Chris McAllister: Welcome to the All Things Real Estate Podcast. I'm Chris McAllister, and it's my job to create and coach real estate opportunities and strategies that support and hopefully add value to homeowners and residential property investors. I'm joined today by my co host and marketing partner, Laci LeBlanc, and a very special guest listing agent and real estate professional extraordinaire Priscilla McNamee.

So good morning, ladies. 

Laci LeBlanc: Good morning. Good morning. 

Chris McAllister: So today we're going to talk about a topic that has completely upended and reshaped the real estate world, at least from our point of view. And what we're going to talk about is the National Association of Realtors. Which for short is NAR, the lawsuit settlement that occurred last year and what it means specifically for sellers.

So I want us to discuss how the settlement empowers sellers and how ROOST Real Estate Company is uniquely positioned to help sellers navigate. In this new landscape. And hence the title of this podcast is empowered home sellers, what the NAR settlement means for you. So before we get started, Priscilla, maybe you could tell us a little bit about yourself.

Give us a little biography, a little, little resume for our listeners. 

Priscilla McNamee: Nothing like being put on the spot. 

Chris McAllister: No, it's, there's nothing like it. 

Priscilla McNamee: I have been a full time agent, um, my whole entire adult life. So since 1992 and, um, do it full time. I love, love this job. Love this career. Uh, yes, you're right. This has definitely been a little bit of a, a mind bend, uh, twisting change of rules for sellers.

That's for sure. Some of them take it a little further than others. So it's been quite interesting. 

Chris McAllister: Yeah. So how many years have you been in real estate? 

Priscilla McNamee: It'll be 32 this March. 

Chris McAllister: 32. That's amazing. And obviously you got your license when you were 12. So 

Priscilla McNamee: Exactly. 

Chris McAllister: That makes a lot of sense. Um, you know, just for kicks and, you know, we try to make, you know, we try to make things all about the seller, but just for fun, why don't you give us a ballpark?

You know, how many, how many listings did you take and sell last year off the top of your head?

And you won't blow your own horn, so I will. You had your best year ever, in a time when most real estate agents were, were off significantly to the year before, but you kicked ass and broke all the, all the records again. So just, just the ballpark. 

Priscilla McNamee: 40. 

Chris McAllister: And that's just list size. 

Priscilla McNamee: Yeah. List size. 

Chris McAllister: Yeah. That's amazing.

Priscilla McNamee: I love working with sellers. That's my favorite. 

Chris McAllister: Yeah. Wow. You're an amazing listing agent, amazing buyer agent. And I am so happy that you're here with Laci and I this morning. So let's, uh, I want to start with a brief recap of what Sitzer Burnett versus NAR was all about. So the case. It's about commissions, right?

So the case challenged the traditional model of how real estate commissions are structured and how they're disclosed. So the plaintiffs, in this case, Sitzer and Burnett, alleged that NAR policies inflated buyer broker commission rates. by requiring sellers to offer compensation to buyer brokers. They argued that these practices limited transparency and competitive pricing.

In response, the settlement that was agreed to introduced significant changes, including givers, giving sellers more control over whether they paid a commission at all, or if they chose to, how. They were to compensate buyer brokers and the transparency thing is is being addressed by emphasizing some additional very detailed and clear upfront disclosures.

So this is a big change for home sellers. But the reality is if you really take a step back and look at it from a bit of a distance, it is going to create, and it already has, more flexibility, um, and transparency in the selling process. So I, I realize that's a, that's a lot of words, but, um, 

Laci LeBlanc: Yeah, I was going to say, Chris, for those of us who don't spend our days, you know, reading and writing real estate contracts, correct me if I'm wrong, but basically it was implied or sellers and buyers assumed or real estate agents assumed that there was a 6%, you know, commission and half of that went to a seller's agent and half of that went to a buyer's agent.

Is that kind of the, the gist of what was happening? 

Chris McAllister: Yeah. And we don't really want to talk about percentages because we're not supposed to, but yes, there was a certain amount of money that the seller agreed to, to pay the listing brokerage. And generally half of that or a portion of that was offered up as, as a, uh, what we refer to as a co op to every other licensed real estate agent in the market through their, their brokerage.

And it was a system that worked. I think in all of our opinions, incredibly well for a long, long time. And, uh, we have a hard time understanding why it was changed sometimes, but, um, that, that, yeah, so in Priscilla, you'll help me out here any place you can. He, I want to talk about what it means for sellers from the empowerment perspective, but.

So the issue that came up was, I don't think anybody really had a problem with the fact that the, the transactions were structured this way. The problem was there were many, many real estate agents out in the world who didn't explain how, how the money flowed, how the money worked to their, to their sellers or their buyers.

