Senate Bill 1968 went into effect Jan. 1. The legislation, filed by Republican sponsors last March and passed in June, directly affects licensing and regulations for Realtors in the state.
The bill amends the Texas Real Estate License Act, modernizing real estate agency law and clarifying the broker-buyer relationship, and adds new continuing education requirements for brokers.
The biggest day-to-day change: Buyers must officially sign a written agreement before touring a home. While that’s been common practice for a while now, with many states adopting similar policies after the National Association of REALTORS® settlement in 2024, SB 1968 updates specific information that must be included in disclosure forms, including:
Services to be provided
Exclusivity
Termination date
Compensation rate and negotiability
Most agreements are non-exclusive, two-week contracts.
The bill also eliminates subagency, the practice where a listing agent represents an otherwise unrepresented buyer. That means we’ll no longer see transactions where one agent represents both the buyer and seller — unless it’s disclosed specifically through an intermediary, said Buck.
“All parties will know clearly before you head into that relationship,” he explained. “The key is for all parties to know exactly what they’re getting into.”
What clients need to know
Clients should have a more transparent view of their real estate transactions moving forward. Prior to seeing a home, they’ll hopefully have an understanding of everything the broker-buyer relationship entails, including potential commissions.
“Transparency is key,” said Buck.
Prospective buyers will have the option to attend showings without agent representation (in other words, without signing a disclosure) under certain circumstances — for example, if a seller’s agent lets them into a home.
However, under SB 1968, that listing agent wouldn’t be able to represent the buyer. Instead, they’d have to refer them to a colleague.
Up to 300 of the required 630 continuing education credit hours can be substituted. Other changes include limiting the bachelor’s degree credit to 300 hours (down from 630) and doubling the total amount of required experience to 720 hours.
One course broker applicants can’t skip, though, is the new Broker Responsibility Course. As of Jan. 1, the course is required for all new real estate agents applying to be brokers, plus those renewing licenses. There are both six-hour and 30-hour options, but Buck recommends taking both.
“Every transaction is different,” Buck said. “Understanding the liability and the risks that the broker holds responsibility for in representing clients is something every agent should go through as they progress in their career.”
Real estate agent and reality television star Ryan Serhant.
Newspix
Real estate has been historically slow to modernize, but AI is changing that. The integration of artificial intelligence is transforming how buyers and sellers interact with agents, fundamentally altering competitive dynamics in the industry.
With AI reshaping daily operations of a real estate agent’s business by automating tasks — from generating property listings to conducting neighborhood analyses — the agent’s focus in day-to-day activities will shift.
Ryan Serhant, CEO of Serhant and reality TV star of “Owning Manhattan,” says AI is already making real estate less about access to information and more about the agent building deeper relationships. He predicts a mindset shift is on its way as agents leverage AI and at the same time are forced to find new ways to differentiate themselves in an increasingly competitive market. “If we are all using AI and have the same level of expertise, who wins? It’s the game of attention,” said Serhant at the CNBC Evolve AI Opportunity Summit in New York City this past week.
Buying a home is the single largest investment most Americans make in their lives, which makes real estate a business where greater success can be achieved with greater personal touch on the part of the agent. Serhant says the big advantage he sees in use of AI is having more time for the real estate agent to provide personalized attention to their clients.
“The product in sales is no longer just the skill set,” Serhant said. “It is the attention to the skill set.”
His own company, Serhant, has developed a service called “Simple” for sales automation to handle daily tasks in customer relationship management, which typically consumes over 60% of agents’ time.
AI tools are being used to streamline lead generation, automate marketing campaigns, and provide predictive analytics to identify opportunities, but that is not replacing the critical role of the agent in providing top performance. Serhant says AI won’t virtualize relationships, but for the real estate agents who embrace the AI revolution — which he says is a necessary move to make — it will strengthen their relationships.
Making access to real-time market data and sales insights less onerous may allow agents from small boutique firms to compete on a more equal footing with larger real estate corporations. “There is a trust factor in sales. … It isn’t about who is the largest, but who is the most empowered,” Serhant said.
That also stands to benefit homebuyers and sellers, Serhant said, with a wider selection of suitable agents with enhanced personalized services and greater focus on the client.
