Above, from left: Ken Baris, Jamie Tian, Ashley Conlon, Chris Kelly and Jesse Williams. Photo by AJ Canaria.
The state of the commission landscape—and where it stands one year post-settlement—took center stage on Thursday, Sept. 4 during RISMedia’s 37th Annual CEO & Leadership Exchange at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C., during a session titled, “The Commission Report: Where Do We Stand Now?”
Teasing the results of RISMedia’s fourth annual Contract & Commission Study, available to Premier members later this month, Content Director Jesse Williams moderated the panel—kicking off the conversation with cold, hard data gleaned from the independent data-based survey that gathered commission-related information across brokerage models.
After measuring and analyzing the data, according to Williams, the results are clear: commissions are still down, although only slightly.
Drilling down further, Williams explained that commissions are down 29 basis points year-over-year, which is well within the range of fluctuations in the four years RISMedia has conducted the survey back in a normalized range. Further, while the initial drop after the settlement wasn’t remarkable (a larger drop was seen in the first six weeks or so), there was a 37 basis point rebound from that immediate aftermath of the settlement.
Above, RISMedia Content Director Jesse Williams moderates the panel, “The Commission Report: Where Do We Stand Now?” at RISMedia’s 37th Annual CEO & Leadership Exchange. Photo by AJ Canaria.
Another key datapoint shared with the audience centered around flat fee or menu of service offerings, which Williams noted remained the same.
“This was something that a lot of people talked about there being a big increase in the wake of the changes as there would be more people, especially buyer agents working with a ‘menu of services,’” explained Williams, “but there was no change from one year ago.” At the same time, nearly 9% of agents said they worked with that model at some point.
Not surprisingly, Williams went on to explain that buyer contracts, which weren’t adopted in those first six weeks, are now being adopted at an overwhelming rate. In fact, nearly 76% of the brokers and agents surveyed said they always used buyer contracts—however, there are some regional differences in this area.
“While we haven’t gotten into the specifics regionally, I know that Alabama doesn’t require buyer contracts anymore based on state law,” noted Williams, pointing to other state laws that supersede the settlement. “There’s some nuance there, but again, buyer contracts are now being adopted more prominently.”
Delving further into the evolving landscape of real estate commissions following the NAR mandate, panelists Chris Kelly, president and CEO of HomeServices of America; Ashley Conlon, president of CENTURY 21 Judge Fite Company; Jamie Tian, founder/broker/owner of RealiFi Realty; and Ken Baris, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Jordan Baris Realty shared what they’re seeing qualitatively—as well as what’s happened within their respective brokerages between August 17, 2024 and now.
Above, Ken Baris, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Jordan Baris Realty. Photo by AJ Canaria.
“Personally, I’m loving it,” said Baris, who noted that having a sound strategy in place is more important than ever before.
“Lawsuits occur, and there are unintended consequences. And there’s no thought of a benefit to the consumer,” he added. “I understand the benefit to (lead Burnett plaintiff attorney Michael) Ketchmark, and I understand the benefit to being fully engaged to understand the changes so you can craft your strategy.”
For Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Jordan Baris Realty, leveraging the opportunity to differentiate the brokerage from the competition revolves around utilizing scripts and role-playing to ensure everyone understands how to talk to buyers and sellers alike.
“Having this great conversation with our team that’s ongoing has resulted in our average commission going up significantly. Our company dollar has also gone up significantly while our recruiting has gone up organically because other agents are seeing what our agents are doing,” explained Baris.
Above, Jamie Tian, founder/broker/owner of RealiFi Realty. Photo by AJ Canaria.
“I love the change,” agreed Tian—who noted that it’s business as usual at her brokerage. With a team of 28 agents, Tian explained that the data at her brokerage is about the same as what many national studies have shown, which is that from 2024 to 2025, there was a slight uptick in commissions (while from 2023 to 2024, they ticked down slightly).
“This just shows that commissions are really set by the market—and the market kind of finds its equilibrium—and as long as agents are able to give their value proposition, they should still be able to do business as usual—and, in fact, more business,” said Tian.
From there, the conversation turned to experience, with the Contract & Commission Study showing that since the settlement changes went into effect, a real estate professionals’ experience within the industry was the biggest deciding factor in regard to how much their commission rate was dropping.
“If you were more experienced, you saw a smaller drop compared to agents with less experience (after the settlement),” clarified Williams—who asked panelists to weigh in on whether or not less experienced professionals should be getting paid less commissions.
“I wouldn’t say that inexperienced agents should charge less, but I would say that agents that show and demonstrate less value, it would be fair for them to charge less,” said Tian. “I think that if you demonstrate value, then you should be able to charge whatever you want. And just because you’re a new agent doesn’t mean you should charge less. If you receive proper training and know how to articulate your value, you should be able to charge as much as that experience.”
Above, Ashley Conlon, president of CENTURY 21 Judge Fite Company. Photo by AJ Canaria.
Pressed about how to respond when a client questions whether they should be getting a break on the commission rate being charged when working with an agent who is new to the industry—or has very few years of experience under their belt—Conlon shared how her company is combatting these inquiries.
“All of our agents are assigned a mentor that they get to work alongside, and so when you’re listing with a brand-new agent with our company, you’re really listing with a seasoned agent as well,” explained Conlon. “And so we’re able to make sure that we’re providing a high level of service regardless of how new or young an agent is.”
Wrapping up, panelists brought the commission conversation home by addressing amending buyer contracts and having listing contracts that allow agents to keep more commissions—two themes measured within RISMedia’s Contract & Commission Study. Critics of the industry have characterized these practices as “workarounds,” which they claim harm consumers.
“One of the things we’ve done is look at our agreements to see just how clear they are,” said Kelly, who challenged attendees to think through how to get rid of some of the legalese that’s in some of these forms—specifically where compensation is spelled out within various agreements.
Above, Chris Kelly, president and CEO of HomeServices of America. Photo by AJ Canaria.
“They say the best form of writing is at the fourth grade level, so write in the fourth grade level, and make it very clear as far as what could happen,” said Kelly—as those are the things that are going to get analyzed.
“When I see a workaround, it’s been one of those anecdotal stories where the agent put three cookies on a plate and that’s a secret symbol for a certain kind of commission level, or there are three stripes in the lawn…and it’s like this doesn’t even make sense,” he added.
“All you have to do is pick up the phone and call the listing agent and ask them what they’re offering. There’s no cloak and dagger necessary. They’re going to look for ways to show that the industry isn’t complying, so I would urge everybody to be careful as to how we talk about this.”
“I think the biggest challenge is the fact that the narrative out there is false,” said Conlon. “And so what they’re claiming as a workaround sometimes is not. And especially on the listing side, I think that whenever there’s an unrepresented buyer on the other side, our agents are doing additional work. And so if you’re having that conversation upfront, that’s great, as I personally am not a fan of amending buyer rep agreements. I think we’ve got to make sure the consumer is both educated and informed.”
“Again, we did this study because yes, this is a tricky discussion, but it’s a discussion not a lot of people are willing to have—but it’s important because if we don’t talk about this, the data is out there, and people are going to create their own narrative outside of this industry, and they’re going to do it the way they did it in the past,” said Williams.
