In this July 2024 presentation, the speaker addresses residential real estate agents about sweeping MLS rule changes that require buyer‑agent compensation to be disclosed and negotiated openly. The speaker urges agents to stop hunting for loopholes and instead focus on education, transparent communication, and professional value‑demonstration. Key actions include: (1) informing seller‑clients about the new compensation landscape, updating net‑sheet calculations, and preparing clear responses to buyer‑agent inquiries; (2) engaging buyers early to discuss how the agent will be paid—whether through seller contribution, out‑of‑pocket payment, or lender concessions—so that both parties can agree or decline mutually. The talk also stresses agents’ right to refuse clients (while respecting fair‑housing rules), the need to showcase expertise and market data to justify fees, and the importance of raising professionalism amid DOJ scrutiny and potential class‑action lawsuits. Finally, the speaker frames the change as an opportunity to refine value packages, practice presentations, and collaborate with brokers, positioning high‑level agents as essential contributors to the American Dream.
Chapters
It is July 2024. We are watching the Multiple Listing Service rules change in front of our very eyes all across the country, all across real estate for anybody in residential. You commercial people, you can reserve your comments for another time. Property managers, you have your own headaches. But in the residential side, you are now going to operate differently than you have for the last 40 and 50 years. All right, Here's what I want you to know. The question I keep getting has to do with, can I post compensation for buyer agents in this place, this place, this place? Is there a way around the rules that are coming into place? Hear me on this, y'all. Stop looking for loopholes. Just stop. There's no need for it. All you have to do is educate people in a different way so that they will understand what's changing. Let me explain it to you this way. What's changing is very similar to a cooking show. Now, I love to watch Chopped, and I watch the Wall of Chefs out of Canada, and Top Chef, and Hell's Kitchen. I watch all of them, and I've seen so many episodes where they bring in an item and they tell the competitor— the competitors to deconstruct it. So make a deconstructed version of this thing and look at all the ingredients and figure it out. That's all that's happening right now. Up until now, your compensation as a buyer's agent has been baked into the cake. It's still been in there. There's been no mystery money. Now, some people may not have explained it well, but here we are. What we're doing right now though, is we're taking the cake apart. You're taking the eggs out. Now, all that means is you still need the eggs. Eggs are still very important and they're really good for you. They're great for protein. But what you have to know is the buyers are going to see the eggs and ask, how do I get these eggs back into the cake? All right, so there's 2 things you need to know if you're not going to look for loopholes, right? You're going to be the good egg here, haha, who is not trying to find a workaround with documents in the MLS or with extra websites or any of that. Step number 1, talk to your seller clients. Let your sellers understand that buyers are going to be calling in advance of a showing in North Carolina to say, "Hey, I would like to know if the seller will pay this many dollars as a buyer's broker." Your seller's probably going to hear 4 or 5 different, 15, 25 different numbers from buyer agents. They're going to get to convey through you yes or no to those different numbers. Make sure your spreadsheet is updated. Give them an updated net sheet so they can have a good clear way to say yes or no. That's going to require you to communicate better. That's not a bad thing. This is really good for us to text and call each other more who are professionals in this business. The second thing you're going to need to do, those buyers are now holding this egg trying to figure out, do I need a large egg, a small egg, an extra large? Can I switch over to that god-awful egg substitute? Well, you know, you're going to be something for everybody. You're going to work out with your buyers how you're going to be compensated and how much in advance of anything. And then you can call the listing agent and say, hey, would you be willing to cover this many dollars? That seller is going to say yes or no. Your buyer may want to pay you out of pocket. You may be talking to the lender about doing it as concessions. But those are you having professional conversations with your buyers and sellers where they can say yes and you can say yes, or they can say no and you can say no. Remember, this is not a unilateral thing. This is bilateral. You can decide what you charge and they can decide if they want to pay it. I think that's been missing in a lot of the conversations around real estate. There is this belief that agents have strolled around driving a wedge into the ground, demanding dollars, and the poor consumer has had to pay it. That's really not true, because even in my 24 years, I have seen and done a lot of flexing based on situations. It's been going on forever. But you as a professional REALTOR®, listen to me. If a consumer is unwilling to compensate you, you don't have to work with them. You know that, right? You don't have to work with people that are ugly to you and who cuss you out and would drag you into court. You have the right as a business owner to determine who is a good fit for your business. Now, put a big asterisk on this. That doesn't mean you violate fair housing, and I'm not talking protected classes. But the last time I checked, jacklegs are not a protected class. And so why would you say yes to somebody that's ugly to you? You're going to have to have a conversation though. Now, the job you have is to show why you're worth what you're charging. It's the same thing you've been doing with a seller client for years, where you explain all the market data and you explain what you bring to them in a way that's going to maximize their position in the marketplace. You've been doing it on one side, do it on the other side now. And I know some of y'all have been for a long time, that's why you're wildly successful. And some of you have explained it, you just haven't gone really in depth. Now's the time. 'Cause you have to go in depth. Stop looking for loopholes and just get really good at explaining why people have chosen you for years and what you bring to the table. And if you've lost your way and you have forgotten what you bring to the table, go talk to some past clients. Talk to the last 5 people who selected you and ask them what you did well. Ask them what they wish you'd done better and up your game. In real estate, if there's one thing I've heard agents say for years and years is that we want to raise the bar on professionalism. Well, guess what, friends? Now we get to kind of being forced to because the Biden DOJ is after us and every class action lawyer is licking their chops. Okay, fine, whatever. Let's just raise the bar. Forget all those external forces right now. Get your business up to snuff. And then those of us that have decided this is worth fighting for, we can go together and fight down these lawsuits and fight down the DOJ. That's all possible. But in the meantime, No more loopholes. You've just got to be good at explaining this. And if you need help, that's what we should be leaning on each other for, is just practice. Maybe you want to call your broker and say, "I'd like to go through this a couple of times and update my presentation." Maybe you want to create a new value package for your buyers and sellers. What a great time to do that. Just look at this as an opportunity, okay? Because great things are ahead for those of you that are professional. And are able to continue bringing great value to the clients you serve. And if anybody out there is watching this and you're not bringing great value, you're going to have to change gears or get out. And by the way, for the consumers who love trolling me and telling me you wish all realtors would starve and ugly things like that, you never had to use us in the first place. There's always been for sale by owner and buying without representation, and we wish people all the best in choosing what makes sense for them. But as for me, I'm always going to support the high-level professionals in this business because I know what we do for the American dream. It's no small thing. It's huge because it changes people's lives forever. So if you need one more reminder of why we don't look for loopholes, why we just get better, it's because you, my friends, are the American dream. Don't forget that.