The real estate industry is still in the initial stages of adopting AI and understanding remains low among real estate professionals, but the interest is there. Generative AI was ranked among the top three technologies expected to have the greatest impact on real estate over the next three years by investors, developers, and corporate occupiers, according to JLL Technologies’ 2023 Global Real Estate Technology Survey. But the survey also finds that real estate professionals have very low understanding of AI compared to other technologies.
According to Serhant, agents who understand how AI can empower their business are going to have huge opportunities over the next 20 years to take significant market share.
No tech innovation comes without risks, and wire fraud remains a major challenge for the real estate industry, which will be exacerbated by AI. The FBI reported a big year-over-year increase in wire fraud cybercrime losses in 2023, driven significantly by real estate transactions. Improved artificial intelligence technology is facilitating real estate scammers.
Fraud can’t be ignored, said Serhant, but he believes real estate will adapt to the risks inherent in new technology in the same way the business has in the past, such as with digital listings. “With every advancement in technology, greater rules get put into place that can help stop those fakes,” he said.
Glenn Kelman, Redfin CEO, joins ‘Money Movers’ to discuss Kelman’s view of the housing market in September, the magic rate number that could get homebuyers back into the market, and what it’ll take for more inventory to hit the market.
The National Association of Realtors agreed to a $418 million settlement last week in an antitrust lawsuit where a federal jury found the organization and several large real-estate brokerages had conspired to artificially inflate agent commissions on the sale and purchase of real estate.
The NAR’s multiple listing service, or MLS, used at a local level across areas in the U.S., facilitated the compensation rates for both a buyer’s and seller’s agents.
At the time of listing a property, the home seller negotiated with the listing agent what the compensation would be for a buyer’s agent, which appeared on the MLS. However, if a seller was unaware they could negotiate, they were typically locked into paying the listed brokerage fee.
The proposed settlement would have the commission offer completely removed from the NAR’s system and home sellers will no longer be responsible for paying or offering commission for both the buyer and seller agents, said real estate attorney Claudia Cobreiro, the founder of Cobreiro Law in Coral Gables, Florida.
“The rule that has been the subject of litigation requires only that listing brokers communicate an offer of compensation,” the NAR wrote in a press release.
“Commissions remain negotiable, as they have been,” the organization wrote.
However, some of these changes may take time to materialize, experts say.
If a settlement agreement is accepted within a lawsuit between two people, the court generally won’t look at the settlement. Yet, in a federal class-action lawsuit, one that affects a large number of people, there will be a period for the court and interested parties to review the settlement and offer commentary and feedback on the agreement, Cobreiro said.
“That’s the process that we’re about to enter, and that process can take some time,” she said.
As proposed, the settlement would have the NAR completely remove commissions from its MLS system by July. That may be optimistic, Cobriero said.
“It would be more realistic to see this being implemented later this year,” she said.
In the meantime, it’s “business as usual” for buyers and sellers, Cobreiro said. “There is nothing that agents should be doing differently currently in their ongoing transactions.”
A buyer or seller already in the market is probably not going to be affected by the settlement unless their property happens to be on the market a little longer than what’s customary, she said.
“The big gray area here is how will buyer [agent] commissions be handled moving forward,” said Cobreiro, as there is no finalized agreement yet that clearly indicates how that will be handled.
The settlement agreement doesn’t say that the buyer’s agent will not be paid nor that the buyer’s agentcannot charge fees.
“The big question here is who is going to pay for those services moving forward. Will it ultimately be a buyer that will have to get the buyer’s agent’s commission together, on top of closing costs and on top of down payment?” Cobreiro said.
While commission fees are negotiable between involved parties, knowing what cards you have on the table as a homebuyer will be more important now than before. Using an agent will still be a smart way to achieve that, experts say.
“A great local agent can give you a competitive advantage,” said Amanda Pendleton, a home trends expert at Zillow Group. That’s especially true as low-priced starter homes are expected to remain in demand, she said.
Here are two things to know about how the settlement could change the process of buying a home:
1. Buyers could be responsible for their agent fees: Historically, real estate commissions typically come out of the seller’s pocket, and are split between the buyer’s and seller’s agents.
As a result of the settlement, the seller will no longer be responsible for commission fees for a buyer’s agent. So this is a new potential charge buyers need to consider in their budget. Historically, if a buyer’s agent got half of a 5% or 6% commission, that equaled thousands of dollars.
For example: The median home sale price by the end of 2023 was $417,700, according to the Federal Reserve. That would mean commissions at a 5.37% rate — the 2023 average rate, according to Lending Tree —amount to roughly $22,430, about $11,215 of which might go to the buyer’s agent.
