Do You Have to Sign a Buyer Agreement Before Touring Homes in Davis County?

Do you have to sign a buyer agreement before an agent tours homes with you in Davis County? Yes. If you want an agent to open doors and walk you through homes in Layton, Kaysville, Farmington or anywhere else in the county, you will be asked to sign a written buyer agreement first. That has been the standard practice since August 2024.

Charisse Walker is a real estate agent with Chalker Properties Group in Salt Lake and Davis County, Utah, and a licensed mortgage lender. She walks buyers through this agreement at the start of every search, because it is the first contract you sign in the whole process and most people have never seen one.

The good news is that the agreement is not a trap. It is a short document that says who represents you, for how long, in what area, and how the agent gets paid. Every one of those terms can be discussed before you sign.

In August 2024, national practice changes for real estate agents took effect. One of them says an agent working with a buyer needs a written agreement in place before touring a home with that buyer. Another removed offers of buyer agent pay from the MLS listing data.

The goal was transparency. Before the change, many buyers never knew how their agent was paid or how much. Now that conversation happens up front, in writing, before you step inside a single house.

Utah agents already used a written buyer brokerage agreement for years, so the form itself is not new here. What changed is the timing. It now comes before the first showing, not after you find the house you want.

The details vary by agent and brokerage, but most agreements cover the same few things. Read each one before you sign.

• The term. A start date and an end date. It can be a few days, a weekend, or several months.
• The area or property type. Some agreements cover all of Davis County. Some cover one city or one specific home.
• Exclusive or not. An exclusive agreement means this agent represents you for the term. A non-exclusive one leaves room to work with others.
• Compensation. The amount or percentage the agent is paid, and how. This number is negotiable. No law sets it.
• Who pays. You can ask the seller to cover your agent's pay as part of your offer. If the seller says no, the agreement spells out what you owe.
• How to end it. What happens if the relationship is not working.

If any line is unclear, ask the agent to explain it in plain words. If they cannot, that tells you something.

It depends on the deal. Sellers can still offer to pay a buyer's agent, and many do. Buyers can also write a request into the offer asking the seller to pay their agent's fee or give a credit toward it.

What changed is that you will know the amount ahead of time, and you agree to it in writing. If the seller pays all of it, you pay nothing out of pocket for representation. If the seller pays part, the agreement says how the gap is handled.

This matters most for first-time buyers working with a tight cash budget. Talk about it before you start touring, so a fee never surprises you at the closing table. The first-time buyer page covers how cash to close fits together.

1. Interview the agent first. Ask how they will help you in Davis County, how often they will update you, and how they handle offers when homes get multiple bids.
2. Ask for the agreement before the tour day. Read it at home, not on the hood of a car outside a listing.
3. Pick the right length. If you are still deciding, ask for a short term. You can extend it once you trust the fit.
4. Set the area. If you are only looking in Syracuse and Layton, the agreement can say so.
5. Talk through pay in dollars. Ask the agent to show you what the fee looks like on a home at your price, and how it changes if the seller covers it.
6. Know how to exit. Make sure you understand the cancellation terms before you need them.
7. Keep a copy. You will want it when you write an offer.

The full order of a purchase, from first call to keys, is laid out on the process page.

Signing without reading. It is a contract. Treat it like one.

Signing a long exclusive term with an agent you met yesterday. Start short. Extend once you know them.

Assuming the seller will always pay. Many will. Some will not, and a home that has sat on the market may be easier to negotiate than a new listing with heavy interest.

Touring with several agents at once. If you sign exclusive agreements with two agents for the same area, you may owe both. Pick one.

Skipping the agreement by calling the listing agent. The listing agent works for the seller. You can still buy that way, but nobody in the deal is there to protect your side.

Charisse Walker is a real estate agent with Chalker Properties Group in Salt Lake and Davis County, Utah, and a licensed mortgage lender. She sees the last mistake most often with buyers who find a home online, call the number on the sign, and only later learn who that agent represents.

Here is a typical example, not a specific client. A couple is relocating from out of state for a job near Hill Air Force Base. They have one weekend in Utah to look at homes in Kaysville and Layton.

Before the trip, they sign a short buyer agreement that covers that weekend and those two cities. They agree on the fee, and they agree that every offer will ask the seller to cover it. If they love the agent after the trip, they extend the agreement. If not, it ends on its own.

On Saturday they tour eight homes. On Sunday they write an offer on one of them. The offer asks the seller to pay their agent's fee, and the seller agrees. They paid nothing extra for representation, and they knew the numbers before they ever got on the plane.

If you are moving in from out of state, the relocation page covers how to plan a short buying trip.

Can I go to an open house without signing anything?

Can you walk into an open house in Davis County without a buyer agreement? Yes. Walking into a public open house on your own does not require one. The agreement comes in when an agent works with you as your representative.

Can I cancel a buyer agreement?

Can you get out of a buyer agreement? Usually, yes. The agreement itself says how. Read that section before you sign.

Is the agent's fee set by law?

Is buyer agent pay set by the state? No. It is negotiable between you and your agent.

Do I need an agreement to view one house?

Do you need an agreement to see a single home? An agent still needs one before touring with you, but it can be written for that one property.

Does a buyer agreement cost money to sign?

Do you pay anything to sign a buyer agreement? Signing it costs nothing. Any fee is paid at closing, and only according to the terms you agreed to.

Charisse Walker is a real estate agent with Chalker Properties Group in Salt Lake and Davis County, Utah, and a licensed mortgage lender. She goes over the buyer agreement line by line before you tour a single home, and she shows you the fee in dollars at your price range so nothing is a surprise.

Her approach starts with your goals: where you need to be, what you can comfortably pay each month, and what you are willing to trade. From there the search gets focused fast.

The buying a home page covers what to expect from search to closing.

Ready to look at homes in Davis County? Contact Charisse to set up a short strategy call and go over the agreement before your first tour.