Roots of The Valley
Few places on Earth compare with the Santa Clara Valley. This is truly a place of dreams. This area is one of the jewels of California, a fine place to live and an area in which to build your American Dream.
They knew it when they saw it. The Spanish expedition lead by in 1769 by Captain Gaspar de Portola is credited with discovering the San Francisco Bay. Of course, indigenous peoples living here already knew it was an amazing place in the world with unbeatable weather, arable land and abundant water. The natural harbor of the San Francisco Bay to the North, and gold discovery in the mid 19th Century attracted peoples from all corners of the world.
The area known as Silicon Valley is centered here, about 30 to 35 miles inland from the Pacific Ocean.
Here, the Coastal Mountains hold vast redwood forests separate Silicon Valley from the nearby Pacific Ocean. The air is fresh and the temperature is comfortable most of the time.
Commission Rules Change and its Impact
On August 17, 2024 new rules governing half of real estate commissions changed. The rule change was the result of a settlement from an earlier lawsuit where a group of sellers prevailed over some real estate brokerages and the National Association of Realtors.
Commissions are always negotiable both before and after the rule change. But real estate practice for decades was for the seller to bear the burden of commissions for both buyer and seller. Now the practice is to address compensation to the buyer’s brokerage in the purchase agreement instead of in the listing agreement.
The seller always pays the commission for their own listing brokerage. But after August of 2024, any brokerages representing buyers must have a representation agreement which address payment of a buyer’s brokerage commission. Nationally, the MLS no longer offers compensation to the buyer’s realtor coupled with the listing data itself.
What does this mean to sellers and buyers? For real estate sellers, watch the purchase agreement for any term requiring payment to another real estate brokerage, most often that compensation is still paid by the seller.
For buyers, there is more structure to the buyer representation agreement. Buyers should understand they may be responsible for a sizeable commission to their own agent, under a buyer brokerage agreement. That commission could become the seller’s cost if the purchase agreement so states. The net result is that this, like any term, is negotiable.