Real(ty) Talk
Real(ty) Talk
Laughs, Lessons, and Market Shifts
Paul Hanson kicks off this episode of Realty Talk with a hilarious story about his swimming days and the unfortunate nickname "Mbop" given by his coach.
Suzanne, adds her touch of humor with a tale about her rescue dog, Gigi, whose playful antics led to a knee injury and an epic rescue.
But that's just the splash before we dive into the deep end of real estate! We explore the evolution of buyer's agent compensation and the transparency of commissions. From changes in MLS listings to new regulations and forms, we uncover how these shifts are impacting agents, buyers, and sellers alike.
Discover why it's crucial for agents to define their value and maintain clear communication with their clients, especially with new disclosure requirements and the competitive edge of national builders. Whether you're a seasoned pro or just curious about the market, you'll find valuable insights into the complexities and transformations shaping today's real estate industry.
Tune in for laughs, learnings, and the latest in real estate!
4o
For more content, follow our socials below:
Instagram.com/real_tytalk
Suzanne Seini:
Facebook.com/suzanneseini
Instagram.com/suzanneseini
Paul Hanson:
Instagram.com/paulrhanson
Stephen Couig:
Instagram.com/stephencouig
Historically as a buyer's agent. You might put in a tremendous amount of time. You might show somebody hundreds of properties and they never buy.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:That's just sunken time, sunken costs. You have zero compensation. There's no agreement for compensation because that wasn't standard practice. This actually solves for that.
Speaker 2:It does.
Speaker 1:Welcome back, episode eight.
Speaker 2:Oh, look at us.
Speaker 1:Eight episodes in of the Realty Talk podcast. I am Paul Hanson. This is Suzanne Sini, the queen of the closing table.
Speaker 2:We haven't.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we haven't made any progress on nicknames, clearly, yeah, but we're open to suggestions. I do. I think I have a great story about nicknames, okay, so I swam my whole life and I went to the University of utah and was swimming there and our coach would do these like in our. In our practices, once every couple months you do these things called test sets, where you are racing and then, after they take some blood to test, to test your, like your lactate acid, you know, lact, your lactic acid threshold. But they set it up like it's an event, like a meet and everything, and so he'd have the scoreboard up and he would be announcing and everything You're supposed to race really fast and whoever's the fastest going into that test set is going to be in lane four.
Speaker 1:And I'm bringing this up and thinking about this and the nickname because the Olympic trials are all happening right now. But I was so proud this is like midway through my freshman year and one of the guys that was like my training partner, I mean, was he went to the Olympic trials like very, very fast and I was just I out edged him a little bit and so I was the most proud I've ever been going into this Wednesday test set and my coach I will not say his name. I actually despise the guy. He was not a nice human Came up with the nickname for me. I didn't know it. The whole team knew it.
Speaker 2:Oh, no Of. Mbop like the Hanson's song yeah, because my last name is Hanson.
Speaker 1:Okay, because my last name is Hanson and it was on the scoreboard and they played the music and the whole team was laughing and I'm like super serious and I'm ready to take in this moment You're feeling good.
Speaker 2:I'm so proud.
Speaker 1:And I've never been so angry. I'm like you've got to be kidding me. You've got to come up with a better nickname than. Umba oh that hurts the worst part. Is it stuck?
Speaker 2:So most of the guys on on my swim team still call me umbop oh, it's in their phones. Oh yeah, and that's that's why you don't like them. That's. We have more stories for later. It's a deep cut.
Speaker 1:I can't as long as my nickname is not umbop, I'm okay okay, all right.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean the bar is low, so I feel like, well, I think we can do this maybe that's, maybe that should be our intro music.
Speaker 1:We'll just go the other direction. Next episode for sure yeah so what, uh, what's what's new? I mean, I think one of the pieces of feedback we've gotten is that all we ever talk about is business and we always dive into these market updates.
