The way buyer agent compensation works in the US changed, and one practical consequence lands squarely on your website: buyers now generally sign a written representation agreement before touring homes, and they arrive at that conversation with questions nobody used to ask.
Most agent websites have not caught up. They still describe representation as free to the buyer, or say nothing at all, which is worse.
The questions buyers are now typing into Google
Search behaviour shifted quickly. People want to know who pays their agent, what they are signing before a tour, whether the fee is negotiable, and what happens if they sign with one agent and buy through another.
These are high-intent searches from people about to choose an agent. They are also questions your competitors are largely ignoring, because explaining commission feels uncomfortable.
That discomfort is the opportunity. The agent whose site answers plainly gets the call.
Write the page you are avoiding
One page, clearly written, covering what a buyer representation agreement is, what it commits the buyer to, how long it runs, how your compensation is determined and who might pay it, and what happens at closing.
Three principles make it work.
Say the number, or say how it is set. If you have a standard rate, publish it. If it varies, explain what it varies with. "Negotiable" on its own reads as evasive.
Explain that it may be paid by different parties. Buyers are confused about this, and the confusion is the source of most of the anxiety.
Say what the buyer gets. If someone is signing an agreement and potentially paying you directly, the value has to be legible. What do you do that a listing portal does not.
Fix your old copy first
Before writing anything new, search your own site for the phrase "free" near "buyer" and for anything saying the seller always pays the buyer's agent. That language is now inaccurate on a lot of sites and it is the sort of thing that reads badly if challenged.
Check your FAQ pages and old blog posts especially. They are where stale claims survive longest, because nobody revisits them.
Make it easy to actually sign
An agreement before touring adds friction at the worst possible moment, when interest is high and attention is short.
Publish the blank agreement so a buyer can read it before they are asked to sign. Explain what a tour-only or limited agreement is if you offer one. Use electronic signature that works properly on a phone, because that is where it will be signed, often in a car outside the first property.
A buyer who has read the document in advance signs without hesitation. A buyer meeting it for the first time on a doorstep hesitates, and hesitation loses tours.
Common questions
Should I publish my commission rate on my website?
If you have a standard rate, publishing it saves everyone time and reads as confident. If it genuinely varies, explain the variables rather than leaving the page silent. Silence is read as something to hide.
What if my broker has rules about how this is described?
Follow them, and get the page reviewed before publishing. Brokerage policy and state requirements differ, and this is one of the few website pages worth having checked.
Is a commission explainer page going to scare buyers off?
It filters people who were never going to sign, and it reassures the ones who were. The ones you lose were going to ask the question on a call anyway and leave then instead.
Do I need to explain this for sellers too?
Yes, separately. Sellers now have different decisions about what, if anything, they offer, and a clear page for them is just as useful.
How often should this page be reviewed?
At least annually, and whenever your brokerage updates its forms. It is the page most likely to quietly become wrong.
If your site still describes the old arrangement
Plenty do. Send us your site and we will point out the pages making claims that no longer hold, which is usually the FAQ and something written three years ago.
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