Powerful Realtor Group Agrees to Slash Commissions to Settle Lawsuits

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The other factor that is not really addressed is that much of the work that real estate agents do, they are not compensated for. In normal markets, (not the insane sellers market that has been in place for the last few years) agents frequently list homes and have 3, 6 or 12 months of time and effort into marketing them, only to have the listing expire and the property be re-listed by someone else. They are not compensated for that time and effort. Working with buyers is the same way, they may be shown dozens of homes, the agent may provide lots of research and effort, only for the buyer to decide not to buy or to buy a FSBO, etc. To a great degree, consumers have been conditioned to expect free services much of the time relating to real estate. What balanced that out was that when a property was bought or sold, the amount of compensation to the agent was substantial. That allowed agents to provide a lot of the "free" services to those consumers who didn't end up providing them a paycheck. If that dynamic changes, will consumers be willing to pay an hourly rate for services rendered, if they don't end up buying or selling a house, credited against a commission if they do? It's going to be interesting to see how things pan out.