DOJ will ‘get their wings clipped,’ predicts brokerage leader 

This year's NAR NXT conference in Boston took place just days after the U.S. presidential election, and a Trump victory is likely to result in major reshuffling in Washington. One agency that could look quite different under the new administration is the Department of Justice, which has earned the ire of Trump — and of many in the real estate industry. 

The DOJ has been keeping a close watch on the world of residential real estate, initiating investigations and inserting itself in court cases, and some industry leaders — like Boston-based broker-owner Anthony Lamacchia — are hoping the agency will soon be forced to back off. 

"I expect the DOJ to get their wings clipped and I'm happy about that. They deserve it," Lamacchia said to agent attendees during a NAR NXT session on the state of the real estate market. 

"So to any reporters in the room, you can quote me on that and mail it right to them because it's ridiculous what they're doing to our industry."

DOJ has been 'overplaying their hand'

In addition to its ongoing efforts to investigate NAR, the Department of Justice has made formal inquiries into state associations and their buyer agreements, taken action against RealPage and its rent-pricing algorithm technology, filed a brief in a case involving Zillow, and weighed in on data sharing. 

While the Biden administration's DOJ has been very active in the residential brokerage world in recent years, it's unknown what the future holds. But Lamacchia, who has published dozens of videos on his Youtube channel about the commissions lawsuits and other legal actions in real estate, predicts that the agency's focus on the industry might be winding down.

"I don't think any department deserves it more," Lamacchia told Real Estate News after the session, following up on his "wings clipped" comment. 

"I'm most concerned about real estate, naturally, but it appears that they're overplaying their hand in many different areas," he continued. "But I think when the new president comes in, you're going to see the upper echelon in the DOJ looking for jobs. That'll be a great day for America."

No fan of attorneys 

Lamacchia also had choice words for the plaintiffs' lawyers in the commissions cases, telling Real Estate News that the DOJ has only "emboldened these pocket-picking, blood-sucking attorneys across the country that want to essentially fleece our industry." He described the legal fees — which are expected to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars —  as "judicially sanctioned extortion," and the payout for class members, which he predicts to be around "$21 a piece" as "a joke."

This year's NAR NXT conference was the first since the association negotiated its landmark settlement to end the litany of class action commissions suits it was facing. A year ago, former NAR president Tracy Kasper took the stage in Anaheim and vowed to keep fighting the lawsuits, telling agents the legal battle was far from over. 

Four months later, NAR announced its settlement to end its lengthy and costly fight with home sellers and their lawyers.