Buyers’ Brokers Will Have to Work Harder After $418 Million Settlement, Realtor Says

While the $418 million settlement in the long-running lawsuit against the National Association of Realtors (NAR) has come in for heavy criticism from many real estate players, who fear the market will devolve into chaos if it abandons the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and the 6 percent commissions that have long been standard, the settlement in the end will promote transparency and weed out brokers who do not offer value to customers. That’s the view of Michael Downer, a broker at Coldwell Banker Realty in Naples, Florida. “I think that the settlement is great news for both realtors and the public. It adds a level of transparency that has been lacking,” Mr. Downer told The Epoch Times....