So they weren't transparent, you know, and during COVID, you know, when there was such a buying frenzy. You know, so many listing agents would stick a sign in the yard. There'd be 30 offers within the hour. And then, you know, the highest bidder would, would get a contract or, well, they hopefully got the listing contract prior and then they would get a buyer contract, but in every case it's during COVID, you know, we all use dot loop or some sort of, uh, electronic signature process.

And I, I can tell you, I bet you the vast majority of the people who got wrapped up in that frenzy didn't read what they were signing. And even though the disclosures were there and it did spell out where the money went, they didn't hear it directly from their listing agent because there was quote, no time.

And it, and it wasn't, you know, basically required. I can tell you that you know myself, I know Priscilla, you know, I like to think every agent at our company spent a lot of time talking about how we get paid and, and, and how it works, and who writes those checks and so forth. Because we actually had it in our.

You know, sell with ROOST and our buy with ROOST brochures. So, um, anyway, what, at the end of the day, some things have changed, but many, many things have stayed the same. I guess that's, that's really what it comes down to. I mean, Priscilla, what do you think feels different now that you've been into it for the last four or five, six months?

Priscilla McNamee: I think, I think one thing that's most important is the fact that now buyers. Definitely have a full understanding of how the real estate agents are compensated. And I think a lot of agents in the past, you're, you're exactly correct. I feel like they were almost afraid to discuss compensation. So then there was a lot of confusion.

It created a lot of confusion. So now buyers definitely know exactly how their agents. How, you know, how, um, how the whole commission flows, um, have been finding, um, it is, there's been a lot of pressure on sellers to pay commission. The negotiation process, I feel like has been a little more difficult.

Since this all passed in August, so it's been it's been very interesting to say the least, um, sellers don't have to pay commission, of course, but the way that these contracts are being written, um, it's almost like a lot of them are getting strong armed. From from buyer agents. So that's the only thing that I am finding that is a little it's been aggravating for selling.

Chris McAllister: So that's that's that's distressing and insightful at the same time. So, you know, forever and ever home sellers were basically required to offer offer compensation to buyer brokers. Yes, technically, legally, all commissions were negotiable. But the perception, if not reality, was some home sellers were required, if they listed with a realtor, that they were going to pay by our broker's period as part of the process.

But now, that's no longer automatic. Sellers legally, morally, ethically, have control. Over their selling and closing costs now, and they have control over how they incentivize buyers. So sellers have more control, but they also have more decisions to make that were sort of made for them, you know, by standard industry.

So the way it is now, sellers can still choose to offer compensation, but like you said, Priscilla, they are not obligated to, although, and we're going to get to this in a minute, they, at the end of the day, they're feeling pressured to do so. So, but this means that when you get to choose to offer compensation and how much.

You accept that responsibility and you accept those consequences. So the other side of it is this means more flexibility and potentially lower costs for that home seller. That's a good thing. You know, I don't think we could argue with that. Transparency is a cornerstone. Agents must disclose any payment to buyer brokers in writing and obtain your approval in advance.

So what's happened is the, the contracts have been changed. And I think we're really enamored with the Columbus contract in particular, where the way the new purchase contracts are written out and the listing contracts, basically it has places to fill in the blanks where it shows where every dollar is going to go.

Correct. 

Priscilla McNamee: Exactly. Which I think is fantastic. 

Chris McAllister: So that's one thing, right? So you, now it's very, very clear in the listing contracts, the legal documents and the buyer contracts, how the agents involved in the brokerages involved get paid. The other thing on top of this is the MLS rules have changed. So the multiple listing service.

rules have changed. So while buyer concessions can still be advertised in the MLS, when I say buyer concessions, I'm talking about if a, if a seller is willing to help an FHA buyer with their closing costs, that can still be disclosed on the MLS. But an offer of compensation to another brokerage, which was the cornerstone of how the industry worked for the past 25, 30 years, whatever it was that those compensation offers are no longer allowed to be in the MLS.

So those are not public anymore, right? There's no blanket offer of compensation to every other buyer agent or buyer brokerage in the market. And that's a huge change. So what it means is, is so it's twofold, right? The seller can choose to To agree to compensate agents or they can choose not to if they if either way, though, if they choose to or not to whatever they want to offer, they're not allowed to put that on the MLS.

So it's not being disseminated through Zillow or everything else. Now, that's one side. The other side is that this opens up opportunities for alternative marketing strategies. I think it opens up opportunities For companies like ours to add additional value to buyers and sellers, especially when you've got a seller who's also a buyer.

There's also an opportunity for the listing agent to get creative in terms of marketing the property and bringing in their own buyers and bypass the realtor community. So whether there's a way to market a property via social media, direct outreach. Whatever that is, I think that, and we haven't seen it yet, but I think eventually you're going to see more novel approaches to getting a seller's house sold that have basically what it comes down to is the expectation is going to be.

That that selling agent that personally signed a listing contract, they're going to find a buyer. They're not going to rely on, uh, you know, the whole realtor community to, to do half their job for them. 

