After a $1.8 billion settlement, the settlement was finalized.

Using a travel agent to buy a plane ticket or a broker to trade stocks seem like relics of the past. And yet, every day, people across America hire a realtor to help them sell their home. It is one of the few industries that has been able to largely avoid the disruption that has helped consumers cut costs in the Internet age. And that's largely due to the strength of the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the largest professional organization in America and an important lobbying group for the real estate industry.

But Tuesday's verdict in a Missouri court that found NAR and two brokerage firms, Homeservices of America and Keller Williams Realty, liable for $1.8 billion in damages for conspiring to artificially raise commissions could be the beginning of the end of how homes are bought and sold. In addition, two other companies originally named in lawsuits filed by the home sellers - Re/Max and Anywhere Real Estate, formerly known as Realogy, the parent company of Coldwell Banker, Century 21, Sotheby's International Realty and Corcoran - have entered into out-of-court settlements totaling $140 million. As a condition of the agreement, they each announced their intention to make changes to their business practices, including waiving the requirement that agents be members of NAR.

While state governments issue real estate licenses, NAR has an extensive code of ethics that members are expected to follow. NAR and the brokerage firms have said they will appeal the verdict, which means real estate commissions won't immediately disappear. NAR has battled U.S. antitrust authorities and litigation for years over anticompetitive practices, and this verdict was the biggest setback for the association. The verdict comes in just one of many lawsuits currently pending against NAR, which is also under scrutiny by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Besides the judgment and a broken real estate market, NAR has already had a rough year. In August, the president of NAR, a real estate agent named Kenny Purcell, resigned after allegations of sexual harassment. Last month, online real estate company Redfin left the association.

Of the commissions, NAR said it will appeal the verdict and that the issue will not be resolved in the coming years. "This case is not final, as we will appeal the jury verdict," said Mantill Williams, vice president of communications for NAR. "In the interim, we will ask the court to reduce the amount of damages awarded by the jury." "It's not over," said Darryl Frost, a spokesman for Keller Williams.

The basis of the plaintiffs' argument is that NAR forces home sellers to pay an inflated commission, which is then split between the seller's agent and the buyer's agent. Home sellers argue that the condition of mandatory commission splitting to access the Multiple Listing System is unfair and artificially keeps commissions high. Typically, when a home is listed for sale, the seller will offer their broker a flat commission. For decades, the commission was about 6% of the sale price, usually with 3% split between the buyer's agent and the seller. According to sellers, in a competitive market environment, the cost of the buyer's agent's commission should not be paid by the seller, but by the buyer who received the service.

Consumer advocates celebrated the verdict and are hopeful that the plaintiffs will get what they asked for - a court ruling regarding changes to the industry's commission structure. The amount awarded could increase to as much as $5 billion depending on the judge's decision. The jury clearly saw that the industry had limited price competition to such an extent that it provided nearly identical commissions of 5 to 6 percent, said Stephen Brobeck, a senior fellow at the Consumer Federation of America. The court made its decision quickly, in just a few hours, he noted. "A strong influence on what competition measures the court adopts will have a strong impact on whether the system develops lower costs for consumers and better services," Brobeck said. "We hope the court will separate the ties between listing agent commissions and agents representing buyers, freeing sellers from the obligation and need to pay commissions to buyers' agents. "

The impact of commissions on buyers and sellers. Agents believe that little will change in the near future in how commissions are set. The long-term impact of the verdict may be that the buyer's commission and the seller's commission will eventually be split. Analysts at investment bank Keefe, Bruyette & W And because the amount of commission paid to an agent is usually included in the price of a home, if they decrease or become more negotiable, real estate prices could also drop, the report said.

"Nothing is changing anytime soon," said Jen Davis, a Keller Williams agent with Holt Homes Group in Missouri. - "Commissions have always been negotiable. It will continue to be so in the future." However, she said, this could have unintended consequences. - "There are buyers who won't know the steps of buying a home," Davis said. - "They have to pay the down payment, closing costs, appraisals, inspections. If they also have to pay the buyer's agent, some just won't do it and they will be stranded or won't buy at all. Lack of representation will make market access difficult.".