Here’s What to Know.

The biggest changes in decades to the way real-estate agents get paid are being rolled out around the country. The National Association of Realtors, or NAR, reached a landmark legal settlement earlier this year over commissions, and by Aug. 17 most of its roughly 1.5 million members will be subject to the new rules.

Here is what home buyers and sellers need to know.

How does the system work right now and how is it changing?

For the past 30 years or so, the seller has typically paid the agents on both sides of a transaction and decided how much both agents get paid. Usually, sellers agree to pay their agents a certain amount—often 5% or 6% of the sale price—and the seller’s agent splits that amount with the buyer’s agent. When a home is listed for sale, the listing says how much the buyer’s agent can expect to be paid.

Two main changes are happening now. First, listings in local databases called multiple-listing services will no longer show whether a seller is offering to pay a buyer’s agent, or how much. Second, buyers will be required to sign agreements specifying how much their agents will be paid. Buyers will do this before they start touring homes with agents.

This means that buyers should negotiate directly with their agents, instead of letting the seller decide how much the buyer’s representative earns.

These changes are happening across most of the U.S. but not everywhere. Here is a list of multiple-listing services that are adopting the rule changes.

Read the full article from the Wall Street Journal

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