October 23, 2024Steve Hawks, a Vegas real estate veteran, returns for his third appearance to tackle the hottest issues in the market. From China’s economic struggles and their impact on global real estate to the NAR settlement that’s triggering a wave of lawsuits, Steve pulls no punches. He explores the confusion surrounding commissions, real estate lawsuits, and how these developments are shaping the future of the housing market. Steve also dives deep into the effects of money printing on stock markets and interest rates, revealing how agents and buyers alike are caught in the middle of this storm.
Chapters:
- 00:00:00 – The Money Machine: China’s Influence on the Stock Market
- 00:00:48 – Welcome Back to Reside: Big News on the Horizon
- 00:00:58 – Steve Returns: The Man of the Hour
- 00:02:19 – The NAR Settlement: What You Need to Know Now
- 00:04:18 – Legal Maze: State Laws Creating Chaos
- 00:09:06 – Las Vegas Real Estate: Boom or Bust?
- 00:12:56 – Clear Cooperation Fallout: What’s Next?
- 00:22:14 – Real Estate’s Legal Tightrope: Big Challenges Ahead
- 00:23:00 – Brokerage Wars: Shifting Dynamics in the Market
- 00:25:52 – China’s Economic Crisis: A Ticking Time Bomb
- 00:29:08 – The Global Ripple Effect: Financial Systems at Risk
- 00:34:49 – Insurance Market in Crisis: What It Means for You
- 00:37:55 – Settling Real Estate Disputes: The Hard Way
- 00:39:41 – Legal Threats on the Horizon: Realtors Beware
- 00:45:42 – Final Thoughts and Essential Resources for Survival
Links and Resources:
- Reside Platform
- Suneet Agarwal on LinkedIn
- Reside Platform Website
- Steve on LinkedIn
- Platinum Real Estate Professionals
- Short Sale Czar
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Episode breakdown: new rules, listing exposure and the Las Vegas market
Steve Hawks has sold real estate in Las Vegas for 25 years, and this was his third appearance on the podcast, the first guest to come back that many times. About two months after the NAR settlement took effect, Suneet Agarwal asked him what he was seeing in his own business and his market. Steve covered where he expects regulation to go next, why he thinks clear cooperation won’t last, and where buyers are finding deals in Las Vegas.
Expect more rules, and know the ones in your state
Steve’s view is that the settlement opened the door to more lawsuits and more laws. He pointed to California, which within roughly 40 days had passed a law capping buyer agreements at 90 days. Colorado banned forcing buyers to sign one, and in Nevada you can’t force anyone to sign a contract either. He expects lawmakers to keep going, and he was surprised the California Association of Realtors didn’t stop the first one.
His warning to brokers is about advice. When an MLS or an association says one thing and the settlement says another, some agents shop for the attorney who gives them the answer they want. Steve’s test is common sense: read what the settlement says and follow it. He also noted how unevenly the rules have reached agents. A Las Vegas builder told him that about half of the agents bringing buyers to new home sales didn’t know about the new buyer agreement requirement.
This settlement isn’t, this isn’t the end. This is just the beginning.
Steve Hawks
Exposure only counts if the people seeing it can buy
Clear cooperation rests on the idea that more exposure is better for sellers. Steve uses a car to show why that isn’t always true. Park a $20,000 car at a college and 20 people look at it. Park it at a middle school and 500 people look at it, but none of them can buy it. What matters is how many real buyers see the listing.
He thinks the seller should decide where a home is marketed. A seller with a $3 million house might prefer targeted buyers over wide exposure to people who aren’t in the market or even in the state. Another seller might try a brokerage’s own website for 30 days before going to the MLS. Steve still calls the MLS the number one place buyers go. His point is that sellers should have the choice and understand it. He also pointed out that NAR has told sellers they don’t have to list on the MLS, which he reads as a sign the policy is on its way out.
Let’s find out that exposure. Who’s really buyers, not just exposure.
Steve Hawks
Watch for brokerages to compete with teams again
Steve observed that new agents no longer pick a brokerage. They join a team, because teams have generated the leads by paying for portals and ads. If clear cooperation goes away, he expects local brokerages to win back ground. A brokerage could give its own website a 30-day first look at listings, the way Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac ran first-look periods on bank-owned homes.
In that model, buyers who come to the brokerage site first could be offered a rate buydown, a home warranty or a paid appraisal. Team leaders who rely on portal leads should think through what happens if their brokerage starts holding inventory its own agents see first.
Send buyers to new construction and plan for insurance costs
In Las Vegas, Steve said transactions had been down sharply for two to three months and prices had only started to soften in the last month. New homes were the bright spot. He tells his buyer agents to go after them, because apples to apples they come in below resales. In his words, buyers can go to these new homes and get some great deals. When a new home consultant pushed back on his inventory video, that consultant posted about four weeks later that the builder had cut prices on other homes.
Insurance is the other pressure on buyers. Lower rates haven’t produced a surge because higher insurance premiums ate the savings. Homes in Las Vegas are now reaching 20 and 30 years old, and repairs like leaking pipes are showing up in claims. Steve said one of the largest insurers had stopped writing policies on Las Vegas homes built before 2000. On a $1,500 payment, another $150 to $200 a month for insurance is a real obstacle.
His advice for agents was simple. The new agents are winning because they ignore the noise. If someone wants to see a house, show it to them, write it up and close the deal.
The seller needs to decide where they want it.
Steve Hawks
Key takeaways for team leaders
- Track the rules in your own state and MLS. Steve expects more laws after the settlement, not fewer.
- Get legal answers from the settlement’s text and a sound attorney, not from whoever tells you what you want to hear.
- Talk to sellers about qualified buyers, not raw exposure, and let them choose where their home is marketed.
- Plan for brokerages using first-look listings to compete for the agents and buyers teams now attract.
- Point buyers to new construction when it prices below resales, and build insurance costs into the payment conversation.