Speaker 2:I mean that's kind of how our lives are. I mean we, we kind of catch up on a on a daily basis, but our up is, I mean we see each other all the time, we talk to each other every day, so our catch ups are like oh, everything's good, okay, great, had a nice weekend. Very low key, I mean we're easy, but we're very focused on work.
Speaker 1:I think what the consistent thing in our Monday morning catch ups is how was your weekend? And then when either one of us says, oh, it was good, it wasn't that busy, that was the definition of a good weekend.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, and we were really happy about it, you know.
Speaker 1:So are we just boring?
Speaker 2:Maybe, maybe.
Speaker 1:I mean, some might say Okay, well, let's open it up. What is something interesting that has either happened or that you've done in the last week?
Speaker 2:Oh, in the last week. Okay, so last week I actually I did have a pretty busy work week. So, midweek I sat down to relax, poured myself a glass of wine. I'm on the couch and I have two dogs, so one is a recent rescue. I rescued her towards the end of last year. She was living homeless on Skid Row.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow.
Speaker 2:And so brought her into the family. She's a Pitbull German Shepherd mix about a year old.
Speaker 1:Lots of energy.
Speaker 2:Yes, lots of energy. I'm giving you these details because she is about 40 pounds and my other dog is about 50 pounds, but much older, so she's going to be turning 16, and she's also a Pitbull, and so my little one, gigi.
Speaker 2:She's playing with my, my older dog and I. I needed that to calm down because she's older, she needs some time to herself and Gigi's got a ton of energy, so I did this to myself. So I'm I'm relaxing sitting on the couch, legs up, call Gigi up onto the couch to remove her from the situation with my other dog. She jumps on top of me instead of on the couch and thankfully I did not spill my wine, but she did jump on my knee and pushed it completely out of the socket and then it stayed out of the socket.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, I happened to be home by myself. So, um, you know, after a minute of like screaming and realizing that no one was going to come help me, I thankfully uh had my phone nearby, which I should have thought of, you know, in the beginning and uh called and called 911 and had a group of like eight responders at the house. Meanwhile it was a solid eight people in the house. I think the most embarrassing part of this story is like I'm I personally, you know, when I'm at home, I mean we're not. We're not everyone's wearing something different for their relaxed time. I, personally, you know, when I'm at home, I mean we're not. We're not everyone's wearing something different for their relaxed time. I personally wear like a little, a little dress you know, as I'm sitting around.
Speaker 2:So now I have like eight men um around me as I'm in my little, my little PJ dress, um, with a knee hanging off the side, um, and yeah, they had to take me to the hospital and uh, yeah, it was, it was eventful the emergency room. Oh, yep, went to the emergency room, have you? Gotten the bill yet I have not gotten the bill. I am a little intimidated um thankfully I have insurance.
Speaker 2:but uh, yeah, they, they popped it right in once I got there and I do have to say I was in and out in like an hour. So I mean that's uncommon yeah yeah, but traumatic event. And then Wednesday because this happened, Tuesday, Wednesday came into work. We had lots of meetings busy day and back at it. So that is why our catch ups are usually like oh yeah, no, everything's good, yeah, Right back to business.
Speaker 1:So interesting yeah.
Speaker 2:What about you? Anything? Anything actually incredibly exciting.
Speaker 1:Uh no, I mean, you know we have two young kids at home, so we have a one and a half and a three and a half year old daughter. So my wife and I used to be very spontaneous and we just are having a difficult time finding that spontaneity.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I mean that's pretty difficult to do yeah.
Speaker 1:I had a real close buddy invite us to go to see the Dead Co John Mayer and the Grateful Dead at the Sphere in Vegas. Unfortunately we couldn't work out a sitter and get there, but that would have been the exciting thing that would have been the story.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but I mean, we did get multiple FaceTimes I've heard. It's amazing, yeah, and the host that he was working with said that they have 30 residencies booked now through the end of 25. Oh, okay, and so those people that don't know, I love the band Coldplay. They're a great band. Live, like if you're listening on the radio, I'm actually I've listened to a lot of country music like a lot of different genres, some rock and everything, but I just am obsessed with them. Live, okay.
