Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 4, 2024

Figure Technology Solutions , the parent company of Figure Lending LLC , announced on Wednesday the hiring of Ronald Chillemi as its first chief legal officer and corporate secretary. Chillemi has more than 25 years of experience in regulatory affairs, government relations and compliance across a number of fintech companies and law firms.

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Housing Wire

MAY 3, 2024

Earlier this week, Zillow launched a new “touring agreement,” a nonexclusive contract for buyers and agents to use for home tours. This agreement must be signed prior to an agent taking a buyer to tour a home. This agreement must be signed prior to an agent taking a buyer to tour a home.

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Housing Wire

NOVEMBER 1, 2024

Real estate agents and real estate brokers are both licensed real estate professionals who can assist buyers and sellers, but you should be aware of some key differences and state-specific distinctions. A real estate agent is a licensed professional who represents buyers or sellers in real estate transactions. Let’s dive in!

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Housing Wire

MAY 6, 2024

and the Fair Housing Center of the Greater Palm Beaches , have filed a lawsuit that contends Florida Housing Law Senate Bill 264 violates the federal Fair Housing Act. We alleged that the law denies access to housing to people from China and these other countries. The suit was filed on Monday in U.S. District Court in Miami.

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Housing Wire

OCTOBER 23, 2023

KANSAS CITY, Missouri — The second week of the Sitzer/Burnett class-action buyer broker commission antitrust lawsuit kicked off with a bang. A judgment as a matter of law is permissible if there is no legally sufficient basis for a reasonable jury to find for the nonmoving party (in this instance, the plaintiffs) on the issue.

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Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 5, 2024

These anti-discrimination statutes make it illegal to refuse to rent, sell or lease housing because of a lawful source of income being provided. Department of Housing and Urban Development ( HUD), state attorneys general and fair housing organizations to start applying this legal framework to homebuyers FHA loans accounted for 15.6%

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Housing Wire

FEBRUARY 3, 2025

After the company failed to have new council file an appearance, the court dismissed EasyKnocks defamation lawsuit against law firm Feldman & Feldman last Monday. According to Feldman & Feldman, EasyKnocks defamation suit forced the law firm to withdraw from the truth in lending suits it was involved in.

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Housing Wire

FEBRUARY 28, 2024

As brokerages across the country have begun implementing buyer agency contracts into their business practices in the wake of the Sitzer/Burnett commission lawsuit verdict, the Consumer Federation of America is warning consumers that they may be filled with “unfair provisions” that primarily protect agents and brokers.

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Housing Wire

MARCH 19, 2025

One of the most vocal and most notable attorneys threatening real estate industry players with legal action if they actively work to uphold CCP at NARs upcoming vote on the policy is Michael Ketchmark, the plaintiff’s attorney in the Sitzer/Burnett and Gibson commission lawsuits. Those who dont want CCP are putting a restraint on trade.

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Housing Wire

OCTOBER 26, 2023

During plaintiff lead attorney Michael Ketchmark’s cross examination of Warner, he presented her with some statistics showing that HomeServices affiliated agents in four Missouri markets paid buyer broker commissions of roughly 3% in at least 88% of the transactions completed between 2015 and 2022. It is human nature,” Frazier said.

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Housing Wire

MARCH 22, 2024

Based on NAR’s settlement, agents working with buyers will need a signed buyer representation agreement starting in mid-July, pending final court approval of the settlement. Bills Clarke said this is exactly how agents already work with sellers, so it shouldn’t be a big deal to implement buyer agreements into a business. “We

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Housing Wire

AUGUST 30, 2024

As a salve, a vocal minority of activists say that “simply” allowing the financing of buyer-agent commissions into mortgages will resolve all concerns. For reasons both practical and legal, buyer-agent commissions are not today explicitly financeable with a mortgage. Less Cash, More Problems This is an important implication.

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Housing Wire

JULY 1, 2024

In its statement of interest, the DOJ claims that the changes MLS Property Information Network (MLS PIN) proposed for its commission rule “still gives sellers and their listing brokers a role in setting compensation for buyers’ brokers. … When sellers make such offers, buyer brokers need not compete on price to attract buyers.’”

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Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 20, 2023

Defendants in the Sitzer/Burnett class action lawsuit, which deals with buyer brokers’ commissions, are facing two fewer claims. On Monday, plaintiffs in the Sitzer/Burnett suit filed an unopposed motion for dismissal of the state law claims pled in their third amended complaint. Bough, a U.S.

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Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 18, 2024

You have to follow the law, but if it’s legal, you can do it,” Pfaff said. “We We will always comply with the law.” said Marx Sterbcow of Sterbcow Law Group. NAR settled the case for $418 million, and all MLSs owned by Realtor associations can no longer have a field on their platforms for buyer agent compensation offers.

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Housing Wire

OCTOBER 6, 2023

million settlement with plaintiffs in two bombshell buyer commission lawsuits have been made public, and they stipulate that the brokerage conglomerate make significant changes to its practices. The terms of Anywhere Real Estate ‘s $83.5

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Housing Wire

JUNE 25, 2024

A report released Tuesday by the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) found that the California Association of Realtors’ (CAR) buyer representation and broker compensation agreement is “virtually unreadable.” The eXp contract is written with the buyer in mind. This requirement goes into effect Aug.

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Housing Wire

AUGUST 1, 2024

When it comes to handling compensation eXp Realty is not mincing its words — it is not sharing its listing fee with the buyer’s broker. However, the firm says this does not mean it is unwilling to work with buyer’s brokers. But it will be their sellers who make the decision on an offer of compensation to a buyer broker.

