I wrote a purchase contract for a buyer this week.

There were 41 pages.

Let’s add that to the list of hurdles for buyers in 2025.

1. There are several search portals that display home listings publicly and free of charge. But it doesn’t make it any easier to find a good home to buy – and these days it feels harder because you have to weed through so many duds that it gets boring and it’s hard to stay interested.
2. Mortgage rates have doubled, yet the prices for the great homes keep going up. How is that possible?
3. Touring open houses seems like a good idea. But buyers keep hearing the same thing – to get access to their off-market inventory, you have to sign a 3-month binding contract with the agent on duty. You finally sign with someone, only to get emails of more duds that hit the open market a day or two later.
4. If you find a halfway-decent home, it will probably be in the first seven days it’s been on the market. It’s when the listing agent goes into full defensive mode and all communication turns vague because they are so afraid of saying the wrong thing. There are no rules of engagement. Just make an offer and send it into the black hole and maybe you’ll hear something.
5. The listing agent does respond (finally), with the news that there are multiple offers. Please submit your highest-and-best offer while you’re agreeing to their 5-10 minor terms that tilts the table entirely towards the seller.
6. Win or lose the bidding war…..you can’t help but feel used and worn out. The process took 3-5 days with no helpful communication whatsoever, and frustration turns into indifference. Good luck with getting that escrow to close!
7. Along the way, buyers have signed a 41-page contract plus 3-5 more pages for counter-offers. Thanks to the electronic signature that speeds the buyer through the process in seconds, nobody reads more than 2-3 pages max. Hope nothing goes wrong!
8. You had to commit to a buyer-agent yet have no idea what to expect from them. Then the seller and listing agent would only pay part of the buyer-agent compensation, so now the buyers get stuck with paying part of that too (even though the seller had ample equity and could have paid it).
9. The bullying has just begun. After the home inspection reveals several unknown items, the seller and listing agent tell the buyer to kiss off. “It’s sold as-is, and if you don’t like it then cancel so we can sell it to someone who is serious”. You buyer-agent shrugs, but finally they throw you a few bucks towards the project.
10. Seller demanded additional occupancy for 7 to 60 days after closing for FREE, with no security deposit. Oh, you didn’t catch that part? It was on page 44.
11. Once possession is delivered, it quickly becomes clear that you bought a turd. The staging is gone, the home wasn’t cleaned, and the sellers left junk behind – including a few shelves of half-used paint cans. The plan to clean the carpets gets tossed, and the list of repairs and improvements needed immediately is drawn up. Oh, here’s the $25,000 to $50,000 that every house needs once a buyer closes escrow! Didn’t that blog guy talk about that?

It pathetic, and buyers deserve better.

Can you imagine it getting worse?

A law professor has filed an appeal to the NAR Settlement. She brings up a technical point and there is a chance the settlement will unravel:

We’re going to go back to the drawing board with the NAR Settlement?

At least the brokerages should have their armies of lawyers involved this time. Maybe NAR and the brokerages win this round? But the State of California has already codified the buyer-broker agreement needing to be signed before the buyers can be shown houses!

What a mess.

Let’s skip to the end of this horror flick.

Once the DOJ chimes in, the likely outcome is for it to be illegal for sellers to pay the buyer-agent commission. One more time, buyers will feel screwed because now they have to pay for representation, but at least they will be more diligent about who they hire (if anyone).

We will be advancing further down the path towards single agency. Hopefully, an auction house steps in to relieve us from this misery!