New regulations effective January 1st 2004 require every agent working as a buyer’s agent should have a written agreement with that buyer. All the agreements we have seen so far since the first of the year provide that the buyer pays his or her agent if the seller does not. This is a major change for the better, in our view -- until now, absurd as it may seem, sellers usually paid for the professional real estate services provided to the buyer.

Back to Our 2004 Real Estate Guide for Sellers