New rules for real estate agents, home sellers and buyers go into effect this weekend

PHOENIX - Blair Ballin has been a real estate agent in the Valley for 25 years.

He says if you are looking to buy a home, you now have to sign a contract with an agent before even seeing a listing.

"It can be for one house, it can be for a day, it can be for a week or however long," Ballin said. 

"Because we didn't really use it (the contract form), before standardized at least, there's more potential opposition from certain buyers saying why should I sign it."

Commission payments now have to be negotiated

The change was created in the name of transparency, but it comes with a big question: Who is going to pay for an agent's commission? 

"The lawsuit is really kind of garbage because commissions, at least here in Arizona, have always been negotiable," he said.

The NAR settlement goes into effect on Saturday, August 17.

READ MORE: NAR settlement: What's changing about buying, selling a house?

The settlement affects buyers, sellers and real estate professionals. For one, selling agents who list a home for sale on a Multiple Listing Service, known as an MLS, will no longer be able to offer commission to buyer's agents through the service.

It leads to ambiguity on who is expected to now pay for your agent's commission.

"It's a matter of the buyer's agent calling the listing agent or communicating with him to say 'Are you offering a commission or a fee?' and if they say yes, finding out how much, if they say no, chancing it and hoping that you can negotiate it into the deal," Ballin said.

How does this rule impact first-time home buyers?

Ballin says first-time home buyers and those with less cash on them will likely be affected the most.

"And it's sad because they should be able to not have to come out of pocket more already with everything else: rising insurance costs, housing, inflation of everything, cost of living, it's sad," he said.

Ballin said a lot of these changes will operate in case-by-case instances, and it's too early to speak in definite about how this will affect the Valley housing market. 

One thing's for sure, getting the keys to your new home will require even more money now.