Since August 17, 2024, an agent who works with a buyer through an MLS needs a written agreement before the first tour, and that agreement has to state the pay in clear terms. Here is what the agreement must say, how offers of compensation work now that they are off the MLS, and what separates a licensed agent from a REALTOR®.
Every fact links to its source. Checked Oct 3, 2026
The written buyer agreement
NAR's practice changes from its settlement went into effect on August 17, 2024. (Source: NAR)
Under NAR's model MLS rules, every MLS Participant who works with a buyer must enter into a written agreement with the buyer before touring a home, unless this is inconsistent with state or federal law or regulation. (Source: NAR)
NAR says to "tour a home" means the buyer or the agent working with the buyer enters the house. This includes an agent who enters to give a live virtual tour to a buyer who is not there. A "home" is a residential property with one to four dwelling units. (Source: NAR)
NAR says "working with" a buyer means giving the buyer brokerage services, such as finding properties, arranging tours, negotiating for the buyer, or presenting the buyer's offers. Only marketing your services, or only talking with a buyer at an open house, is not "working with" the buyer. (Source: NAR)
You can sign the agreement at any point, but no later than before the buyer tours a home, unless state law requires a written buyer agreement earlier. (Source: NAR)
You do not need a written buyer agreement when you host an open house, or give an unrepresented buyer access to a home, and you act for the seller only. (Source: NAR)
The agreement is required in an agency or a non-agency relationship, in dual agency and designated agency when you act as an agent for the buyer, and for a transaction broker who works with a buyer. (Source: NAR)
NAR policy does not set the type of relationship, the term of the agreement (for example one day or one house), the services, or the amount of compensation. You and the buyer can make any professional relationship that state law allows. (Source: NAR)
The MLS enforces the written agreement rule, as it enforces its other rules. It can ask for a copy of an agreement as part of that enforcement. (Source: NAR)
NAR tells its members that some states legally require buyer agreements, but many MLSs require them because of the settlement and the practice changes, not because of a new law. Explain the requirement to buyers accurately. (Source: NAR)
What the agreement must say about pay
Under the model MLS rules, the agreement must include a specific and conspicuous disclosure of the amount or rate of compensation you will receive, or how that amount will be determined, to the extent you will receive compensation from any source. (Source: NAR)
The agreement must state the amount of compensation in a way that is objectively ascertainable and not open-ended. (Source: NAR)
The agreement must include a term that prohibits you from receiving compensation for brokerage services from any source that exceeds the amount or rate agreed to with the buyer. (Source: NAR)
The agreement must include a conspicuous statement that broker fees and commissions are not set by law and are fully negotiable. (Source: NAR)
NAR gives these examples of objective compensation: $0, a flat fee, a percent, or an hourly rate. (Source: NAR)
The agreement cannot use a range, such as "between X and Y percent", and cannot say the pay is "whatever amount the seller is offering to the buyer". (Source: NAR)
If a seller or a listing broker offers a bonus on top of an offer of compensation, you cannot accept more than the amount or rate in your agreement with the buyer. (Source: NAR)
NAR tells its members not to sign several agreements with one buyer at one time for the same services, and not to amend an agreement only to match a higher offer of compensation. (Source: NAR)
The buyer is responsible for paying you as the agreement says. The buyer can still ask for, negotiate for, and receive your compensation from the seller or the seller's agent. (Source: NAR)
The statement that commissions are not set by law and are fully negotiable must also be in listing agreements and in pre-closing disclosure forms about broker representation, for example a dual agency, subagency, or designated agency disclosure form. (Source: NAR)
Offers of compensation and the MLS
Under the model MLS rules, Participants, Subscribers, and their sellers may not make offers of compensation to buyer brokers or other buyer representatives in the MLS. (Source: NAR)
Offers of compensation are still an option, but if a seller chooses to make one, it must be communicated off the MLS. (Source: NAR)
Before the listing broker or the seller pays, or agrees to pay, a broker who acts for a buyer, the listing broker must disclose the amount or rate to the seller in writing and get the seller's approval. (Source: NAR)
Sellers can still offer buyer concessions on the MLS, for example concessions for the buyer's closing costs. (Source: NAR)
