Implications of National Association of Realtor's lawsuit.

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  As Greek philosopher Heraclitus once said "Change is the only constant", We agree and believe boutique real estate companies like Atomic will have the agility to best address change. Big boxes companies have a whole high cost cooperate structure that consumers pay for to make ANY changes. 

As of July 10, 2024, this is what is changing. While Atomic Realty believes the changes are good as they add to transparency and a real ability to negotiate with brokerages, we feel it will take some time for some industry members and brokerages to decide how to best implement the changes and no longer do business as usual.

LISTING BROKERS- ATOMIC REALTY WILL LIST PROPERTY CHARGING $599 AT THE TIME OF LISTING AND 1.5% COMMISSION CHARGED TO THE SELLER TO BE PAID AT CLOSING FOR ATOMIC REALTY'S SERVICES. However, this doesn’t mean the Big Box brokerage Buyer will not ask the seller  to pay the buyer’s  broker, its just not necessarily automatically offered.

Sellers will no longer be directly offering the Buyer’s broker commission on the MLS. A Buyer may negotiate the Seller to pay the Buyer's Broker in the "offer, the Buyers may be paying their own Broker from their own funds, or the listing broker may increase the Seller’s commission and pay the Buyer’s broker directly. But often Buyer’s do not have the resources to pay all their other closing costs and pay their broker. If this is the case the Buyer may negotiate with the Seller to participate in paying the Buyer’s Brokerage commission through a Sellers concession.  We at Atomic Realty believe everyone deserves to earn a living from their work. Below is how we believe Brokers may get paid for their work.

1) The Buyer requests a Seller’s concession  in the purchase agreement, or the  Seller may have offered a concession upfront. All seller’s concessions MUST be asked for by the Buyer in their “offer to purchase” because both the Buyer’s bank and title company need to be aware of any concessions and the purchase agreement is where this occurs. When the Seller receives an offer with a requested concession they can:

a) Accept the concession and accept the offer to purchase,

b) Delcine the concession and entire offer,

c) or counter offer and negotiate the concession amount. 

OR

2) Instead of requesting a Sellers’s concession a Buyer may want to pay their Broker directly(The Buyer’s Broker) a fixed fee or a percentage of the listing price commission at closing out of the buyer’s personal funds for the Buyer Broker's services

OR

3) The Buyer’s Broker may ask the Listing Broker to pay their commission. In this case listing Brokers will ask Sellers to list for a high enough commission to for them pay them and the Buyers broker directly. (Ex: Broker X asks for 6% commission and will pay the buyers broker some of that. To accept this the type of payment the listing Broker may have to require an increase in listing commission.

The Sellers’s net – Who pays what concession is not very important. What is important is how much does the Seller NET  and what contingencies does the Buyer waive (i.e. inspections appraisals) If a Buyer makes a lower offer than others but requests a lower concession or pays their Broker directly without requesting a concession at all, the seller may actually NET more money and find the lower offer with smaller concessions or no concessions to be more attractive.  

OF THE THREE OPTIONS WE BELIEVE OPTION #1 OR #2 ABOVE IS THE BEST AND MOST TRANSPARENT WAY FOR BUYERS BROKERS TO GET PAID.

FSBOs - Brokers showing a property on behalf of the seller do not need a buyer broker agreement, however as soon as they begin discussing making an offer of any kind in which they would potentially represent the buyer, then the Buyer must have a Buyer Broker Agreement.

Compare what we do and what we charge to others. We;

1) Market your home on the MLS, Zillow, Realtor.com, and others,

2) Take high quality photos. We own professional grade cameras. 

3) Create a 3D walkthrough of your property. Which buyers can measure rooms online

4) Provide a floor plan to share with buyers.

5) Provide “For Sale” signs and directional signs. 

6) Market your home on social media.

7) Showcase your home with open houses.

8) Coordinate all showings, with Buyers and Brokers.

9) Present, discuss, and provide insight into ALL offers, counters, disclosures, tax docs, HOAs, etc.

10) Coordinate with Buyer’s and their Brokers following up with all the parties of the transaction to make sure it is timely and working to close.

11) Coordinate private party inspections, appraisals, and the other parts of the transaction. 

12) Atomic Realty will coordinate with all the institutional parties in the transaction, Banks, Title Companies, and other Brokers.