But bypassing an agent’s services may not lead to direct savings, especially for first-time buyers, experts say. You could put yourself at risk by leaving the homebuying process entirely to the seller and their agent, said Cobreiro.
Sometimes things show up in your home inspection report that merit a credit from the seller, but if you don’t have an agent, the seller’s agent may not volunteer that, said Cobreiro.
Doing so would be a breach of their fiduciary duty to the seller, and it affects their commission if the price of the property declines, she said.
“Signing the contract is the least of it; there’s so many things that happen throughout the transaction that really require the expertise and the navigation by someone who understands the process,” she said.
2. Buyers may be required to sign a contract early on: If buyers become responsible for their agent’s commission, you’re likely to see more agents asking buyers to sign a buyer-broker agreement upfront, before the agent starts helping them find a property.
Most brokerages have a buyer agency agreement, but it’s common for real estate agents to wait to present the contract.
“They want to win the person’s business, they don’t want to scare them with having to sign any contracts,” said Steven Nicastro, a former real estate agent who writes for Clever Real Estate.
Moving the contract talks to earlier in the process is a precaution to protect buyer’s agents in the market.
“That could lead to negotiations actually taking place at the first meeting between a buyer and the buyer’s agent,” Nicastro said.
Know you can negotiate the commission rate as well as the duration of the contract, which can span from three months to a year, Cobreiro said.
The real estate compensation model is at the heart of the issue. Plaintiffs contend that commission rates are too high, buyer brokers are being overpaid and NAR rules, along with the corporate defendants’ practices, lead to fixed pricing. By contrast, NAR contends the rules promote competition and efficient, transparent and equitable local broker marketplaces.
NAR, whose CEO left shortly after the landmark court loss, is appealing the $1.8 billion jury verdict, so it could be several years before the case — which covers the Missouri markets of Kansas City, St. Louis, Springfield and Columbia — is resolved. But coupled with similar lawsuits that are in process, the potential for policy changes that could impact realtors’ pocketbooks is palpable.
The impact on the market continues to spread. Shares of Re/Max Holdings, for example, were down over 8% on Tuesday amid fears of litigation, even though it had settled with plaintiffs before the recent NAR case verdict.
Here’s what real estate agents, homebuyers and sellers need to know about potential changes in residential real estate economics.
A bad time for bad news in real estate
The jury verdict comes at a time when many real estate agents are already feeling a pinch.
The rapid rise in interest rates caused by the Federal Reserve’s fight against inflation recently led to the 30-year fixed mortgage average rate topping 8%, exacerbating an existing affordability crisis in the U.S. housing market. Potential sellers don’t want to move if they have to contemplate a mortgage rate as much if not more than double their current one, while millions of potential homebuyers can’t make the monthly payment and are currently shut out of the market.
Existing home sales recently dropped to their lowest level since 2010. According to an October report from University of Colorado Boulder scholar-in-residence Mike DelPrete, existing home sales are on pace for 4.15 million transactions this year, based on NAR data, which would be down from over 6 million in 2021 and 5 million in 2022.
At a time when home sales are already under pressure, “this lawsuit is just another punch in the gut for real estate franchises,” said Bill Gross, a self-employed real estate broker associate in California with eXp Realty.
Thus far, there’s been little-to-no trickle-down effect for individual brokers and agents as a result of the legal proceedings, but that may not be the case forever, depending on how legal battles, taking place on multiple fronts, shape up. An analysis from Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analyst Ryan Tomasello published last month, before the jury verdict was reached, estimated a 30% reduction in the $100 billion paid in real-estate commissions annually and as many as 1.6 million agents losing their source of income.
Pressure on transaction fees will increase
Fees generally have been under pressure for the past number of years, with technology leading to more transparency and the recent court battles intensify that industry pressure.
Also, as home prices have gone up, the fees are more apparent relative to the deal size, said Gilbert J. Schipani, founder of Tempus Fugit Law, which represents buyers, sellers, realtors, lenders and businesses through commercial and residential real estate transactions.
Lawsuits focused on fees reinforce the general trend of trying to lower fees in the real estate market, Schipani said.
“It’s another step in the direction that we’ve been going for the past 10 years,” he said.
As the court cases progress, there’s likely to be more disclosure around fees in the future, for transparency purposes, he said.