Priscilla McNamee: Absolutely. Which I love that because for me, that's the old school way of doing real estate. 

Laci LeBlanc: That's exactly what I was going to say is it sounds to me like now everybody is going to have to do exactly what ROOST has always done in order in order to make things happen, right?

Chris McAllister: It's all it's what we always knew we should be doing, but we didn't have to. So, you know, we didn't either. But now, you know, I feel like we have to. Otherwise, we're just like everybody else. So I'm sorry. I interrupted. 

Priscilla McNamee: Unfortunately, our Springfield Urbana market has been quite a bit sluggish compared to like the Columbus and Dayton market.

I've got friends in both areas and I mean, they've they've not slowed down. They've been very productive with sales. Um, the Springfield Urbana market has definitely been a little sluggish. I feel like we're also recovering from some national news. Thank you. So it's been, it's been real challenging when you are a listing agent.

And of course, like you said, I mean, we want to empower our sellers. They've got power of the pen for real now, especially when it comes to negotiating their fees. But what I'm noticing is that these buyer agents are coming in at lower, lower prices, lower offers. They are requesting a lot of compensation for their, you know, concessions for their buyers.

And then on top of that, they're, they're asking for a full commission of 3%, which there again, not talking about commissions, but that's. Kind of, you know, 

Chris McAllister: that's what's been traditional. Exactly. 

Priscilla McNamee: Exactly. So these sellers are being told that they they have the right to negotiate. Things are all transparent.

But yet, when we're receiving these offers, they're really getting hit with a lot 

Chris McAllister: Yeah, 

Priscilla McNamee: it's been, it's been challenging. 

Chris McAllister: And I, I guess the thing that I find frustrating is, you know, we spent a lot of time talking at our company. My God, I talked too much about it for months and months, even before we knew exactly how it was going to play play out.

And, but I feel like Most of the, I hate to say most, but it seems like so many agents in the market, especially agents that maybe do a couple of deals a year, have no idea what has changed and their attitude towards, um, I mean, you tell me, you said that their sellers are feeling pressure from buyer's agents.

Do you think that buyer's agents actually understand as a rule, what's happened? 

Priscilla McNamee: Absolutely not. Um, I've noticed that I would say a good 50 percent of them, um, will still call and ask me if the seller will pay compensation before they even go show the property. 

Chris McAllister: Yeah, which is appropriate, but it's, it's contrary to NAR guidelines, right?

Priscilla McNamee: Our, our, our agency, what, what we're supposed to be doing as a buyer agent for your client, it's just, it's goes all the way back to when you were showing houses in a neighborhood. If there is a for sale by owner, it is your duty just to show that for sale by owner to your client. 

Chris McAllister: Yeah, and I don't think people understand that anymore.

And I think that that behavior, that attitude is going to catch up with them. I'm probably jumping ahead a little bit, but, um, the other thing I think that's happening is. I think there's a, there's a lot of agents out there listing agents that if they do get a chance to list a house that they're, they're implying, if not saying out loud to their seller, well, look, Mr.

Seller, if you don't offer a co op, nobody's going to sell your house. And that is flat out contrary to licensing law, you know, realtor ethics and everything else. So, I guess if I hadn't really thought about this before we started talking, but maybe you feel this way too, but it does seem like the absolute biggest aggravation about this is our fellow realtors.

Priscilla McNamee: Hopefully, yes. It really is. Yeah, 

Chris McAllister: and I think that some of the behavior that we're seeing six months out is going to result in additional lawsuits. And because if they're It's not even that they're not following the spirit of the settlement, they're certainly not following the, uh, the letter of the settlement.

And I think ultimately, that is, that's going to catch up with people. And I think the state of Ohio is going to have some issues with it, and we still have as an industry, the Department of Justice at a federal level has still got the realtors in their sights. And, you know, let's not forget. That the, this could be a whole nother podcast where we could, I could really put people to sleep over, but you know, the department of justice probe into realtor commissions started under the first Trump administration.

And there's no reason to believe that that will not continue under the second Trump administration. So this isn't a situation where, you know, we're, we're going to necessarily see a, uh, an abolishment of regulation. I think this is a situation where we're ultimately going to feel this. And until that, um, investigation is, is closed, it's settled, or at least closed.

Um, I think we all have to be very, very careful and we all have to keep talking about not just the letter, but the spirit of this, of this, uh, settlement and, and follow it. And I know you are a guiding light for every, every other realtor in the market you do business in. And I hope. Everybody listens to this and and understands how how critical this is because we still have an opportunity to get in trouble.

Priscilla McNamee: I agree. And I think that we need to learn to be more resilient because it's going to evolve. It's I there's there. I'm sure that they're going to be making changes along the way. I have something interesting, though, coming up. First, I have a listing coming in March. And it's going to be my first seller who absolutely refuses, will not pay any compensation to a buyer agent.

