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Ron Phipps is a real estate agent in Rhode Island and also a former president of the National Association of Realtors. He's says decoupling would have a negative impact for consumers, especially first-time home buyers, who are often having to scrape together the cash just for a down payment. Ron says forcing them to pay for an agent just puts another financial obstacle in their way.
"On the macro level, the disparity of wealth between homeowners and nonhomeowners is going to grow even more," Phipps said. "The fact of the matter is, if a buyer doesn't have representation in the transaction, their risk is significant.
And as to the claim that some agents might be pushing their clients to listings with better commissions without them knowing, Ron says the Realtors' Association actually has rules against this sort of conduct. And he also says agents who are just out there chasing commissions don't tend to last in the business.
"The best agents, the majority of agents in the United States, those great realtors are not transactional," Phipps continued. "If the consumers don't value what I'm providing, they're not going to hire me. If I can't get listings, if I can't get buyers, they're not going to pay me anything."