Scott+Scott is a law firm committed to holding big business accountable. We are investigating a scheme affecting home sellers who list their house on a Multiple Listing Service (“MLS”) in certain states.
California, New York, Connecticut and Hawaii have some of the most expensive home prices in the country. In these states (and others) the national and regional trade associations along with large real estate brokerages are working together to artificially inflate commissions rates paid by the home seller to brokers representing home-buyers. This kind of cooperation among market participants is illegal and forces broker commissions and housing prices higher than they should be. At the heart of the alleged price fixing scheme is The National Association of Realtors., (“NAR”), a large and powerful trade association that implements and enforces anticompetitive policies that force commission rates to artificially inflated levels.
In a standard residential real estate transaction in the United States, a homeowner sells their home to a buyer. Most of these transactions are facilitated by the use of an MLS – where the seller – via her broker – lists their home for sale on local or regional MLS. In order to list a property on an MLS, the seller-broker must be a participant of the MLS and abide by the MLS’s rules. The National Association of Realtors (“NAR”) requires that any MLS affiliated with NAR, including the Subject MLS, comply with NAR’s governing rules. Therefore, all Subject MLS participants are bound by NAR’s MLS Handbook and Code of Ethics. Chief among these is the buyer-broker commission rule, which requires sellers to make a blanket unilateral offer of compensation to any would be buyer-broker. This requirement that a seller must offer a set commission to the successful buyer-broker in order for their property to be listed on an MLS anticompetitive and causes sellers to pay artificially inflated commission rates.
In a healthy and fair market, brokers seeking to represent home buyers would have to compete on commission rates – keeping these rates competitive and fair and commensurate with the services provided —not artificially inflated like they are today. The NAR’s policies stifle this competition and enable buyer brokers to receive inflated commissions that are not commensurate with services provided.
The DOJ has investigated NAR’s anticompetitive practices the past, and is currently attempting to further investigate specific policies and practices.
Scott+Scott is working to solve this problem for home-sellers harmed by this scheme and compensate them for their harm through litigation.
HAVE YOU SOLD A HOME RECENTLY AND FORCED TO PAY A SET COMMISSION TO YOUR HOME BUYER’S BROKER? WOULD YOU LIKE TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS INVESTIGATION?
If you sold a home after listing it on a MLS and were forced to pay a commission within the last four years you may be eligible to participate in an antitrust claim against the lessors and the pricing software who manipulated rental housing pricings. To find out if you are eligible, please fill out the form below and an attorney will reach out to you to discuss your legal rights; there is no cost.