A buyer agency agreement is the written contract between you and a real estate agent that spells out what they will do for you and what they get paid for doing it. Since August 17, 2024, you will be asked to sign one before you tour a home. It is not a formality. The term, the fee, and the protection period are all negotiable, and most buyers sign without reading any of them.
I have read a lot of these forms over the past two years. What bothers me is not predatory language. It is speed. An agent hands over a tablet in a driveway, the showing starts in four minutes, and the buyer signs a six-month exclusive contract with a protection period stapled to the back of it. Nobody explains the protection period. Nobody usually does.
So here is the version I would want a friend to read first.
What a buyer agency agreement is, and when you actually have to sign one
The National Association of Realtors describes it plainly. In its Consumer Guide to Written Buyer Agreements, NAR calls it “an agreement between you and your real estate professional outlining the services your real estate professional will provide you, and what they will be paid for those services.”
The trigger is narrower than most people think. Two conditions have to be true: the agent has to be “working with” you, and you have to be “touring a home.” NAR’s settlement FAQs define touring as the moment “the buyer and/or the MLS Participant, or other agent, at the direction of the MLS Participant working with the buyer, enter the house.” A live virtual walkthrough counts. A “home” here means a residential property of “not less than one nor more than four residential dwelling units.”
Here is the part almost nobody tells buyers: you can walk an open house by yourself without signing anything. NAR’s consumer guide says it outright. “If you are simply visiting an open house on your own or asking a real estate professional about their services, you do not need to sign a written buyer agreement.” Same goes if a listing agent lets you into a house they represent for the seller only. NAR’s FAQ 77 confirms no agreement is needed in that scenario, because the agent is working for the seller, not for you.
Which means you have more room to interview agents than you probably realized. Go to open houses. Ask questions. Sign when you have actually picked someone.
The 7 clauses I read first in any buyer agency agreement
This is an explainer, not a form, and it is not legal advice. I am not reproducing contract language here on purpose, because the wording differs by state and by association, and a half-remembered clause is worse than none. What follows is what each section controls and what I would push back on.
| Clause | What it controls | What I would ask for |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Compensation | The dollar amount or percentage your agent is owed | A single defined number. NAR requires the compensation be “clearly defined” and “not open-ended or a range.” |
| 2. Term | How long you are bound | Start short. NAR policy does not dictate the term at all. |
| 3. Protection period | Whether the agent still gets paid after the contract ends | Shorten it, and limit it to homes they actually showed you in writing. |
| 4. Exclusivity | Whether you can work with other agents | Know which version you signed before you tour with anyone else. |
| 5. Scope of service | What the agent has actually promised to do | Named duties. “Assist with the purchase” is not a duty. |
| 6. Geography and property type | Where and what the agreement applies to | Narrow it to the area you are really shopping. |
| 7. Termination | How you get out | A written cancellation right that does not require the broker’s permission. |
Clause 1 is the one that changed. Before August 2024, the buyer-side fee floated in from the MLS and most buyers never saw a number. Now the number has to be in your contract, in advance, and it caps what your agent can collect. If the seller offers more than your agreement says, your agent cannot pocket the difference. That is a genuinely good change and it is underused.
Exclusive vs. non-exclusive buyer agency agreement
Three flavors show up in practice. The differences matter more than the paperwork suggests.
| Type | Can you use another agent? | Who gets paid if you buy | Typical use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exclusive right to represent | No | Your agent, on any home you buy in the term | The default form most brokerages hand you |
| Exclusive agency | No, but you can buy on your own | Your agent, unless you found and bought it yourself | Less common, more buyer-friendly |
| Non-exclusive | Yes | Whichever agent actually procured the sale | Early search, or touring with more than one agent |
An exclusive buyer agency agreement is not automatically the wrong choice. A good agent working for free until closing is taking real risk, and exclusivity is how they manage it. What I object to is signing a six-month exclusive with someone you met eleven minutes ago. Tour on a short non-exclusive or a single-property agreement first. If they are good, sign the exclusive after.
One more thing worth knowing before you tour with anyone: if your agent ends up representing both sides, the rules change again. We covered that in our piece on dual agency and why it is illegal in some states.
Term length, and the protection period nobody explains
Six months is the number on most preprinted forms. It is not required by anyone. NAR’s FAQ 75 lists term as something NAR policy explicitly does not dictate, and it gives examples of what a term can look like: “one day, one month, one house, one zip code.” That sentence is the single most useful thing in the entire FAQ, and it is buried at number 75.
So when an agent says “it has to be six months,” what they mean is that six months is what is preloaded in their form. Ask for thirty days. If the relationship works, renew it. I have never seen a good agent refuse that.
