Housing Wire

OCTOBER 6, 2023

million settlement with plaintiffs in two bombshell buyer commission lawsuits have been made public, and they stipulate that the brokerage conglomerate make significant changes to its practices. Anywhere will eliminate any minimum client commission requirements that company owned brokerages may have.

Buyers 424

Buyers Brokerage Agents Sellers 424

Housing Wire

NOVEMBER 10, 2023

It appears that no real estate brokerage firm in the U.S. On Wednesday, Manhattan home seller Monty March filed a lawsuit in U.S. The anti-competitive nature of commission rule is clear when compared to other countries with competitive markets for residential real estate brokerage services.” is safe from a commission lawsuit.

Real Estate 434

Real Estate Brokerage Sellers Law 434

Housing Wire

JANUARY 18, 2024

The suit, known as Fierro, after its lead plaintiff Gael Fierro, a Californian home seller, accuses the real estate industry of colluding to artificially inflate real estate agent commissions. Patrick Thurber, a California home seller, is an additional named plaintiff in the suit. It was filed on Wednesday in U.S.

Realtors 485

Realtors Brokerage Realty Real Estate 485

Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 27, 2023

Many of these laws target specific types of real estate deemed crucial to national security, such as farmland or property near military installations, while other laws apply more broadly to all types of land. Laws should also be clear on the role title insurance professionals play in facilitating transactions with foreign owners.

Law 328

Law Real Estate Legal Insurance 328

Housing Wire

JANUARY 16, 2024

The first was a motion for judgement as a matter of law and the second was a motion for a new trial. So, while I make no claim as to the specific deep legal issues, I have some familiarity of antitrust actions and more in the conduct of legal actions in a courtroom. This evidence was not allowed to be presented to the jury.

Agents 327

Agents Law Sellers Legal 327

Housing Wire

NOVEMBER 1, 2023

Just hours after securing a victory for his home seller clients in the landmark Sitzer/Burnett commission lawsuit, Michael Ketchmark, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs, filed another class action antitrust lawsuit against some of the real estate industry’s biggest players, in U.S. District Court for Western Missouri.

Real Estate 388

Real Estate Brokerage Sellers Law 388

Housing Wire

JULY 19, 2023

A typical commission dispute arises when, after signing a listing agreement or buyer-broker agreement: A seller-client “cancels” a valid purchase contract. A seller-client cancels a listing. A seller-client permits the property to be foreclosed upon. A seller-client refuses to pay the full amount of the agreed upon commission.

Real Estate 283

Real Estate Legal Brokerage Clients 283

Housing Wire

FEBRUARY 28, 2024

As brokerages across the country have begun implementing buyer agency contracts into their business practices in the wake of the Sitzer/Burnett commission lawsuit verdict, the Consumer Federation of America is warning consumers that they may be filled with “unfair provisions” that primarily protect agents and brokers.

Buyers 341

Buyers Contracts Agents Realtors 341

Housing Wire

FEBRUARY 27, 2024

District Court for the Western District of Missouri , the lawsuit is named after its lead plaintiff, Maryland home seller Daniel Umpa. who sold a house on an MLS and used an agent from one of the brokerage defendants between Dec. Filed in late 2023 in the U.S. No class can be certified in this scenario.”

Realty 350

Realty Real Estate Law Brokerage 350

Housing Wire

NOVEMBER 30, 2023

An attorney for the plaintiffs, Robert Braun of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, asked Wood if she would be willing to set a trial date for the third quarter of 2024. Braun argued that legal issues still playing out in the Sitzer/Burnett suit was not a reason to delay the trial in the Moehrl case.

Legal 385

Legal Sellers Realtors Law 385

Housing Wire

APRIL 11, 2024

But legal experts are not as certain. They could certainly intervene in the settlement negotiations, but they are not a party — they are just a party of interest,” said Paul Rogers, a professor of law who specializes in antitrust at Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law. “It

Real Estate 386

Real Estate Law Realtors Legal 386

Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 28, 2023

After nearly 10 days of trial proceedings, Zillow is ready for its years-long legal battle with REX Real Estate to be over. On Wednesday, just nine days after the long-awaited trial’s September 18 start date, the real estate behemoth file a motion for judgment as a matter of law in the U.S. District Court in Seattle hearing the trial.

Advertising 372

Advertising Legal Law Real Estate 372

Housing Wire

MARCH 15, 2024

While many in the real estate industry were surprised by the news Friday morning that the National Association of Realtors had agreed to a nationwide settlement of the commission lawsuits for $418 million, Marty Green, a principal at law firm Polunsky Beitel Green , was not one of them. Almost any time in history the U.S.

