Possible?  – River Journal Online – News for Tarrytown, Sleepy Hollow, Irvington,

When a Missouri federal jury decided on Oct. 31, 2023, that the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) and two large brokerage firms conspired to price-fix real estate commissions, industry observers speculated that costs to consumers could drop when buying and selling homes.  

The actual results of this potentially revolutionary change in how homes are bought and sold in America, however, is up in the air and might take years to appear. It isn’t clear at this point how both buyers and sellers will fare under an unknowable set of potential new practices. 

The verdict in the Oct. 31 case was that home sellers in the Kansas City, Missouri region who listed properties on one of four local Multiple Listing Services (MLS) dating back to 2015 and paid a broker are now entitled to $1.8 billion in damages. Because the jury ruled federal anti-trust laws were violated, that award could be tripled by the judge. Two original defendants settled before the trial, agreeing to pay $83.5 million and $55 million, without admitting any guilt. 

Class-action attorneys, seeing blood in the water, are filing piggyback lawsuits all across the country, with new cases popping up in Texas, Illinois, South Carolina and New York. 

Paying out verdicts in the billions of dollars could financially cripple or bankrupt even the largest real estate companies if the Missouri decision stands after appeals, which could reach the Supreme Court. High numbers of individual real estate agents could be laid off. 

NAR has stated that it disagrees with the verdict and expects to overturn it on appeal, a process that will unfold into 2024.   

“This matter is not close to being final,” NAR said in a statement after the verdict. “We will appeal the liability finding because we stand by the fact that NAR rules serve the best interests of consumers, support market-driven pricing and advance business competition. We remain optimistic we will ultimately prevail. In the interim, we will ask the court to reduce the damages awarded by the jury.”  

Following guidelines set by NAR and local Multiple Listing Services (MLS), home sellers have for decades hired an agent or broker to sell their house. The seller agrees to pay a commission on the sale price and is told that the buyer’s agent will be paid from that commission. The buyer typically pays no commission. 

Two local real estate professionals interviewed by River Journal North point out that buyers and sellers have always been able to negotiate the commissions they pay, and that top-flight agents provide value on the most important investment that most people make. 

“There has never been anything in writing specifying a…