Buying and selling a home is already a stressful process and it can get even more stressful when its time to close and you see the money it takes total you have to pay before you move in.

But homeowners are getting wise to some of the games real estate companies play and a few have had to pay up BIG after they were discovered to be doing some dirty tricks to get homeowners to pay more money.

Keller Williams Realty Inc. operates more than 1,100 offices with some 180,000 agents.

Austin based Keller Williams Realty Inc. is one of the nation's largest real estate brokerages.

They along with the National Association of Realtors and several other large real estate brokerages were slapped with several federal lawsuits last year by homeowners that accused them of engaging in practices that unfairly force homeowners to pay artificially inflated agent commissions when they sell their home.

In October 2023, a federal jury in Missouri Agreed With The Plaintiffs.

The jury ordered the defendants to pay almost $1.8 billion in damages after they found that brokerages including Keller Williams, conspired to require that home sellers pay homebuyers' agent commission in violation of federal antitrust law.

Keller Williams has agreed to pay $70 million as part of a proposed settlement to resolve more than a dozen lawsuits across the country over agent commissions.

Two other large real estate brokerages agreed to similar settlement terms last year.

Keller Williams wasn't the only ones that have to pay up. Anywhere Real Estate Inc. agreed to pay $83.5 million, while Re/Max agreed to pay $55 million bringing that grand total to collectively, $208,500,000 in settlement funds.

The funds will be distributed to qualifying Settlement Class Members who submit an approved claim form, after any awarded attorneys' fees, expenses, settlement administration costs, and service awards have been deducted.

I've Been Affected By This, How Do I Get Paid?

There's a website called www.RealEstateCommissionLitigation.com where there's more details on how you can get in on the settlement and the criteria you need to follow to get your money!