BATON ROUGE - If you are in the home buying or selling market right now, get ready for some changes. Those changes are being implemented soon and are intended to make things more transparent when it comes to real estate.

Following a settlement by the National Association of Realtors in a lawsuit brought by home sellers, buyers, sellers, and agents will be navigating some changes to the home sale process.

"I think it's just going to make the whole process more transparent," said Kristina Cusick, president of the Greater Baton Rouge Association of Realtors.

It's not the first time Cusick has seen adjustments in her industry. One big difference will be in the Multiple Listing Service, or MLS, a database of homes for sale.

"As buyer's agents we will not see the compensation that's offered to us in the MLS, we're going to have to negotiate that through the purchase agreement," Cusick said.

Sellers can still offer to pay the buyer-broker's commission, but it can't be published in MLS. Agents are now required to use a buyer-broker agreement. Cusick says many have already done this but it hasn't been a precondition.

"This has to be taken care of before we tour a home," she said.

The buyer broker agreement will let you know what the agent plans to do for you and spell out their compensation.

"When someone calls us and wants to see a house and we have not worked with them, we have to meet with them and go over what we're going to do for them and go over those services and get the buyer's representation agreement signed before we can move forward," Cusick said.

Compensation agreements could become more creative. Cusick says they have and will remain negotiable.

The Greater Baton Rouge Association of Realtors is looking to make the changes to MLS in mid-August.