By Eric Berman, REALTOR® | The Eric Berman Team at Compass
TL;DR:
The change that took effect August 17, 2024 is narrower and more consequential than most coverage suggests. Buyer-agent compensation can no longer be posted on the MLS, and it's now negotiated within each individual offer. That's it — and it means a decision that used to be an industry default is now the seller's, worth roughly $16,000 to $22,000 at Bayside price points. Two things that did not change: commission was always negotiable, and sellers may still contribute to the buyer's side. What's new is that you have to decide.
What Actually Changed
The Sitzer/Burnett settlement produced practice changes effective August 17, 2024. Three of them matter to a seller.
Compensation can no longer be posted on the MLS. Before, a listing carried an offer of compensation to the buyer's agent, visible to every agent searching. That's gone.
It's negotiated within each individual offer instead. A buyer who wants the seller to contribute toward their agent asks for it as a term of their offer, and the seller responds the way they would to any other term.
Buyers sign written agreements with their agents before touring homes. That agreement specifies what the buyer's agent will be paid and by whom — which means a buyer arrives already committed to a figure.
Two things did not change, and both get stated wrong constantly.
Commission was always negotiable. "Commissions are now negotiable" is the most common error in coverage of this change and it's simply false. Rates were never fixed.
Sellers may still contribute to the buyer's side. That's explicitly permitted. What changed is that it isn't advertised through the MLS and isn't assumed.
Why "More Transparency" Is the Wrong Frame
Most coverage — including a great deal still circulating — describes this as a transparency improvement. That framing is comfortable and it understates what happened.
Compensation was always disclosed to the parties in a transaction. Sellers knew what they were paying; it appeared in their listing agreement and on their settlement statement. Nothing about the settlement revealed information sellers previously lacked.
What changed is structural. A decision that used to arrive as an industry default now requires a seller to make it, offer by offer. That's not information — it's responsibility, and it carries a number.
The number is the point. On a $900,000 Bayside sale, two and a half percent is roughly $22,500. On a $650,000 sale, about $16,250. A seller who treats this as a disclosure matter is missing that they now hold a five-figure decision they didn't hold before.
That's also why the change deserves more attention than a paragraph in a listing presentation. It's the second-largest line on the settlement statement, and it's now discretionary.
How to Make the Decision
There's no universal answer, and the right one depends on price band and buyer pool more than on principle.
Offering nothing lowers the stated cost and can narrow the pool. The mechanism is specific: a buyer who has signed an agreement committing them to pay their agent, and who is stretched on cash to close after down payment and closing costs, may simply be unable to reach a home offering nothing. They don't decline it — they don't tour it.
That matters more in some bands than others. Bayside's entry and mid-market price points draw buyers who are frequently cash-constrained at closing. Higher price points with more cash buyers behave differently.
The practical risk is that the cost is invisible. A seller who offers nothing and gets fewer showings doesn't see a report explaining why. The same invisibility applies to restricted showing access, covered in the full treatment of showings.
The useful way to think about it: compensation is a term like any other, and it trades against price. An offer at $885,000 requesting nothing on the buyer side nets more than one at $897,000 requesting two and a half percent. The lower number is the better offer, and running that arithmetic on every offer is the point. The framework for comparing what each offer actually nets works through it.
And the listing side is a separate decision. Negotiable, as it always was, with fee-negotiated listings at one and a half to two percent increasingly common on Long Island. The framework for choosing an agent covers what to ask about both sides.
What Stays the Same
Most of the transaction is unaffected, and it's worth saying so plainly.
Listing agreements still set what the seller pays their own agent, and the terms are still negotiable.
Buyer agents still exist and still bring buyers. The settlement didn't reduce representation — it formalized how it's paid for.
New York's process is unchanged. Contract drafting and negotiation remain reserved to licensed attorneys, acceptance still binds nobody until both attorneys negotiate and both parties sign, and closings still run the way they did. The full treatment of what to expect at closing covers the sequence.
Pricing still determines whether buyers see the home at all. Compensation affects who pursues a listing they've found; price affects whether they find it. The pricing framework covers the filtering mechanism.
And the Bayside cost picture is unchanged. New York State Transfer Tax at four dollars per thousand plus the New York City Real Property Transfer Tax at roughly 1.425% at or above $500,000 — the full breakdown of Bayside closing costs covers each line.
