In a webinar for agents, Real’s president discussed rule changes and best practices, noting that more than a third of agents don’t even know about the lawsuits.
This article originally appeared in Real Estate News on August 15th, 2024
With the deadline for industry practice changes just days away, the quickly growing Real Brokerage unveiled new resources and held a webinar this week to help ensure that agents are on the same page and ready to follow the new rules.
The key themes of the webinar, led by Real Brokerage President Sharran Srivatsaa, included getting on board with the changes, avoiding bad practices, and helping other agents along the way.
'Make a choice right now' because there's no going back
Srivatsaa offered many nuggets of advice to the thousands of viewers watching the broadcast, but advised agents to "lead with grace" following the August 17 deadline.
Srivatsaa told viewers that over a third of all agents did not even know about the lawsuit, and there's a high likelihood that Real agents will encounter others who are simply not prepared for the new industry practices. When faced with agents who aren't prepared or making mistakes, Srivatsaa said that he "would offer to have a conversation" with them instead of "turning them in."
But he also told viewers that there's no going back at this point.
"You have to make a choice right now," he explained. "If you're resentful, you might as well just drop because we are not going back to the old way. There are new rules, and you and I will have no choice but to implement the new world in these new rules."
Be strategic, not 'cute' (and don't snitch)
Srivatsaa also warned of misinformation and bad practices being shared across social media, particularly in some of the popular agent Facebook groups. He highlighted several specific posts and warned agents not to participate in the spread of misinformation or attempts to get around the new practice changes.
Some examples he shared were posts from an agent who added "3%" in a listing image and another who joked about making the lockbox combo 0003 — subtle ways to communicate cooperative compensation.
"Stop being cute — you can't do this stuff," he warned. "Yes, technically it's off the MLS and you can do this, but stop thinking about cute ways of getting buyer agent commission advertising out and start thinking of a better strategy in this process."
Those types of workarounds were also the topic of a recent episode of the Real Estate Insiders Unfiltered podcast, and the hosts didn't mince words: "You're absolutely asking to get sued" if you try to skirt the rules, they said.
In the spirit of leading with grace, Srivatsaa said that when Real agents catch others participating in these behaviors or actions, they should simply suggest that it may be against the rules and recommend that the offending agent talk to their broker about it. Otherwise, "don't tell another agent what to do," Srivatsaa said.
Optics, semantics and mechanics
To help agents adjust to a new working environment, Srivatsaa focused on the themes of optics (how something looks to others), semantics (the language used to communicate information) and mechanics (how something is put into practice). He said those three themes led the industry to where it is, and they can help agents and the industry regulate itself going forward.
He noted that there are different ways to navigate the new environment and still ensure agents get compensated.
"Buyer agency is not dead. Buyer agency is not extinct. We're just talking about decoupling and some new rules," he described. "If we learn to navigate this environment well, we will do great."
Written By: AJ LaTrace
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