The video explains a recent legal change that prohibits listing agents from advertising buyer’s agent commissions in the MLS, meaning buyers can no longer see at a glance whether a seller is offering a commission. As a result, buyer’s agents must contact each listing agent individually to determine the offered commission, which can range from 0% to the traditional 2.5%. If the seller’s offer is lower than the buyer’s expected commission, the buyer must cover the shortfall, either out‑of‑pocket or by having the amount built into the mortgage loan. The speaker stresses that this adds complexity to the home‑buying process and highlights the need for a flexible real‑estate team—buyer’s agent, mortgage broker, and loan officer—who can quickly adjust offers in a competitive market. He references an extended podcast with local lender Randy Brown of Versatile Mortgage, who explains how the buyer’s agent commission can be financed through the loan, effectively restoring the previous “baked‑in” model.
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Before, there was only so much a buyer could afford anyway, and it was the buyer's agent commission was just built in or kind of baked in to the overall price of the home. Now it may or may not be baked in. In other words, if you see a house that's for sale for $300,000, you don't know whether the buyer's agent commission is built into the price of that home or not. And the only way that you find out is by having your buyer's agent has to contact that listing agent directly. You see, in the past, as a listing agent, when I sit down and I'm acting on behalf of the sellers, I used to ask them, do you want to pay a buyer's agent commission? They'd say yes. And then I would mark that in the MLS, and that was advertised clearly. Any buyer's agent out there looking at homes would be able to look in the MLS and see that the seller was offering 2.5%. Okay. What has changed with this lawsuit is that that is now banned. It can't be in the MLS anymore advertised. And so buyer's agents have to reach out house by house, listing agent by listing agent, and ask that question and find out. Okay. And that should be taking place, by the way, after you've had— as a buyer, after you've had this conversation directly with your buyer's agent. About what, if any, compensation I will pay you if the seller is not offering any. Okay. And that could be— let's say it's— let's say the top is 2.5%. The seller might be offering 1%, which means you as a buyer have to come up with a difference of the 1.5% difference to get that agreed upon 2.5%. The seller may be paying all of it or maybe paying none. Okay, if the seller's offering 2.5%, then you won't have to pay anything, obviously, to your buyer's agent. If the seller's offering nothing, that means you'll have to do the full 2.5%. But again, folks, back to the reality of the thing— buyers were coming with the big bag of money to closing anyway, so it was already built into that overall price of the home. All that this change has really done is just made the calculation more challenging for the buyer. So that's why you need a good team that can adapt and adjust house by house by house because, you know, one seller might be offering 2.5% to a buyer's agent. Another house that you look at may be offering none. Another one may be offering only 1.5%. You need to be able to be working with an agent and a mortgage broker or a loan officer who is adaptable, who can think quickly on their feet, knows their stuff, and can make quick adjustments so that you can be competitive in a highly competitive market out there. So I sat down with a local lender. He owns his own mortgage brokerage, which brings with it its own set of advantages. I sat down with him with an extended podcast. You can check out that over hour long. We really get into the weeds, into a lot of detail about mortgages and other things. Or check out the short excerpt where Randy Brown of Versatile Mortgage talks about how he can build the buyer's agent commission into the loan. And by building into the loan, it kind of can operate the way that it has in the past.
