A buyer representation agreement is a written contract between you and a real estate agent that spells out the services the agent will provide, how long you’ll work together, and the exact compensation the agent will earn. Since August 17, 2024, most agents must have you sign one before they can tour a home with you, in person or virtually.1National Association of REALTORS®. National Association of REALTORS Reminds Members and Consumers of Real Estate Practice Change The agreement replaces the old informal arrangement where buyers could work with an agent for months without putting anything on paper.
Why Agents Now Require One
The requirement comes from practice changes adopted by the National Association of REALTORS as part of a legal settlement over broker commissions. Agents who participate in a Multiple Listing Service, which covers most working agents, must get a signed buyer agreement before showing you a property.2National Association of REALTORS®. Consumer Guide: Why Am I Being Asked to Sign a Written Buyer Agreement
You don’t need one to walk through an open house on your own or to have a general conversation with an agent about their services. The trigger is the showing.
What the Agreement Covers
The term that surprises most buyers is compensation. The agreement must state a specific dollar amount or percentage. It cannot be left open-ended or expressed as a range.3National Association of REALTORS®. Consumer Guide to Written Buyer Agreements You know exactly what the agent costs before you look at a single home. The agreement must also disclose that compensation is not set by law and is fully negotiable.4National Association of REALTORS®. NAR Settlement FAQs
Beyond the fee, expect the agreement to cover:
- The services the agent will perform: finding properties that match your criteria, scheduling showings, preparing market analyses, writing and negotiating offers, and guiding you through closing.
- The property scope, meaning the types of properties covered and the geographic area where the agent will search.
- A start date and an end date.
- Whether the relationship is exclusive, so you work with this agent alone, or non-exclusive.
You’ll also take on obligations. Depending on the terms, you may agree to route all property negotiations through your agent, provide accurate financial information, and avoid signing overlapping agreements with other agents.
Exclusive and Non-Exclusive Versions
Not every buyer representation agreement binds you the same way. The differences come down to exclusivity and who gets paid when you buy.
Exclusive Right to Represent
This is the most common form. If you buy any property during the agreement period, your agent earns their fee no matter who found the home. Spot a for-sale-by-owner sign and negotiate the deal yourself, and you still owe the agreed amount. In exchange, the agent has every reason to invest serious time in your search.
Exclusive Agency
The agent is still your only representative, so you can’t hire a second one. But if you find a property entirely on your own, with no help from the agent, you don’t owe a commission. The practical catch is defining “on your own.” If the agent emailed you the listing two weeks earlier, that will usually count as their lead.
Non-Exclusive Agreement
You can work with more than one agent at the same time, and only the agent who actually helps you close earns compensation. Agents tend to invest less in non-exclusive clients because there’s no guarantee their work pays off. If you’re early in your search and want to shop around, this structure gives you room.
How the Agent Gets Paid
Under the old model, the seller’s agent advertised a commission on the MLS, often 2.5% to 3% to the buyer’s side, and that amount went to whoever brought the buyer. That default is gone. Your agreement locks in a specific compensation figure, and your agent cannot accept more than that amount from any source.4National Association of REALTORS®. NAR Settlement FAQs
The money can come from a few directions:
- You pay directly at closing, either out of pocket or rolled into financing if your lender allows it.
- The seller agrees to a concession, crediting part of the sale proceeds toward your agent’s fee as part of the purchase contract. Concessions can appear on the MLS, but they cannot be conditioned on the money going to your agent specifically.5National Association of REALTORS®. Compensation, Commission and Concessions
- The listing broker offers to pay buyer agents. That offer can still exist, but it can no longer appear on the MLS. It has to travel through other channels like flyers, emails, or brokerage websites.5National Association of REALTORS®. Compensation, Commission and Concessions
Fee structures are more varied than they used to be. Percentage commissions are still common. Flat fees and hourly rates are gaining traction. Everything is negotiable.
