Should you sign a buyer’s agent agreement?

Find out if a contract between you and a buyer’s agent is the right choice for you in your home-buying process.

When you’re buying a house, you may decide to hire a buyer’s agent to help you find the perfect home and assist you with putting in a winning offer. Depending on your state or agent, you may be asked to sign a buyer-broker contract or buyer’s agent agreement, a type of real estate contract that says you agree to only work with this buyer's agent in the process of finding your new home. So, should you sign a contract with a realtor to buy your new home?

Top 3 things to consider before signing a buyer’s agent agreement.

Signing a contract with a buyer's agent is a big commitment. You agree to work exclusively with this agent and pay them a fee when you close on your new home. Before you sign, you'll want to think carefully about what you want your home-buying process to look like, and whether or not this is the perfect agent to guide you through that process.

Here are the three most important things to consider before signing:

1. Is a buyer-broker contract required in my state? If your state requires it, you’ll have to sign one.
2. Is this contract exclusive or non-exclusive? Depending on the agent, they may offer an exclusive contract, which means you can only work with this agent in your home-buying journey, or a non-exclusive agreement, which limits the scope of your obligation to only specific properties or a certain area.
3. Do I want a consistent representative, or do I want freedom of choice? Consider whether you’re willing to trade the flexibility of using different agents for the consistency of having one on contract.

Once you’ve decided on whether to sign a buyer’s agent agreement, the rest is easy. You can quickly and securely sign digital contracts and documents using Acrobat Pro with e-sign and get back to finding your dream home.