Buyer-agent compensation

Do you have to pay the buyer’s agent?

No. But since August 2024 the way it works has changed, and every buyer’s agent will ask. Here’s how to decide your answer.

What changed in 2024

Under practice changes from the National Association of REALTORS® settlement, effective August 17, 2024, offers of compensation to buyers’ agents can’t be published in REALTOR® MLSs, which includes the Southwest MLS. Buyers working with a REALTOR® also sign a written agreement with their agent before touring homes, which spells out what the agent will be paid.

Your three options

  1. Offer compensation up front, outside the MLS, for example when an agent calls. This can widen your buyer pool.
  2. Negotiate it in the offer. Let buyers request it as a seller concession and weigh it against price and terms.
  3. Decline. The buyer pays their own agent. Some buyers can’t, so expect fewer offers from them.

Whatever you choose, there’s no required or standard amount. Put any agreement in writing.

Put your home on the MLS this week.

Tell us about the property. We reply by email with package terms in writing, then you decide.

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