Bell Nunnally Partner Allison L. Elko is quoted in the D Magazine article “How the Enormous Realtors’ Settlement May Impact Your Home Sale,” featured in the July print edition.

The article explores the impact to home sellers of a March announcement by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) intended to resolve claims brought by home sellers in litigation asserting that they were unknowingly compelled to pay commissions for both their listing agents and the buyers’ agents. The piece details, “The NAR lawsuits—there were several of them—alleged that listing agents didn’t offer to negotiate commissions and that commissions for buyers’ agents were never negotiated. There have also been implications, some backed by academic studies, that buyers’ agents have steered their clients away from any home where sellers didn’t offer the buyers’ agents a high enough commission.”

Elko explains how transparency may change with respect to the commissions for agents on the buying and selling sides, “[The unbundling of commissions] will probably lead to more written agreements on commissions and less negotiating behind closed doors between brokers. Buyers haven’t necessarily had a line of sight to understand how the brokers are being paid. But I think now they’ll be more aware.”

Later in the article, Elko comments on the price point of a sale where a commission fee negotiation might make sense, “When there’s a significant cost involved, well over a million dollars, that’s when people tend to engage attorneys. So, I’ll negotiate some residential listing agreements where both parties are aware of how everybody’s getting paid.”

To read the full article, please click here.