You might have heard that this month, changes to the National Association of Realtors’ rules governing commission fees finally went into effect. In Vermont, these rules were actually implemented in July just to be safe, but now this is the case across the country. Since they were announced in March, the amount of discussion and speculation around the consequences of said changes has made it challenging to figure out what it all means for buyers, sellers, and agents alike.

In short, it is no longer permitted to put offers of cooperative compensation for properties on the MLS (multiple listing service), or for realtors to show property to anyone without first signing a buyer-broker agreement. The goal here is to make clients fully aware of their options around negotiating real estate commissions, and generally reflects best practices already followed by Element.

What’s different is that a buyer agents’ commission can no longer be assumed on most properties. In practice, most sellers are still finding it useful to offer a cooperation fee, especially as homes in some areas are sitting on the market longer. When working with buyers or sellers, Element believes that we should always be offering the value implied by the commission for the services provided, if not more.

Looking at the Lamoille County housing data for July, a slight market slowdown is detectable. Median days on market is approaching a month, considerably higher than neighboring counties, and list price received has dipped below 100%, indicating less competition among buyers for certain properties. In other news, the Stowe Country Club recently announced plans to build 73 units of new housing across 2 developments on their land, which is pending approval from the development review board. Also moving through review is a 55-unit senior housing complex on Mountain Road.