RE/MAX settles broker fee suits for $55 million

RE/MAX will make adjustments to its enterprise practices as a part of a pending eight-figure settlement to finish authorized challenges to its dealer fee charges.

The actual property participant will put $55 million right into a settlement fund to finish its involvement in two class motion fits, it mentioned Monday in a Securities and Alternate Fee submitting. The complaints accuse Realtor companies of violating antitrust legal guidelines in requiring residence sellers to pay dealer charges for each the client and vendor, which they are saying may result in inflated prices.

The enterprise in a press release Monday denied the allegations and mentioned it settled within the curiosity of its brokers and franchisees to keep away from the dangers and prices with extended litigation. The corporate did not elaborate on its rule adjustments, and particulars are unlikely to be made public till federal judges in separate districts approve the agreements.

The settlement comes after co-defendant Anyplace Actual Property, father or mother of Coldwell Banker and Century21, agreed earlier this month to an $83.5 million settlement in each lawsuits. Remaining defendants together with HomeServices of America, Keller Williams Realty and the Nationwide Affiliation of Realtors, are scheduled to go to trial Oct. 16 in Missouri federal court docket. 

Monday’s replace is the most recent win for shoppers in a long-running battle over dealer fee guidelines. Customers in a collection of lawsuits have argued for “decoupling” through which purchaser and vendor pay dealer shares individually, ideally resulting in negotiations for decrease charges. 

A a number of itemizing service two months in the past paid a $3 million settlement to comparable complainants in Massachusetts. The Division of Justice reached a settlement in 2020 with NAR to replace its enterprise practices however feds pulled out of that deal in 2021 to additional examine. 

NAR in the meantime has argued the fee charges are non-obligatory and that their charges are negotiable. HomeServices in a self-funded research additionally urged a significant change within the fee guidelines would make mortgages much less reasonably priced and suppress homeownership amongst lower-income debtors.

It is unclear how RE/MAX’s settlement shall be break up among the many two federal circumstances it is dealing with in Illinois and Missouri. The settlement quantity will not have a fabric impact on the agency’s enterprise, it mentioned, and can incur the expense by Sept. 30. It would pay out the settlement in three separate installments associated to every case’s formal approval by a decide.