Lawyers Continue to Threaten Real Estate Industry…Even Post Settlement

Anthony Lamacchia: It’s been 10 days since the biggest changes to the real estate industry have kicked into gear. The sun is still rising, the earth is still spinning, buyers are still buying, sellers are selling, and buyers and sellers still want to be working with real estate agents every day. The enemies of our industry despise that. I’m here to talk about some of them right now, and other things that have happened over the last couple of weeks.

First, congratulations, Nykia Wright, new permanent CEO of the National Association of Realtors. Folks, I’ve gotten to know her a bit over the last eight months, and I will tell you I am impressed with what I see, and I can tell you I am also impressed with some of her competitive and feisty vibes that she has. I think we are going to see a little bit more fight out of NAR in the months, weeks, and years to come, and I am excited about that. I also want to talk about how Michael Ketchmark was in NAR, every move you’ll make, we’ll be watching.

Ooh, Mikey’s watching, folks. Be careful, he’s watching me right there, look at him. Then there’s this other gentleman. Inman came out with a great headline. It’s Miller time. Doug Miller and this Wendy Gilch from this other consumer advocacy group that claims to be consumers but works against them, they came out with a hell of a lot to say. I’m reading the article and I’m like, “They don’t understand, they don’t understand, they don’t understand.” I’ll get back to that in a minute. Also going to talk about the piles of money that Ketchmark, Brandon Boulware, and all the other attorneys are counting right now.

Remember I told you in a past video, they’re busy in between fighting these cases and swimming through money like the uncle in DuckTales. Remember I had mentioned that in a prior video. Well, they filed for another 36 million on top of the prior 69 million, and folks, they are not done. A little prediction that I made back in the debate is going to come true, and we’re going to show you a little sneak peek at that.

In addition to that, this character, speaking of consumer advocacy groups that claim to be for the people, Stephen Brobeck came out with another hit piece on the real estate industry this week, but someone who cares a lot about realtors and even more about buyers and sellers, Mr. Joseph Ventrone, an NAR veteran who’s retired, but it seems couldn’t take it anymore, came out with a phenomenal rebuttal. I’m going to go over all of that with you. Now, let’s go backwards. Let’s spend a minute on doing business. We’re obviously in a bit of a bumpy time, okay?

Realtors and different brokerages are doing things slightly differently. There’s some competitive juices flowing to how some of the things are being done differently, but the overarching principles of the settlement are happening. Commissions are gone from almost every MLS in the country, okay? Buyers are talking to realtors and hearing about the need for a written agreement upfront. Various other intricacies and details to the settlement are happening. I have never seen realtors in my career more tuned into training, more interested in making sure that they do the right thing than I’m seeing right now.

They’ve always had that attitude, but it’s even more now. The notion that realtors or broker owners are trying to skirt the system in some large manner is crazy. Now, obviously, we have an industry with 1.6 million realtors, plus you put in brokers and other companies, everybody in the ecosystem. You’re talking about millions of people. There is a transitional period that we have all entered, and it will take some time to adjust, but from what I have observed so far, those in our industry are working very hard to do things the new way, to follow the settlement, to follow the rules, et cetera.

Despite that, despite all that, Michael Ketchmark, Doug Miller, this other Wendy character, I see her on Twitter always trolling Rob Hahn, the guy who doesn’t know what he’s doing. Biggest real estate industry gaslighter there is. I see her trolling him all– I connected the dots this week. She’s with the Consumer Advocates in American Real Estate. We’re going to talk about her, but let’s first go to Ketchmark. Every move you make, we’ll be watching. Let’s look at some of the comments. If anyone thinks– Hold on, let me do the Missouri accent.

“If anyone thinks they’re going to be able to avoid the application of this settlement agreement and the law by creating some new forms or hiding this cooperation on new websites, they’re wrong.” Okay? Then he goes on, “They’re fleecing billions of dollars that have been fleeced out of the pockets of homeowners.” Really? Coming from the guy who’s leading the charge in charging millions of dollars and completely fleecing the real estate industry. Right now, those dollars are coming out of every realtor’s pocket in America. Don’t give me the garbage about the big corporations.

