Who pays the buyer’s agent when you sell a house in Washington?

Why national coverage misses Western Washington

In 2024 the National Association of REALTORS settled a group of lawsuits over agent commissions. For MLSs tied to NAR, one result was that offers of compensation to buyers’ brokers came off the MLS, starting in August 2024. Most national coverage was written from that point of view, and for much of the country it is accurate.

The Northwest Multiple Listing Service, which serves much of Western Washington, including Seattle and Tacoma, isn’t affiliated with NAR. It announced in May 2024 that it would not opt into the settlement, and it kept its field for buyer-broker compensation. On an NWMLS listing a seller can still state an offer to the buyer’s brokerage, and that offer can be any amount, including none.

NWMLS had been moving in this direction for years before the settlement. It stopped requiring sellers to offer buyer-broker compensation in 2019. In 2022 it made the seller the one who sets and pays any such compensation, with the amount shown on the first page of the purchase and sale agreement. So in much of Western Washington, sellers have been making this choice in the open for a while.

NWMLS, Spokane, or RMLS: which MLS your home is listed in matters

A house on Queen Anne and a house in Felida, north of Vancouver, can be sold under different MLS rules. Here is the rough map. Treat it as a starting point: MLS rules change, and a broker can belong to more than one MLS.

Clark County is where the difference is easiest to see. RMLS removed its compensation field, so a house off Mill Plain listed there won’t show an offer in the MLS, and any conversation about it happens between the agents or inside the offer itself. A neighbor listing through an NWMLS broker may have the option of stating one. Your listing agent should be able to tell you which system your house will go into and what that system allows this month.

For Spokane, keep it simple. Ask your listing agent how the local MLS handles compensation right now, and ask them to show you what buyers’ agents actually see on a current listing.

Offering something, offering nothing, or waiting for the offer

Stating an amount up front

An offer in the listing tells every buyer and their broker what to expect before they write. The benefit is predictability. A buyer stretching to cover a down payment and closing costs, a common spot for first-time buyers, doesn’t have to wonder whether they can also pay their own broker in cash. The cost is that you’ve committed to a figure before seeing a single offer.

Offering nothing

You can leave the field at zero, or ask your agent not to offer anything off the MLS. Some sellers like this because it keeps the whole money conversation in one place. The risk is that some buyers skip the house, because their own agreement leaves them owing a fee they can’t add to everything else they need at closing. Others will write offers that ask you to pay it anyway, which puts you back in the same negotiation, just later.

Waiting to see what buyers ask for

The middle path is to say nothing up front and treat any request as one more term, like the closing date or a repair credit. It keeps your options open. It also means offers can arrive in different shapes, so comparing them takes more care.

A move-in-ready Craftsman on a street where buyers line up the first weekend is a different case from a house that needs a roof and has sat since spring. What your listing agent knows about the likely buyers for your house should drive the choice.

How a buyer’s request for their agent’s fee shows up in an offer

When a buyer wants you to pay some or all of their broker’s compensation, it arrives as a term of the offer. On NWMLS forms, what the seller agrees to pay the buyer’s brokerage appears on the first page of the purchase and sale agreement, with the price and the closing date.

Read offers by their net. Picture two offers: one at a higher price that asks you to cover the buyer’s broker, and one somewhat lower that asks for nothing. Either one can leave you with more after closing, depending on the figures. Ask your listing agent to put each offer on an estimated net sheet, and ask escrow to confirm the numbers before you sign anything that locks them in.

A buyer may also ask for a seller credit toward closing costs instead. Whether a credit can be used the way the buyer intends depends on their loan program and lender, so have your agent confirm that with the buyer’s agent before you count on it. For how seller-paid compensation is treated on your taxes, ask your tax professional, and for anything in the contract language itself, a Washington real estate attorney.

It also helps to know what is driving the request. On the buyer’s side, everything starts with their own written agreement, which I explain in do I have to sign a buyer agreement in Washington. A buyer whose agreement leaves them owing their broker a set amount will usually ask for that amount.

Questions to settle with your listing agent before the photos

Most of this can be decided in one sitting at the kitchen table, well before anyone comes out to photograph the porch. A good listing agent will raise it on their own. If yours doesn’t, raise it yourself.

• Which MLS will my house be listed in, and what does it allow for compensation offers right now?
• What does my listing agreement say about buyer-broker compensation, and is any of it built into what I’m paying your firm?
• For houses like mine nearby, what do buyers tend to ask for, and how have you handled it?
• If I offer nothing up front, what will you say when a buyer’s agent calls to ask?
• How will you lay out competing offers so I can compare what I actually net?
• If I change my mind after the first week, how is the offer changed, and who gets told?

If the listing agreement is already signed and the relationship isn’t working, you’re dealing with a different question, and getting out of a listing agreement in Washington walks through it. For the questions people ask most about how an introduction through this site works, including who pays for it, the questions page has short, plain answers.