Hello everyone and Welcome to another

episode of selling Greenville your

favorite real estate podcast here in

lovely Greenville, South Carolina, I am

your host as always Stan Mccune realtor

right here in Greenville, South Carolina

and you can find all of my contact

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today well unfortunately we are having

to do a part two basically from last

week's episode because already things

are changing and being a little bit

chaotic with regard to the new

compensation things that are

happening in the world of real estate

and what happened literally the day that

I released last week's podcast got

a little bit of a bomb dropped on me

from from my brokerage not a bad bomb

but just a just a surprise it wasn't

something that that I was fully

expecting was that c and Joiner

Realtors decided that we are going to

completely decouple buyer agent

compensation from listing agent or

listing brokerage compensation and I'm

calling this the great decoupling

CED Joiner is not the only company doing

this there are other companies doing

this and probably at some point this

will become the standard for the

industry but in

essence there are there is not going to

be

any compensation for a buyer agent ever

coming directly from sedan Joiner as a

listing brokerage that doesn't mean

buyer agent compensation is going away

on our listings and on my listings

but it is just going to be handled a

little bit differently and that's what

I'm going to explain in this episode a

little bit more and I'm going to try

not to re rehash things that we

discussed in last episode as well so

some of this does change some of what I

said in the Pod last week because like I

said it came as a bit of a surprise

but but I'm lyan Joiner I'm going to

abide by these policies and I do think

that they will benefit some sellers in

the end so here's the gist of it we

discussed last week that we can know

longer offer Realtors can no longer

offer MLS compensation or on MLS any

compensation to a buyer agent you can

still offer compensation to a buyer

agent it just can't be on MLS well as

I've already said CED and Joiner my

company is no longer offering brokerage

as a listing brokerage offering

compensation to a buyer's agent at all

it's going to have to come through the

seller is how this is going to work

now I don't speak for all sedan Joiner

Realtors on here in other words nothing

I say on here should be taken as a

statement from the company and

additionally this is a rapidly evolving

environment so anything I say on here

could very well change and it could

change very quickly if it does then

I'll let you guys know that so please

keep that in mind if you're listening

to this in like 2027 things might be

completely different than they are as

I'm recording this in 2024 but but

for now this is this is where things

stand and and because I'm not

speaking on behalf of of the company

moving forward for the rest of this

podcast when I'm talking about

listings I'm not going to talk about

listings with cedan Joiner I'm going to

talk about listings with me as a as a

realtor otherwise I could see this

really getting confusing okay so what

does all this mean it means that for

listings with me the only amount that

a seller will be agreeing to pay from

now on is the listing commission to me

alone with no consideration in writing

very important caveat no consideration

in writing for compensating a buyer's

agent in other words whatever amount is

agreed upon to be paid to me as listing

agent none of it will be shared with a

buyer's agent now that's a big change

because in the past my listing

commission was split with a buyer agent

if there was a buyer agent that's no

longer going to be the case and as such

the listing commission for my listings

will be lower than what they used to be

in order to account for this because

sellers are still going to need

potentially some extra money to still

compensate a buyers agent albeit not

through the listing brokerage

compensation so we talked about this

before the the standard for 30 something

years has been that the full commission

paid by seller to the list to the

listing brokerage

that was it there was never it was

never that the seller was paying both

the buyer's agent and the listing agent

what it was was the seller was paying

the listing agent and then the listing

agent was cutting off a split of their

commission with a buyer's agent if there

was one and that just made sense if the

buyer's agent brought the buyer then

they deserved you know roughly half of

the commission and in my case different

agents did it differently in my case I

would always give half half of my

commission to the buyer's agent

well that is the the core thing

that's changing is it's no longer going

to be that that commission that kind of

assumes that indirectly maybe assume

that there might be a buyer agent now

it's just going to be a lower listing

amount without any direct inwriting

compensation for a buyer agent that's

what we have decoupled we've decoupled

the buyer agent commission completely

from the listing agent commission okay

are you following hopefully you are this

is what the Department of Justice wanted

if you don't like the new system take it

up with take it up with the president

and the doj now I said last week that

sellers should still consider

compensating Buyer Agents because most

likely they will make more money in the

long run doing that I'm not going to

