Overnight News: The DOJ’s piddlyshit NAR “settlement” in brief: Discounting Realty.bots can screw Buyer’s Agents, but they can’t notice and respond accordingly.

Every Buyer’s Agent knows how to kill a house. You walk into a pantry or a bathroom and you say, “Whoa! Do you smell that? A mustiness…? Maybe I’m wrong…” That house is now at the bottom of the stack. I’ve never done that belligerently – to kill a house that didn’t have a fungus problem – but I’ve done it proactively many times. A Buyer’s Agent is the first line of defense against red flags.

But consider: Per this ridiculous NAR “settlement,” Buyer’s Agents are now supposed to abjure any knowledge of the Buyer’s Agent’s commission, and to operate as if incentives have no motivating power. Worse, as summarized in the headline and masticated to someone’s taste in the Inglorious Blob post cited below, the actual purpose of the lawsuit was to screw Buyer’s Agents – to forbid them from noticing they are being screwed by Realty.bots who cannot explain themselves to their customers.

Here’s a hint: If real estate commissions are too damn high, why aren’t Redfin and REX demanding to rebate the excess to the seller – you know, the party who is allegedly paying too damn much for the buyer’s representation?

Yeah. Who’s not full of shit? Meanwhile, listers who screw the hardest-working, worst-paid people in real estate should expect to hear more about an ineffable mustiness. You cannot forbid protozoa from pursuing their own interests. Why would you try that with people?

Yesterday on BloodhoundBlog, some thoughts on what Trump might be doing:

Greg Swann: “Doc” Holliday, Donald Trump and the art of the bluff. Here’s the truth you might have guessed, knowing the world you’re in and who you are reading from: The storied gunfight at the OK Corral was a rent-seeker’s dispute over a shipping concession – the Earps, representing Wells Fargo, muscling in on a market controlled by the Sandy-Bob stage coach line. Ain’t that America?

And elsewhere:

Rob Hahn: REX and the DOJ: Implications for the Future. I did a house for $500 once. Foreclosure in self-sabotage. Bank wouldn’t pay and buyers never have cash – that is why Buyer’s Agents get paid by Listing Agents – but that was how we got the house: No one else would show it. Lecturing starving people about their fiduciary duty seems kind of smug to me. But that kind of sleaziness on commission is why I stopped working with buyers. I do a lot to make a point, but I still have to make a living.

Redfin: The Suburbs Have 15% More People of Color Than a Decade Ago Versus 5% More White People, Likely Contributing to Democrats’ 6-Point Suburban Gain in 2020. We have no idea how anyone voted. But: All “people of color” are Democrats? That’s what Xi said. Meanwhile: What is Redfin’s defense against the claim that it is redlining? “Incentives!” You cannot make this shit up.

Christopher Rufo: “Burn It Down” – Activists in Seattle want to abolish police, prisons, and courts. If only there were giant real estate brokerages in Seattle to write about what’s going on there.

Roger Kimball: Waiting for Sidney.

American Thinker: Why the Status Quo Wants Trump Out.

FEE.org: Waffle House’s Stand Against Lockdowns Is Exactly What America Needs—Almost.

American Thinker: Americans, like the famous downtrodden worm, are starting to turn.

Kurt Schlichter: Is America Doomed to Split Apart?