As Glenn Kelman, CEO of tech-led real estate brokerage firm Redfin recently wrote, “In the weeks leading up to the verdict, the National Association of Realtors already updated its guidelines to let agents list homes for sale that don’t offer a commission to the buyer’s agent. … Traditional brokers will undoubtedly now train their agents to welcome conversations about fees. … This is as it should be.”
RedFin, and another tech-focused realty brokerage firm, Compass, are among targets added to new legal challenges.
Buyers agents could be the biggest losers
Plaintiffs argue that buyers, not sellers, should foot the bill for the buyer’s agent, but that could have an untoward impact on how readily buyers’ agents are used.
“If plaintiffs had their way, home buyer representation would be a thing of the past in what is for many the most significant and complex purchase they will make in their lifetime,” said NAR spokesperson Mantill Williams, in an email.
If courts force today’s norms to change, more home-buyers are likely to try finding properties on their own to save money, and bargain with listing agents, thinking they’ll get a discounted fee since the latter is already being compensated by the seller, Gross said.
Not all real estate professionals will agree to work both sides of a deal because of the “inherent bias,” but it could happen more often depending on how the market shapes up, Gross said. There’s also the possibility that new rules imposed by courts could prohibit real estate professionals from working both sides of a deal, Schipani said.
Kelman noted in his post-verdict analysis that if buyers still hire a buyer’s agent, they’re likely to negotiate a lower fee given the heightened focus and because it may no longer be part of the home price, which allowed it to be financed by a mortgage.
This also suggests new agents may be less likely to enter the industry, according Gavin Myers, managing partner at Prudence, a venture capital firm that invests in the real estate sector. Most new agents start on the buy side and there’s a risk when you’re trying to break into the industry. If there are questions about how they get paid, or if they’ll get paid, people might not want to work on the buy side, or you might not find high-quality people, Myers said.
Local housing market changes will be key
Local market rules could change based on what’s happening in the courts, or broader market shifts.
For example, the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY), which is unaffiliated with NAR, recently announced upcoming changes to its rules, in a stated effort to promote transparency and consumer confidence in the residential marketplace. The changes, which had been in the works for months, were voted on in October.
Starting Jan. 1, offers of compensation to buy-side brokers must originate from the seller/owner, according to the change. Listing brokers will no longer be permitted to make the offer of compensation to the buy-side broker, even on the seller’s behalf. Also, listing brokers will no longer pay the buy-side compensation. Rather, the buyer’s broker will be directly compensated by the seller or owner of the exclusive property, which should occur at the closing as is customary in the New York City area, the group said.
“Decoupling the buy side compensation represents the future of how residential real estate is transacted, and expect other listing services to follow this lead,” REBNY said in a FAQ on its website discussing the changes.
Commissions are already negotiable
Right now, real estate professionals don’t have to change their way of doing business, while legal challenges are ongoing. But NAR strongly recommends the use of buyer representation agreements for clarity and understanding purposes. NAR also urges members to continue to tell clients that commissions are negotiable and set between brokers and their clients.
A separate suit against NAR and brokerages, involving multiple markets, could go to trial next year, and there’s also another recently filed nationwide lawsuit to contend with.
“No matter what happens with the Missouri judge, or in any other courtroom, one thing is certain: there’s no going back to the way things were,” Kelman, whose company left NAR before the verdict, wrote in his recent post.
Real estate professionals should stay tuned.
“This is a time to read the fine print, stay as informed as possible both for the sake of your business as an agent and for your client’s best interests,” said Vickey Barron, a licensed associate real estate broker with Compass in New York City.
Real estate agents are working overtime to keep their clients’ confidence in today’s property … [+] market.
getty
Forbes Global Properties
There are many factors that separate real estate from other forms of investing but, perhaps the most important is that, unlike stocks or bonds, there is a direct emotional component. When a buyer purchases a property that they are going to live in or an owner sells, the sale is not just a financial investment but an emotional one as well. After all, this is—or is going to be—their home.
This mixing of money and sentiment can often be a recipe for unease. Ask any experienced real estate agent and they may share with you numerous stories of volatility, tears and clients calling at 3 a.m. with concerns. The best of the best, however, understand that curbing client worries is all part of the job, with some even arguing that it is the most important part of being a successful broker.
Read on to find out how top agents across the country are keeping their clients’ confidence in today’s market.
