Tag: real estate articles 2018

Real Estate News

Realtor group will pay $418M to settle commission lawsuits

A powerful real estate trade group has agreed to do away with policies that for decades helped set agent commissions, moving to resolve lawsuits that claim the rules have forced people to pay artificially inflated costs to sell their homes.

Under the terms of the agreement announced Friday, the National Association of Realtors also agreed to pay $418 million to help compensate home sellers across the US

Home sellers behind multiple lawsuits against the NAR and several major brokerages argued that the trade group’s rules governing homes listed for sale on its affiliated Multiple Listing Services unfairly propped up agent commissions. The rules also incentivized agents representing buyers to avoid showing their clients listings where the seller’s broker was offering a lower commission to the buyer’s agent, they argued.

As part of the settlement, the NAR agreed to no longer require a broker advertising a home for sale on MLS to offer any upfront compensation to a buyer’s agent. The rule change leaves it open for individual home sellers to negotiate such offers with a buyer’s agent outside of the MLS platforms, although the home seller’s broker has to disclose any such compensation arrangements.

FILE - A home under construction marked as "SOLD" at a development in Eagleville, Pa., is shown on Friday, April 28, 2023. The United States is slogging through a housing affordability crisis that was decades in the making. The shortage pours cold water on President Joe Biden's assurances that the US economy is strong and underscores the degree to which Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump, has largely overlooked the issue. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
FILE - A sale sign stands outside a home in Wyndmoor, Pa., June 22, 2022. One of the nation's largest real estate brokerages has agreed Thursday, Feb. 1, 2024, to pay $70 million as part of a proposed settlement to resolve more than a dozen lawsuits across the country over agent commissions. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

The trade group also agreed to

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Real Estate News

It’s time to be honest about the commercial real estate hangover

Gillian Tett: The ‘pretend and extend’ tactics playing out in the sector need to end

Financial Times

Gillian Tett

Published March 22, 2024 • Last updated 15 hours ago • 4 minute read

Manulife has written down the value of its US office investments by 40 per cent from a pre-COVID-19 peak.
Manulife has written down the value of its US office investments by 40 per cent from a pre-COVID-19 peak. Photo by Aaron Vincent Elkaim/The Canadian Press

That doughty — somewhat dull — Canadian insurance company known as Manulife Financial Corp. does not often attract attention. This week, however, it caused a frisson in the real estate world.

Shortly before Jay Powell, United States Federal Reserve chair, announced the central bank was keeping benchmark rates at 5.25 per cent to 5.5 per cent, Colin Simpson, Manulife’s chief financial officer, revealed that the company had written down the value of its US office investments by 40 per cent from a pre-COVID-19 peak.

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Real Estate News

Carlton North: Former Hawk Angelo Lekkas and wife Renata list renovated terrace house

280 Canning St, Carlton North - for herald sun real estate ar

Former Hawk Angelo Lekkas and his family are selling 280 Canning St, Carlton North.

Former Hawthorn midfielder Angelo Lekkas and wife Renata are handballing their much-loved Carlton North house with $2.8m-$2.95m price expectations.

Lekkas played 180 games with the Hawks across 11 seasons.

After suffering a minor stroke following a 2005 practice match, doctors feared Lekkas would suffer some form of ongoing paralysis, but he completed rehabilitation and returned to the game within months.

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After announcing his retirement later that year, he went on to become a National Stroke Foundation ambassador and AFL multicultural ambassador.

He now runs a sports coaching company for young footballers and a mortgage broking business.

Lekkas said he and Renata purchased their Victorian-era freestanding terrace house at 280 Canning St in 2002 – the same year he represented Australia in the International Rules series – fulfilling their long-held dream to live on the street.

“I don’t think you can live in a better location in Melbourne than

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Real Estate News

California Real Estate Brokerage Responds To NAR Settlement With Innovative Solutions For Agents And Consumers

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES, March 22, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ — In light of the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) proposed settlement for class action lawsuits, Rudy Lira Kusuma, CEO of Carsten Phillips Inc. (doing business as “Your Home Sold Guaranteed Realty”) in California, is leading the charge in revolutionizing real estate practices to benefit both agents and consumers. Kusuma’s forward-thinking approach has long championed the autonomy of real estate agents in setting, negotiating, and collecting their own fees, particularly when working with buyers. This strategy not only empowers agents but significantly benefits consumers by providing VIP buyers with exclusive access to off-market and unlisted homes, thereby broadening their choices and opportunities beyond the traditional MLS listings.

Kusuma’s innovative home selling marketing system is a game-changer in the industry, boasting a database of over 100,000 buyers in waiting and generating more than 3,000 new inquiries from potential buyers and sellers each month. This robust system ensures that Your Home Sold Guaranteed Realty’s VIP seller clients receive multiple cash offers, setting a new standard in the real estate market. Unlike traditional methods where agents passively wait for buyers, Kusuma’s team actively markets to a ready and waiting pool of potential buyers,

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