So that one's going to be very interesting. I feel like it's going to be like my little test subject to see how that goes with the market. But she absolutely will not pay compensation. 

Chris McAllister: Yeah, yeah, I, I hope we're going to talk more about how to, how we, we are going to approach those going forward. But I think there's going to be far more of that.

And the other thing I think we're going to see that I don't feel like we've seen yet that maybe, maybe you have, I think we're going to see buyers, you know, coming in and calling listing agents who are not affiliated with a buyer agent. So it seems like now most of the transactions we've had since this went into effect in August have still had another agent, an agent on the other side of the transaction.

So I think you're going to start to see more, uh, people who want to make offers on homes that are not Represented and they're going to be going straight to the to the listing agent. So it's going to run both ways. You're going to have buyers that don't want to pay a commission, right? And you're going to have sellers that want to pay buyers commission.

I think every seller is happy to pay their listing agent to get their household. But I don't think every seller is happy to pay their listing agent to put a sign in yard and wait for somebody else to sell their house. 

Priscilla McNamee: Absolutely not. 

Chris McAllister: So let's just kind of clarify as best we can here the way a buyer's agent can get paid in this new environment.

So a buyer's agent can get paid directly from the buyer. In fact, now when, um, when an agent is working with a buyer, they actually have to get a representation agreement signed before they cross the threshold of their first house that says, you know, this is what I, this is what I do, this is what you do, and this is how much I'm going to charge you if I sell you the house.

Or work together and we, we, we actually kicked off this podcast series with, with the, which we probably should do again with Priscilla about how the NAR settlement impacts buyers. But basically the first way a buyer agent can get paid, if a buyer wants to hire a buyer agent. And they can basically say, thank you, I, I respect your fee.

Let me sign this document. And when my house closes, I will pay you the agreed upon fee, whatever that is, whether it's a percentage of the total sale price or a flat fee or something like that. The second way a buyer agent can get paid or a buyer can get their buyer agent paid is it can be paid directly from the seller as a negotiated concession.

But let's just say it can be paid directly from the seller. So the seller can agree over the course of negotiations to cover the buyer agent's fee as part of the terms of the sale. And this will be itemized on the settlement statement, right? Those, those feel pretty clean cut. Don't they? 

Priscilla McNamee: The third 

Chris McAllister: way is kind of like the old way.

And it, in my opinion, it muddies the waters, but the third way. A buyer agent can get paid is through the listing brokerage. So if a seller says, I just, I just want to, I just want to hire you to list my house. I just want to do it the old way. Whatever you guys used to do to get the buyer agent paid.

That's what I want you to do. That is still legal, right? So the buyer agent can still be paid or the buyer's agent's brokerage can still be paid from the listing brokerage. But again, this arrangement has to be explicitly negotiated and documented in advance. Does that sound right to you, or did I mess that up, Priscilla?

It 

Priscilla McNamee: is correct. And you would be so surprised some of these offers that I receive where agents are not filling out those forms correctly, the compensation forms. 

Chris McAllister: So we've got three ways. Again, direct payment seller pays, gets paid to the brokerage, and in both. Two and three, right? The, the seller negotiated concession or through the brokerage, the seller has the choice to cover these fees, but only if they decide to do so.

So again, it's the seller's decision and different brokerages are already handling these fees in different ways. So our policy is that if there is to be a payment to the brokerage representing the buyer, that it be paid directly from the seller proceeds. And from one brokerage to another, what I'm finding is and why that feels right and inappropriate, I do feel like I'm swinging at windmills, trying to explain that to other agents because at the end of the day, the money is still the money, uh, and it probably still shows up on the, on the closing statement, exactly the same way, but I, to keep it clear.

I feel it's important because I do think this is where, where the industry is going to, going to go is if the, the, if the buyer chooses to work with the buyer broker, they're going to have to agree to pay that buyer broker out of pocket, or they're going to have to get it to get that buyer broker paid as part of the, um, get the seller to pay it as part of the purchase price.

I think that that third way. our old way through the listing brokerage offer compensation to everybody else in the market, whether it's in the MLS or not. I think that is probably going to fade away, but I also think I'm, I'm being naive to try to, um, swing at that windmill. Um, when, at the end of the day, as long as we're disclosing appropriately to our sellers and to our buyers about where the money is going and we've got the forms filled out correctly and everybody understands, it probably doesn't matter.

But I still think the cleanest way to do this is seller agents pay their seller agent, buyer's agents pay their buyer's agent, but there is an opportunity for the buyer agent, for the buyer to ask the seller to pay their, their, uh, uh, buyer agent within the, from the proceeds of this transaction. Thank you.

Priscilla McNamee: Yep, I agree. The lender is something that's very interesting. The lenders are part of their underwriting process. They are requiring a copy of the buyer agency agreement. Which is very uncomfortable for somebody like me, who's been in the business a long time. 

Chris McAllister: Why does that make you uncomfortable? 

