My Home Sold on CBS Morning Mix: the new agent commission rules

Erica Olsen: Good morning. The National Association of Realtors recently agreed to settle a huge lawsuit about how real estate agents are paid and who foots the bill, and the small change is causing big confusion. So real estate expert Adrian Hernandez is here to explain the change and how it affects buyers and sellers. Good morning, Adrian.

Adrian Hernandez: Good morning, Erica. Thank you for having me on.

Erica Olsen: Thank you for being here. So let's break down this rule.

Adrian Hernandez: Yeah. First and foremost, there is a lot of confusion, right, to your point. There's a lot of confusion, and there's going to continue to be confusion until they actually hone in on what the rules are. However, we know two important things. We know that a buyer has to sign an agreement with their agent that states that that agent is solely representing that buyer. They can't go use another agent. But most importantly, that there's a commission that has to get paid to that agent regardless if a seller is paying commission or not.

So the second piece to that is that sellers now have the option to pay commissions or not pay commissions. Well, here's the tricky part. What if that seller is not offering out any commissions, and what if the buyer signed a form with their agent that says they have to pay 2% commission to that agent? Well, on an average sales price of $700,000, that's $14,000 that a buyer has to pay out of their pocket just to buy a home, if a seller is not offering out commission.

Erica Olsen: Ah. So then who does this affect more, the buyer or the seller?

Adrian Hernandez: I want to say it affects both, and it affects both because the first part is that it's already hard for a buyer to buy a home in this economy. Most of them are barely scrambling to get their down payment in order, and now they have to pay this commission if a seller is not offering out commission.

However, let's look at the seller's piece. If a seller is not offering out commission and agents get wind of it, what if they don't show that house? The seller is not going to get as many showings, which means they're not going to get that many offers, which means they're not going to get the best sales price for their home. So I believe it affects both, and the ripple effect can go on and on if we're not careful.

Erica Olsen: And I understand your company offers a different option for a home seller. Tell us about that.

Adrian Hernandez: We do. We make it easy, and most importantly we take the confusion out of the entire process of selling a home. So MyHomeSold.com, we buy houses as-is and we pay cash. So the good thing about that, Erica, is that a home seller doesn't have to pay commissions, they don't have to pay any fees, and most importantly they don't have to do anything to their home. So whether it's a complete fixer or move-in ready, we'll buy it cash and we can close on their timeline. So we make it super easy for the home seller.

Erica Olsen: A lot to think about there.

Adrian Hernandez: Yeah, there is. And in this state of confusion you want to work with somebody who knows what they're doing. My Home Sold, we've been doing this for 12 years. We definitely can lead the seller in the right path. However, most importantly, if you work with us or anybody you work with, you want to make sure that you do your due diligence and that you know the correct information before you get into buying or selling a home.

Erica Olsen: A lot of great information this morning. Thank you so much for joining us, Adrian. I appreciate you.

Adrian Hernandez: Thank you for having us on.