There are new rules to seeing houses that you must know before buying a home in Port St Lucie.
These rules are not just for us as your agent for buying a home, but apply to real estate agents throughout the state of Florida and the United States who use participating Multiple Listing Services.
When you want to buy a home in Port St Lucie, Jensen Beach, Stuart, or Fort Pierce (our main markets) and you choose us to be your real estate agent, these rules will apply to you. They are the consequence of a lawsuit brought against Realtors nationwide.
These changes follow a $418 million antitrust settlement.
Generally, no matter who you hire to be your real estate agent, these rules will still apply.
The Basics of the New Home Showing Rules
The simple truth: Homebuyers MUST sign a written and legally binding agreement with a real estate agent before seeing a property. From the National Association of Realtors (NAR) website:
Written agreements for MLS Participants acting for buyers: While NAR has been advocating for the use of written agreements for years, in this settlement we have agreed to require MLS Participants working with buyers to enter into written agreements with their buyers before touring a home. This change will go into effect August 17, 2024.
What is the gist of the written agreement?
According to the FAQ from the National Association of Realtors
The written agreement must include:
- A specific and conspicuous disclosure of the amount or rate of compensation the Participant (agent) will receive or how this amount will be determined, to the extent that the Participant will receive compensation from any source.
- The amount of compensation in a manner that is objectively ascertainable and not open-ended.
- A term that prohibits the Participant from receiving compensation for brokerage services from any source that exceeds the amount or rate agreed to in the agreement with the buyer; and
- A conspicuous statement that broker fees and commissions are not set by law and are fully negotiable
How These New Home Buying Rules Affect You, The Home Buyer
Gone are the days of contacting a random real estate agent to tour a Port St Lucie home for sale that you were curious about, but had no intentions of buying in the next 90 days. This new paperwork cuts out the tourism of homes for sale. That will be one benefit.
Only buyers who are ready, willing, and able to purchase a home should be engaged in seeing homes for sale. This will include having your financing pre-approved if you plan to secure a mortgage.
The new rules do not allow us to show you any property without a signature on the form. We could be fined or have our real estate license at risk.
In our business process, we will use one of three forms, depending on your need and depending on the depth of our developing relationship.
- Pre-Touring Agreement – for a specific time window. This is non-exclusive.
- Showing Agreement – for a specific property on a specific day or weekend. A new one will be needed as needed. This is non-exclusive. You have the liberty to sign with whoever shows you that property.
- Exclusive Buyer’s Broker Agreement – you are agreeing to hire us as your real estate agent exclusively for a set period of time. This is an exclusive. You do not have the liberty to choose other agents to help you at the same time.
One the documents requires the home buyer to agree to work with us exclusively for a set period of time (#3). This buyer’s agreement document defines our exclusive relationship for the time you are looking for a house. We will devote all our resources to your success in buying a home.
The other two documents commit you to specific properties with us, or a specific showing window (#1, #2). If you choose to proceed with one the properties we show you under either of these agreements, we’ll work with you through to the end of your closing.
There is a 4th form that applies only if you want to look at our active real estate listings, but do not want any buyer representation to write an offer or see any further properties with us.
It is a disclosure to inform you we will not work for you in the transaction. It only applies if you wat to see a Casas De Walker team listing, or if you want to see a listing directly with the listing agent.
Bottom Line: You cannot see a property without a signed agreement upfront.
The Rules on How Your Buyer’s Agent Gets Paid
Another big change with these new rules involves new disclosures and rules on how commissions are paid.
These forms will require us to have a discussion with you about the fees we charge when buying a house.
Buying a house has never been free to you as a home buyer, even if there was no money out of your pocket. The industry practice over many years has been an agreement the seller made with the listing agent on how much the total commission the seller would pay.
In Florida, the listing agreement will specify how much of that total commission would be shared between a buyer’s agent and the listing agent. That share was public knowledge and available to all agents, and to the public through many of the real estate portals. The policy was called “clear cooperation.”
The buyer’s agent you hired was paid a pre-determined amount set by the seller and listing agent. The money flowed from the listing broker, to the buyer’s broker, to the buyer agent. When a home was bought, the buyers agent was paid from the listing commission. This coupling of commission gave the impression that buying a home was “Free” to the buyer.
What has changed?
Commissions have been “de-coupled.”
Instead of the listing broker establishing a commission split with a buyer’s agent this new system requires:
- home sellers to negotiate commission with their listing agent.
- home buyers to negotiate commissions with their buyer’s agent.
Buyers who hire us to be a buyer’s agent will agree with us, before seeing any property, how much we will be paid when we help them acquire and close on the purchase of a home.
Before you begin to see homes, these forms will establish how much we charge and how much you are willing to pay. These new rules require that it be clear that we negotiate with you at the start what we will get paid.
Bottom Line: Home Buyers will agree up front what the buyer’s agent will be paid.
Can Home Sellers Offer to Help with Buyer Agent Commissions?
The big question: will you, our customer and home buyer, have to come out of pocket on top of your other closing costs to pay us at closing?
The answer is “It Depends.”
- Some home sellers may decide up front to contribute to all or a portion of buyer’s commission on the listing agreement.
- Some sellers may choose to see what kinds of offers come and decide during negotiation.
- Some sellers will decide to not contribute anything towards a buyers agent.
There is a possibility that you might be responsible for none, some, or all of the commission.
We will negotiate hard on your behalf to help you achieve the goal of homeownership and get great seller contributions towards the buyer’s agent fee. At the time of the offer, you willl decide what route you will choose. It’ll be part of our conversation based on the home, your finances, discussions with your lender and so on. Every home and situation is unique.
Bottom line: Before finalizing any purchase offer we make for you, you’ll know if the seller will contribute to all, some, or none of our commission..
How to Navigate These New Home Buying Rules with Us
Before we show you homes (including via video tours), we will meet in our office or via Zoom if you are not local.
During our meeting, we will review the buyer agency forms involved. We’ll go over what they mean for you during your home-buying process.
We will go over how to use these forms if you choose to see an open house without us being there with you.
We will talk about our negotiation skills where we might get the seller to cover or contribute to the closing costs and commissions.
We’ll talk about your expectations of how the new commission negotiation rules will affect your home-buying journey and goals.
So Much More
The news media has been full of stories regarding the changing homebuying process. They have to speak to national audiences and may not know or understand the nuances of local rules.
We know you have questions about the home buying process, more than can be covered here.
In summary:
- You’ll have to sign forms before seeing a property.
- You’ll have to commit to a commission arrangement with your agent
An attorney wouldn’t work on your behalf without an engagement letter and likely a retainer.
By signing a buyer’s agent agreement with us, you gain a trusted advisor, dedicated to helping you achieve your homeownership goals. That’s motivation enough!
We work full time finding the best opportunities for a few exclusive buyer clients. We can only take on Buyers committed to working with us.
We might start with just a few properties to allow you to get to know us, but our goal is to earn your trust to become an exclusive buyer client. After a few showings under the pre-touring agreement or showing agreement, if you want to work with multiple brokers, then we are not your team.
There are lots of ins and outs. The next best step is to schedule an appointment with us for a Zoom call (if you are relocating to Port St. Lucie), or take a meeting with us in our office.
