The NY Times Took Aim at Realtors. Then Its Commenters Pushed Back

Last week, The Daily—the New York Times’ flagship podcast—took aim at the real estate industry’s response to NAR’s landmark commission settlement. The episode paints a picture of an industry resisting change, evading reform, and using “creative” tactics to maintain the status quo.

The title? “The Housing Market Has New Rules. Realtors Are Evading Them.” 

“We’re talking about an industry that has been ruled by a group… for over 100 years,” said Times reporter Debra Kamin, who spent the past year investigating how the rule changes are (or aren’t) impacting consumers. 

Here’s a quick breakdown of the podcast, and why the comment section tells a different side of the story.

From “Watershed Moment” to Workarounds

The episode revisits the landmark settlement reached by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) in March, 2024, and the new commission rules stemming from it. 

As Debra Kamin put it: 

“The idea behind the lawsuit was that their rules had essentially fixed prices on real estate commissions, inflated them, and made it so that real estate commissions were higher than they should have been. They did not expect to lose this lawsuit, but they did lose this lawsuit. And a jury agreed that they were fixing prices on real estate commissions… 

“This settlement was meant to shake up the system of how those commissions are determined and how they’re paid.”

The goal of the new commission rules, according to Kamin, was threefold: 

1. Increase transparency
2. Allow consumers to negotiate commissions
3. Lower housing costs 

But according to The Daily, that’s not what happened.

Instead, Kamin outlines her three takeaways:

1. The MLS Ban Didn’t End Commission Conversations: Agents were told they could no longer advertise commission splits on the MLS. So they started sharing that information via text, email, and private landing pages. The podcast states agents even share information through coded signals in listing photos (like placing three cookies on a counter to imply a 3% co-op fee).
2. Buyers and Sellers Still Face a Lack of Clarity: Despite rule changes, many consumers say they’re still pressured to pay 5-6% in commissions, with little explanation or flexibility.
3. Real Estate Agents Are Fighting to Survive: With more agents than listings in many markets, Realtors are getting creative, often following cues from leadership at NAR and working around the new limitations to protect their income.

Kamin calls it “the great real estate workaround.”

“The settlement was very specific in its language that these conversations about splitting commissions could not happen on these databases. So the real estate community was like, ‘OK, we’ll just move these conversations elsewhere. It never said we can’t have them at all.’” 

The Case That Captivated Listeners

The case study chosen to illustrate Kamin’s points was former athlete and entrepreneur Mike Chambers, who tried to list his $2.75M Boulder, CO, home without an agent. 

Frustrated by what he viewed as unjustified commission demands, he documented his FSBO journey on Instagram under the handle Realtors Hate Me.

He quickly ran into resistance:

• MLS access was restricted by state rules.
• Zillow deprioritized his listing due to its FSBO status.
• Buyer agents allegedly boycotted his home—refusing to show it because he wasn’t “playing by the rules.”

Eventually, Chambers scrapped the sale and pivoted to launching a tech startup aimed at fixing the commission system.

But That’s Not Where the Story Ends…

Within hours of the episode airing, The Daily’s comment section filled with listener reactions. And a large number of them weren’t piling on Realtors. They were defending them.

Some of the commenters were Realtors themselves. Others knew Realtors who had earned their trust as hard-working and knowledgeable advisors. 

And sure, there were a few who were quick to denounce agents in general, shaking the proverbial fist. But a large portion of the 100+ commenters expressed disappointment in the one-sided treatment of real estate professionals and the industry as a whole. 

Let’s start with the commenters who self-identified as real estate agents: