Hey, folks. Thanks for joining us. It is the, the BBA marathon once again, and today is just the town hall. Today, we're gonna be interacting with the chat. Bring your questions. Bring your situations, your thoughts, and, we will address them and talk through whatever we need to talk through today. So, let's get started. How how is everybody doing this week so far? We're we're at Thursday. It's almost been a full week of all of this. Is it going pretty well so far? I think my favorite, Shay, was it you when you said welcome to day fifty two. I was just having a great marathon, and I'm like, this is how it feels. Oh, it's it's been so much fun, though. I mean, it I think we're all tired, but but we're all just having the blast of our lives with this. It's so much fun. It's like having a newborn baby. Right. It's there's a lot of fatigue, but it's a joyous fatigue. But it's yes. It's very enjoyable. Yep. I I love this quote I heard a long time ago talking about stress and strain and strain and work and letting it get to you and the the idea that, all stress is not equal, that that it really matters when there's a joy behind it. And the the comment was, you know, there's no job that's more stressful than parenting, but nobody says you gotta quit all that parenting. It's gonna kill you. Mhmm. There really is a a difference when all of the activity has a a joy behind it. Yep. Yeah. And I think we spoke about that last night. Right? We were like, have fun with with real estate. Yes. It's it's some unknowns and sometimes it got frustrating and hard, but, have fun. And that's, you know, find the joy. That's what we're looking at. Yeah. Great. Absolutely. Sometimes it's worse to feel like you have to have all the answers because we don't Oh my gosh. I think the quicker we can admit we don't have all the answers, then everybody can just kinda relax and know we're all in this together. So Mhmm. You know, I love this comment in the chat from Serene Klomp that says, I think we're coming, even closer as a brokerage because of all this. And and I think that's really true. I I see it happening. It's a great thing. I love what the last two weeks have done for all of us. Yeah. It's been great collaboration. Like, I mean, we we want more as brokers and regionals. We want more collaboration since this. And then I know, you know, agents have been excited about continuing the coffee chats too because it is it's it's it brings the office to us. It brings that feeling that we're sometimes missing, of connection. So I I love it. Mhmm. Yeah. As, one of the things that we've been talking about in Texas this week, I've been doing these, broker corners, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and or Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from noon to two. And it's just kinda like this format. You know, it's a it's an open forum, bring your questions, bring your situations. It it's been specifically geared to all of the BBA stuff, and it's been for the last three weeks. But, really, this last week, I've had so many agents say, hey. Can we keep this going? And I think we're figuring out, some sort of rhythm to keep that momentum up and open it up to other things just, not as frequently necessarily, but, you know, a streamlined version of it where there's just a a a rhythm to have constant access and keep having these conversations because I think it's just been real valuable for everybody. Yep. Yeah. And like Shay mentioned, this is our our q and a session. So go ahead and type it in the chat, and and we'll take any kind of questions you have, and and we'll try to do our best to get you an answer and lead you the right way. I saw one come in that says, am I going to have to take call after call when I have a listing to answer what the concession is for the buyer? Probably so. Say yes. Yep. That's part of the duties. Right? If they have a question about your listing, it's in your your seller's best interest for you to answer that phone and give them the information that you can. Yep. I mean, this might be a time to, and I've done this for years. If if you've got a a an Apple phone, use the notes, app. I I think there's probably something for Android as well. You know, write up some scripts and have some text message scripts ready to go. Makes it a whole lot easier, you know, if if somebody calls and they just follow-up with the text, and you can just you don't have to retype it every time. Mhmm. Yeah. And then just communicating. If you do have your seller's permission, and you are offer offering cooperating broker compensation, in one of my states, they're suggesting once you show that property or even prior to showing you have a showing for that property, send your CBC, your compensation agreement over to the other agent. Your sellers already authorized you to do that. Then you don't have to answer those calls. You're giving them that information. Same thing depending on if they allow you to advertise their concessions. You can call them prior to your showing and tell them. You can send them an email prior to the showing. You can send them an auto text. Right? So, you know, you can do a couple of preventative measures to help, you know, ward off the phone calls afterwards, but still answer your phone. What is the approved language to put in the purchase agreement when asking for a seller concession that will include a buyer broker compensation? I think that's an ask your state broker situation. I I think those those guidelines are gonna be state to state pretty specifically. And I know in Texas, there's been a lot of confusion and a lot of cloudiness around this, but I did just get an email yesterday from Texas Realtors, deputy counsel, with some pretty clear language about the Texas laws around that that I'd like to I need to pass on, actually. Mhmm. To