Yes, the big corporations have people that work for them, and people that have to give up money to the big corporation. Any realtor out there that thinks that they’re not somehow paying for this too, either your broker or some others are fooling you because everybody’s taking a part and paying for new planes and new things that these attorneys are going to buy. Yes, I did say new. All right. “We’re starting to get reports back from agents and brokers in large cities, and they’re already seeing commissions are starting to drop.”

I haven’t seen that. I don’t know. Not getting into commission amounts, but this fairy tale, which is the real reason that these attorneys are in this, this fairy tale that they have that everyone’s just going to start working for free, is going to be proved to be untrue and they’re going to fail, because they’re somehow, someway tied in with industry disruptors that have it out for our industry. Then he got into, “People were talking about setting up third-party websites for commission sharing.” I’ve said, our company, we’re not doing third-party websites. We’re not doing it at all.

It’s going to be communicated between our realtors and realtors who are asking. It’s going to be negotiated within the transaction. That’s how it’s going to work. Not knocking companies putting websites up. The settlement says they can’t put it in MLS. It doesn’t say they can’t do third-party websites, but he’s obviously messaging there, because as I told you in past videos, don’t think these lawyers are going to take their bat and ball and go home. They’re going to circle our industry, and they’re going to keep suing, and keep trying to fleece money, and keep trying to continue to be leeches, going after money of our industry until someone gives it back to them and scares them off.

Next. “I think there’s a large desire in the industry to have the plaintiffs’ attorney somehow bless the material or bless the information. We’re not going to do that until we see how it’s written and how it’s being used in the real world. But if we see things that are in violation, we’re going to take action.” I know my Missouri accent isn’t good. I even admitted that to Michael one time in a text message. Can you elaborate on what the steps would be to take action? “No, other than I will tell the industry they better mind their P’s and Q’s and comply with the law.” That is exactly what everyone is trying to do. God, the threats never end.

Yes, if anyone’s– There was another question. If anyone’s breaking the rules, now I’m jumping around. So it isn’t like this is all he said, to be fair. “If anyone is breaking the rules or violating the agreement, we’re going to look for opportunity to make examples out of anyone who’s playing fast and loose with the law.” No one is playing fast and loose. I’m sure out of 1.5 million, there might be a few bad actors, but by and large, no one’s trying to do that. I’m seeing people working their tails off to make sure this is implemented correctly.

He also mentions, “With antitrust laws, they’re not just civil, but they’re criminal in nature, and at some point, this behavior can cross over to the criminal realm.” Andrea Brambila, I give her credit. She went on to keep asking quite, what do you mean? Okay. Yes. Yes. Mary, the realtor who is representing 10 clients a year, and doing all she can to comply, she’s going to end up on criminal charges? Come on, with the rhetoric. Enough. There’s no one here that’s intentionally trying to hurt anyone. That hasn’t been going on at all. That’s a lie. Now, I noticed something. I’m going to go back to this after.

Contradiction in this article. “My belief is when–” This is Ketchmark talking. “When it returns to local brokers and returns to local control, that it’s going to be better. I truly believe that these local agents are going to do the right thing, and they’re not sitting around trying to find out ways to violate the laws.” Well, I’m glad he said that. It’s nice of him to say that. Classic Ketchmark. Throws out a bunch of fire, and then says to himself, “Geez, I better cushion that.” I’ve been guilty of the same thing here and there, but I want to pay close attention that. Local brokers, when it turns to local control.

I’m going to go back to that and show you how that directly contradicts what Mr. Doug Miller said. Okay? “They benefit from this illegal conspiracy.” Holy God. “I’m personally excited, and the plaintiffs’ attorneys are excited.” I’m sure you are. You’ve got millions going your way. I’m sure you are. This little contradiction part, putting this aside, coming back to that. Let me move on here for a few minutes, and we’re going to get into, it’s Miller time. Okay? “Doug Miller says offering compensation to buyers brokers off the multiple listing service is commercial bribery and a group boycott.”

I know I’ve been over this a hundred times, and until someone shows me a law that explicitly says home sellers cannot offer compensation to someone who brings them a buyer, I will continue to argue with this ridiculous, preposterous point, because it’s wrong. It would take an act of Congress. The president would have to sign to ban it. Yes, the DOJ has said they don’t want sellers offering it. I have said in many videos, good luck getting that passed. Regardless of who’s in office, that’s an uphill battle.