rehash the logic behind that because you

can still listen to my podcast from last

week in order to get my thinking on

that so just go back and listen to that

if you're curious but nothing that I

said with regard to seller strategy is

changing sellers should still be willing

to compensate a buyer's agent in order

to make sure that you as a seller get

top dollar for your home this isn't to

subsidize Buyer Agents this isn't to

keep buyer agency alive nobody's trying

to do that Buyer Agents provide a

tremendous value I've talked about this

before in the show again not going to

rehash it they provide a ton of

value transactions go much smoother

generally speaking when there's a

competent buyer agent involved and if

they're not compensated then they're not

going to potentially be able to even

show your home because if the buyer

can't afford to compensate their buyer

agent then then why would they want

to look at a home that's not offering

any sort of buyer agent commission at

all and so I'm still encouraging my

Sellers as I discussed last week to be

at least willing to offer some sort

of concession that would cover all or

some of a buyer agent are they are

sellers forced to do that no they are

not forced to do that and so this is the

big thing that's changing from what we

talked about last week is that from now

on sellers with me will not be locked in

in any way to compensating a buyer's

agent they they were never locked into

that to be clear but some may have

felt that way now that it's decoupled

you can't even feel that way and under

no circumstances can you get this get

the come to the the conclusion that you

are are automatically paying for a

buyer's agent you should just be at

least open to the possibility so when a

buyer makes an offer on one of my

listings they need to help if they

need help paying for their buyer

agent because a buyer can still just pay

for the buyer's agent that's really

the simplest option here but a lot of

buyers can't and so when a buyer

makes an

offer and they do need help with paying

for their Buyer Agents they need to

include a compensation agreement that

specifies that the seller will be paying

a whatever amount in order to

compensate the buyer's agent and so this

is going to be just treated similarly to

how closing costs are treated if a buyer

needs help from a seller with closing

cost they simply write that into the

offer and the seller can weigh the pros

and cons of the offer the pros and cons

of paying closing costs and then decide

whether they want to accept counter or

reject the offer now some buyers to

sweeten the pot will go up on the

purchase price to offset what they are

asking for the seller to pay in terms of

closing costs or sometimes sellers

will want to counter an offer so that

the net amount ends up being the same

as the list price after closing costs

and and concessions are accounted for it

all depends on how much leverage the

buyer has and how much leverage the

seller has right at the end of the day

if a home has been on the market for a

long time sellers are a lot more open to

concessions whereas if a home has

just come on the market a seller might

be like you know what I kind of want to

wait and see what happens and we're

not going to and I'm not going to be

forcing the sellers to to offer

concessions we can't do that it's up to

sellers to make that call

themselves and this is just how buyer

agent compensation is going to be

sellers should simply think of it as a

buyer asking for help with closing costs

and and not get hung up on where the

money is going okay that's I could see

that being a completely separate issue

where sellers are are like well I'm

willing to help a buyer with closing

costs if they need closing costs but I

am not going to pay for their agent you

need to think of all this as the same

it's all a concession where the money

goes I mean technically the buyer can

can pay their buyer agent and just ask

for closing costs and just essentially

use the closing costs to cover their

the buyer agent commission that they're

paying it just makes it it just

adds a few line items on the settlement

statement but it's done exactly the same

way and you still wouldn't know as a

seller where that money is going because

it's just going towards the the buyer

costs at closing and they can apply

that I mean essentially it's not applied

directly against any one expense it's

just the closing attorney just applies

it against all the buyer expenses minus

minus obviously the down payment and

there are a handful of other expenses

but it

long story short if you're a seller

please don't get hung up on that on the

detail of you know if you're okay with

concessions but you're not okay with

concessions being used towards a buyer

agent I think that you're doing yourself

a disservice and I would recommend that

you don't do that but you as a seller

will simply weigh as you get that offer

and it's asking for whatever

compensation for a buyer's agent or

closing cost help or whatever you're

just going to weigh that the same as you

always have when a buy has asked for

concessions if you're in a position

where you want you know where it

makes sense for you to pay for

concessions then you should do it if you

feel like you aren't ready to do that

you feel like you can get something

better and of course this is

something you know me and my sellers

will be discussing then then you need

to to consider things and and strategize