Speaker 2:And I can't imagine what that's gonna be like, so I have to go if they are if they're at the Sphere, I still might try to go see Dead Co at some point.
Speaker 1:But yeah, nothing that exciting actually.
Speaker 2:I'll take it for this week.
Speaker 1:Okay, let's transition into our topic for today. I mean, a lot is changing in the world of single-family brokerage transaction real estate, right? So a few episodes ago we talked about the NAR ruling, how that changes everything. That's all happening now, right? So this ruling, I guess, happened 90 days ago or 120 days ago and now the changes are taking place where it's actually starting to affect what occurs for an agent or the seller or a buyer. So I think it would be really interesting for everybody and we've had a lot of questions around this from agents, from local competitors. They want to get our input or our take on it. Probably no better time than now to talk about what we're actually seeing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, now it is time, right. So we discussed what do we think is actually going to happen? And now it's happening and I think CAR at least as far as California goes they have released new forms for agents to use that they are now requiring on every transaction. But I think the conversation has been around transparency on commissions, and I think it's important because we've actually had some agents that thought this actually seems like there's less transparency on commissions in a way.
Speaker 1:How is that?
Speaker 2:Because now the listing agent is not required to disclose what commissions are, what commissions are being offered by the seller. They can offer that or put that transparently for all to see.
Speaker 1:So in the past. I just want to make sure we slow down so that we understand the crux of all of it. In the past, if I was the seller or a listing agent, the MLS is this compository Everyone can see it. Zillow and Redfin. They syndicate the data from the MLS and that's what's on their website. So one of those fields was the buyer's agent commission.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 1:And you would define what that percentage was.
Speaker 2:Right, and that is most of the time offered by the seller.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Because the seller was, you know, going to pay that commission and offer that to the other side, the other agent, for bringing the buyer to their property.
Speaker 1:So now they don't have to put that there.
Speaker 2:They don't have to put anything there.
Speaker 1:Is that field there now that?
Speaker 2:field is gone. It's a little different because there is this section now for concessions, which we've talked about on previous episodes, where they can really offer that for anything. That doesn't specifically mean that they are offering that number for a buyer's agent's commission.
Speaker 1:And is it discretionary you can put whatever you want in that box or is it defined what you can say?
Speaker 2:No, it's. You can put whatever the seller is willing to offer the buyer.
Speaker 1:So you can put we're offering a 3% commission to the buyer's agent.
Speaker 2:You could put, yeah, you can put a percentage, you could put a number, but it's, it doesn't force you to put anything in there, Whereas previously the the old box that they had available, you had to fill that out.
Speaker 1:Even if you put zero, something had to be there.
Speaker 2:Something had to be there and all agents had access to that. So you know I mean.
Speaker 1:And the general public.
Speaker 2:Exactly right. I mean they wouldn't have access to it in the MLS per se, but that information is known to the other agents what the seller is offering. And so there are some agents now that are saying you know, now that they don't have to put what they're offering, it almost feels like that's not as transparent as it was in the past.
Speaker 1:One other question about the early part of this. And then we can keep moving. But you said the car form, so the MLS is national, CAR is the California Association of Realtors, so they produce the templates or the documents for California transaction.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Does every state have something like that, or every city, or how does that work?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so every state has their own thing that they do, and even MLSs. There are multiple MLSs within states, and so each state is very different. So we're seeing these changes here in California already.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I know that all across the country the you know people are adapting to that NAR ruling and they're interpreting it in their own way and making changes so that commissions are a little more transparent to now the buyers, that commissions are a little more transparent to now the buyers, so that the buyers understand what their agent and how their agent is being paid Right.
