subject to the local MLS authority? Did they know that agents simply cannot do business without access to their local MLS? When I receive my invoice, the three associations and their annual fees are all included on that single invoice.
Who made the bed?
This antitrust suit is a cautionary tale to be wary of those with whom you get in bed, but perhaps the attorneys should have considered taking a hard look at those who gave us no choice but to get in that bed.
Could NAR have better defended agents by admitting their operating model depends on controlling access to tools and resources essential to the agent’s trade? Yes. Did they, no. So, the perception is that we are guilty by an association many of us were forced to have.
Are you listening?
Even though agents pay for the associations that create and manage the MLS, they have little to no control over the fields available there. Is MLS an adequate tool to effectively communicate the important details, including commissions, of our listings to our fellow agents, especially now that MLS is prohibited to display certain fields? Are you listening, Zillow? Are you listening, billionaire investor with too much money and too much time? Are you listening, disrupters? Did you know that agents might want and be willing to pay for a communication platform that better represents us, our work, and our clients while successfully breaking the monopoly and collusion that could be the more appropriate focus of an antitrust lawsuit?
Menu
