What buyers and sellers need to know about the new real estate rules

Although the spring home buying season is months away, buyers and sellers have some motivation to get off the edge. In early September, a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage had an average interest rate of 6.35 percent, down from 7.12 percent a year earlier, according to Freddie Mac. And a $418 million settlement reached earlier this year with the National Association of Realtors led to new requirements for real estate transactions in ways that could save money when buying or selling a home.

The settlement resulted from class-action lawsuits alleging the industry-wide practice of requiring seller’s agents to disclose the commission offered to buyer’s agents, which artificially inflated real estate commissions. NAR, which agreed to settle the lawsuits but denied the allegations, says commissions have always been negotiable but have generally remained at 5 percent to 6 percent of the sales price for years.