Speaker 1:So I guess that's another question. So if I'm a buyer and I meet this agent and we define what I'm getting paid, does that have to be disclosed to the seller now?
Speaker 2:So, as you are submitting an offer to the seller, you do have to include what your commission would be.
Speaker 1:To your agent.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So it's interesting because that doesn't mean that the buyer is paying, that it just means that this is what we have agreed to. You are able to make modifications to the amount that you agreed to before you submit an offer. So, for example, if I'm showing a property and a seller is willing to offer 3% and that is known to me I'm going to make sure that, as I'm submitting that offer to them, that it says 3%. If I had previously discussed with my buyer hey, you might have to come up with this I'm willing to do it for 1.5% or 2%. You're still able to make that modification for the new offer moving forward.
Speaker 1:But what that would mean is then you're going back to your buyer and saying, hey, we had agreed that in the event the seller is not willing to offer anything, you're going to pay me one and a half or two, they're offering three. We split it. I take it Like it's going to be a conversation.
Speaker 2:Yeah, either way, it's a transparent conversation and, yes, you could look at it from that angle. I would say, hey, you don't have to do anything, you're not on the hook, because, again, I think agents should really fight for their value and for their commissions. But that's always a conversation, right? It really depends on each situation and the takeaway is that the buyer knows exactly what and how their agent is being paid.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean I guess. So that was their argument, right In this lawsuit, or whatever. They felt like buyers had no idea and now they're upset, or I mean, and so that's what they're trying to solve for.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're trying to solve for that. But I think there are some aspects to it and understandably so for some buyers agents that are thinking you know well what? If, how do we know what the seller is offering? Because now we're leaving that up to what a conversation, and would it make sense?
Speaker 2:I mean, we can talk through the logic on it, but maybe a listing agent doesn't let the other side know what is you know what the seller is able to do, because there's some negotiation there right when maybe they could save their sellers some money, maybe they could make more money. So you know there are some questions around that as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean I think we, I mean we, I don't know we can spend as much or as little time as we feel like we need to on this. But I mean I just go back. We, you know, we list and sell a lot of houses and we have for a long time, like during the middle of COVID, it was insane.
Speaker 1:I mean there were properties where we offered one or one and a half percent to the buyer's agent and we were still getting, you know, 20 offers over ask after a week. Yeah, I mean, if that's the environment you're in, then as a seller you might be inclined to just not say anything.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Are you? Are you required to disclose anything that this out like? If the seller is willing to do something, I mean, that's not gonna go on paper. I guess is what?
Speaker 2:we're saying so you know that that will go on the listing agreement, but they are not, that no one is required to disclose that anyway that's interesting, so.
Speaker 1:so I guess that's a really important one to understand if, if I'm hiring a buyer's agent to represent me, when I write an offer, I have to disclose what I'm willing to compensate that person. Once I write an offer, the seller has also signed a listing agreement that outlines how much they're going to pay their listing agent and how much they're willing to give in the form of concession Right.
Speaker 2:But that is not required to be disclosed, so it's you know, at least at this time, right.
Speaker 2:So I think you know my perspective is, especially as agents with you know we're in the field and in practice, I think we just need to be doing right by all parties. I think that right now, that is not required to be disclosed. Do I think it will always be that way? Probably not, especially as we're talking about transparency. So I think this is our first iteration of figuring all of this out, but I do expect that there will be future changes to ensure that all is transparent and that everything is fair.
Speaker 1:Well, once a transaction closes, the MLS updates what really occurred, right? So will all of that be there once it closes. Like what the listing agent was paid and what the buy side agent was paid.
Speaker 2:So within the MLS, they do require for you to update concessions. So, yeah, at that point. We should have a full understanding of what everyone was paid, and so I think it's only a matter of time before some of this probably gets updated.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean it's interesting. I guess my opinion of this is, if you are a motivated seller, then you're going to be inclined to do what we've always done, which is offer the buyer's agent some piece Right, because you're going to want to get any buyer and any agent that's representing a buyer that's a true, bona fide buyer, to come to that house to see it Right? So you're going to want to broadcast that across the universe to make sure you capture that person.