be a little bit shy. Make sure that you understand there's a difference between broker to broker compensation and seller concession for broker fees. So, most of your contracts will cover the seller concession portion and your broker to broker compensation generally, depending on state, like Shay said, generally, usually has to be, negotiated prior to your offer. It couldn't be as a part of the offer. Again, that's, for me, that's Pennsylvania, but we shouldn't use, you know, compensation to entice or reduce an offer or withhold an offer. So make sure you understand there's difference. If you're doing broker to broker compensation, that's an agreement between brokers. And if you're asking for seller concessions for the buyer to pay, generally, most contracts that I've seen, they have it on the contract. Yep. And I would say, and Shelley actually chimed in exactly what I was gonna say. Some of these are so hyperlocal and so dependent on the state you're in, whether they allow it in the purchase and sale agreement or if you, have the compensation agreement because we're advising here in Georgia. We have a brokerage compensation engagement agreement that is its own exhibit to the contract. So while it is part of the purchase and sale agreement, it is its own exhibit, and it clearly states the word compensation. I would stay away from the word commission at this point. I think most states and associations have gone to, that level of changing the word commission to compensation where it is informed, so I would try to go ahead and adopt that term. But ask your state broker for, you know, specific state advice because some have special stipulations that can be put in the purchase and sale agreement. Some have their own exhibits, which usually cover a little bit have a little bit more protection, I would say. You know, they're well drafted and thought out. So very state dependent on if you can put in the purchase and sale or not. Okay. So some confusion between compensation and concessions. Yeah. I can see how that would happen. I think when we use the word concessions, we're thinking your typical closing cost, home warranties, things that are gonna cover actual cost to to the home, to the property. And, again, those usually do affect an amount, that can be contributed with the loan. And so and those are true seller concessions, like, towards the closing cost down payment, things towards the property. The cooperative brokerage compensation, from my understanding and from what I've been told, is not going to affect that overall percentage of what is contributed to the loan amount. So even though it can be advertised from a seller that they are offering concessions, they do not have they cannot they do not state what those concessions are specifically. It is then the buyer and buyer agent duty on the other side to say, can we use one thousand dollars of the concessions offered for the buyer's agent compensation? So it does have to come from the buyer request, and it does need to be clearly worded what out of the concession would be towards the compensation. That is how we are doing it in Georgia. Yeah. And same thing. It's very similar. What is explained or explained to my agents is when you're looking at a cooperating broker compensation, that is the listing broker agreeing to pay your selling broker. Right? Those are between the broker, and so that those are the ones that you can pre negotiate. You can call them and say, hey. Are you offering, compensation? Right? Are you offering a buyer agent compensation? So that's the other listing agent. That's what we're kind of talking about where we don't want someone negotiating your your commission. Right? Technically, that other listing agent has negotiated to pay a certain part to the buyer broker agent. So that's your buyer that's your broker to broker compensation agreement. Your your your concessions or seller concessions, like, Sarah explained, they can be used to pay buyer agent commission fees. Remember, your buyer agent commission is assigned to you and your buyer. That's a contract between you and your buyer. And those concessions that you can get from a seller can be used for that fee. So it it's if you look at it by who you're having that agreement with, then it's it kind of will help you figure out what each is. And those questions about writing it up, how do you write up if if you were you are paying part concessions or you're paying part broker compensation? Again, those are very state specific. Look at your forms. Some forms break it down. Some say we've agreed in a separate contract what this is, plus we're asking the seller to pay this. And it's in addition to. Some say it all at once. Some it's just very different. So, yes, please please, ask your broker. If we're doing partial, how should this look on a on a contract? Yeah. I think that I think most say I mean, you do have to state it pretty explicitly what is for what. And that is the whole thing about the transparency around the compensation anyway, is it does have to be a very specific amount, so that does need to be clear. That way too, title and closing attorneys and everybody can follow what's in the contract, whether that's in a special stipulation, section of the contract or an amendment adding it subsequently at that time. Oh, and then what do we provide to the, title company to confirm the split? Again, some state contracts have addendums that show how this is split out. Your contract should, have if your contract has those terms or contract can be used, I've read that, in certain states, they will take a a disbursement authorization from your broker still. And I have heard some agents saying the title companies wanna see your listing agreement, and they wanna see your buyer agency agreement. So it it kinda just depends on