With market news and data more readily available than ever, any extreme examples and misinformation that can cast doubt can be cast across the client-agent relationship. Advising clients on the nuance and specificity of the real estate world can help drown out the noise, says Barak Sky, managing partner of the Sky Group of Long & Foster.
“Most of the information they’re seeing doesn’t pertain to their subdivision—it’s usually national or regional. Real estate is hyperlocal. So, you just have to remain confident in your role as a leader to them and remind them that this is your career, it’s what you do all day long.”
Fellow Long & Foster agent Anna Mackler says that historical recessions and housing market crashes loom large in the minds of many buyers and sellers, who become “risk averse because of everything that they read.” continued that information found online or on television can also be misconstrued or misappropriated, and that comparative data can paint an incorrect picture of the current market.
“Our market now is steady and still moving. What happened in the last few years was an outlier and not sustainable. So, let them know that you understand today’s market and provide them with an amazing experience they can’t get anywhere else.”
Demonstrating your experience is often critical when relationship-building in real estate.
getty
Establishing Experiential Authority
The internet is also full of many self-proclaimed experts whose opinions may contradict an agent’s. Eric Moreland of Austin, Texas-based brokerage Moreland, says that he maintains authority on real estate matters by reiterating to clients that wisdom is most often attained with experience.
“I tell them that I don’t have to be the smartest one in the room but that I’ve seen every sale in your neighborhood for the last decade and that our market knowledge is a historical one. That’s why you are hiring us—for our market knowledge.”
Mackler echoed this point, stating, “Remind clients that we work with buyers and it allows us to be better listing agents, and vice versa. We know both sides of it, and also that we work with agents in the area, so we know what’s going on more than anyone else.”
The relationship between client and agent is at the end of the day one of business and this can cause some clients to question their agent’s motivations. Mick DiStasio of Elegran says the easiest and simplest way to combat this uncertainty is to always put the client’s best interests first. “You want the client to be comfortable and that really comes down to honesty—giving them all of the possibilities, all the different options.”
The New York City broker added that even if certain advice would delay the sale, a prudent and successful broker puts a premium on building long-lasting relationships. “Tell a seller that the market isn’t hot right now or that they’d be off renting for a little while because that council doesn’t go unnoticed and it’s appreciated.”
Reading between the lines in a property sale.
getty
Read Between the Lines
Rick Higgins, chairman and founder of the Higgins Groups Private Brokerage out of Fairfield County, Connecticut, says that one of the key tenets taught in the classes his team takes on how to deal with anxious or upset clients is understanding root causes.
“When you’re buying or selling a house, it’s very emotional. You have to know that people are selling or buying for a variety of reasons—they’re empty nesters, they’ve lost their job or they’re buying their first house. So, just understand why they’re buying or selling and don’t just treat it like a number.”
Higgins continued, “Let them beat it to death because they deserve to. Listen and don’t argue. Let them talk and take whatever time it takes.”
Elegran, Higgins Group Private Brokerage, Moreland Properties, and Long & Foster Real Estate are exclusive members of Forbes Global Properties, a consumer marketplace and membership network of elite brokerages selling the world’s most luxurious homes.
WASHINGTON — The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate returned to the 20-year highs of two weeks ago when rates breached 7% for the first time since 2002.
Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the average on the key 30-year rate rose to 7.08% from 6.95% last week. A year ago the average rate was 2.98%.
The rate for a 15-year mortgage, popular with those refinancing their homes, climbed to 6.38% from 6.29% last week. It was 2.27% one year ago.
Last week, the Federal Reserve raised its short-term lending rate by another 0.75 percentage points, three times its usual margin, for a fourth time this year as part of its inflation-fighting strategy. Its key rate now stands in a range of 3.75% to 4%.
More increases are likely coming, though there is some hope that the Fed will dial them down as more evidence comes in that prices have peaked.
The Labor Department reported Thursday that consumer inflation reached 7.7% in October from a year earlier, the smallest year-over-year rise since January. Excluding volatile food and energy prices, “core” inflation rose 6.3% in the past 12 months. The numbers were all lower than economists had expected.
Thursday’s report raised the possibility that the Fed could decide to slow its rate hike, a prospect that sent stock prices jumping as soon as the data was released.
Two weeks ago, the average long-term U.S. mortgage rate topped 7% for the first time in more than two decades, which combined with sky-high home prices, have crushed homebuyers’ purchasing power by adding hundreds of dollars to monthly mortgage payments.
