Heavily touted throughout the industry as the wave of the future, a buyer s brokerage is a contractual agreement that ties a homebuyer to a specific real estate agent. A buyer s brokerage is an ironclad contractual agreement. If a buyer should find a For Sale By Owner who refuses to cooperate with Realtors, the buyer would still owe a fee to the agent they purchased that home.
Many brokers implement buyer broker agreements more to protect themselves than to protect the buyer.
You see, an agent invests a lot of time and effort behind the scenes, reviewing Multiple Listing Service data and previewing homes before they show them to clients. There is also the time and money spent driving prospective homebuyers to the various homes. Switching Agents At any time, the client could turn around and buy from a For Sale By Owner or utilize the services of another agent they meet at an Open House or by calling on an ad. If a buyer switches allegiances at the last moment, the agent s investment in time and money is lost. That is why many agents prefer their clients to sign buyer brokerage agreements.