The NAR Settlement: First Take

Total victory for NAR, and nothing much changes

I got up this morning ready for a nice relaxing Friday with a nice relaxing Industry Relations podcast to record. As the saying goes, if you want to make God laugh, make plans.

As everyone reading this knows, NAR has reached a settlement in Sitzer/Burnett and Moehrl, just like Anywhere, RE/MAX and KW have, and just like those settlements, this one will cover the entire country.

The reactions are coming fast and furious, especially since the New York Times broke the story this morning. Just about every take on this settlement is, I think, dreadfully misplaced… including possibly my own. Especially in the livestream that Greg and I recorded this morning, which you can find here.

Now that I have had the opportunity to actually read through the settlement agreement, despite not having had time to really think about things, I do have a first take on the settlement that may be quite different from the takes of everyone else I’ve seen so far.

Let me give you the topline. This is a huge victory for NAR. Unimaginably good news for NAR. And it is a huge loss for everyone who thought this would actually change things. There will be some change, of course, but fundamentally, nothing changes.

Let’s dig into it, shall we?