- Do I need to make any changes to my Coming Soon, Active, Pending or Withdrawn listings on August 6th?
On August 6th, all compensation fields will be removed from CVR MLS, and new rules prohibiting any communication about compensation in the MLS will be implemented.
If you know that your listing has verbiage about offers of compensation in any fields, particularly Remarks, Agent Comments or any showing instruction fields, please remove that language. CVR MLS will be running compliance searches through its back-end Check-it program, but proactivity by agents will help with any potential compliance volume.
- Since we are allowed to offer concessions to potential buyers, how and where do we enter that information in the MLS?
If your seller is offering seller concessions or closing credits to potential buyers, you may include this information in the REMARKS field, just as you can now.
However, the Settlement does prohibit any concessions from being limited or conditioned on the retention of, or payment to, any buyer broker. If there is language insinuating that the concession should be used for buyer broker compensation, CVR MLS will remove the language and agents may be subject to a fine.
- How should I record concessions when I close a listing in the MLS? What if some of the seller concessions went to pay for the buyer brokerage commission?
Seller concessions should still be recorded in the Concessions field, just as you do now. Please remember that these should be seller concessions provided to the buyer, and not any buyer agent compensation paid by the listing firm. You should enter the entire concession amount that was paid by the seller to the buyer at closing, as supported by the closing or settlement statement, including any concession amount that went towards the buyer agent commission.
- How may a Broker show compensation on their own site – specifically when the listings are from an IDX feed?
The Settlement allows brokers to display compensation offers on their own listings on their own website. MLSs are prohibited from providing data feeds to websites or platforms that display or aggregate offers of multiple brokerages. So, if you display compensation offers of your own listings on your IDX-fed website, you are not in violation of the Settlement.
- Is there any restriction with the NAR settlement to having HISTORICAL data after settlement on what the Buyer comp was for a listing?
All compensation information, including historical compensation information on closed listings, will be removed from display in the MLS.
- Since the compensation fields are gone, can I include compensation offers to buyer agents in Showingtime, lockboxes, or showing instructions or as a supplement?
MLSs may not facilitate any communication regarding buyer agent compensation. That restriction extends to all fields and related tools. So, no compensation offers or language may be included in any fields, as a supplement or through any MLS-provided tool or tools that utilize an MLS data feed.