how clear your form is. If your your state form, your state contract doesn't spell that out so clearly, while it's supposed to, it can get confusing. Your title the title companies have been asking for agreements to show who's paying what. Yeah. It's been I will say it's been very interesting to see what some states have adopted form wise, and I think that's been kinda cool throughout this is there are some states that have an instructions to title company or closing attorney that very clearly say what is being paid, by whom, is it directly, is it shared. And so I think, it it's been kind of eye opening. I would say sometimes even if your state doesn't have that, if you partner with agents across you know, we have agents everywhere. Sometimes you can gather some really good language to adopt too. So, I think this is just a really great learning opportunity for for everybody to kinda pick up different verbiage and things like that along the way as well. Yeah. This is a great time to learn from the way other people are doing it. Right? I mean, there are some things that obviously may not, work state to state, but I I think it's really interesting how creative everyone is getting at trying to stay within the guidelines, but still come up with ways to feel more comfortable with things and and and, be more transparent and upfront and and deal with these issues. I think the more the more we have these collaborative conversations, even, like, kinda bringing it back full circle to how this whole discussion started today, We are getting stronger as a brokerage and as as a company and with agents as well because we're hearing what other states are doing, and we're having those collaborative conversations. I love this. Oh, I like, I like Theresa's question. She said, should we get into detail about the NARS settlement or just talk about the new regulations that we need to comply with? And I've I've read an article this morning, Mary Palin from Floyd Whitman. And, I think she read it last week, but it's like a a blog. Anyway, she mentioned sometimes when you say something is more important than what you say. So, yes, we we should talk about the settlement, but the idea behind it is, is it just someone one off saying, oh, now I don't have to pay commission selling my house. Right? And so in that case, you could jump in and say, well, NARS says and these this is what happened with settlement, or you could ask the question, oh, oh, are you thinking about selling your house? Right? So you get into a deeper conversation. You can start talking about time frame. You can start talking about, like, lead it towards. Are they actually interested in selling? Are they trying to do a conversation? So it depends. Obviously, if you're in a listing agreement, you wanna go over the terms of your contract. You wanna mention what what has changed. You wanna explain why it's important to them. But if it's, you know, someone just doing a one half off comment and and and it's trying to just engage just to have that conversation, it depends on you. Do you wanna spend your time doing that, or do you wanna see if if they're serious about buying or selling? So timing, will help, and and it's for you to determine, you know, what that person needs and what you're willing to offer. Mhmm. Yeah. And I think just to piggyback on that, I I think one of the things I've done a couple of the, you know, buyer or seller role plays or, you know, scenarios. I would call them more than role play. And if they're if they're the one bringing it up when you are talking business, when you are going into an agreement, and they're like, well, yeah, I've heard about it or, yes, I know what it means. I would say flip it back to them immediately. Ask them what they think they know. Know. Like, what are they actually understanding about this? Or what do they think they're understanding about this or how it affects them? Because I think once you hear it from their mentality, instead of you going in maybe just spitting a bunch of facts or a bunch of stuff that might go over their head, if you ask them what they're understanding and their knowledge about it is, I think you'll have a better direction on which way you need to take the conversation to. Hundred percent. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Every one of these conversations is going to be unique. Every situation is unique. And, I think just in the same way that when we're in a a listing presentation and and we just kinda have a vibe and we know which direction to take that conversation with regard to the marketing or the pricing or whatever. You know? The more we get to know that person on the other side of the table, the more we get to know really what they're interested in. And if they're interested, give them all the information they want. But you don't ever wanna give somebody a drink from the fire hose, if they're not wanting it. So, just kinda feel it out. Yeah. You could open up a lot more, a a bigger can of worms that way too. Yes. Yes. Like, when they start asking you those specific contract questions and and and we haven't even cleared them up with our own broker. Yeah. You just don't wanna go down a rabbit hole you're not prepared for. Right. Oh, I see. I just noticed we have these q and a questions. Can you give me example when you might be doing broker to broker? Is it not typically going to be seller driven? Oh, yes. Yeah. So if a seller's offering broker compensation to the other side, it would be seller driven. You would explain the benefits of whether or not they want to offer it, whether they should. You know, it's just advising them just like a regular listing. And then if my seller is authorizing up to two point five percent but does not authorize me to release the agent, release that info to the agent. Then in