Northwest MLSThe Pacific Northwest’s largest Multiple Listing Service will not participate in the company’s $418 million deal National Association of Realtors (NAR) in Sitzer/Burnett.
In fact, NWMLS says its own buyer agent compensation rules are fairer and more transparent than the terms NAR agreed to in March. It also criticized the NAR for promoting “secret transactions between consumers and brokers on the MLS that promote deceptive practices, discrimination and unfair housing.”
“Secret Deal”
The NWMLS board of directors made the decision to opt out at its most recent meeting, the organization said Tuesday. NWMLS is member-owned and not affiliated with the national trade association, although it is eligible to join under the terms of the settlement. It has about 35,000 members and can be exempted from claims if each member contributes about $100 (or $3.5 million) to the settlement fund.
But doing so would subject NWMLS to the terms of the NAR settlement. This is unacceptable to the team.
“NAR’s proposed settlement largely repeats years of rules and practices in the NWMLS service area, with one glaring exception: The settlement eliminates buyer compensation transparency and prohibits sellers from going through the MLS,” the organization said. express.
“Instead, the settlement agreement allows for compensation ‘outside the MLS,’ but this information is difficult to find and not available to all buyers and brokers. This change is a step in the wrong direction and is harmful to consumers and Brokers are harmful.
NWMLS says its rules and forms, as well as recently revised changes to the Buyer Representation Agreement, provide a consumer-friendly brokerage relationship and a high degree of transparency. (It also cited the 2019 elimination of the requirement for sellers to provide compensation to buyer’s agents, and the 2022 change requiring that any compensation to buyer’s agents be set and paid by the seller, not the listing broker.)
“NAR’s elimination of MLS pay transparency encourages consumers and brokers to conduct secret transactions outside the MLS, resulting in deceptive practices, discrimination and unfair housing,” NWMLS said. “Depriving buyers of information about their transactions could harm buyers. , especially those buyers who are already disadvantaged, including first-time homebuyers and members of protected classes.
“The prohibition on indemnification in the MLS also unnecessarily limits the seller’s choice and absolute right to provide indemnification to the brokerage firm representing the buyer.”
The NWMLS said it plans to revise its forms and listing process in mid-August to ensure sellers are aware of the options that currently exist when listing their properties for sale.
NWMLS has not yet been named as a defendant in any commission litigation case, although it has been abolished Ministry of Justice Regarding its declaration of interest in the Nosalek case.