Agents 422

Agents Brokerage Advertising Real Estate 422

Housing Wire

MAY 1, 2024

Less than a week after HomeServices of America settled the home seller commission lawsuits for $250 million , the firm again finds itself in the crosshairs of antitrust litigation. On Monday, homebuyer James Lutz filed a class-action antitrust lawsuit in a U.S. Lutz’s attorneys wrote that this has “led to higher home prices paid by buyers.”

Sellers 374

Sellers Realtors Real Estate Agent Real Estate 374

Housing Wire

APRIL 24, 2024

involve common questions of law and fact, consolidation will conserve judicial resources and promote efficiency, and consolidation will not cause undue delay, confusion, or prejudice,” Bough wrote in his ruling. The Umpa suit was filed in late December 2023 by a Maryland home seller. National Association of Realtors , et al.,

Realtors 323

Realtors Real Estate Brokerage Law 323

Housing Wire

DECEMBER 6, 2023

More home sellers on the East Coast are getting in on the commission lawsuit action. Defendants in the lawsuit include the Florida Association of Realtors , the nation’s largest state Realtor group with 238,000 members, and 16 large local brokerages, with agent counts ranging from 655 to nearly 4,000. 4, 2019 and the present.

Realty 410

Realty Realtors Brokerage Real Estate 410

Housing Wire

AUGUST 7, 2023

Things are continuing to heat up in Zillow Group’s legal battle with discount brokerage REX Homes , as the September 18, 2023, trial date looms ever closer. In mid-May 2022, REX ceased its brokerage operations. On Friday, Judge Thomas Zilly, the U.S. NAR also believes its side will succeed in the lawsuit.

Advertising 278

Advertising Law Brokerage Sellers 278

Housing Wire

OCTOBER 31, 2023

One option is that NAR and the MLSs can no longer require cooperative compensation, but listing agents and their sellers can still offer the buyer broker compensation if they so choose. It is a situation where buyers need to pay their own agents and sellers have to pay their agent separately?”

Real Estate 440

Real Estate Landlords Law Design 440

Housing Wire

NOVEMBER 8, 2023

31, 2023, the Gibson lawsuit pits three Missouri home sellers, Don Gibson, Lauren Criss and John Meiners, against National Association of Realtors , Compass , eXp World Holdings , Redfin , Weichert Realtors , United Real Estate , Howard Hanna and Douglas Elliman. Accepted by the court on Oct.

Real Estate 389

Real Estate Sellers Realtors Real Estate Agent 389

Housing Wire

DECEMBER 12, 2023

A home seller plaintiff in California filed an antitrust lawsuit on Friday in U.S. In a competitive market, the seller would pay nothing to the buyer broker, who would instead be paid by the buyer (their client), and the total commission paid by the seller would be set at a level to compensate only the seller’s broker,” the complaint states.

Realtors 421

Realtors Sellers Buyers Real Estate 421

Housing Wire

OCTOBER 31, 2023

Davis also discussed the MLS and how the National Association of Realtors’ Clear Cooperation Rule impacts both buyers and sellers during her time on the stand. Like the defendants who testified before her, Davis noted that buyers’ agents help both buyers and sellers, as they help bring qualified buyers to the bargaining table.

Agents 370

Agents Sellers Buyers Law 370

Housing Wire

JANUARY 26, 2024

Lamacchia also stressed that it is impossible to claim that the system is rigged because sellers can choose how much compensation they offer the buyers’ broker, or whether they even want to offer cooperative compensation. Home sellers can do as they please, and if they don’t want to hire a Realtor, they don’t have to.

Realtors 402

Realtors Law Agents Real Estate 402

Housing Wire

JANUARY 28, 2021

Rentals listed on Zillow will now show whether or not they lie in a jurisdiction with local laws protecting renters from discrimination based on the use of Housing Choice Vouchers. The app also lists any local laws protecting renters who use veteran’s benefits or Social Security insurance payments to pay their rent.

Landlords 457

Landlords Tenants Law Legal 457

Housing Wire

DECEMBER 13, 2021

From waiving contingencies such as home inspections, to offering to pay for the seller’s moving expenses, and even pledging to name their first-born child after the sellers – buyers and their agents have been doing their best to get creative. Pacific Legal Foundation is no stranger to First Amendment cases. 3601 et seq.).”.

Real Estate 392

Real Estate Law Sellers Agents 392

Housing Wire

OCTOBER 23, 2023

The first week of the much-anticipated Sitzer/Burn e tt class action buyer broker commission antitrust lawsuit concluded with the testimony of economic and legal experts. Roger Alford, a law professor from Notre Dame, was also called to testify on Friday.

