My prediction #sitzerburnett

With the risk of letting one more tiger in to the ring I’m going to make a prediction. I first have to thank Andrea Brambila of Inman News for her live updates. Also Austin Alanzo from Real Estate News.

While it would have been ideal to be in the courtroom and see the reactions of the jurors to testimony I’m going to make my prediction based upon a couple precepts.

1. The issue is more complicated than it seems.
2. The vote must be unanimous.

So, what’s my prediction? Drumroll please……

NAR wins.

Now, I’m unsure if the jury votes on the corporate defendants separately (KW and BHHS) and I don’t know if the jury’s instruction includes a “per se” messaging (you’ll have to listen to the last few episodes of Industry Relations to understand what that means).

But based upon what I’m hearing from people inside the courtroom and the summaries I’m reading this wasn’t a “slam dunk”. So if there is any hint of uncertainty, that means an unanimous vote is unlikely.

Now I believe this is a pretty bold prediction. You’ve got a home town lawyer (Ketchmark) who apparently was close to tears in his closing arguments (tears? really? really?) and the cliche of the “greedy real estate agent”. But did they prove an industry-wide conspiracy? I don’t think so.