WVXU: Settlement could cause big changes in housing market

Gary Painter, PhD, the academic director of the Carl H. Lindner College of Business real estate program and a professor of real estate, joined Cincinnati Edition to discuss the National Association of Realtors' settling lawsuits that accused the trade group of unfairly propping up agent commissions. The association has agreed to pay $418 million to help compensate home sellers and will allow home buyers and sellers to negotiate lower agent commissions.

“In my view, that's what we're going to see, an evolution of the real estate industry so that people have a better sense of what service they're getting for what cost,” Painter said. “And that will evolve over time to perhaps a new equilibrium. In total, it may or may not be more be less costly for buyers and sellers collectively, but in some cases it will.”

Previously, buyers and sellers did have the opportunity to negotiate fees. However, many people didn't realize the options that were available to them.

The new landscape will present an opportunity for people to become more informed, Painter said, and decide which services they actually need.

“I think choice in general is a good thing for buyers, especially informed choice,” he said. “In my view, this is an opportunity for the industry to allow both buyers and sellers to be much more informed about what are the opportunities in front of them.”

Buyers and sellers already have looked to reduce the costs in the real estate market by using companies such as Homeshake, as reported by Cincy Inno. The startup uses a peer-to-peer platform that directly connects buyers and sellers, eliminating real estate agents and lowering commissions.

“You’ll see seasoned homebuyers and sellers most attracted first to them, and then eventually, you’ll see they’ll have competitors themselves in that industry,” Painter told Cincy Inno. “The industry is going to see kind of a transformation of the unbundling of services that were traditionally provided by a buyer’s agent, seller’s agent … that will be priced in a more competitive way for the consumer and/or the home seller.”

See more from Cincinnati Edition and Cincy Inno.