Buyer representation agreements went from occasional to nearly universal in a single year, because since August 2024 an agent generally needs one signed before touring homes with you. The document runs a few pages, and it is usually presented at the least contract-reading moment of your life: standing in a driveway, excited, with a showing about to start.
It is a real contract, and five of its terms carry almost all of the money.
The five terms
The rate — a percentage, a flat fee, or hourly, sometimes with a minimum that quietly governs at lower price points. The term — how long you are bound; thirty to ninety days is common for a first agreement, and some run a year. The protection period — how long after the agreement ends the brokerage is still owed if you buy a home they showed you. Exclusivity — whether buying anything during the term owes them the fee, including a home you found yourself. And the shortfall clause — who covers the gap when the seller offers less than the agreed rate.
Every one of those is a term of a private contract, which means every one is written by someone and signed by you. Reading them before signing is not adversarial. It is the ordinary care the document assumes you will exercise, from a person the agent is about to spend weeks working for.
If you already signed
Then the useful questions change: what does it say, when does it end, does it renew itself, and what does ending it early require. There is no version of this where relitigating the signature helps — but knowing what you agreed to changes how you use the time the agreement covers, and what you do when it lapses.