Josh Sitzer, one of the plaintiffs in a recently-settled lawsuit against the National Association of Realtors (NAR), has co-founded a new real estate startup offering flat fee services.
Sitzer, together with Brayn Galen and Neal Batra, has launched Landian, a real estate startup that aims to allow homebuyers to select services they need from a real estate agent and pay for them using a flat fee. The launch was first reported by TechCrunch.
According to Landian's website, users would be allowed to import a listing from any real estate site and then book a home tour or prepare an offer with the help of a licensed local agent. The user will not owe the agent a commission. Instead, users will be required to pay a flat fee of $49 for each home tour, $199 for an offer preparation session, and $99 for an AI-powered prep offer. The website also offers a $1,799 package, which includes five home tours and two offer prep sessions. Other services such as closing consultations, are also available.
The company claims it can save buyers roughly $15,000 per real estate transaction by removing commissions, per its FAQ page.
Real estate agents who sign on to the Landian platform will still be brokered at their brokerage. However, they must sign a Landian Buyer-Broker Agreement if they are working with clients on the platform to comply with recent NAR changes.
Sitzer and the NAR Commission Lawsuit
Sitzer was one of the plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit that accused the NAR of inflating commissions provided to real estate agents. Sitzer filed that lawsuit after she and his wife were frustrated that they had to pay a 3% commission to a buyer's agent after listing their home for sale in 2017.
He later spoke with his neighbor, who was a lawyer familiar with the matter. In 2019, he and other homeowners filed a lawsuit against the NAR and several corporate brokerages. That case reached a verdict last year, leading the NAR to pay $418 million in damages. It also led to the abolishment of the "Participation Rule," which required seller agents to make an offer of compensation to buyer-side brokers.
Landian is currently only available to clients in the United States and Canada.
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