In my opinion, and in the opinion of MLS Penn, in their statement of interest, they said you’re trying to take away the freedom of speech. Okay? I’ve said that’s a right that a seller has. He goes on. “We’re extremely concerned that realtors are using misinformation and scare tactics to try and persuade their clients into signing anti-competitive buyer brokerage and listing contracts that artificially inflate buyer brokerage fees.” Where do I start? It’s exhausting. Really, it is. Okay. Number one, in my opinion, realtors should be providing their home sellers with a choice.

When they talk about using misinformation and scare tactics. That right there, I’m going to circle it, because that’s something that I’ll be sure to bring up if I’m ever on a stand, as an expert witness, or if any of these plaintiffs’ attorneys think they’re going to get cute and sue my company, I’ll be the worst, worst enemy they could ever run into, because I’ll explain that to a jury, and I’ll pick that apart to a jury better than any defense attorney, better than any plaintiff’s attorney, because I’ll look at the jury and you know what I’ll say? “Hey, if I was selling your home or your mom’s home or your daughter’s home, would you want me to sell the home for as much as possible?”

Stupid question. We all know the answer. Every seller wants their home sold for as much as possible. Okay. “In knowing that, do you want me to explain to you the things that will help your home sell for as much as possible?” Then I’ll go into my whole spiel that I’ve done everywhere. Buyers seek the path of least financial resistance. That’s his phrase that I’ve been saying everywhere for months. Buyers seek the path of least financial resistance. There will be buyers that are attracted to homes that solve that problem for them.

If a seller doesn’t want to proactively offer it, fine. No realtor should be forcing them, but realtors have a fiduciary duty to explain these things. Let me go to this part that talks about contradicting, because I want to talk about Ketchmark’s contradiction with his contradiction. Okay. “Forms committees composed of competitors who design fee agreements that result in higher buyer brokerage fees are likely to be the target of future litigation. Anyone who uses the work product of those committees is likely to face similar threats not unlike the Moehrl and Sitzer cases.”

Ketchmark says right here, “My belief is, when it returns to local brokers and returns to local control, that’s going to be better.” They’re directly contradicting one another, and I’ll be sure to point it out in court if I ever end up there. Okay? Doug, here’s how it works. Every realtor in America doesn’t have the money to hire their own attorneys and create their own forms. Every brokerage in America, around 80,000 brokerages, they don’t have the money to create their own forms. Real estate associations have worked on creating forms for hundreds of years. Local realtors, do they get together and go on forms committees and discuss these things? Yes. Yes. Why is that bad?

Ketchmark says right here, when it returns to local control, local brokers, they’re not getting together talking about commission amounts. They’re doing what their absolute best to adhere to the settlement that you all created. What are you doing now? You’re trying to put a barrier up everywhere the real estate industry goes. You’re trying to put a barrier up with fear tactics and fearmongering to those that are trying to follow this. What else are they supposed to do? Yes, at my company, we have a general counsel, one of the brightest real estate minds in the whole industry. Not everybody can afford to hire people like that. Not everybody can afford to have people like that, and advisors.

 They can’t afford to do that. Yes, we’re not using association forms, for the most part. Some of them I like, some of them I don’t like. Some of the new ones I like, I don’t, I’m not crazy about, but that doesn’t mean that they’re out to collude. That notion is preposterous. Then they talk about concessions. When they get into the intricacies of concessions, it shows me that they don’t understand the mortgage guidelines. You can’t take a commission and put it on top of a mortgage. That’s a personal loan.

I’ve explained this a hundred times, but I noticed Doug Miller keeps pushing a concession. Wendy talks about pushing the concession. There are limits on seller’s concessions, or call them closing cost credits. Most mortgage products only allow for up to a 3% closing cost credit. Some, like FHA, as much as six, but when you start pushing up against six, the credit gets huge, you can have appraisal issues. It will undoubtedly cause concern on behalf of the listing agent and seller. In multiple offer situations, sellers are less likely to take offers with large closing cost credits because that tells the seller there’s some money strain. Okay?

