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ALLENDALE, Mich — The National Association of Realtors (NAR) has reached an agreement to pay half a billion dollars to sellers over four years after a lawsuit alleged policies helped to set agent commissions by enforcing inflating costs from homeowners.

Geoff Brown, owner and broker of Gateway Group Real Estate, has owned his real estate agency for nearly a decade. He said with his expertise, he wanted to share with the public his side of what will impact those looking to buy a home and to clear some of the misinformation he’s read.

“I think NAR did the best they could to protect as many real estate brokerages like mine,” Brown said.

NAR represents nearly two million real estate agents across the nation including Brown’s Allendale and Byron Center-based agencies. Brown said amid the lawsuit, he’s concerned many will not be able to make informed decisions without the right information from a broker expert.

“The properties aren’t going to be adjusted based on this lawsuit and the property values ​​and sale prices aren’t going to be adjusted based on this lawsuit,” Brown said. “It doesn’t have anything to do with it so that’s where part of that misinformation doesn’t make any sense, it doesn’t make any sense at all.”

The Chicago-based company’s settlement involved paying $418 million, subject to court approval, after a group of home sellers claimed NAR forced sellers into artificially inflating costs when they sold their homes which benefited agent commissions. Brown said the lawsuit will hurt buyers in the market to purchase a home that already has more people wanting to buy a home than there are homes available to be sold.

“What this lawsuit does is it hurts buyers and I don’t think it’s just my opinion that it’s the case. Buyers won’t have representation because buyers aren’t walking around with three percent of a purchase price in their pocket,” Brown said. “They have closing costs and a down payment that they have to make to purchase and if they have to make a realtor or broker fee on top of that, that’s going to make them say, ‘I can’t afford a broker, I’ I’m going to go it alone.’ When they try to go it alone, they’re going to get hurt in the process.”

The settlement clearly states NAR’s denial of any wrongdoing regarding the multiple listing service, or MLS module rule introduced in the 1990’s from consumer protection advocates for buyer representation. Brown urges people to get into homeownership as a housing shortage continues to plague the country.

“I would say the sooner you can get into homeownership, the better it is for you long term. That’s always been the case because homeownership is almost like forced savings,” Brown said. “You pay your mortgage and it goes to your home, but remember that when you’re renting you’re paying 100% interest.”

In a statement, NAR’s interim CEO Nykia Wright said in part:

“Ultimately, continuing to litigate would have hurt members and their small businesses. While there could be no perfect outcome, this agreement is the best outcome we could achieve in the circumstances.”

Brown encourages those in the homebuying market to start small to eventually afford the house of their dreams, despite an economy that makes it nearly impossible for working-class families to consider buying a home.

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