based on your confidence in being

able to get a something better and and

then maybe you counter back you know

again with a higher purchase price or or

something like that but sellers won't

have to accept compensation but

to accept that they will be paying

compensation towards the buyer agent

but they need to consider the pros and

cons of it again we talked about that

in a lot more detail in the the last

episode that I recorded on here now it's

very possible that some buyers won't

need much or any help on paying their

agents and in that case this is a huge

win for sellers potentially thousands of

dollars of cost savings for Buyer Agents

this could present some difficulty when

the market turns back into a hot sellers

Market time will tell but for now I

think Buyer Agents are generally going

to be able to find ways to get

compensated without much drama because

the market is slow enough right now you

know I'm I'm not ready to say it's a

buyer Market just yet but it's slow

enough that a lot of offers right now

that I'm seeing are having seller

concessions on them and so that's just

going to continue and possibly get get

more as we go along here and and

again this is the heart of what the

Department of Justice wanted they wanted

sellers to no longer feel forced to

compensate buyers agents even though

they were never forced to compensate

Buyer Agents the Department of Justice s

otherwise and that is what I and my

company are doing by decoupling the

buyer agent commission from the listing

commission and making it negotiable on

every single contract so that's the

biggest thing that's changed since my

last episode but what am I actually

seeing happening in the marketpl I want

to you know share a little bit of what

I'm I'm been seeing the past week well

for starters a lot more communication

between agents on this topic of

compensation I think I mentioned it last

week but I made an offer on a home where

I had to ask the agent if they were

offering compensation to a buyer's agent

and then the the question was who is

offering the compensation right because

this system that we have in place where

the seller is compensating the buyer

agent directly versus the listing

brokerage doing it not every company

is doing that and this can actually be a

big deal because okay so I said that

I and my company are no longer

compensating Buyer Agents when we are

the listing brokerage but that not every

company has made that decision at this

time okay from the point of paperwork

this is a really important detail

because the seller could functionally

agree to pay double commissions if they

agree to pay the buyer agent commission

on top of paying their listing

commission which is also agreeing to

compensate partially towards the buyer

agent so let's say that you're that

let's say you're a seller and you're

going with a brokerage that is still

offering buyer agent commissions as part

of their listing

agreement then you should not be double

paying you shouldn't be then agreeing to

also have to pay the buyer agent

directly you could functionally be

agreeing to pay the a buyer's agent

twice now I'm oversimplifying things a

little bit here and almost certainly in

the end a you know once the final

numbers came out and whatnot a buyer

agent wouldn't end up being double paid

right I think that this would get worked

out but I don't like to leave anything

to chance when writing submitting or

reviewing offers and so this detail is

an important detail when you're asking

when you're a buyer's agent asking for

compensation you need to know who do I

need to ask the compensation of is it

the listing brokerage or is it the

seller and so obviously that's a

question I have had to answer and on the

listing side I've had to or I've had

to ask that on the buyer side on the

listing side I've had similar convers

ations where I have had to answer

that to buyer agent I just listed a home

in planters roow in Malden which by the

way is a great opportunity it's it's a

home that's being discounted by probably

30 40,000 at least simply on the

basis of that there are tenants in there

that have a lease that run through

November of 2025 so if you're looking

for a home with Instant Equity and you

don't need to move in it right away that

could be a good opportunity for you

just reach out and I let you know

Planters row is a really nice

neighborhood of Malden okay anyway I'm

in because I just listed this house I'm

in the thick of experiencing these

questions myself and so usually the

first question is is your seller

offering compensation to a buyer's agent

well I'm still perfecting my response

but essentially I'm telling them that a

seller will consider it and will treat

it like any other concession so go ahead

send it in as part of the offer and the

seller will consider it not only have I

done that but I actually created a thre

minute YouTube video because I just know

I'm gonna get so many of these questions

and since I already have the studio and

everything I was just like why not I'm

just going to create a video it's not

listed so people you know if you try to

look for it you're not going to find it

but but I'm just going to send it

anytime I get this question from listing

agents I'm just going to send them that

video them listening to a three minute

or watching a three minute video is

going to be a lot less time than doing a

gazillion back and forth text messages

or emails

now what are some other things I've seen

I've seen some concern about steering

