Buyer’s Agents Are Key for Successful Relocations

By WERC and RDC

May 12, 2024

With the National Association of Realtors proposed settlement and the changes to how buyers agents can be compensated, understanding the role and value that buyer agents provide in mobility programs is more critical than ever. 

As we move through the second quarter of 2024, its safe to say this year has been anything but predictable. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) lawsuit and proposed settlement has consumed recent headlines. Housing affordability, rising costs, lack of inventory, continued higher interest rates, and supply chain issues, heightened by global tensions and natural disasters, all create uncertainty in the mobility industry. It is becoming increasingly challenging and more expensive to relocate employees. The goal of attracting and retaining skilled talent conflicts with the corporate clients needs to minimize costs. It has truly become the Year of the Conundrum.

Corporate mobility managers and relocation management companies (RMCs) servicing corporate clients are looking for ways to manage costs while preserving value and service to the relocating employee. With the anticipated NAR settlement approval and the changes to how buyers agents can be compensated, the impact on mobility is imminent and cannot be ignored. Managing buyer brokerage engagement and compensation will need to be established upfront.

Reimbursing buyer broker compensation has not been a typical benefit in relocation programs. If a corporation elects to support a relocating employee by reimbursing buyer broker compensation, that benefit would be taxable, which would further increase costs. Before making any decisions, it would be prudent to understand the impact a relocation-trained buyers agent has on the relocating employee and their familys experience.
WERC gathered six industry leaders comprised of members of WERCs buyer broker compensation ad hoc group and the Relocation Directors Council (RDC) and asked their thoughts on the most significant advantages to using a relocation-trained buyers agent for their relocating employees. Read More

Read more great articles below:

• THE FUTURE OF HOUSING: HOTSPOTS, HURDLES, & WHAT LIES AHEAD
• The Shifting Real Estate Landscape and the Value of a Relocation Department
• How Buyer Broker Compensation Lawsuits Will Affect Renters

• Housing market hinges on mortgage rates and supply, not commission structures

• Mapped: The Salary Needed to Buy a Home in 50 U.S. Cities in 2024

• What buyer’s agents are being paid in your market