the event the buyer compensation is lower than two point five percent, do I just ask the buyer to present the offer to disclose the buyer comp so I'm not offering compensation if the buyer is already willing to pay for it? So is this saying that the seller is offering two point five, but the buyer is agreeing to two point five in their agreement? I think most of the compensation agreements, it might be state specific. If I'm answering understand the question. If a buyer is agreeing to pay two point five percent, some of your buyer agency agreements require us to ask the seller still or the listing agent still to try to reach receive that compensation from them before we go to the buyer. So if your seller's offering the two point five, Are are you not advertising it? Are you withholding it based on the seller? And then if they ask you for the CV compensation, you're saying no? I I I don't know. I don't know the answer to that question. Yeah. I think that gets a little tricky because if they've already agreed to pay it, it would have to be the seller advising you as well not to disclose it. You cannot choose to not disclose what they have agreed to. That does have to come from the seller whether they want it disclosed or not ahead of time. But in an instance like this, it could be that you go the approach with this particular seller of not having them agree to anything and just be open to offers of compensation that come in. Because if it does get asked, you you guys can't really ask the buyer's agent to provide the buyer brokerage agreement to know if they've agreed to pay it for you. And if you do ask, the buyer has to agree to that. So it gets very convoluted into what can be disclosed in confidentiality. So, the better approach may just be the wait and see kind of kind of thing. Like, if they wanna wait and see what's being asked for, but they know their cap, you know, internally, that's fine. That way, if they get an offer asking for a four percent compensation, they can counteroffer. No. We'll give you two point five or, you know, whatever. But I if they're not sure they're gonna wanna pay it at all, I don't think that it would be best to lock them into something that might be binding in an agreement otherwise, because the buyer's agent does not have to disclose what they have agreed to with their buyer for their discretion, and it could just kinda get messy. Yeah. And I think I was I was talking to Shay about this right before, we jumped on. It's your buyer has authorized and agreed to pay if your buyer has agreed to pay that. Right? They have it in writing in a listing agreement saying that we will pay this buyer agency compensation. It what what's the difference of when we had to list it on MLS? Right? Your seller agreed to pay that, and we are marketing it on MLS. We couldn't just say, I'm gonna put zero percent on MLS and see what they offer me. Right? So the change is we can't market it on MLS, but the seller is still agreeing to two point five. And so, you know, I think it's just gonna be a sticky situation like Sarah said. If if they're authorizing it, then then that's what they're they're agreeing to. Right? If they're not sure about it, then that's when you go in that situation where let's keep it open. But if they are offering it, you know, all you need is is an MLS enforcement division to come and ask for your listing agreement and see why you didn't, honor the agreement. So I we don't know how those things are gonna play out. Christie, yes. That's state specific. It's without even getting into it. If, you know, if there is a broker to broker compensation less than the DBA agreement, can you add a seller to buyer broker for the difference or the seller concession for the difference to make up the shortage of the DBA? Every form addresses this very differently. Some forms preemptively address this. They have a section for what the buyer is willing to pay. Yes. They're approving the buyer's agent to receive additional compensation from the seller or seller's broker. This is the amount they're letting them receive. Receive. So some of it is laid out very clearly in those forms. And if you're not sure if your form does, you can work with your broker maybe to get some language surrounding that. Buyer brokerage agreements can be amended, and that that is still a fact as well. So don't you know, that that's a fact to you. If your forms don't address that ahead of time, you you can amend them, but, it's always gonna be easier to amend down than it is up. So always keep that in mind when you're going into with the buyer ahead of time. If you're thinking we might get in a situation where it's a new construction or a land lot or a potential to have a higher compensation, it's gonna be easier to say, hey. You actually don't have to pay me as much if the seller is willing to pay that versus asking them to come up and pay more. But it also is up to the buyer's discretion to be open for the buyer's agent to receive additional compensation from the seller. Oh, then, oh, I see William's question. If the seller already agreed to pay three percent to the buyer but receives a request for two percent, does the seller have to pay the three percent? This is more addressed on your buyer agency agreement where, it depends on what you asked for. Because your compensation if if you agreed in your written agreement with your buyer for two percent, you cannot get more than what you agreed to. Yep. So And I would say that the binding agreement, the contract of purchase and sale agreement here trumps the listing agreement and the buyer brokerage agreement. So whatever is negotiated and agreed upon in that contract, if they only ask for two and the seller agrees to it and the buyer agreed to it and everybody signs off on it, that is what you've agreed to at