Diversity Recognition Program Application Now Open
This year is the inaugural year for the Texas REALTORS® Diversity Recognition Program. Created by the Texas REALTORS® Diversity Committee, this award recognizes local associations for their diversity and inclusivity initiatives throughout the year. Recipients of this recognition will be awarded at the Texas REALTORS® Award Luncheon during Winter Meeting. Please review the application and contact Marcus Coleman at mcoleman@texasrealtors.com with any questions.
New I-9 Form
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services released a new I-9 form on August 1. For now, employers may use either the new form or the current form, but as of November 1, all employers must use the new form. You can find the new form here and a summary of the changes here.
NAR Information on MLS Policies
From Katie Johnson, NAR Chief Legal Officer and Member Experience Officer:
As you may have heard, Bright MLS has announced a change in their Listing Entry system that will allow its users to enter zero as an amount in a listing’s cooperative compensation fields. Prior to this update, the cooperative compensation fields in Bright MLS required entry of at least one cent. Some of you have asked, so we wanted to let all of you know that this change is consistent with NAR’s MLS Policy.
NAR’s policies are designed to ensure information is efficiently distributed to facilitate the transaction of real estate to the benefit of buyers and sellers. So long as cooperating brokers are aware of the offers made by listing brokers, that purpose is achieved. NAR has long said listing brokers and their clients are the ones who determine the amount and makeup of the offer to cooperating brokers. Practically speaking, the difference between one penny and $0 is negligible, and regardless, those offers are always negotiable. These policies ensure brokers are efficiently sharing information they and their clients need through their local, independent broker marketplaces. Without these policies, brokerages would not know important information about listings and they would have to rely on piecemeal information collected in inefficient ways that could negatively affect their ability to serve their clients and ultimately the U.S. economy.
In sum, NAR’s MLS policy requires participants to communicate an offer of compensation to other MLS participants and that offer can be any amount, including $0. And to be clear, NAR is not requiring nor encouraging MLSs to change their data fields to permit $0. We are simply advising that doing so would continue to comply with NAR’s MLS policy. NAR has always believed that NAR’s MLS guidelines and local broker marketplaces create highly competitive markets, empower small businesses and ensure equitable home ownership opportunities, superior customer service, and greater cost options for all buyers and sellers.
As always, you are welcome to contact me or the NAR MLS policy team narpolicyquestions@nar.realtor to discuss any of your MLS related questions or ideas.