Should an agent bring a buyer to a for sale by owner, given that the seller has no agent, the house is not on the MLS, and nobody has agreed to pay anyone?<\/p>\n
Yes, when the buyer is real, and the question worth spending the rest of this piece on is what has to be true before the tour. The FSBO script<\/a> tells the agent making the first call to say plainly that they do not have a buyer in their pocket unless they do, and the objections piece<\/a> treats “bring me a buyer” as an opening rather than a brush-off. This piece is about the day the buyer is real: a client you represent, who saw the sign or the ad, who wants to see the house on Maple, and who has asked you to arrange it. That is an ordinary transaction with two unusual features, an unrepresented seller and no listing agreement, and the unusual features are what the paperwork has to cover.<\/p>\n Until August 2024, the assumption behind most FSBO conversations was that a cooperating commission would be offered somewhere and the buyer’s agent would be paid out of it. The practice changes that took effect on August 17, 2024 under the NAR settlement, summarized in NAR’s settlement FAQ<\/a>, removed offers of compensation from the MLS and required MLS participants working with a buyer to have a written agreement with that buyer before touring a home. Compensation can still be negotiated off the MLS, and a seller can still agree to pay a buyer’s representative, but nothing is assumed and nothing is published.<\/p>\n A FSBO was never on the MLS, so the first change does not touch it directly. The second one does. An MLS participant with a buyer who wants to see a FSBO is working with a buyer and about to tour a home, and the written agreement has to exist first. That agreement also caps what the agent can be paid from any source, which shapes the conversation with the seller before it starts. It changes the order of events, too. Under the old assumption the agent showed the house and sorted out the fee at the offer; under the current rules the fee is settled with the buyer before the showing and raised with the seller before the door opens. The seller, who has read that commissions changed without understanding how, usually appreciates being told the order plainly.<\/p>\n The buyer agreement.<\/strong> Signed before the tour, per the settlement rules and, in many states, per license law that got there first. It says what the agent will be paid and by whom if the buyer buys, and it is the document that lets the agent tell the seller a true sentence about compensation: “My buyer and I have an agreement that covers my fee. I’m going to ask whether you’re willing to pay some or all of it, and if you’re not, that’s between me and my buyer.” An agent who shows a FSBO to a buyer without this document has broken a rule the agent’s own MLS enforces and has no honest answer when the seller asks who is paying them.<\/p>\n The compensation agreement with the seller, if there is one.<\/strong> A FSBO who says “I’ll pay two percent to a buyer’s agent” has made an offer, and an offer to an agent is worth exactly what is written down. Before the showing, not after, a short written agreement between the seller and the buyer’s brokerage stating what the seller will pay, on what condition, and at closing. Most brokerages have a form for this now; if yours does not, the broker writes one. Without it, the two percent becomes a negotiation at the closing table between a seller who has changed their mind and a buyer who thought it was handled.<\/p>\n The agency disclosure.<\/strong> State law generally requires a licensee to disclose whom they represent, in writing, at first substantive contact, and the FSBO seller needs to hear it in plain words as well: you represent the buyer, you owe the seller honesty and fair dealing, and you do not owe them advice. Many states have a specific form for a party who is not represented, and where one exists the seller signs it. A seller who later feels they were steered has a claim only if nobody told them who was on whose side, and the form is how you prove you did.<\/p>\n The appointment plan.<\/strong> The safety protocol<\/a> for a FSBO appointment applies with a buyer along, and adds a line: the buyer knows the seller is unrepresented and knows not to negotiate in the kitchen. Everything the buyer says to the seller in the house is a statement the seller will remember at the offer stage.<\/p>\nWhat changed in 2024<\/h2>\n
The four things in writing<\/h2>\n