What a buyer-broker agreement sets,
and what keeps running after it ends.

A buyer-broker agreement is the written agreement you sign with a brokerage before it goes to work for you. On the form our office uses, the first page sets what it covers and how long: the kinds of property, which the form lists as residential, commercial, land or other; the geographic area; the date it starts, which is the day the last party signs it; and the date it ends, though it runs past that date if a transaction is already in progress. Anything the brokerage tours with you or introduces you to inside that area is what the rest of the agreement is about.

It also says, on its face, what the agent may act as. There is a box for exclusive or non-exclusive, and then a choice between buyer's agent only, buyer's agent who may act as a disclosed dual agent if the situation arises, and buyer's agent who may act as a designated agent. Those are different relationships, and the form has you choose among them in writing. You also sign an acknowledgment that you received the Consumer Information Statement on New Jersey Real Estate Relationships.

The fee section is where most of the substance sits. The broker fee is owed for the work beyond simply finding you properties: touring and analyzing them, preparing and negotiating a contract, working with the seller's agent, and whatever else you ask for. If the brokerage does nothing but locate and present properties for your consideration, the form says no fee is required. The fee itself is written in as either a percentage of the purchase price shown on the final settlement statement or an exact dollar figure, it is due at closing, and the form states plainly that it is fully negotiable and can be changed at any time with everyone's written consent.

Worth knowing about that fee before you sign: it can be covered by the seller, because you can have the request for a seller credit written into your offer, or authorize the brokerage to ask that the seller pay it directly under a separate agreement with them. Whatever the seller pays comes off what you pay, and the brokerage does not keep more than the number in your agreement either way. It also does not simply stop when the agreement does. If you go under contract on a property the brokerage toured or introduced you to during the term, within the number of days written into the blank after it ends or is cancelled, the fee is still paid at closing. The brokerage owes you the list of which properties those are within ten days of the agreement ending.

What to ask, and who answers it. Your agent can tell you what goes in the term, the area and the tail blanks, and what the fee is and when it is owed, before the first showing rather than after it. Your lender can tell you how a seller credit toward the fee interacts with your loan. And what any clause in your own signed agreement means for you is a question for a licensed New Jersey attorney; the form itself says to get legal advice before signing if the terms are not clear.