Priscilla McNamee: I'm like, why do you need to see my buyer agency agreement?

That's, that was my, that was my first reaction. Yeah, 

Chris McAllister: well, that makes sense. 

Priscilla McNamee: But the reason is they want to make sure that number one, they want to make sure that there's no compensation that the buyer needs to be responsible for on the closing statement. That's why. 

Chris McAllister: Oh, 

Priscilla McNamee: that's why they're ultimately doing it to make sure that there's no other, um, fees on the buyer side.

Chris McAllister: And that's why it's critical. And the seller should expect this, that whether, whether you're a seller and you tell your agent, yeah, tell anybody I'll pay 3%. I shouldn't say that. Tell everybody I'll pay 20%. Um, that still means though, that in this environment, that that request. To have the buyer agents paid has to be written explicitly in the purchase contract.

Priscilla McNamee: And like you said, I could go so much deeper on that, but I won't on this. No, do it, 

Chris McAllister: please. 

Priscilla McNamee: Well, I was just, it's another purpose of that is because if an agent does a buyer broker agreement with a client, and let's say that it was for two and a half percent. and they're getting compensated three percent and they haven't made any adjustment to that buyer broker contract.

They're technically only, they're only, um, that's right. Yeah. Buyer brokers 

Chris McAllister: are allowed to take less than what they contracted for, but they're not allowed to take more than what they contracted for. And if they want to go back and renegotiate that, renegotiate that buyer agreement, that's their right. But my God, that just feels wrong because that's coming directly out of the buyer's pocket.

And that's. That's clear now. 

Priscilla McNamee: At the end of the day, it's the buyer who is compensating. 

Chris McAllister: The other thing that has to happen, though, if, if, if they do get 3 percent and they had contracted with the buyer at 2. 5%, that is an inducement. So that has to be disclosed to all parties involved and nobody understands that right now either.

So this is why we're gonna include this episode not just on All Things Real Estate but we're gonna go ahead and include it on Connect Practice Track and Grow too because I think that any realtors we can get to listen to this we're all gonna be better off. So overall, You know, you've, you've, you've kind of told us what you're seeing, but what, what is, what, what do you, what are you hearing from sellers?

What's it like when you go on a listing appointment these days? What, what are sellers saying? What are they fearing? What are they concerned about? What are they excited about? But what's happening when you speak to these folks these days, 

Priscilla McNamee: I feel like nothing has really changed that much really truly for the sellers.

When we sit down and we go through our listing appointment. One thing that I try to explain to them is worst case scenarios. So I, you know, of course, the commission is negotiated naturally, but I always give them an idea of if somebody asked you to pay two and a half, 3%. This is where you're going to be.

I'm just always preparing them for the worst, basically. Because like I said, our market has not been, it's not been fast moving truly, but I, I see this honestly getting a little bit easier as the market does improve. 

Chris McAllister: Yeah, I, I think that's probably going to be the case. I, I, and again, it's one of those things until you actually get that first offer.

It's, it's really hard to explain it to the seller at the listing appointment, but essentially, you know, if, if they've agreed to pay their listing agent something, and let's say it's your, your seller that refuses to pay a co op or let's say, I think what this is, how I think things are going to play out.

People are going to say, okay, I'm going to pay you, uh, ROOSTer Real Estate Company, I'm going to pay you X, and I, I just want to, I just want to field offers, and I will look at every offer on its merits, whether that buyer asks for a buyer agent commission or not. Right. And then they're going to lay those.

But here's the problem, right? When the market gets better, our job gets easier because they have multiple offers to lay out. Some may have buyer agent compensation, some may not. But when the market is softer, as it is right now in many areas of the country, not just Sprinkled Dayton area, then every offer is going to come in with, you know, a request for a buyer's agent fee.

So, while the seller may think, wow, this is great, I'm going to save some money, The fact is everybody's asking for, for, for more money. And the other thing to keep in mind is just because a buyer, I shouldn't say buyer agent, buyer agents aren't asking, buyers are asking because they have an obligation to their buyer agent.

And just because a buyer says I need to sell her to you, Mr. Seller to pay my. Uh, buyer agents brokerage. 3 percent doesn't mean that the seller has to do that. The seller can say, yeah, I think I'll pay you 1. 5%. Right. It is a negotiation. It is a back and forth. And I think that part is where ultimately we're going to see some, uh, uh, commission compression, especially on the buyer agent side.

Priscilla McNamee: I've had some agents that have been so firm on their, on their 3%. For example, it's been interesting. 

Chris McAllister: Yeah, what's crazy is though, it's not the buyer's agent's decision. I mean, I just hope that their buyers are aware that they're going to lose this house because their buyer agent is looking after their own interests first.

Priscilla McNamee: It's really terrible in a sense, but like I said, I do think that it's going, I think we're going to see some changes. I really do. 

