Real estate stalwart Steve Murray on the current class-action commission lawsuit

In today’s special edition of RealTrending, we feature Steve Murray, partner with RTC Consulting and a senior advisor to HousingWire. Steve has served as an expert witness on numerous antitrust and other real estate cases over the years.

He shares his analysis of the Sitzer Burnett class action commission case based on his years of experience in the industry. Not only that but he highlights the actions real estate brokerage leaders must take today to prepare no matter what the outcome.

Here is a small preview of today’s interview. The transcript below has been lightly edited for length and clarity:

Tracey Velt: I think it hurts buyers who are already struggling for down payments on homes, especially first time homebuyers, who then might also have to pay a commission on top of it. Do you see that actually happening? Or do you think that it’ll maybe not have as big an impact?

Steve Murray: Well, we spent 50 years training buyers not to have to pay something at closing. Now, the plaintiffs want the buyers to pay something at closing. How does that benefit buyers? I have no idea. And looking at the settlements, it appears to me that the plaintiffs understand that it’s not going to work as they thought, if they even cared to think it through.

The RealTrending podcast features the brightest minds in real estate. Every week, brokerage leaders, top agents, team leaders, and industry experts share their success secrets, trends, and lessons learned navigating this ever-changing industry. Hosted by Tracey Velt and produced by Elissa Branch.