What Changed in Your Home Buyer's Agent Contract After August 2024

The National Association of Realtors finalized a settlement on August 17, 2024, requiring buyer agents to enter written representation agreements before showing properties ^[4]. The settlement introduced three material changes to how buyers and sellers engage with real estate agents. Approximately twenty-one months after the effective date, most participants in residential transactions still encounter confusion about what the settlement altered, who pays whom, and how the negotiation works in practice.

Three Changes the Settlement Made

Written buyer agreements became mandatory. Agents representing buyers must now sign contracts with those buyers before touring a home, in person or virtually. The agreement must state the agent's compensation as a specific dollar amount or percentage, not an open-ended range. A fixed amount or fixed rate is permissible; a range such as "two to three percent" is not, according to the settlement terms ^[4].

MLS listings can no longer display buyer-agent compensation. Listing brokers may still offer compensation to buyer brokers, but those offers cannot appear on MLS platforms. The offers may be communicated through flyers, email, signs, brokerage websites, and broker-to-broker agreements, but not on MLS ^[4].

Seller concessions remain usable but cannot be tied to buyer-broker payment. Sellers may offer concessions to cover buyer closing costs, including buyer-agent fees, and those concessions can still appear on MLS. However, a seller concession cannot be conditioned upon or directly linked to payment of a buyer broker, according to the settlement ^[4].

What Has Not Changed

Commissions remain fully negotiable. The settlement does not set commission rates, caps, or floors. Agents may be compensated through fixed fees paid by buyers, seller concessions, a portion of the listing broker's commission, or some combination of these methods, according to NAR's own guidance on the settlement ^[4]. Offers of compensation from listing brokers to buyer brokers remain legal and permissible ^[4].

Why the Agreement Matters at Closing

The written buyer agreement determines what appears on the Closing Disclosure. Section 1026.38 of Regulation Z governs the content of the Closing Disclosure, including the disclosure of real estate agent commissions ^[3]. Buyers who signed agreements specifying a two-and-a-half percent buyer-agent commission will see that figure reflected in the transaction costs disclosed before closing. The CFPB requires lenders to provide the Closing Disclosure three business days before the scheduled closing date ^[1].

If the figures on the Closing Disclosure do not match the written agreement signed before touring, buyers have a three-day window to question the discrepancy. The CFPB advises consumers to use those three days to resolve problems and ask why any figure differs from expectations ^[1]. The agency can be reached at (855) 411-2372 for complaints about mortgage disclosures ^[2].

What This Means for Closing

The settlement restructured when and how buyer-agent compensation gets disclosed, not whether it gets paid. Buyers who did not negotiate a written agreement specifying compensation terms before touring homes may find themselves facing unexpected costs at the Closing Disclosure stage. The agreement signed before the first showing now determines the negotiation position at the closing table. Sellers who want to offer buyer-broker compensation as an incentive must do so outside MLS channels, which may reduce the visibility of those offers to buyers working with agents who do not monitor all brokerage websites or direct communications.

The settlement preserved the negotiability of commissions while moving the negotiation earlier in the process. Every figure in the written buyer agreement, from the specific percentage to the ceiling on acceptable compensation from all sources, becomes a binding commitment visible on the Closing Disclosure. Buyers who signed agreements without specifying a ceiling may have accepted an obligation that is not capped at the signing-table amount, because the agreement prohibits accepting compensation from any source that exceeds the amount agreed upon between the buyer broker and the buyer ^[4].

What you can do:

1. Request the written buyer agreement and read the compensation clause before signing. Verify that the rate or amount matches what appears on the Closing Disclosure.

2. Ask whether the agreement includes a ceiling on total compensation. The settlement prohibits accepting compensation exceeding the agreed amount, but the ceiling must be stated in the agreement to apply ^[4].

3. Confirm that the agent disclosed whether a seller is offering buyer-broker compensation. Those offers can still be made but cannot appear on MLS ^[4].

4. Use the three-business-day review period for the Closing Disclosure to compare the disclosed figures against the written agreement. The CFPB tool for reviewing Closing Disclosures is available at consumerfinance.gov ^[1].

5. If the disclosed compensation differs from the written agreement, contact the CFPB at (855) 411-2372 or submit a complaint through its online portal ^[2]. The agency works to get consumers direct responses within fifteen days of submitting a complaint ^[2].