REAL ESTATE

Consumer Group, Realtors Call for More Disclosure: The National Assn. of Realtors and the Consumer Federation of America jointly launched a program designed to inform would-be home-buyers that most real estate agents technically work for sellers, not buyers. The plan will require agents to inform buyers in writing that they work for the seller because the seller--not the buyer--is the person who usually pays the agent’s commission. The five-point program is designed to clear up confusion over who the agent represents and “should ensure that sellers and buyers are on a level playing field,” the trade group said. The new guidelines will be binding on all of the group’s 750,000 members across the country but will have little impact in California, a state that already has some of the toughest disclosure laws in the country.