Three Misconceptions Worth Correcting
"I have to pay both agents." You never had to, and you certainly don't now. What you pay your own agent is your listing agreement. What you contribute toward the buyer's agent, if anything, is a term you negotiate per offer.
"Commissions became negotiable." They were always negotiable. Nothing in the settlement changed that, and any source saying otherwise is unreliable on the rest of it too.
"Sellers can't offer buyer-agent compensation anymore." You can. It simply isn't posted on the MLS. A seller who wants to contribute does so through the offer, and buyers and their agents know to ask.
A Worked Example
Consider a composite case — a Bayside seller listing a colonial in the mid-six hundreds, advised by a friend to offer nothing on the buyer side and keep the difference.
Two weeks in, showings were thin relative to what the pricing suggested. Nothing in any report explained it.
Her agent raised the compensation question directly with two buyer agents who had shown the home. Both said the same thing: their clients had signed agreements committing them to pay, and at that price point after down payment and closing costs, the additional obligation put the home out of reach.
She revised her position and communicated it. Showings picked up, and she eventually took an offer at a number that netted more than the savings she'd been protecting.
That isn't an argument for always contributing. It's an argument for deciding deliberately and watching what happens rather than assuming the saving is free.
Where to Start
Understand that you now hold a decision you didn't hold before, and that it's worth five figures. Ask your agent what they recommend on the buyer side and why — a good answer engages with your price band and buyer pool rather than citing a standard. Treat your listing-side fee as a separate, separately negotiable question. Then evaluate offers on what they net rather than on the number at the top.
Sellers wanting a read on where the home sits can start with a quiet look at current value.
The Honest Bottom Line
The change is narrower than the coverage suggests and more consequential than the word "transparency" conveys.
One decision moved from the industry to the seller. It's worth roughly $16,000 to $22,000 at Bayside price points, it trades against price in every offer, and getting it wrong in either direction costs money — offering too much reduces proceeds, offering nothing can quietly reduce the buyer pool.
Everything else about selling a home in New York works the way it did. For anyone thinking through what makes sense on a specific property, with no pressure attached, that conversation is available whenever the timing suits.
This is general information, not legal advice. Practice changes, agreement terms, and compensation arrangements vary. Consult a licensed New York real estate attorney and your agent about your circumstances.
FAQs
What actually changed with the NAR settlement?
Three things, effective August 17, 2024. Buyer-agent compensation can no longer be posted on the MLS. It's negotiated within each individual offer instead, as a term the seller responds to like any other. And buyers sign written agreements with their agents before touring, specifying what that agent will be paid and by whom. Two things did not change: commission was always negotiable, and sellers may still contribute to the buyer's side — it simply isn't advertised through the MLS or assumed.
Do I still have to pay the buyer's agent?
You never had to, and you don't now. What you pay your own agent is set by your listing agreement. What you contribute toward the buyer's agent, if anything, is a term negotiated within each offer. The practical consideration is that buyers now arrive having signed agreements committing them to pay their agent, so a buyer stretched on cash after down payment and closing costs may be unable to reach a home offering nothing — and they won't tour it rather than declining it.
Did the settlement make commissions negotiable?
No — they always were. This is the single most common error in coverage of the change, and any source saying otherwise is unreliable on the rest of it. Rates were never fixed and a seller could always negotiate what they paid their own agent. What changed is where buyer-agent compensation is communicated and who decides it: not posted on the MLS, negotiated per offer, and now a seller's decision rather than an industry default.
How much is the buyer-side decision worth?
At Bayside price points, roughly $16,000 to $22,000. Two and a half percent on a $650,000 sale is about $16,250; on a $900,000 sale, about $22,500. That makes it the second-largest line on a settlement statement after the listing commission, and it's now discretionary. Which is why "more transparency" is the wrong frame — nothing was revealed that sellers didn't know. A five-figure decision moved onto them.
Should I offer buyer-agent compensation?
It depends on your price band and buyer pool rather than on principle. Offering nothing lowers the stated cost and can narrow the pool, and the risk is that the cost is invisible — fewer showings with no report explaining why. That matters more at price points where buyers are cash-constrained at closing. The useful frame is that compensation trades against price: an offer at $885,000 requesting nothing nets more than one at $897,000 requesting two and a half percent.
By Eric Berman, REALTOR® | The Eric Berman Team at Compass
Eric Berman | Long Island & Queens Associate Broker | Compass
1468 Northern Blvd, Manhasset, NY 11030
(917) 225-8596 | eric@ericbermanre.com | theericbermanteam.com
