'Don't piss off the DOJ': Veteran Las Vegas agents react to renewed push against Realtors

Multiple veteran Las Vegas real estate agents say they are largely on board with the upheaval currently going on in their industry.

It’s time for change and more transparency in their governing bodies, they say.

A federal appeals court ruled earlier this month that the U.S. Justice Department could restart its investigation into the policies of the National Association of Realtors — which has approximately 1.5 million agents nationwide. The ruling comes more than three years after the powerful trade association first settled antitrust claims and the DOJ closed its investigation.

Multiple real estate agents interviewed by the Las Vegas Review-Journal said DOJ officials were in Las Vegas on numerous occasions prior to the COVID-19 pandemic issuing subpoenas and interviewing brokers and agents about commissions charged by brokerages.

Las Vegas real estate agent Steve Hawks said it’s clear the DOJ and settlement lawyers are not targeting real estate agents but are looking to change the system and bring structural and foundational change to the industry and how it handles commission rates.

The average commission rate in the U.S. is somewhere around 5.4 percent, which is much higher than most developed nations. Nevada charges some of the highest rates in the country, according to a recent study.

“Don’t piss off the DOJ,” Hawks said. “Microsoft, AT&T — this is the same. (NAR) is making the exact same mistakes that those guys did, and do you think the result is going to be any different? They had the opportunity to settle with the DOJ in 2020 and they agreed to put all commissions on all of the websites, and they kind of tricked the DOJ. So now, the DOJ is like, ‘OK, you want to play games, let’s play games.’ ”

NAR settlement

The appeals court ruling is just the latest in a flurry of legal challenges for NAR, which last month agreed to a $418 million agreement that settles lawsuits filed across the country, including two in Nevada, that alleged the trade association conspired to keep agents’ commissions high. The first lawsuit was filed in 2019.

The settlement is expected to change the existing commissions model. Under the new settlement, agents won’t be allowed to include commissions for buyers agents on the listing in the Multiple Listing Service and buyers will have to have written agreements with their agents.

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