Terrific news is here with a tax break for those who sold or lost their underwater homes to foreclosure in 2014.

A new line of negotiating brokerage commission is now available in the State of New York.

Buyers can now ask for a rebate of the seller's agent's brokerage commission in exchange for buying the property.

So, buyers should inquire of their prospective agents if the agent is offering a rebate on the transaction in consideration for being hired by the buyer. Alternatively, unrepresented buyers should inquire of the seller's agent if they offer a rebate in consideration of the buyer's offer to consummate a transaction.

At the least, it never hurts to ask.

Think about it ... a buyer's broker can now promote their services by incentivising prospective buyers to work with them by offering a rebate of the co-brokerage commission offered by the seller's agent.

To illustrate, a seller offers his seller's agent 6% on a deal whereby the seller's agent offers a buyer's agent a 3% share of that commission, in turn, for procuring a buyer, under a co-brokerage agreement. Now, that buyer's agent can motivate buyers to come to that deal by offering prospective buyers 1% of that 3%, or an alternative discount on the deal, for working with that buyer's agent.

Before the enactment of this statutory amendment, brokers did rebate commissions, but they have done so under a gray legal framework where there was no express authority for the practice (beyond a No Action Opinion Letter by the Department of State dated February 2008) and consequently it never became an overt marketing tactic by buyer's agents. Look for that to change.  


Real Property Law 442 was amended as 2014 came to a close. It now reads as follows (capitals represent additions to the statute):

Splitting commissions.
1. No real estate broker shall pay any part of a fee, commission or other compensation received by the broker to any person for any service, help or aid rendered in any place in which this article is applicable, by such person to the broker in buying, selling, exchanging, leasing, renting or negotiating a loan upon any real estate including the resale of a condominium OR COOPERATIVE APARTMENT unless such a person be a duly licensed real estate salesman regularly associated with such broker or a duly licensed real estate broker or a person regularly engaged in the real estate brokerage business in a state outside of New York; provided, however, that notwithstanding any other provision of this section, it shall be permissible for a real estate broker to pay any part of a fee, commission, or other compensation received to an unlicensed corporation or an unlicensed limited liability company if each of its shareholders or members, respectively, is associated as an individual with the broker as a duly licensed associate broker or salesman.

The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) will issue a legally binding findings statement to prohibit High-Volume Hydraulic Fracturing (HVHF) in the State of New York.

New York's move should motivate the Erin Brokoviches of this world to start their lawsuits against companies involved in fracking based on the plethora of adverse health data exposed.

This DEC's statement comes on the heels of the Acting Department of Health Commissioner recommending that fracking should not move forward in the State.

According to the Commissioner "I have considered all of the data and find significant questions and risks to public health which as of yet are unanswered,". The review by the Department of Health, entitled "A Public Health Review of High Volume Hydraulic Fracturing for Shale Gas Development", is the basis for the DEC's decision to ban fracking.

The review states, in pertinent part, that "there are significant uncertainties about the kinds of adverse health outcomes that may be associated with HVHF, the likelihood of the occurrence of adverse health outcomes, and the effectiveness of some of the mitigation measures in reducing or preventing environmental impacts which could adversely affect public health."

The review summarizes "some of the environmental impacts and health outcomes potentially associated with HVHF activities:
• Air impacts that could affect respiratory health due to increased levels of particulate matter, diesel exhaust, or volatile organic chemicals.
• Climate change impacts due to methane and other volatile organic chemical releases to the atmosphere.
• Drinking water impacts from underground migration of methane and/or fracking chemicals associated with faulty well construction.
• Surface spills potentially resulting in soil and water contamination.
• Surface-water contamination resulting from inadequate wastewater treatment.
• Earthquakes induced during fracturing.
• Community impacts associated with boom-town economic effects such as increased vehicle traffic, road damage, noise, odor complaints, increased demand for housing and medical care, and stress."

Today is a bad day to own a fracking company. Yet, so many lives will be bettered as a result of this new rule.