Legal 332

Legal Training Real Estate Realtors 332

Housing Wire

DECEMBER 15, 2023

A copycat commission lawsuit filed on Thursday by home sellers in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, accuses 47 real estate industry defendants of allegedly conspiring to artificially inflate real estate agent commissions. As the saying goes, everything is bigger in Texas.

Real Estate 460

Real Estate Realtors Realty Real Estate Agent 460

Housing Wire

MARCH 22, 2024

1, 2024 , Washington state’s agency law requires agents to have a written agreement with buyers (as well as sellers) to spell out the exact scope of the services provided by the agent, as well as the compensation the client has agreed to pay them in return. As of Jan. It is kind of like dating,” Sax said. “So,

Buyers 458

Buyers Contracts Real Estate Agents 458

Housing Wire

APRIL 5, 2024

The brokerage firm argued that if these settlements are rejected or challenged, the math for the final judgement amount would change. The HomeServices filing also notes that the law requires the plaintiffs to “demonstrate a danger of hardship if its request is not granted,” which HomeServices says they failed to do.

Brokerage 351

Brokerage Sellers Law Contracts 351

Housing Wire

MARCH 31, 2022

Meek did something big about this last year, shuttling through the Oregon legislature a law that bans “all non-customary documents” from prospective buyer to seller in a real estate deal. The most pressing issue is that Meek’s effort is now in legal limbo after U.S. Oregon State Rep. Mark Meek doesn’t know what comes next.

Law 317

Law Real Estate Legal Sellers 317

Housing Wire

DECEMBER 20, 2023

had no involvement in the issuance and or enforcement of NAR rules and that it did not impose those rules, including the Cooperative Compensation Rule, upon its franchisee brokerages or their affiliated independent contractor agents,” attorneys for Keller Williams wrote in the motion that both NAR and HomeServices joined.

Real Estate 322

Real Estate Sellers Realtors Brokerage 322

Housing Wire

OCTOBER 24, 2023

This means sellers wind up paying inflated commissions at closing. Goldberg also told Ketchmark and the jury that Clear Cooperation gives the seller a larger homebuyer pool, however, he denied that Realtors steer clients to properties where sellers offer buyer’s agent compensation.

Realtors 396

Realtors Agents Clients Buyers 396

Housing Wire

OCTOBER 27, 2023

Sellers get access to the largest pool of buyers and the chance to sell their home for 35% more on average than for sale by owner. Sellers end up having fewer potential buyers seeing their homes and small brokerages struggle to compete with larger competitors if they can even stay in business.

Real Estate Agent 454

Real Estate Agent Real Estate Realtors Buyers 454

Housing Wire

MARCH 4, 2022

The state of Oregon grabbed national attention last year for passing a law to ban “love letters” sent from potential homebuyer to homeseller, and often intermediated through real estate agents. But on Thursday, Marco Hernandez, a federal judge based in Oregon, ruled that the new law violates the free speech rights of real estate agents.

Real Estate Agent 336

Real Estate Agent Law Real Estate Legal 336

Housing Wire

AUGUST 21, 2023

Just days after awarding Zillow and National Association of Realtors (NAR) a major victory in their legal battle against REX Real Estate , the court made it clear that Zillow’s fight is far from over. REX ceased its brokerage operations in mid-May of 2022. The ruling came after REX filed a motion for summary judgement on the matter.

Advertising 335

Advertising Real Estate Agent Real Estate Agents 335

Housing Wire

NOVEMBER 16, 2023

billion in damages to residential home sellers who successfully proved that the organization – which represents real estate agents at most of the top brokerages in the United States – colluded with other defendants to inflate agent commissions. Unless the decision is appealed, NAR will have to pay at least $1.8

Realtors 380

Realtors Contracts Real Estate Agents 380

Housing Wire

JANUARY 19, 2024

Brokerages RE/MAX , Anywhere , Keller Williams , eXp World Holdings , NorCal Gold , Williams L. The plaintiffs in the suit are demanding a jury trial, as well as damages and a permanent injunction that prevents the defendants from retiring that sellers pay the buyer broker. Lyon & Associates , Guide Real Estate , Paul M.

Realtors 325

Realtors Real Estate Real Estate Agent Buyers 325

Housing Wire

MARCH 14, 2022

As the principal broker for a RE/MAX franchise in coastal Cannon Beach, Oregon, Alaina Giguiere’s typical responsibilities include marketing homes for sellers, touring homes with buyers, generating new business leads, managing client relationships, and drafting and reviewing contracts with buyers and sellers.

Real Estate 395

Real Estate Insurance Law Real Estate Agent 395