Chris McAllister: I do think though that it is. Well, let's just my personal opinion is and what I would counsel a seller if I sat down with one today is that I think being prepared to incentivize a buyer agent is probably going to be if you want to get your house sold quickly at the price you want, you probably are going to have to entertain at least the idea of, of, uh.

paying some sort of buyer brokerage fee. But again, Mr. Seller, that is your decision, whether you pay it at all, and it's your decision how much you're willing to pay. I guess that's fair. Does that sound fair, Laci? Would Nana approve? 

Laci LeBlanc: Oh, well, we probably don't want Nana's input on this one. If you're thinking old school, then you're thinking Nana.

Um, no, I think it all, I think Empowered Sellers was a good title for this because sellers are empowered. I think it's worth noting the time that's Past between the settlement agreement, right? And, um, in March, when Priscilla will have her first seller who is effectively. You know, utilizing their agency, their empowerment, um, to say, I'm not paying, um, you know, a buyer's agent any commission.

So I think that we're, that tells me that we're at the very, very beginning of sellers, you know, exercising this kind of, it's not new, it's always been negotiable, right? We've always talked about this as the daughter of a car salesman. Everything is always negotiable, um, commissions have always been negotiable, but really taking advantage of that and exercising it.

Yeah. So I'm interested to see how both buyers and sellers, um, kind of push these issues and, and navigate this, because I think ultimately they're going to be the ones who decide how the market, how agents work, how, how brokers work, you know, what are the demands of the, the customer in this situation. So, um, interesting conversation today.

I think that all the power does, does remain with the buyers and the sellers in these situations. And they really have, um, The power to, to determine how things go moving forward. So I hope they'll all be as educated as the ones who are listening to this podcast. 

Chris McAllister: Yeah, it's gonna take some time. But the, the, the other thing that, that has, you know, I really thought a lot about the past.

Now is let's assume that this person that you're listing a house for in March Priscilla is the norm, not the exception. So how do we, how do we do business going forward, and I would rather make sure that I can. help as many sellers reach their goals as I possibly can. And I feel like if I can make this person that you're talking about, um, make their dreams come true, then figuring out how to make her happy.

I can't help, but make everybody else happy. If that makes sense. 

Priscilla McNamee: I agree with you completely. 

Chris McAllister: And that comes down to what I want our company's orientation and, and, and how we've kind of revised our messaging and, you know, our website and our brochures and so forth. And, and the phrase that I, I use, and I want all of us to use is.

We may already have a buyer for your home. And I think that as a marketing idea, um, a mission, a catchphrase, if you will, I think that orientation that we may already have a buyer for your home really sets the stage for where I think the business is going to go in the months and years ahead. So how do we do that?

Right? We may already have a buyer for your home. Thanks to our ongoing marketing and education initiatives, just like this, right? You know, learn with ROOST and the, and the, and the All Things Real Estate Podcast. Now, if we don't already have a buyer for your home, we're going to work like crazy to find one.

Instead of simply relying on that sign, we stick in the yard and hope another agent at another company does this half our job for us. And I know that sounds harsh to a lot of our fellow realtors out there because we're so used to how things were for so many years, but I really think that's the future.

We may already have a buyer for your home. Let me show you how we attract a database of buyers. Let me show you how we continue to educate this database of buyers on a weekly basis. And oh, by the way, if we don't actually have somebody to show this home to that may be interested in it today, let me show you the things boom, boom, boom, that we're going to do to attract buyers in addition to being receptive to any other brokerage that might have a buyer.

I, I think that's the orientation that we have to come from is we're not going to turn anybody away, we're going to feel their offer, but we're going to do everything we can as real estate professionals and as a company to make sure that our sellers only have to pay us. Will we be successful every time?

Probably not. But will we continue to get better month after month, year after year? You're damn straight we will. That's my goal for the sellers listening, quite frankly. 

Laci LeBlanc: And I think part of that is relational to write the relationship based business that ROOST, you know, invest in, uh, by by keeping up with your past clients and making sure you're serving all of their current and future needs, right?

You have naturally a database in addition to the one that you proactively build of buyers. You haven't helped yet. You have a natural database of all of the people that you have helped in the past by or so. Who are going to be looking for their next home at some point, right? I 

Chris McAllister: mean, you've got over 500 past clients in your database right now.

And many of those folks are going to want to move again, whether it's because they're having a baby or they're downsizing or they got transferred or whatever. So it is, it is interesting working by referral, which is never going to change is probably the first and most obvious way that we may already have a buyer for your home.

I feel like I cut you off. I'm sorry. 

Laci LeBlanc: No, it's fine. That was the point that I wanted to make. I'm over here as the marketing person, just reminding you that it's okay to promote yourself a little bit when it's applicable to the situation. And I do think that that, you know, you mentioned the beginning, why is ROOST uniquely positioned to, to help buyers and sellers in this market?