Sales of existing homes have declined for eight straight months as borrowing costs have become too big of an obstacle for many Americans already paying more for food, gas and other necessities. Additionally, many homeowners seeking to upgrade or change locations have held off listing their homes because they don’t want to jump into a higher rate on their next mortgage.
The sagging housing market has prompted real estate companies to dial back their financial outlooks and shrink their workforces. Online real estate broker Redfin on Wednesday said it was cutting 862 employees and shutting down its instant-cash-offer subsidiary RedfinNow.
Redfin also laid off 470 employees in June, blaming slowing home sales. Through attrition and layoffs, Redfin has slashed more than a quarter of its workforce on the assumption that the housing downturn will last “at least through 2023,” it said in a regulatory filing.
Another online real estate broker, Compass, has laid off hundreds of workers this year.
While mortgage rates don’t necessarily mirror the Fed’s rate increases, they tend to track the yield on the 10-year Treasury note. The yield is influenced by a variety of factors, including investors’ expectations for future inflation and global demand for U.S. Treasurys.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The California Association of Realtors is apologizing for its role in pushing policies that drove racial segregation in the state, decades after the group put its money behind a proposition that overturned the state’s first fair housing law.
During a press conference Friday, leaders of multiple real estate organizations spoke about their next steps, following the association’s apology last week. The realtors’ group is now backing a bill that would overturn a law that makes it harder for the state to build affordable housing. The group is partnering with nonprofits focused on expanding homeownership among communities of color. It also pushed for a law requiring implicit bias training for real estate agents.
“This has been a very long time coming,” said Derrick Luckett, chairman of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers. The association has expressed a commitment to expanding intergenerational wealth among Black households.
The California Association of Realtors was one of many real estate groups that supported redlining, barriers to affordable housing projects, and other practices of the 20th century that led to more segregated cities across the United States.
During the 1930s, the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation, backed by the federal government, created maps that categorized parts of cities into grades based on their purported creditworthiness. The practice, now known as redlining, drove racial segregation and income inequality by preventing residents living in certain neighborhoods from receiving loans.
The California Association of Realtors, then known as the California Real Estate Association, paid for a campaign to add an amendment to the state constitution in 1950 forcing the government to get voter approval before spending public money on affordable housing. In more recent decades, the group has supported repealing the amendment.
In 1964, the association put its money behind a proposition to invalidate the Rumford Act, a law aimed at protecting people of color from discrimination while they were searching for a home.
In 2020, following the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, which led to global demonstrations against racism and police violence, the National Association of Realtors apologized for its role in housing discrimination. Real estate groups in cities including St. Louis and Minneapolis have recently followed suit.
Otto Catrina, president of the California Association of Realtors, said Friday that its apology follows one by the group’s former president in its magazine last year. But this apology is more formal, since it’s gone through the approval of the association’s board.
“For many of our members, this apology reflects the organization that we are today and are continuing to work to foster inclusion and belonging for all our members and our communities,” Catrina said.
The National Association of Realtors reports that the homeownership rate for Black Americans is 43% compared to 72% for white Americans. Black homeowners have also reported that the value of their home appraisals increases when they strip away any sign of a Black family living there.
Eli Knaap, associate director of San Diego State University’s Center for Open Geographical Science, said the apology comes when there’s overwhelming evidence that the legacy of discriminatory housing policies hinders families’ ability to build wealth.
“The greatest source of wealth for most families is in their home,” he said.
Knaap, who’s studied the lasting impacts of practices like redlining that drove racial segregation, said some local governments now implement what’s known as inclusionary zoning where a portion of units in a residential development need to be affordable for low-income residents.
In June, California’s first-in-the-nation reparations task force released an exhaustive report that listed housing segregation as one of the many harms Black Californians faced long after the abolition of slavery. As the task force deliberates on what form reparations could take, economists are working to put dollar figures on the lasting impacts of these harms.
The California Association of Realtors hasn’t taken an official stance on reparations but will review policy recommendations made by the task force, Catrina said Friday.
Matt Lewis, spokesperson for housing advocacy group California YIMBY, said it’s important for the realtors’ association to be clear about what steps it will take to address the lingering effects of discriminatory policies it supported.
“An apology is always backward-looking, so it’s important to try to correct the damage you did,” Lewis said. “But the next step is, so what are you going to do about it?”
———
Sophie Austin is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow her on Twitter at: twitter.com/sophieadanna
