Clear Cooperation Is Not Dead; It's Resting

I was on an airplane when news broke that NAR had surrendered in its fight for Clear Cooperation Policy (“CCP”). I mean, sure, NAR pretended like it was keeping CCP, merely “clarifying” some details and creating a new status that would give sellers more choices. The industry media headlines reflected that PR spin-job.

RISMedia: “NAR Will Not Alter Clear Cooperation, But Adds New ‘Exempt’ Designation”

Inman: “NAR opts to keep Clear Cooperation but adds a new option.”

Real Estate News: “NAR keeping Clear Cooperation — with a key addition.”

A quick read past the headline suggests that the headlines are factually correct, while substantively gaslighting folks. Then when you read the details, you realize that the surrender was total. In fact, the surrender went beyond total and ended up strengthening the big brokerages far more than even they had asked.

The whole thing immediately reminded me of the Monty Python Dead Parrot skit. CCP is not dead, you see. It’s just resting. Remarkable policy, that.

Let us stop pretending and get into the truth of the matter.