Beginning January 1, 2012 non-Realtor® brokers will no longer have free access to Georgia Association of Realtors (GAR) contract forms.
Brokers and agents that wish to continue to use GAR forms will now have to pay a licensing fee to do so. An annual license will cost an agent $199.
The original intent of the standardized forms being offered for free was to make it easier for all licensees to have a uniform instrument that was easy to understand and universally applied.
But as more and more brokers dropped their memberships in local boards across the state, it became more apparent that many were simply cutting costs and luring agents who no longer wanted to pay board dues.
Which is fine, because everyone may choose what is best for them. But all should share the burden of expense for the benefits received, and so the fee for copyrighted form access was instituted.
Only time will tell on how this will all play out. It’s going to rock a lot of agent’s worlds.
And when the dust settles, we will see who is left standing.
Comments(14)