With all of the controversy and discussion around the National Association of Realtors’ recent litigation settlement, NAR has now published an article titled, “Written Buyer Agreements 101”, in which they outline their recommendations for what to include within these new mandatory buyer-agency agreements, beginning on August 17, 2024, including a section within the article that’s titled “Mandatory Provisions”.

While the court settlement and these provisions may be considered by some to apply only to agents who are selling homes, good luck if you’re ever hauled into a courtroom by someone suing you, because you didn’t have a signed buyer-representation agreement in place with them when you sold them a piece of property, and you’re standing there in the courtroom, trying to convince the judge that these NAR guidelines really don’t apply to you as a commercial broker.

This reminds me of the time when I was attending a Board of Directors meeting for for a commercial real estate brokerage association that I was the President of, and one of the brokers showed everyone a letter that was being sent by an attorney to owners in the area who had recently purchased properties.

The letter told the owners that if both the buyer and the seller had been represented by a total of just one broker in the transaction, that the owner may be entitled to damages from the broker for representing both parties simultaneously, and that the new owner should call the attorney to discuss taking legal action against the broker for doing this.

You can imagine the anger that this produced among all of the brokers at this Board of Directors meeting, and I’m telling you this story because I believe that brokers who don’t follow these new NAR guidelines for buyer-agency agreements, could really be opening themselves up to litigation.

So do your homework, and talk with a good real estate attorney, to make sure that both you and your company are protected in moving forward when representing buyers.

In addition, you can read this new NAR article titled, “Written Buyer Agreements 101”, right here.

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