Maryland REALTORS® Online

Adaptability and Transparency

By Chris Hill

Is Maryland REALTORS^®’ 2024 President.

As you read this, the August 14 deadline to comply with the terms in the NAR Settlement is right around the corner. As your State Association, we’ve held webinars, worked with our broker community, developed practice forms, provided guidance in the form of video, office visits, and even in this magazine a six-page fold-out that you can use as a printed guide. As always, Maryland REALTORS^® has your back on the changes coming soon and the changes we’ve yet to see. If there is one thing we’ve learned these last few years: change is constant.

When change is common, one of the greatest skills we can possess is that of adaptability, nimbleness. As we continue our work with consumers and those who become our clients, adaptability gets an assist from transparency, giving our clients the facts—the pros, the cons as we know them.

In light of being completely transparent, I do have genuine concerns as this industry hurdles forward toward new realities. The changes being made in this industry will have an adverse impact on first-time homebuyers, VA buyers, and buyers from disadvantaged groups.

Without a doubt, the key tool that benefits such buyers is the cooperative compensation model. While such offers of cooperative compensation won’t be listed on the MLS, it remains an important element that can open homeownership to those who might not have had such an opportunity without it, and indeed, our Statewide Forms committee and Legal Team have provided the forms all of us will need to have such discussions with our buyers and sellers.

As the professionals that move this industry, we need to have this conversation with consumers in the communities we serve—the importance of cooperative compensation for the buyer, of course, but also for the seller in how it widens the net of potential buyers. As we work for each client in that singular transaction where they are the boss, we must be their trusted advisor, providing sound guidance on the marketing strategies and tactics for selling a home and opportunities that can help many buyers in search of a home to call their own.

Being that trusted advisor also helps to cement your value and worth; each of us must champion our value one-on-one with clients and consumers but also within our communities. Soon, you will hear more from the Maryland REALTORS^® team about targeted outreach to consumers that will help to communicate your value and worth. We hope that you can take this information—and many of the new resources available on Marylandhomeownership.com— to have conversations that communicate your value.

Finally, allow me to say how much of an honor it has been to serve as your President this past year. We moved forward on important initiatives, such as financial education, and we’ve responded proactively to five-alarm situations that will change our industry forever. Through it all, working with our members has been a great privilege. I, like you, look forward to the leadership of Cheryl Abrams Davis, who assumes the role of President on October 1.

What has given this role the most meaning is serving you, working with you to elevate our professionalism for Marylanders everywhere.