You all, you Stephen Brobeck, you Doug Miller, you Michael Ketchmark, you Wendy Gilch, you the Department of Justice, have made this much harder on first-time buyers. Joe Ventrone talks about that in his write-up, and I’m going to go over that. All of you, all you attorneys, Brandon Boulware, every single one of you have made it harder on buyers, have made it harder on veterans, people that don’t have generational home ownership, people of color, you’ve made it harder. There are certain groups that statistically, it’s a harder time for them to buy, and you all have made it harder, but you run out there and you opine and you act like you’re making it easier.

I did a bunch of trainings. I constantly train on these topics. I’ve been asked by realtors, “Well, Anthony, what happens if we write it this way and that way and then we get in a multiple offer situation?” Yes, your buyer’s going to be in a disadvantage now thanks to the new way. What can we do? What can we do? We do the best we can. We explain it to the buyers. Then at the end, interesting here, last comment with Wendy and Doug, for now. They talk about, “If you negotiate a fee of around 1%, you’ll likely save the seller about 2% in commissions.”

Yes. Listen, I’m not getting into commission amounts. There’s all different amounts. He talks about 1%, there’s 5%, 3%, 2%. You read the news, all they talk about is five and six. Everybody in the business wishes it was that easy, okay? Here’s what I’m going to say. People get what they pay for. They want to go out and find new agents that are more willing to work for lower fees or be discount brokers and so on, fine. Let’s see how that works out. They won’t do as well in the business. This other company, a side note here. Homie, they sued NAR last night, I believe in the state of Utah. They’re another failed discount brokerage.

Now, when the pontificators on the enemy side hear that, they say, “Well, that’s because they were boxed out.” Their argument is, “Oh, the MLS rules box us out.” No, they don’t. There’s been entry only brokerages, entry only companies, and the MLS is as long as I can remember. Discount fees, no offerings of compensation, $1 offerings. This has been going on for decades. They cry, and they act like that NAR is somehow preventing them from doing business. A bunch of crap.

Let’s talk fees. Mr. Ketchmark, do you remember? Do you remember? I know you’re going to see this. In the great debate when I said you’re going to make $300 to $400 million, and when I said that, I meant the group of attorneys. Take a look. Go ahead. Look. This guy’s going to make at least $300 million, $300 to $400 million. Hey, how much of that is going back to the so-called victims? We all know Michael’s the one making the money. That isn’t fair. It isn’t right. Why? Because the lawyers, these trial lawyers, are operating on a rigged system.

Michael Ketchmark: Your information’s wrong. Your information’s inaccurate.

Anthony: It’s looking like I’m getting more right with every month that goes by. You just applied for $36 million additional fees for all the attorneys. Here’s the image that was used on Inman. That’s a third of the Gibson case. The $110 million, $36 million. Oh, sounds like a third, right? You applied for $69 million before, on the previous companies that settled. You haven’t even applied yet for your fees off of the $418 million in the NAR settlement, or the $200 and something million in the HomeServices settlement, and you say right in your article, you’re still going after Berkshire Hathaway Energy. Trying to shake down one of the most successful businessmen in the history of our country, right?

That’s what’s going on here. It’s interesting when I look at this. They talk about in this article, “The trial attorneys will seek to recover one-third of the entire settlement, or about $329 million, plus expenses.” That’s what I said in the debate, and you told me I was wrong. Listen, folks, to be clear, I am not some anti-capitalism person. I believe in people doing a good job, and those that do a good job make money from it. Michael is obviously, and all of the attorneys, are obviously talented attorneys, but they’re shaking down an industry unnecessarily, and they’re fleecing an industry, to steal one of their words.

You notice, my talking points, they’re all talking points that I learned from them, right? Not fair. Shouldn’t be happening. Go back after drug companies. Go back after large companies that are screwing up drugs or doing other things. I saw there was a case against Ford. I’m also paying very close attention to the hours. “Ketchmark wrote that he spent just under 7,000 hours on all cases, at a rate of 1,400 an hour.” That’s in a state that the highest attorneys charge 300 and something an hour. Just want to point that out, okay? There’s hours, at one of these cases it was like 33 hours for one case, 33 hours a week on average. Another case it was 20.

