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The impending changes from the national commission settlements continue to confuse and worry many real estate agents — especially in the lower and middle price tiers.
But whatever impact the NAR deal ends up having on the market for first-time homebuyers and typical sellers, luxury agents and brokers who spoke Monday at the Inman Luxury Connect real estate conference in Las Vegas said they don’t anticipate high-dollar buyers would be inclined to skimp on their agent’s commission in light of the change.
“One of the things about luxury buyers: They’re very accustomed to paying for expertise,” said Jennifer Lind of Coldwell Banker. “They’ve got a lot of trusted advisors that are managing multiple pieces of their world. And … most of our agents feel very comfortable in their ability to negotiate.”
In other words, if pressed to cover their agent’s fee themselves, luxury buyers are likely to foot the bill.
Tammy Fahmi, senior vice president of global servicing and strategy for Sotheby’s International Realty, said that she still thinks that luxury sellers are unlikely to take a hardline approach — even with hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line.
“I think that remains to be seen,” Fahmi said. “We’ve always been consistent in saying that we believe that there are many reasons why sellers should continue to offer buyer broker compensation, one of which is to make sure as many buyers are exposed to [a listing] as possible.”
Thad Wong, co-CEO of Christie’s International Real Estate, said that the commission changes are not meaningfully impacting business or agent-client relationships.
In conversations with clients, Wong said, the commission changes are “coming up much less [often] than the way agents feel. If one customer talks with an agent about the lawsuit, it feels like everyone’s doing it because it brings so much anxiety.
“So it’s much more of an industry issue than it is a market issue.”
In most markets, Wong said he doesn’t think the lawsuits are going to have the impact that is most feared. He also said that these changes are coming at a fortunate time for both the luxury market and homes in lower price tiers.
“Aside from Austin and some places in the country, we still have low inventory in many major markets, and we still have low luxury inventory,” Wong said. “So it’s a very, very good time because the buyer agent is only more significant right now in finding properties and searching.”
Echoing Wong, Fahmi said that Sotheby’s has not seen any substantial issues with clients navigating the upcoming changes, and doesn’t expect them to pop up in great numbers in the luxury space.
But all of these panelists on Monday agreed that this moment represents an opportunity for luxury agents to get more organized and prepared to defend the value they bring to the buyer side of the transaction. If they do, luxury buyers will be able and willing to pay for their services if needed, they said.