The protection period is the sneakier one. It says that for some window after the agreement expires, if you buy a home the agent showed you, they still get paid. The logic is fair enough, since it stops a buyer from waiting out the clock and going direct to the seller. The problem is the drafting. Some forms apply it to any home you saw, some to any home in the whole search area, and the window ranges widely by form and by state. Read yours. Ask for two things: a shorter window, and a written list of the specific properties it covers.
Protection period length is set by the form and by state practice, not by NAR, so I am not going to give you a national number here. Pull up your own agreement and find the clause.
What a buyer broker agreement says about who pays your agent
A buyer broker agreement and a buyer agency agreement are, in ordinary use, the same document under different names. Some states and brokerages prefer “buyer representation agreement.” The label does not change what it does.
What it does is set a ceiling. Your agreement says your agent gets, say, 2.5%. The seller may offer to cover some or all of that, and NAR’s consumer guide is direct that you “can still request, negotiate for, and receive compensation for your real estate professional from the seller or their agent.” If the seller covers 2%, you owe the remaining 0.5%. If the seller covers 2.5%, you owe nothing. If the seller offers 3%, your agent still gets 2.5%, because that is what you signed.
Run it against a real number. NAR’s existing-home sales data reports that June 2026 brought a median sales price of $440,600. Here is what the fee line in your agreement is worth at that price.
| Fee in your buyer agency agreement | Dollars at $440,600 |
|---|---|
| 3% | $13,218 |
| 2.5% | $11,015 |
| 2% | $8,812 |
| 1% rebated back to you | up to $4,406 back at closing |
That last row is our model. Houwzer agents are salaried, and the 1% home buyer rebate comes back to you at the closing table rather than staying with the agent. Availability and amount vary by state and county, and some lenders restrict how a rebate can be used, so treat $4,406 as the shape of the math and not a quote. If you want the fee side of this in more depth, we broke it down in who really pays the buyers agency fee and in whether the buyer pays realtor fees.
How to negotiate, or exit, a buyer agency agreement
NAR’s position is not subtle. Its consumer guide says you should feel free to “negotiate any aspect of the agreement with your real estate professional, such as the services you want to receive, the length of the agreement, and the compensation, if any.” Compensation, it adds, “is negotiable and not set by law.”
Four asks that work, in the order I would make them:
- Shorten the term. Thirty days, renewable. This is the easiest yes you will get.
- Cap the fee at a number you chose. Not a range, not “whatever the seller offers.”
- Limit the protection period to a written list of properties.
- Add a plain cancellation right. If you can only exit with the broker’s blessing, you cannot really exit.
Already signed something you regret? Start by rereading it, because many forms have an exit path that the agent never mentioned. NAR notes that agreements “may have specific conditions under which they can be exited.” If there is no clause, ask the agent’s managing broker for a mutual release in writing. Most brokers grant it. Reputation is worth more to them than one reluctant buyer.
The version I would rather see is the one where none of this is a fight. Our own buyer agreements can be cancelled any time before you go under contract, which is a policy we publish on our buy with Houwzer page rather than bury in a form. If you are shopping in our home market, our Philadelphia agents will walk the agreement with you line by line before anyone signs anything. And if you are still deciding whether to use an agent at all, that is a fair question, and we answered it honestly in do I need a realtor to buy a house.
Read the thing in the driveway. Four minutes of reading is cheap compared to a six-month exclusive you did not want.
Buyer agency agreement FAQs
Is a buyer agency agreement required by law?
Not by federal law. A buyer agency agreement is required under an MLS rule that came out of NAR’s settlement, effective August 17, 2024, and it applies to MLS Participants working with a buyer. Some states did require written agreements before that, and state law can require one earlier than the touring trigger. Check your state’s real estate commission for the rule where you are buying.
Can I look at a house without signing a buyer agency agreement?
Yes. You can visit an open house on your own, and you can ask an agent about their services, without signing anything. You can also be let into a home by the listing agent working for the seller only. A buyer agency agreement is triggered when an agent is working with you and you tour a home together.
How long does a buyer agency agreement last?
As long as you and the agent agree. A buyer agency agreement usually arrives with six months preprinted, but that is a default, not a requirement. NAR policy does not dictate the term and gives one day, one month, one house, and one zip code as examples of valid terms. Ask for thirty days and renew if it is working.
What is a protection period in a buyer agency agreement?
It is a window after the agreement ends during which your agent can still claim a commission if you buy a home they showed you. Length and scope vary by form and by state. Ask for a short window tied to a written list of specific properties rather than to your whole search area.
Do I have to pay my agent out of pocket?
Not necessarily. Your agreement sets what your agent is owed, and you can still ask the seller or the listing broker to cover it. If the seller covers less than your agreed fee, you pay the gap. If the seller covers all of it, you pay nothing.
How do I get out of a buyer agency agreement?
Read the termination clause in your buyer agency agreement first, since many forms include one. If yours does not, ask the agent’s managing broker for a written mutual release. Get any cancellation in writing, and confirm whether a protection period still applies to homes you already toured.