We’re paying close attention to this, because as they file for more and more, we’re going to pay attention to those hours, because people can only work so many in a week. Then I look at the original 69 million was already approved by Judge Bough on May 9th. Now they’ve applied for this, and this will get approved, I bet, this fall, and then they’ll be applying for more. Just want everyone to be aware of what they’re charging. Now, let’s get into this last piece that I find to be very important. Mr. Stephen Brobeck, he is one of the industry gaslighters, okay? Most of these people, they don’t preach complete fiction like Mr. Hahn, but there’s a lot of gaslighting that goes on from Brobeck.

Anti-competitive price fixing in real estate commissions is not the answer to fair and accessible homeownership. I love that. Accessible homeowner– You just made, you just contributed significantly to making homeownership less accessible. You made it harder on first-time buyers, but you’re with the Consumer Federation of America, so you hide behind that veil, and you fool most of the public into thinking you’re on their side. “A jury concluded the realtor system doesn’t compete on price.” Insane.

“The groups criticizing CFA, and by extension, DOJ argue that uncoupling commissions will harm first-time homebuyers, especially Black, Hispanic homebuyers who may have limited resources to pay down payment and closing costs.” Oh, that’s right, they have limited resources, Stephen, but now they’re going to come up with down payment, closing costs, and money out of pocket for the realtor? There’s limits to closing cost credit amounts. How many times do I have to say it? If there’s a 3% limit and they’re using some amount of that for their realtor fee, plus they’ve got closing costs, now they’re coming out of pocket for more.

You all, the folks I named before, you’re making homeownership less accessible. He went on and on and opined about all kinds of things. I put out a video on Instagram this week that was a bit off the cuff, and I called him out on that and I’m doing it again here. Then Joseph Ventrone, someone who’s very well respected within NAR for many years, and worked all over D.C., came out with a rebuttal to Stephen Brobeck. HousingWire picked it up. He wrote the op-ed in HousingWire, Joe came out with the rebuttal. Joe said a bunch of nice things at first to cushion it, and then he got into it.

“The reality is that financing commissions are unfeasible. Commissions, often considered soft costs, cannot be easily integrated into a mortgage. Unlike tangible assets, these costs are akin to personal loans with no collateral to recover in case of default.” The charter that the Treasury has on the FHFA, and FHFA, as the regulator over Fannie Freddie, make it clear. They do asset-based lending. He goes on. “Adding an additional debt burden to lower-income consumers would leave them in a worse position under the present system, increasing their debt ratio, debt-to-income ratio.” He goes on and on.

“Steve relies on a flawed assumption that lowering real estate commissions will lower home prices.” He goes on to say it’s based on supply and demand. Folks, all things I’ve explained many times. “The shift here will disproportionately affect those most in need. First-time buyers, immigrants, veterans, and those lacking generational wealth. Your solution will result in higher upfront costs for these buyers, who cannot absorb additional expenses without financial strain.”

Maybe they should reach out to the attorneys for some assistance with their financial strain, considering that these attorneys will be sitting on millions by Christmas, and then they’re getting millions and millions and millions more in the weeks, months, and years to come. Folks, I hate to come off so angry. I recognize that I’m a little extra fired up today, perhaps because it’s been a month since I’ve done a video, so there was a lot to cover. I am infuriated by the continuous attacks on our industry. I am infuriated by the fact that there’s a settlement. The settlement agreement was finalized. It kicked into gear 10 days ago, and all of these articles are out with all this tough talk.

There’s my tough talk in return, and there’ll be more to come. Just like you’re watching us, we’re watching you. We’re watching your fees, we’re watching your rhetoric, we’re pointing out your contradicting rhetoric, and that’s what I’m doing. As I said before, when I say we, don’t confuse it. No one puts me up to any of this. I’m a lone soldier with a hell of a team behind me here at my companies. I do this myself. No one puts me up to it. Unlike the plaintiffs’ attorneys, who are undoubtedly put up to it. That’s why they manufactured plaintiffs to come up with this case that has no merit, that they fooled the jury with.

I’m a lone soldier, but when I say we, I’m speaking on behalf of many in the industry who are angry. It infuriates me that 10 days after, within three days after this settlement, and everybody obliging, everyone saying, “Fine, these are the new rules.” You guys are out talking trash, and you’re out fearmongering the average realtor. Saying things like it can be criminal. Get out of here with that talk. That’s all, folks. Stay tuned in here to Crush It in Real Estate. Keep an eye on Instagram. You know the enemy’s watching me, so you should be, too. Thank you.

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