The following letter to the editor appeared in the Nov. 10, 2023 edition of the Chicago Tribune. Illinois REALTORS® originally submitted an editorial.

The Tribune’s editorial praising class action real estate commission litigation displayed a stunning lack of awareness for how real estate brokerage actually works. Steeped in cynicism and void of research, the Tribune’s editorial denigrated the work of more than 50,000 REALTORS® in Illinois.

Lawsuits against real estate firms and REALTOR® organizations, currently working their way through the courts, are challenging this country’s brokerage system.

That “system,” is the result of years of untangling prior discriminatory practices, in brokerage, lending, appraisals, and title services. The splitting of commissions between listing and buyer brokers is the result of an evolution within the industry going back decades, which sought to make homeownership available to more buyers. It’s not perfect, but it protects a marketplace that’s open to the widest number of people, including those once denied equal access.

The system that the Tribune mocks, makes the market available to buyers who are fighting against the largest affordability gap in a decade and ensures they have an agent who represents their interests in what will be the largest, most complex financial transaction of their lives.

“… REALTORS® have fought for wide-ranging consumer protection provisions in current law …”

In fact, brokerage in America is highly competitive and efficient in that buyers and sellers have control over the entire transaction, including commissions, which for both sides are 100% negotiable. Doubt it? Ask REALTORS® you know how many have willingly given up a portion of their commission to help a buyer or seller get a deal done.

The legal complaints purport to target how real estate agents are paid. However, given the terms of settlements plaintiffs’ attorneys have agreed to so far, it appears more certain the cases are about receiving the largest cash settlements or judgments possible.

While REALTORS® have fought for wide-ranging consumer protection provisions in current law, the plaintiffs’ attorneys in the latest trial told the jury that a verdict in their favor would result in those consumer protections going away and that would be a good thing. The Tribune’s editorial concurred.

The lawsuits will do nothing to address our nation’s pressing housing issues, such as our housing inventory crisis, how we increase housing stability for the millions of unhoused, and how we reverse the overreliance on property taxes to fund local governments. For the Tribune’s editorial board, that is no matter though, after all, for them saving on their brokerage commissions means they’ll have more to pay on their real estate taxes.