Guides · Buying
Who pays the buyer's agent in Washington?
It is negotiated, and it is written down. Washington now requires a signed services agreement between you and your broker's firm, and that agreement sets what your broker is paid. A seller can still offer to cover it, and on the Seattle area's Northwest MLS any such offer is public. Either way, it is a term of your deal rather than a background fact you never see.
Why every answer you find says something different#
Search this question and page one disagrees with itself. One result says buyers now pay their own agent. Another says the seller pays for at least their own agent and often the buyer's too. A third says that in almost all Northwest MLS transactions the seller pays the buyer's agent fee.
Part of the confusion is national news read as local. The 2024 national settlement that took compensation offers off most MLSs does not govern Northwest MLS, the listing service for the Seattle area, which declined to join it. And several of the pages that rank are lead-generation platforms, discount brokerages and iBuyers, businesses whose model depends on you believing commission works a particular way.
Here is the actual position in Washington. Where it is genuinely uncertain, I will say so rather than round it off.
What changed in Washington in 2024#
Washington rewrote its real estate agency law with effect from 1 January 2024. A broker's firm now needs a written services agreement with the client it represents before it can be paid by anyone. For a buyer, that agreement has to be signed before, or as soon as reasonably practical after, a broker starts working for you. In practice, most brokers will ask you to sign before the first tour.
So what your broker will do and what they will be paid is now agreed up front, in a document you sign, rather than handled between brokerages out of your sight. Brokers also have to disclose in writing any compensation offered by one side to the firm representing the other.
Sources
- RCW 18.86.080, compensation and the services agreement, Washington State Legislature
- RCW 18.86.120, the real estate brokerage pamphlet, Washington State Legislature
Not sure how this applies to the house you're looking at?
Talk it through before you writeWhat did not change on the Seattle MLS#
Northwest MLS stopped requiring sellers to offer anything to a buyer's broker back in 2019. At the same time it made public any amount a seller does offer. In 2024 it declined to join the national settlement, so on its listings an offer of compensation can still appear, and when there is one, it is not a secret.
Whatever the listing shows, the number that binds anyone is the one written into your purchase agreement. Any compensation the seller offers the buyer's broker is stated on its first page.
And the money comes from the same place it always did, the proceeds at closing. What moved is who agrees to what, and when.
Sources
- NWMLS leads the industry in providing consumers with transparency, choice and options to negotiate (28 May 2024), Northwest Multiple Listing Service
What your buyer agreement has to say#
The law sets out what a written services agreement must contain, so you can check any agreement you are handed against the list:
How long it lasts. The term, with a start and an end. Who your broker is. The broker or brokers appointed to act for you. Whether it is exclusive. An exclusive agreement means you cannot sign with another firm during the term; a non-exclusive one lets you. Whether you consent to limited dual agency, where one firm represents both sides.
The compensation. The amount you agree to pay the firm, whether you consent to that being shared with another firm, and whether you consent to the firm being paid by more than one party. Showings without an offer of compensation. Whether your broker will show you a home where nobody has offered to pay the broker's firm. Anything else the two of you agree.
You should also be given a short pamphlet called Real Estate Brokerage in Washington, which every broker has to provide. It is four pages, and worth the ten minutes.
So what does it mean for you, practically#
If you are buying, your agreement with your broker sets what they are paid. Separately, your offer can ask the seller to cover some or all of it. Frequently they will. If they will not, the difference is yours. Which is exactly why the number belongs in the conversation before you fall in love with a house, not after.
If you are selling, you decide what to offer a buyer's broker, and it is a strategy question rather than an obligation. Offering nothing narrows your buyer pool; offering something widens it. Which is right depends on your price band and how much competition your home will draw.
The unrepresented-buyer misunderstanding is worth naming. Arriving without an agent does not automatically put that money in your pocket. If a seller has agreed a total commission with their listing broker, a buyer with no agent may simply mean the listing side keeps more of it. Whether that is true on a specific property is a fair question to ask in writing.
The questions worth asking, in writing#
Of your own broker, before you sign anything: what am I agreeing to pay you, under what circumstances, for how long, and what happens if the seller covers part of it.
Of the listing side, before you write an offer: is the seller offering to compensate a buyer's broker on this property, and how much.
Of your lender: how does a seller contribution toward my agent's compensation interact with my loan, and does it affect what I can also ask for in closing costs.
All three have plain answers. Anyone reluctant to put them in writing is telling you something.
Common questions#
Do buyers have to pay their own agent now in Washington?
Not automatically. Your written agreement with your broker's firm sets what your broker is paid, and your offer can ask the seller to cover some or all of it. Many sellers still do. What you cannot do any more is assume it without asking.
Is the buyer's agent commission still shown on listings?
On Northwest MLS, it can be. NWMLS did not join the 2024 national settlement, has not required sellers to offer anything since 2019, and makes any amount a seller offers public. Not every home search website shows it, so ask your broker to check the listing itself.
When do I have to sign a buyer agreement in Washington?
Before, or as soon as reasonably practical after, a broker starts working for you, under the agency law in force since 1 January 2024. Most brokers ask for it before the first tour.
What does a Washington buyer agreement have to include?
Its term, the broker appointed, whether it is exclusive, whether you consent to limited dual agency, the compensation terms, and whether your broker will show homes where no one has offered to pay their firm.
Is there a standard commission rate in Washington?
No, and there never was. Commission has always been negotiable and is agreed in writing. Any figure presented to you as standard is a starting position, not a rule.
If I buy without an agent, do I save that money?
Often not. If the seller has already agreed a total commission with their listing brokerage, your arriving unrepresented may mean the listing side keeps more rather than the seller paying less. Ask the specific question on the specific property, in writing.
As a seller, do I have to offer anything to a buyer's agent?
No. It is your decision and a strategy call. If you do offer something, it is public on Northwest MLS and written into the first page of the purchase agreement. Offering nothing reduces the number of buyers who can comfortably transact on your home; offering something widens the pool.
