Dear Members,
You probably saw a few emails, texts, and social media posts about NAR’s settlement of the Sitzer lawsuit. Here is a link to a statement NAR released earlier today, including a video with NAR President, Kevin Sears, and NAR Chief Legal Officer, Katie Johnson.
Members have been asking about the impact to commercial transactions, and that is yet to be determined. Most of the lawsuit involves residential transactions and commissions tied to MLS listings.
The settlement has yet to be approved by a judge and, if it is, will not take effect until this summer at the earliest. The REALTOR® Code of Ethics and Wisconsin state law governing real estate have not changed. We will let you know of any rules or policies that change in the future.
The agreement would resolve claims against NAR, over one million NAR members, all state/territorial and local REALTOR® associations, all association-owned MLSs, and all brokerages with an NAR member as principal that had a residential transaction volume in 2022 of $2 billion or below.
We will continue to update you on the latest developments as NAR, WRA, and CARW review the impact of the settlement.
In the next few weeks, we will work with WRA and NAR on member education explaining what the settlement means for consumers and the value REALTORS® have always provided.
As always, we appreciate your thoughts, opinions, and comments.
Sincerely,
Tracy Johnson, RCE, CAE
tracy@carw.com
More information related to NAR Seller Claims Settlement: HERE