Do I have to sign a buyer agreement in Washington?

What Washington’s agency law changed in 2024

Before 2024, a Washington buyer could spend a month of Saturdays touring houses in Ballard or Kirkland with an agent and never sign anything. The agency relationship existed by law from the moment the broker started helping, but its terms lived mostly in conversation, including how long it lasted and what the broker expected to be paid.

The change came from a 2023 amendment to the state’s agency statute, RCW 18.86.020. The timing in the law is loose on purpose: “before, or as soon as reasonably practical after” the broker starts working for you. In practice the agreement tends to appear just before your first private showing, or just after it.

The requirement attaches when a broker actually starts working on your behalf. Signing the guest sheet at a Sunday open house doesn’t make the listing agent your agent, and a phone call to ask an agent about neighborhoods doesn’t commit you to anyone. The statute also carves out one group entirely: a buyer’s agent working solely on commercial real estate doesn’t need the agreement.

Brokers are also required to give you a short pamphlet on Washington agency law. Read it before the agreement. It explains, in plain terms, the vocabulary the form is about to use.

If you’d rather not sign anything yet

You can still look. Open houses are open to anyone, and many listing agents will show a house to a buyer who comes without an agent. What you give up is representation: nobody on your side is advising you on price or on the inspection, and the person showing you around works for the seller.

For a buyer early in the search, that can be a reasonable way to spend a few weekends. Once you’re ready to write offers, most people want someone in their corner, and that is the point where the agreement becomes part of the deal.

What every buyer agreement has to spell out

RCW 18.86.020 lists five required terms, and a companion section, RCW 18.86.080, adds compensation: a firm can’t be paid without a services agreement that states it. The standard forms give each item its own paragraph or checkbox, so the document is easier to read than people expect.

Nothing on that list is exotic. What changes from one agreement to the next is how the blanks are filled in, and that is where your attention belongs.

Exclusive or nonexclusive: which box should you check?

An exclusive agreement means that for the length of the term, this firm is your brokerage. You don’t sign on with a second agent to see houses on the side. In return, the broker has good reason to treat your search as a real commitment: previewing houses you can’t get to, or clearing an evening when something in Wallingford goes live on a Thursday.

A nonexclusive agreement leaves you free to work with other brokers at the same time. That suits some situations well. A buyer weighing a job in Spokane against staying in Pierce County might reasonably want one agent in Spokane and another in Puyallup, since nobody works both well. A buyer comparing Vancouver with a move across the river into Oregon needs an agent licensed in Oregon for that half of the search.

The tradeoff shows up in two places. First, read what a nonexclusive agreement says about compensation if you buy through a different broker, or buy a house this broker showed you. Second, be realistic about effort. Some brokers will simply invest less in a buyer who has told them, in writing, that they may be one of several.

If you’ve met the agent, you like how they think, and they plainly know the area you’re searching, exclusive is usually the cleaner arrangement. If you aren’t there yet, spend another conversation or two finding the right person before the first showing, and keep the term at the default.

The 60-day default, and ending an agreement early

For buyers, the law sets a default term of 60 days. You and the broker can agree to a longer term, and some buyers do, especially when the search is tied to a school year or to a house that has to sell first.

Sixty days passes quickly in a slow search. If the agreement runs out and you’re happy, you sign an extension. If you’re not, you let it lapse. That built-in end date is one of the quieter protections in the law.

Ending it sooner is governed by the agreement itself. Find the termination paragraph and read it for three things: whether either side can end the agreement with written notice, how much notice is needed, and whether anything is still owed if you later buy a house you saw while the agreement was in effect.

That last point deserves the most care. Agreements often keep the broker’s compensation in play for a property you were shown or introduced to during the term, even when you close after it ends. If you’re leaving one agent to start with another, ask for a written release that says what, if anything, is still owed.

Where your agent’s pay is written down

The compensation section is the part people skim, and it deserves the slowest read. It states what the broker will be paid, whether that is a percentage of the price or a flat fee, and who is expected to pay it.

A common structure makes the buyer responsible for the broker’s compensation while counting anything paid by the seller or the listing firm toward it. In many purchases that means the buyer pays little or nothing out of pocket, because the seller has offered to cover it or agrees to in the offer. It can also mean the buyer owes the difference when the seller offers less than the agreement calls for.

One more line is easy to miss. The law requires a buyer agreement to say whether the broker will show you houses where no one has agreed or offered to pay the broker. If the answer is no, a seller’s choice about compensation can quietly narrow your search, so ask about it.

All of this is negotiable. The time to negotiate it is before you sign, while nothing is riding on the answer. The seller’s side of the same question depends a good deal on which MLS the house is listed in, which I’ve covered in who pays the buyer’s agent when you sell in Washington.

What to read twice before you sign

• The broker’s name. Make sure it is the person you’ve actually been talking with, and ask who covers for them when they’re away.
• The end date. If the form says 60 days, write the calendar date in the margin.
• Which box is checked: exclusive or nonexclusive.
• The two dual agency consents. You can agree to either, both, or neither. If the idea is new to you, start with how limited dual agency works in Washington before you decide.
• The compensation amount, how it is calculated, and what happens if the seller pays less.
• The termination language, including anything that survives after the agreement ends.
• Any blank space. Ask that every blank be filled in or crossed out before you sign.

Then ask the broker to walk you through it. A good agent expects the questions. If a clause still doesn’t make sense, or the agreement carries unusual terms, a Washington real estate attorney can review it before you commit.

When I introduce a buyer to an agent, this agreement usually comes up at their first meeting. It is one reason the way a match works here leaves room for a real conversation with the agent before anyone asks you to sign.