Speaker 2:I agree, and I think now there's an opportunity to broadcast that even more, Whereas before what you touched on when you said does everyone know that amount? Technically, I mean, they could find it, but before it was just in the MLS. And so if a buyer sees a home on Zillow, they don't know how much the buyer's agent was being paid by the seller.
Speaker 2:They don't get that information. So I think now you're actually able to broadcast what concessions you're willing to offer, which can feed through to some of these other sites. So it would absolutely be in the seller's best interest to advertise that. And for a listing agent to kind of use that as a negotiation tool is they're probably only going to be doing their seller a disservice, because you know the reason why the seller is offering that or willing to offer that is because they want buyers. They want agents to bring buyers.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's kind of weird too if you think about the last 20 years of single family real estate transactions. You know, I guess they always pegged it at 90 days. If it's under 90 days to get into escrow, it's technically a seller's market. If it's over 90 days, then it's a, you know, a buyer's market. Meaning you know, if you list your house and it takes you 90 days or less to get into escrow, get an offer and get into escrow, then the advantage is slightly on your side, right? If it's over 90 days, then the advantage is on the buyer's side, which would indicate that you know a bunch of different things. Either there's a lot of inventory if it's over 90, or maybe there's a tiny little bit of inventory if it's under 90. It also could just mean demand is down.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:I guess at a national level, we feel like the data is telling us today that in 2007, 2008, 2009, we had the great mortgage collapse and that basically halted new development for a year or two really longer than that and so there's this massive supply issue. So we have a supply problem that is dating back to that. It's not really improved. Demand is at a you know, I think, all time high right now for ownership, even with interest rates where they are, and so you know, the supply and demand argument is probably going to stay the same for a period of time. So I wonder and again, I'm not saying I have a real opinion on these changes, but I mean, I guess I look at it like, if you're a motivated seller, this change really isn't impacting your ability to go and sell a house. In most of the markets that we operate in, I mean, in Southern California, most stuff is still under 90 days of inventory.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:San Diego, the county I think, is under 30 right now. Yeah, Florida is almost at a year of inventory. So that market maybe it's a little bit different, but I guess I could argue both sides. I mean, if you're in a, a market where there's little to no inventory and things are selling very quickly.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:There's not a ton of change. I mean you can still kind of do what you did in the past, which is, as a seller, you can offer a lot or a little, whatever you think is fair If you're in a market like you know South Florida or whatever right now with a year of inventory and you're desperate to sell.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you better advertise that commission, yeah, I mean you should be pricing it right and then you should advertise the top, you know, like whatever you can possibly advertise to get it out there Right To, to get motivated buyers. So I mean, I guess, what, what do agents feel like are? I know, when we initially talked about this 120 days ago, we were getting calls from agents freaked out.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:What do you think agents are feeling right now?
Speaker 2:I think the more information they're getting, the better right Like? I think that there's still some question marks.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but.
Speaker 2:I think, as CAR is continuing, at least for us here in California, as they're continuing to roll out new forms, we're, you know, getting continuous education on the new forms. On the ruling and the more information and accurate information that's out there, and the more in practice as well. I think agents are starting to feel a little more comfortable with it. But it really just comes down to that knowledge because you know, ultimately, as I kind of touched on before, it's up to us to set all of these standards right.
Speaker 2:Like, a form is a form and you know. But the conversations that we're having with our clients, those are coming from us as agents, the actual practice, right the practice and the message is important.
