Who pays the buyer's agent in Washington?

4 min read · 6 sections

It is negotiated, and it is agreed in writing before you tour anything. In practice, sellers in this market still frequently cover it — but you can no longer assume that, and it is now 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 and sellers no longer cover both sides. Another says the seller pays for at least their own agent and often the buyer's too. A third says that in almost all NWMLS transactions the seller pays the buyer's agent fee. Google has also been serving a property site from Singapore in the related questions.

Those cannot all be true, and the confusion is not accidental. Several of the pages ranking 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, and where it is genuinely uncertain I will say so rather than round it off.

What changed in 2024#

Two things, both real.

Buyer agency agreements became required in writing before a broker tours homes with you. What your agent will do and what they will be paid is now agreed up front, in a document you sign, rather than being handled invisibly between brokerages.

And offers of buyer-agent compensation were removed from the MLS. A listing can no longer advertise what, if anything, the seller will pay a buyer's broker. That information still exists — it is simply no longer published in the listing, so it has to be asked for.

What did not change#

Sellers can still pay the buyer's agent, and in this market many still do. What changed is that it is negotiated per transaction rather than advertised in advance.

The total commission a seller pays was always negotiable, and still is. It was never a fixed rate and there was never a standard percentage, whatever you may have been told.

And the money still comes from the same place it always did — the sale proceeds at closing. What moved is who agrees to what, and when.

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 retains 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, 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#