A buyer can always ask the buyer's broker to make it a term of the purchase offer that the seller pays compensation to the buyer's broker, even when no offer of compensation exists. NAR updated this answer on October 17, 2025. (Source: NAR)
MLS Participants and Subscribers must not filter out or restrict listings sent to clients based on whether compensation is offered, how much is offered, or the name of the brokerage or agent. (Source: NAR)
The practice changes apply only to MLSs that opted into the settlement. An MLS that did not opt in is not subject to them, and some of those MLSs may allow offers of compensation. (Source: NAR)
On November 24, 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice told the court that the settlement "expressly allows offers of compensation to continue and for them to be posted publicly; it simply prohibits making these offers on an MLS." (Source: DOJ)
The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri granted final approval of NAR's settlement on November 26, 2024. (Source: NAR)
On August 19, 2026, a panel of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the settlement. Under that settlement, NAR requires written buyer agreements and prohibits offers of compensation on REALTOR® MLSs. (Source: NAR)
Licensed agent or REALTOR®
NAR says real estate agents are licensed professionals who help buyers and sellers with property transactions. REALTORS® are licensed professionals who are also members of NAR and follow its Code of Ethics. All REALTORS® are licensed, but not all real estate agents are REALTORS®. (Source: NAR)
REALTOR® is a registered collective membership mark. It identifies a real estate professional who is a member of NAR and subscribes to its Code of Ethics. (Source: NAR)
NAR says a REALTOR® pledges to uphold the Code of Ethics and must complete ethics training every three years. (Source: NAR)
NAR says the Code of Ethics sets the rules REALTORS® follow with other REALTORS®, the public, and clients, and its purpose is to make sure REALTORS® put their clients' interests above their own. Agents who are not members are not obligated to follow the same standards. (Source: NAR)
The Code can set duties higher than the law. Where the Code and the law conflict, the law takes precedence. (Source: NAR)
Standard of Practice 1-13, amended effective June 5, 2025, says that when a REALTOR® enters into a buyer agreement, the REALTOR® must tell the client: the company's policies on cooperation; that broker compensation is not set by law and is fully negotiable; the amount the client will pay, if any; that other compensation may come from other brokers, the seller, or other parties; any possibility of acting as a disclosed dual agent; and the possibility that sellers or their agents may not treat offers as confidential, unless the law or an agreement between the parties requires it. (Source: NAR)
Article 7, as amended for 2026, says a REALTOR® must not accept compensation from more than one party in a transaction without disclosure to, and the informed consent of, the REALTOR®'s own client or clients. NAR says the change makes clear that there is no obligation to disclose the contents of a buyer agreement to sellers or their brokers. (Source: NAR)
Article 9 says REALTORS® must make sure, whenever possible, that agreements such as listing agreements, representation agreements, and purchase contracts are in writing in clear language, and must give a copy to each party when they sign. (Source: NAR)
Standard of Practice 3-2, effective June 5, 2025, prohibits REALTORS® from delaying or withholding delivery of a buyer's offer while they try to negotiate compensation. (Source: NAR)
NAR says REALTORS® must tell potential buyers the amount of broker commissions and who pays them, under the Code of Ethics. (Source: NAR)
Not in this lesson
The agency relationships your state allows, and the duties each one owes: your state guide.
Whether your state's law requires a written buyer agreement, and whether you must tell the listing agent the buyer's agreed compensation: your state guide.
Whether a buyer can pay your compensation through the mortgage: the buyer's lender.
What a clause in a specific buyer agreement or listing agreement means for a Client: your broker or an attorney.
Commission disputes between brokers (mediation, arbitration, procuring cause): your broker and your local REALTOR® association.
Taxes on your income: the lesson "The admin side of your business", and a tax adviser for your own return.
Disclosures and fair housing: the lesson "Disclosures and fair housing".
The steps of a sale and closing: the lesson "How a home sale works, from first contact to closing".
Reddy University
Try it with Reddy
Reddy handles the paperwork side of real estate: deadlines, documents, drafts, and reminders. Ask it something like:
“Explain my buyer agreement to my client in plain English, or in Spanish.”
“Remind me to get the buyer agreement signed before I book the first showing.”
