Buyer’s Agency Compensation is now a viewable field on the Greater Lehigh Valley REALTORS® consumer-facing website. The addition to the property search (available at www.GreaterLehighValleyRealtors.com) was a requirement of the National Association of REALTORS®.

NAR announced in November the adoption of changes to its guidance for local Multiple Listing Service broker marketplaces that reinforce greater transparency for consumers. The changes ensure disclosure of compensation offered to buyer agents, ensure listings are not excluded from search results based on the amount of compensation offered to buyer agents, and reinforce that buyer brokers do not represent their services as free.

The following changes were adopted in November:

• Reinforce that local marketplace participants do not represent brokerage services as free. While Realtors® always have been required to advertise their services accurately and truthfully, this change creates a bright line rule on the use of the word “free” that is easy to follow and enforce.
• Ensure disclosure of compensation offered to buyer agents. The change bolsters transparency and Realtors®’ existing duties and practices to talk with their clients about what services they provide and how they are compensated.
• Ensure listings aren’t excluded from search results based on the amount of compensation offered to buyer agents. This changes wording to reiterate Realtors®’ existing duty to inform clients about all relevant properties meeting their criteria.

The NAR Board of Directors adopted the changes to take effect Jan. 1, 2022.

To reflect the adopted changes, the Buyer’s Agency Compensation field was a required addition to GLVR’s consumer-facing website to ensure disclosure of compensation offered to buyer agents.

This rule is currently optional if you have an IDX feed.