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Housing Wire

JANUARY 21, 2025

In its original settlement, MLS PIN agreed to pay $3 million into a settlement fund, as well as business practice changes that include an end to the requirement for mandatory offers of buyer broker compensation in order to list a property on the MLS. Despite Judge Patti B.

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Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 27, 2023

Many of these laws target specific types of real estate deemed crucial to national security, such as farmland or property near military installations, while other laws apply more broadly to all types of land. Laws should also be clear on the role title insurance professionals play in facilitating transactions with foreign owners.

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Housing Wire

JUNE 11, 2024

In a legal brief filed on Monday, MLS Property Information Network (MLS PIN) made it clear that it does not agree with the Department of Justice ‘s position on the banning of cooperative compensation, as outlined in the DOJ’s statement of interest in the Nosalek commission lawsuit.

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Housing Wire

AUGUST 29, 2024

Many state Realtor associations’ new forms —such as buyer representation agreements—are largely incomprehensible to the average homebuyer or seller and have language that seeks to avoid the terms of the National Association of Realtors ‘ (NAR) nationwide commission lawsuit settlement agreement , according to a report released earlier this month.

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Housing Wire

FEBRUARY 14, 2025

When the Department of Justice (DOJ) came out in opposition of buyer representation agreements as they are defined in the National Association of Realtors (NAR) commission lawsuit settlement agreement, Alabama Association of Realtors took notice. So far, the bill is faring pretty well, as it passed the house in a vote on Thursday.

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Appraisal Buzz

AUGUST 16, 2024

Kahane & Associates PA is a full-service law firm based in Sunrise, Florida, that represents secured and unsecured creditors and provides a full range of legal industry, from foreclosure and bankruptcy representation to litigation, evictions, collections, loss mitigation, and REO closings. Kahane Esq. ,

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Housing Wire

MARCH 31, 2025

“The Court correctly applied the law and properly denied the Gibson plaintiffs motion to intervene and/or transfer,” Bryan Knight, the plaintiffs’ attorney in the Hooper case, said in an email to HousingWire. The cases accuse NAR and brokerages of artificially inflating commissions for buyer agents.

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Housing Wire

NOVEMBER 1, 2023

Three researchers believe a first-of-its-kind dataset has enabled them to definitively answer a long-debated question: why have buyer agent commission rates been so stable historically? So how is the uniformity and permanence of buyer agents’ 2-3% rate possible in a free market? One of the researchers, Will Fried, had a hunch.

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Housing Wire

JANUARY 28, 2021

Rentals listed on Zillow will now show whether or not they lie in a jurisdiction with local laws protecting renters from discrimination based on the use of Housing Choice Vouchers. The app also lists any local laws protecting renters who use veteran’s benefits or Social Security insurance payments to pay their rent.

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Housing Wire

NOVEMBER 9, 2023

The heightened consumer protection focus from government agencies, combined with the Department of Justice’s ongoing legal feud with the National Association of Realtors and its recent involvement in the Nosalek commission lawsuit , has many in the industry expecting that the DOJ will get involved in the Sitzer/Burnett suit, and potentially others.

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Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 7, 2023

But three multibillion-dollar class action antitrust lawsuits looming over the real estate industry may soon reshape how buyers interact with agents. You’ve got current economic conditions that are not opportunistic for a homebuyer right now, inflation is still out there and it’s all constraining buyers’ ability to spend. “You’ve

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Housing Wire

MARCH 31, 2022

Meek did something big about this last year, shuttling through the Oregon legislature a law that bans “all non-customary documents” from prospective buyer to seller in a real estate deal. The most pressing issue is that Meek’s effort is now in legal limbo after U.S. What would be a satisfactory resolution to both sides?

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Housing Wire

JANUARY 30, 2025

But the scope of the suit is much larger as it seeks class-action status for all persons who listed properties on a Multiple Listing Service in the United States using a listing agent or broker affiliated with one of the brokerage defendants and paid a buyer broker commission between Oct. 31, 2019, and the present.

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Housing Wire

AUGUST 8, 2024

The suit, which is named after its plaintiff Scott Davis, was filed in late May in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on behalf of Davis by attorneys at Korein Tillery LLC , the same law firm representing the plaintiffs in the Batton suits. All other state law claims must therefore be dismissed.” Illinois, 431 U.S.

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Housing Wire

AUGUST 13, 2024

In these contracts – also known as “land contracts” or “bond for deed” –the seller retains the legal title to a home until the borrower completes all the payments, leading to some “traps,” according to the CFPB. Home prices are usually inflated, inspections are not made, and loans have high interest rates and balloon payments.

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Housing Wire

NOVEMBER 9, 2023

The jury reached an outcome that was neither supported by the law nor the facts that were presented in this case,” Kasper said in a video posted Thrusday. The verdict runs contrary to what we all know about the value we bring not only to our clients but to the functioning of a buyer-seller real estate market more generally,” Kasper said.

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Housing Wire

JANUARY 16, 2024

The first was a motion for judgement as a matter of law and the second was a motion for a new trial. So, while I make no claim as to the specific deep legal issues, I have some familiarity of antitrust actions and more in the conduct of legal actions in a courtroom. This court ignored all those precedents.

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Housing Wire

JANUARY 2, 2024

Umpa sold his Ohio home with Redfin and his Maryland home with Compass , and the suit states that he “paid a substantial buyer-broker compensation,” in both transactions. Because this blanket offer must be made available to every buyer-broker using the MLS (i.e.,

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Sellers Brokerage Real Estate Realtors 448

Housing Wire

APRIL 11, 2024

But legal experts are not as certain. They could certainly intervene in the settlement negotiations, but they are not a party — they are just a party of interest,” said Paul Rogers, a professor of law who specializes in antitrust at Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law. “It

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