If “you don’t want a seller determining what your value is” then you should applaud these new industry changes. It was one of the major arguments of the plaintiffs’ case in Sitzer-Burnett. Previously, the buyer agent’s “value” was already “determined” by the seller (and their agent) by what was agreed to in the co-broke language of their listing agreement, which was typically a localized industry standard and enforced by MLSs as a requirement to list properties in their respective platforms. So a buyer agent of over 20 years or a new agent with no experience would get the same percentage representing the buyer in a particular deal. There in lies the “fixing” element. Moving forward, buyer agents can “determine” what their own “value” is through the negotiated fee arrangement in the buyer representation agreement. That is the key difference. Sellers aren’t “determining” your fee. They are simply negotiating what they are willing to contribute to your fee in the P&S.
