What the New Buyer-Agent Rules Actually Mean If You're Buying in Maryland

Since August 17, 2024, the way buyer agents get paid has changed, and if nobody has explained it to you in plain English, that is a problem I can fix. The rules come out of the NAR settlement, they apply in Maryland, and they change how you and your agent formalize the relationship. Here is exactly what they mean for you.

• Sellers can no longer advertise a buyer-agent commission in the MLS listing. Compensation is now negotiated outside the listing, typically as a seller concession written into the purchase agreement.
• You must sign a written buyer representation agreement with your agent before touring any home, even the first one. It states what your agent's compensation will be and who pays it.
• You may be obligated to pay your agent directly if the seller does not agree to cover it. The seller offering a concession is common in the DMV, but it is no longer guaranteed.
• Agents can no longer filter or steer listings based on commission, which means your search results are about your criteria, not the payout.

First, the good news: you now interview and choose your agent on service and price, with the arrangement in writing, which is a genuinely better system for buyers. In practice across the DMV, most buyers still see the seller cover the buyer agent's fee through a concession, and national data through 2025 showed rates barely moved, typically around 2.5% for homes under $500,000. But because it is now a negotiated line item in your offer, you should understand it before you sign anything.

I put the compensation conversation on the table in the first consultation, in writing, before we tour a single home. You will know exactly what the representation costs, how a seller concession could cover it, and what happens in the scenarios where it does not. No surprises at settlement, because that is the moment my own first purchase went wrong, and it is the moment I refuse to repeat for a client.

“I have sat at a settlement table as a buyer with no one negotiating for me. The new rules make the buyer-agent relationship explicit. I make it a covenant.”

Harry Moore