And that, that's why is because of how you've done business. It's all along working by referral and maintaining those relationships. So, and, and it's important to say that because it's not just tooting your own horn. Like you said, Priscilla wouldn't do, I'll do it for ROOST in general. It's beneficial to buyers and sellers to, to point that out.

Chris McAllister: Yeah. And I think, you know, a great agent like Priscilla, you're close to the people in your database. You, you know what's happening with their families. You, you probably recognize 300 people at the grocery store and could have a conversation with them. So that's just part of being a true professional.

But the other ways that we've got to get out of box to build this database of buyers, and we've launched a lot of these just in the last two weeks, Priscilla, I don't even think you've seen them yet, but you know, we started to offer home and condo guides. Just this week, um, via social media. So we've actually attracted, I think the first weekend we attracted a dozen buyers using social media for target targeted buyer guides in specific neighborhoods.

And we know. That they also have a, uh, a house to sell. So, you know, that, that's probably, that's ultimately good for us and it's good for them as buyers and ultimately it'll be good for them as sellers. So again, building a database of potential buyers so that we can actually look at the seller in the eye and say.

we may already have a buyer for your home. So we do the home, uh, condo guides and so forth. This podcast, the entire learn with ROOST ecosystem, um, the ability to, you know, market our listings to our database early on in the process, you know, without running a foul of MLS coming soon rules. There are a lot of ways.

That we are going to cast a wider net for buyers than we have in the past, not because we think we're automatically going to get paid because the old ways are gone, but because we know that if we cast that list of buyers, we're going to be in demand as listing agents and our sellers are going to be happy to write our commission check.

So we've got to, we've got to get out of the box, not rely, we're going to work with everybody. Of course, we're going to be the best co op partners in the free world, but we are not going to let that be our sole source of, of, of finding buyers. 

Priscilla McNamee: And I feel like it's also opened up a line of communication, even more so with our past clients to where I've been reaching out to them just to touch base and explain to them what's going on.

Because I do think it's important for our past clients to hear from a true professional and explain it to them, because it's been so muddy, and a lot of people, they do not understand a lot of these new rules, the agents don't even understand the new rules. 

Chris McAllister: You know, we have hundreds of people now in our database.

We have two databases in our company. We have the referral maker database that every agent has for their personal book of business. And then Blasey and I have a database, um, CRM basically, uh, where we capture all of. Everybody who raises their hand in response to a marketing piece we sent out. So, you know, I think that I may be wrong, but I think our entire database, not just buyers and sellers, but probably at least a third to a half are buyers and sellers of people that we've attracted from our websites and so forth.

We've got a couple of thousand. people in there. And we're sending emails to at least a couple of thousand people overall every single week. And we've just started in the past month of sending out targeted educational emails to buyers and sellers that come with, come to us through our search sites or home valuation sites or people that, that pick up a, uh, how to sell your home for top dollar.

A guide off of Facebook or a, uh, Ridgewood in the country club district buyer guide. We're doing now a ton of things that we've just launched just like just last month in January that I think are going to make us the preeminent brokerage for educating the public and in turn building a database where we're not just trying to get their name.

We're actually sending them something of value every single. Sunday night. So I think that helps us with the whole attitude of we may already have a buyer for your house. But, you know, let's look, let's go back. As we've said, it's not too many years ago that an agent could put a sign in the yard and sit back for a couple of hours and start fielding offers.

And, you know, I'm sure Columbus is a lot closer to that these days than Springfield is. But I think for the foreseeable future, those days are gone for everybody. To some degree, I think it's still kind of a seller's market. But as you've said, Priscilla, that seems to be changing. So when it was, when it was completely a seller's market, we didn't have to do anything as listing agents, right?

You know, not too many years ago, before COVID and right, this is 2025 COVID was 2020. You know, we still had to do stuff as listing agents, right? We still did open houses. It was still belly to belly. We still wanted to see people. We wanted to meet people. You know, we, we still sent postcards to the neighborhood.

We really wanted to make sure the yard sign would look like new. Right. It was in the right place and it was in the ground firmly that we had info boxes where, you know, yeah, everybody can go online and look up an address, but, you know, low tech stuff, like filled info boxes in the yard. So if a neighbor drives by and they want to jump out of the car and grab a sheet to learn about that house, they can, there's still no substitute for what we used to do on a, on a, with every single listing over and over and over again.

you know, pre covid. And that doesn't sound sexy. It's not necessarily as high tech as our instant open house strategy, which attracts a ton of buyers to. I think I saw at least three for a listing you have that came through for you buyers for a listing you have now that was on an instant open house. So what we're going to provide is The best of the new, the best of the old.

We're going to try to, we're going to attract buyers that may be interested in your house before we even get it on the market. And once we get it on the market, get that listing agreement signed, we're going to do everything we possibly can to attract a buyer that, that quite frankly, um, we, we represent, we're, we're, we're working for, um, with a buyer agency agreement.