Speaker 2:So if you're going to your clients, you're you know, and saying, hey, you don't have to offer commissions now, I mean, you know, that would be ridiculous. So I think the majority of the industry, if they are educated and are involved in day-to-day real estate transactions not doing one every four years, I think things are going to pretty much stay the same because it's really up to us to control those conversations.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I wonder how this affects builders, national builders, I mean, one of the things that we have talked a lot about is, you know, I wouldn't say it's an unfair advantage that national builders have, but you know they have this capacity to commit to large tranches of mortgages. So they know they're going to go and build 2000 houses that are going to sell this next quarter.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:So they'll commit to wall street that they're going to sell those 2000 new mortgage originations you know. And then they, they buy down the rate. You know lower than what a one-off seller could buy the rate down to Right. So I think my max right now might be 2%, like if interest rates are at 7, I can buy it down to 5.
Speaker 1:It's really expensive to do that. But you know national builders have bought it all the way down to 4 or 4.5% in these big commitments and so that's been a really competitive advantage. One of the things they've advertised builders over the last two years is hey, we can get you into a four or four and a half percent mortgage, but then obviously they're controlling kind of services, they're using their brokerage and all that kind of stuff. So I wonder you know what they're going to do on this, like, are they still going to offer two and a half percent or three percent or yeah, and I mean well, that's a good point, I think.
Speaker 2:I think a lot of that changes with the market already like we have seen it, where builders are like we're not paying anything for a buyer's agent and already they've done that, you know, 2021.
Speaker 1:They were like good luck, you're out of here. You know there's a million other people lined up exactly exactly.
Speaker 2:So you know I I think the market really plays a big factor there for everyone.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean. Well, I guess the major takeaway I have from this conversation is you know, a builder, for example, is not emotional. What they want to do is move, inventory, see a return and keep and keep going Right. But if you're a real estate agent and you're representing a seller, by definition this is probably the largest single investment that they have for the average American and so they're incredibly emotional to that transaction. So these changes, while they are material, they're probably only material for agents that don't understand the the actual practice exactly right.
Speaker 1:I mean, it sounds like sellers can do exactly what they've always done, which is offer their listing agent a percentage, and they can offer a buyer's agent a percentage. They can disclose that, right. Um, I guess the only like major material is the forms are slightly different, where you get that information is slightly different, and then if you are a buyer, you're going to have to have the conversation of what your agent is getting before you write an offer. So that is the big material change.
Speaker 2:Right and for real estate agents. That is great. That is a great conversation to have.
Speaker 1:Because you're defining what your value is.
Speaker 2:Exactly, Exactly, and if there is pushback there, I mean that's a great time to talk about it. You know, um, to help everyone transparently see why you provide the service that you do and what your actual value is. You know, um, I've heard many times oh, buyers, agents, you know agents shouldn't be paid that much. I mean, we hear it, but ultimately it's about what you bring to the table and justifying that value, and I've said it before, I rise to that occasion, and I think every agent should, if they are actually providing that value.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean it's kind of the same in every business. I mean, you know, I'll give you an example. Some people might know, some people may not, but we have, you know, a pest control company and we have looked at acquiring other pest control companies and we've seen transactions on market and off market with brokers. Actually in California weird thing it's the same broker's license to trade a business that you need for real estate.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay.
Speaker 1:So you know, and then escrow is handled, kind of the same, just through an escrow company, yeah and but I mean so we've seen transactions where we've looked at purchasing a pest control competitor and the broker is asking for 12% as the listing broker and in that transaction we don't hire a representing broker. It's on us to go and do the diligence and decide if we're going to do the transaction or not. And so I do hear that argument and I've probably argued that at times where saying, hey, you know, an agent maybe shouldn't get paid 3% on this transaction.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:But there are industries where people you know investment bankers regularly get paid 8% to 10% of transactions, Right, but I guess the argument is they're going to go and create the value to get that transaction complete, and so you know, I think, full circle. This is a great thing for agents because they're being forced to show what their value is to a potential buyer or seller of a deal.
