The Great Unfunded Mandate from NAR

Somewhat amusing, somewhat obvious, and somewhat serious

Courtesy of Inman News, who is reporting from the NAR Midyear Meetings, we get this report titled, “‘Godspeed’: Enforcement of NAR settlement changes shifts to MLSs”:

Multiple listing services will be responsible for enforcing the rule changes that are part of the National Association of Realtors’ proposed antitrust settlement, an attorney from the 1.5-million-member trade group informed a group of hundreds of MLS executives at its midyear conference this week.

…

Rymarowicz [NAR’s associate counsel] broke down the deal’s requirement for written agreements with buyers and then told attendees what they’d been waiting for.

“Alright, here’s the big question from all of you in the room: Who’s enforcing all of this?” she said, spurring laughter from some attendees.

“It’s you. The MLS will be responsible for enforcing the rule regarding written agreements like your MLS already enforces the rules that you have in place. It will be a complaint-driven process just like any rule that you have in place.

Inman reports that Merri Jo Cowen, CEO of Stellar MLS, said she needs “more guidance from NAR.”

Yes, that’s probably true. But I have a different question, or a set of questions.

1. Who is paying for all this enforcement?

2. Why does the MLS care if NAR gets upset?

I find this topic somewhat amusing, somewhat obvious, and somewhat serious.

Let’s dig in.