What Your Agent Owes You Once You Sign
Signing the agreement puts your agent under fiduciary duties, a legal standard that reaches further than ordinary professionalism. A fiduciary must put your interests above their own, and in practice that breaks down into a few concrete obligations.
Your agent owes you loyalty. They cannot steer you toward a property because it pays them more, or push you to overbid because a larger sale price inflates their fee. They owe you confidentiality: if you tell the agent the top price you’d pay, that number stays with them. They owe you honest disclosure of material facts they know, such as a history of flooding or a pending special assessment. And they owe you reasonable care and diligence, so missed deadlines and lazy market research can breach that duty.
Those obligations run one way. The agent’s financial interest in a higher sale price can quietly conflict with yours during negotiations, and the fiduciary standard is what keeps that conflict in check.
Protection Periods After the Agreement Ends
Most agreements include a protection period, sometimes called a holdover clause, that extends the agent’s right to compensation past the end date. If the agent showed you a property while the agreement was active and you buy that same property shortly after it expires, you still owe the fee.
These windows typically run 30 to 90 days, though some stretch longer. The clause only reaches properties the agent actually showed you or introduced to you during the agreement. It doesn’t attach to every home you eventually buy.
Two details are worth knowing. If you sign with a new agent after the first agreement expires, the original agent’s claim is usually reduced by whatever you’re paying the new one, and if the new rate matches or exceeds the old, the first agent’s claim can drop to zero. And if you and your original agent agree to end the relationship early, many agreements waive the protection period entirely. Mutual termination is almost always better than letting an agreement lapse.
If the Same Firm Wants to Represent Both Sides
Dual agency arises when the same brokerage, or the same individual agent, represents both you and the seller. Roughly eight states ban it outright. Where it’s allowed, the brokerage must get your informed written consent first.
The structural problem is that an agent representing both sides cannot give either party undivided loyalty. They can’t advise you to offer less and tell the seller to hold out for more. Confidential information is harder to protect when the same party hears both sides. Some firms use designated agency, assigning two agents within the brokerage to the two parties, but the brokerage itself still has obligations to both. If dual agency comes up, understand that you’re giving up an advocate whose only job is you.
Duration and Ending the Agreement
Durations vary. Many agreements run 90 days to six months. Shorter terms favor you: if the relationship isn’t working, you’re free sooner. Longer terms can make sense in slower markets.
The agreement ends naturally when you close on a property or when the end date passes without a purchase. If you want out early, the cleanest path is mutual termination in writing.3National Association of REALTORS®. Consumer Guide to Written Buyer Agreements Read your agreement, because some include specific exit conditions, and mutual termination often waives the protection period.
If the agent stops performing, say by not returning calls or repeatedly missing scheduled showings, that failure may be a breach that lets you walk away without penalty. If you cut the agent loose without cause, you could still owe compensation under the holdover clause, and some agreements include early cancellation fees.
What to Negotiate Before You Sign
Every term is negotiable. Agents will present a standard form, but standard isn’t final.
- Compensation. Don’t accept the first number. Ask how the agent arrived at their rate, what services it covers, and whether a flat fee or hourly arrangement would suit your situation better.
- Duration. Push for the shortest term you’re comfortable with. Ninety days is reasonable for an active search, and you can always extend if the relationship works. A year-long commitment with an agent you’ve never worked with is a gamble.
- Termination. Look for a right-to-cancel provision that lets you walk away on written notice without penalty.
- Protection period. Negotiate a shorter holdover window, and confirm that mutual termination voids it. A 180-day protection period tacked onto a 90-day agreement means your old agent could claim a fee on a home you buy half a year after you parted.
- Scope. If you’re only interested in a specific neighborhood or property type, narrow the agreement to match.
- Arbitration. Some agreements include mandatory arbitration clauses that waive your right to go to court. Know whether yours does.
Your leverage is highest before you sign. An agent who resists these conversations, or who pressures you to sign quickly, is telling you something worth hearing.