Speaker 2:And you know I'm a huge believer in, you know, strengthening the industry as a whole, and so for me, I feel like that is what we want out there. We do want to get our value out there, because I do feel. Oftentimes it's like you know the real estate agent. You know there are some negative sentiments there as well at times. So I think the more the message is out there and you are transparently explaining what your value actually is, I think the better for everyone in real estate in general.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean there's good and bad actors in every industry.
Speaker 2:Yeah, of course We've seen it across the board. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, it's a great conversation. I'm glad that we've had some inquiries to talk about this. I don't know if we've created any solutions in this conversation, but I certainly have more clarity around, like the mechanics of what happens. Right, yeah, I mean what I guess? What do you think the next six and 12 months look like if you were to guess?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think I mean as I sorry, I want to interrupt because I think you guessed that there weren't going to be that many changes when the rollout changed 90 days ago, and that's what's happening. So you were right, yeah.
Speaker 2:And that's honestly how I feel it will go over the next six months, because, you know, the way I look at it again is we are the ones having these conversations and, let's face it, I mean, the top 3% of agents are the ones doing most of the business, and we do know how to have those conversations. So I expect that things won't change a ton as long as we're all carrying the right message right.
Speaker 2:So I think the more opportunities for us to talk about things like this, the more education. I ultimately think that our fate is in our own hands. We're steering the conversation in the future, so I don't think that we will see a ton of changes. I think the changes that we will see a couple extra forms here and there and a little more transparency into what people are being paid and, I think, commitment with agents too. I think that's something we haven't talked much about.
Speaker 2:We talked a lot about the pay aspect but, these forms that we're requiring buyers to sign now, it is also committing them to that agent.
Speaker 1:For a duration right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, which is?
Speaker 1:definable. You could say three months, six months a year.
Speaker 2:Right, and in our industry historically we have not enforced those types of commitments, at least in California. There are some states and there are some agents that do, but now it's the norm and so it really gives an agent that opportunity to go to work for that client and feel good knowing that they're going to get paid client and feel good knowing that they're going to get paid.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, that's a really interesting point because before this change, a buyer's exclusive representation agreement was not common practice.
Speaker 2:Not at all.
Speaker 1:So if you, if you were a buyer's agent, you could go and show. I mean I actually I mean, everybody knows what my perception of social media is. I don't spend a lot of time on it, but agents always send me these funny reels of like you know this buyer's agent and it says like after my 135th showing, and then somebody driving a car into a pool. So I guess like historically, as a buyer's agent you might put in a tremendous amount of time. You might show somebody hundreds of properties and they never buy.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:That's just sunken time, sunken costs. You have zero compensation. There's no agreement for compensation, because that wasn't standard practice.
Speaker 2:This actually solves for that. It does so, if anything. Again, it's around that transparency and it's around that conversation that maybe a buyer's agent isn't comfortable necessarily locking someone in because no other buyer's agent is doing that. But now this conversation is going to be had right then and there, before an offer is submitted and when you first meet with a buyer you have that conversation. And now I mean again, I think it gives an agent the opportunity to feel really good and hopefully work harder for their buyer, knowing that they have that secured, that they are actually going to see compensation We'll see how it changes.
Speaker 1:We'll see. So you've been right so far. Your prediction is not as many changes over the next six to nine months as other people might be anticipating, so we'll definitely check back in on that, all right. Any other news? Anything else? Changing in the world of brokerage.
Speaker 2:Those are the big ones for now. So I think what's great about this is we are on every week and we will keep everyone informed on all things real estate.
Speaker 1:Check in with us again next week. I guess that will be episode nine and we've got some exciting topics. We also have some guests Ooh yeah, booked and scheduled. They're going to be joining us, which I'm really excited to talk to guests about their real estate experience and transactions and things. So if you haven't done it, subscribe. We appreciate all of the comments and feedback. We want to incorporate all that into the show and hopefully on the next episode you guys will see Steve. Steve will be back.
Speaker 2:We'll see him next time.
Speaker 1:Crap.