specifically from one brokerage that had

it CEO make public statements about how

they are not offering broker to- broker

compensation

yeah I I've seen some connation that

some agents aren't going to show homes

that are listed by this one brokerage

because of of statements that their CEO

made that were taken way out of context

as a reminder steering is is an

illegal practice of Buyer Agents

directing their clients away from

certain properties that are either in

areas that the Realtors deem inferior to

other areas or away from properties that

would potentially result in the agent

not making as much money as they want to

make or that the buyer agreed to

compensate them steering is illegal

now what is legal is if a buyer says

reach out to the to the listing agent

and feel out whether they are willing to

compensate you because I can't afford to

compensate you as my buyer's agent and

if they say no under no circumstances

are we going to compensate then I I

can't look at the house because I can't

afford it that's a separate conversation

the buyer made that decision not the

buyer's agent but if a buyer's agent

simply looks at all of the listings by a

certain company that that they don't

think is going to compensate them and

then and steers their buyer client away

from those listings that is illegal that

is not how this works you need to

still show homes to your buyer clients

and and you know if you're an agent

listening to this you can't do that you

you can't do that you got to communicate

the the the decision on where on what

homes to look at or not look at is the

buyer's decision not the buyer agent's

decision you can't be the one making

that decision for them that is an

illegal practice very bad so I'm hoping

that that we don't have that

happening because apparently I I don't

think you know I saw this chatter in

vain apparently this one brokerage which

is a a national very big brokerage is

having issues with messaging on how they

are handling commissions with the result

that Buyer Agents are actually

threatening to not show homes that the

company is

listed no thank you that is really

really bad that needs to stop right away

way and if agents don't clean this up

not only are we likely to see more

lawsuits against the real estate

industry but almost certainly we will

see more lawsuits against agents

themselves perhaps even from the

Department of Justice and and so and

this is again reinforces why sellers

should at least be amenable open to

having a conversation about compensating

buyer buyers agents because again

there's going to be situations where

buyers will choose to not look at a home

I'm not going to assume that Buyer

Agents are going to steer because again

they could lose their license if they do

that but buyers themselves may very well

do that and there there are some very

real there's some very real potential

that this could result in indirectly in

steering from buyers themselves right

let's say that you know a buyer is

looking at a at an area that's a lower

income

lower you know socioeconomic status area

and in that area the sellers

simply cannot compensate Buyer Agents

that could result in buyers simply

ignoring those areas so unfortunately

the Department of Justice didn't think

that far ahead on these things but

that's on them that's not on us we can

only as Realtors do the best that we

can do and you as sellers and buyers you

can only do the best that you can do

with the hand that we've all been dealt

so there there's a lot of confusion and

consternation about all of this but

we will get through it and to be

honest this change really probably

happened at the best possible time

because had it happened when the market

was on fire in 2021 it would have been

absolute chaos with the market being a

bit slower we have time to work out the

Kinks before rates drop and then things

get crazy again and and you know I

think for the for the time being buyers

likely won't have to directly pay their

Buyer Agents for most most transactions

since most sellers won't have the

leverage to say no to concessions I

think most buyer Buyer Agents will

find a way to be able to to Shield

their buyer clients from having to pay

all or at least some of the buyer agent

commissions because we can bake it into

the into the transaction as a seller

concession but let's not get it twisted

sellers are for sure the big winners

here and this what reality is this won't

result in the cost of housing going down

in any meaningful way but it will result

in sellers potentially in many cases

having fewer transaction costs than they

would have had in the

past so if you're a seller you should be

happy you should be happy with the great

decoupling and you should list your

house with me because I am decoupling

these listings and giving you an

opportunity to potentially have more

money in your pocket at the end of the

day obviously I guide my seller clients

for every step of the process to ensure

that they get top dollar and and

particularly now as we're navigating all

these different changes so please

contact me if you want to list your

house as well if you need a buyer agent

I do that as well all my contact

information is in the show notes if you

need me to help you with any of those

things reminder to like rate review

subscribe to the show and reminder as

well Piper Insurance Group contact them

with all of your home Auto and Umbrella

insurance needs and we will talk again

next time by