So, I think that's sort of 

Laci LeBlanc: what It's just music to my ears as a marketer. It's not, in this new kind of digital age we live in, it's not just doing the digital stuff, it's adding the digital stuff to what, what you're already doing. It's not doing less by, by doing everything digitally, it's doing everything you were doing, and this goes for every vertical, you know, every company I work for, every agency, like, literally everyone.

You have to do the digital stuff now, but you still have to do all of 

Chris McAllister: the analog stuff you weren't doing before. Exactly. And I think so many of us lost, lost that whole thing when we forgot how to do it after COVID and so forth. Does that make sense, Marcella and Deidre? 

Priscilla McNamee: I think it's more important now than ever.

Uh, I, that's one thing that I made a commitment to myself is to talk more and text less to, with my clients this year. 

Chris McAllister: I actually, I sent a personal email and we're going to follow up with a letter in the mail to all of our property management owners. And, you know, talking about the things that have gone on the last year, and not just in property management, but in the broader market, including Sitzer Burnett, and I made the same commitment, I said, you know, I am personally here to help you get the most value, the most Profit all of your goals when you decided to invest in real estate.

And, uh, I gave him like six ways to reach out to me to book a meeting, just to kind of go through their portfolio and reconnect. So I agree with you, Priscilla, a hundred percent. We've got to as real estate agents get comfortable again with talking to people one on one, uh, with a voice, you know, face to face.

Or zoom with the cameras on. And I, I think those of us that decide that that's what's important to our business going forward, we're going to excel or I'm afraid some of the other folks are not

so just sort of to wrap it up a little bit. 1 of the most exciting outcomes of the settlement is the newfound choice. It gives sellers. Sellers are in the driver's seat. Whether you want to offer a buyer broker compensation, focus on direct marketing, or both, the choice is yours. Our goal at our company, and that's where we work, so that's the perspective we have, is to simplify the selling process by giving you the tools and support to succeed.

So we do this with transparency. Transparency has always been a big deal to me. It's been the hallmark of every great real estate company, including ROOST, since the beginning of the real estate business, and, and that's never going to change. The second piece is informed decision making. We're going to explain all of your options to you clearly.

So you can make the decisions that align with your goals. We see education as our primary duty to our clients. And that's why we've kicked off this podcast, uh, the All Things Real Estate Podcast. And I'm hoping that, uh, Priscilla decides to do these with us a lot in the future and flexibility. We've tailored our processes to give you maximum control.

For example, you, the seller, you decide how to respond to offers based on price, the requested concessions, and any other terms. So from the first conversation to the final signature on closing day, great agents like Priscilla here are going to prioritize clear and open communication because that's how you build trust.

Trust is the foundation of success, and it's also how we earn referrals for years and years to come. Anything else you want to say to sellers while we have the chance, ladies? 

Laci LeBlanc: Uh, Priscilla, if, if a seller. I feel like I've met an absolute rockstar today in the real estate world, which Priscilla, I don't know how many of these you've listened to, but my family has been in real estate forever, you know, since before I was born.

Um, so I, I've got pretty high standards and I feel like I've said, I feel like I've met a rockstar. Thank you. Folks. Wanna get in touch with you. We will put your information in the show notes, but if you wanna shout 'em out, I would love, uh, love for you to do that. Call Priscilla and 

Chris McAllister: startpacking. com.

Laci LeBlanc: That's it. I love it. CallPriscillaAndStartPacking. I mean, it's instructional. It's informational. I love a good domain name. So CallPriscillaAndStartPacking. com. That'll be in the show notes as well. 

Priscilla McNamee: I appreciate you guys. You're doing a great job with these. I think it's so important to educate these buyers and sellers.

Um, it just, it provides a clear path, a clearer path than what people have been experiencing. 

Chris McAllister: Wait till you see the price guides we're going to share with you later today for, um, for Ridgewood. So when you talk about the marketing stuff we're doing this year, I think this one's gonna, I think you're just going to be absolutely I can't wait to show it to you, but that's another podcast.

Okay. All right. So in conclusion, the NAR settlement has leveled the playing field for home sellers, giving sellers more control and clarity. At our company, ROOST Real Estate Company, we've adapted our policies and practices to align with these changes and ensure that you're powered as a seller every step of the way.

So if you're thinking about selling your home. Now's the perfect time to take advantage of these opportunities. Visit us at ww dot list with roos.com and also check out www.CallPriscillaAndStartPacking.com so you can meet Priscilla. Um, and as always, God forbid, you can pick up the phone or shoot us an email.

So thank you for tuning into the All Things Real Estate Podcast. If you found today's episode helpful, please share it with someone you know who's considering selling their home. And until next time. I'm Chris McAllister helping you navigate All Things Real Estate. Thank you ladies. 

Priscilla McNamee: Thank you It's good talking to you guys.

See you next time. Sounds good