that time, and that will speak for what was previously agreed to in the listing agreement. With the listing agreement, it depends on what your seller wants to do. You may have a seller who wants to go the more traditional route who says, you know what? Offer this this, broker to broker compensation. I just wanna I just want it to be easy. I want them to know what it is. I don't wanna mess around with negotiations. It's built into the price. Right? Or you might have a seller says, let's leave it open. Let's see what kind of offers come in. So really write what you write in that listing agreement. It's an agreement between you and the seller depending on on their needs. And I want to kinda backtrack a second too on the listing agreement. I will say this is how it's written in the listing agree agreement too. Here because again, I know I keep using Georgia example, but it's what I know. So when in our compensation agreement portion, the seller has the option to either pay one commission and that commission is shared as a cooperative brokerage comp compensation. Excuse me. Or they have the option to pay their listing agent x amount percentage as compensation and the buyer directly as x amount compensation. So there is actually a difference between paying the buyer's broker directly versus sharing the cooperative broker brokerage compensation, tongue twisters all day long, I swear. Because sometimes if they have agreed to pay that six percent, five percent, four percent, whatever it may be, and the other party is only asking for two percent, then, technically, they have agreed to pay an additional four percent. And a seller an agent may say, oh, well, you've already agreed to pay that. So you're actually paying me four percent, and I'm only paying them two percent because that's what they asked for. But if it's broken, broken apart to pay the listing brokerage directly and the seller's broker directly, they do have a little bit more control because they're saying, no. I've only agreed to pay you two percent or three percent of four percent. I was agreeing to pay up to two or three percent for the buyer's brokerage, but since they've only asked for two out of the three, I'm only paying them that. So you kinda have a savvy seller mentality versus a listing agent mentality too because there could be an argument that there is that extra percentage of compensation floating around if it is a shared compensation that they agreed to pay out of one overall compensation. That may have been really confusing. I don't really know. And well and and I'll say this, Sarah. In Texas, there's a a very similar, I'll say intent, but the mechanism for that is very different than what you just described. It's the mechanism for it is just simply in the language of how it handles some of those compensations. It it doesn't have those separate fields at all. So So I think it's, again, it's interesting how different states handle it. I would just say make sure you're you're clear in where what's going where. And, you know, if they do come out and say, hey. There is an extra one percent. I get that back versus an agent thinking it's paid towards them. And that's really what this is all about is transparency. Tina, your head's spinning. My head's spinning. I don't even know what's happening half the day, I feel like, anymore. Oh, I think this is an easy one, guys. For open houses, do I have to restrict access to people coming in until they sign a DBA? Nope. Nope. That is covered in the settlement. Oh, unrepresented buyers coming in to view an open house, they are not working with you technically for brokerage services. They are just coming to view the property that you are hosting open. If they say, hey. I want you to write an offer for me. Yes. Yeah. So what would I guess, maybe explain, Sarah, what what would be, I guess, the defining quality to get? And I we're coming up on three thirty, but what's the if that that would require the agreement? The agreement would be if, they want you to provide true brokerage services for them that is writing and negotiating an offer. You have already they've entered the house, and at that point, it's not showing or touring or anything. It is actually actively writing an offer, and you are providing a service there. Or if they say, maybe I'm not interested in this house, but can you show me this house down the street? At that point, if you guys are just talking about it, no. But the point you scheduled to show them the house, you take them to show them the house, yes. So it's going from them being unrepresented into the door to asking you to actually represent them in that moment. I know there is in some other instances, we talk about the two factors that require it. You're, you know, crossing the threshold and, doing different things, like, depending on what you're like, are you scheduling chores? Are you actually Right. On the floor? I mean, it's gotta be those different things. But just hosting an open house, no. If they want you to get to that point of negotiating them and representing them, yes. Perfect. Okay. Well, we're coming up on three thirty. I wanna thank you all for coming in and and your chat, questions and your q and a questions. I think this was a really good conversation, and I think we're I'm gonna end with, remember, work with your broker. Most of them do have contract classes, so you can get with them for those specific questions. And then don't forget to join us tomorrow. Right? We have, the coffee, and then we also have the first Friday edition, of our our marathon. We're our closing ceremonies. So that's when we're going to start, sharing that note information that Robert's been talking about for the past couple weeks. So join us then. And if anything, reach out to your brokers, and we'll see y'all soon. See y'all later.