Does an exclusive right to sell listing pay if the owner finds the buyer?

Yes. Under an exclusive right to sell, the broker is paid no matter who finds the buyer.

Do I need a written agreement before touring a home with an agent?

Yes, under NAR policy if an MLS participant is working with you as a buyer before an in-person or live virtual tour. A listing agent simply giving an unrepresented buyer access, or a buyer visiting an open house alone, does not trigger that policy. New Jersey brokerage-services agreement law also applies.

Can a seller still pay the buyer's agent after the NAR settlement?

Yes. Offers of compensation can no longer appear on the MLS, but sellers can still offer them off the MLS, and all fees remain fully negotiable.

Under an exclusive agency listing, the broker is NOT paid when:

The owner sells it without any broker's help

The listing broker finds the buyer

A cooperating agent shows the home

Under the NAR settlement practice changes in effect since August 17, 2024, what must an MLS participant working with a buyer have before touring a home with that buyer?

A written agreement with the buyer

A listing agent shows a home to an unrepresented buyer, who asks whether the basement floods. The agent knows it does. The agent should:

Disclose the flooding, because honesty is owed to customers too

Stay silent, because the buyer is only a customer

Refuse to answer until the seller gives permission

Tell the buyer to ask the home inspector

An owner gives open listings to Brokers A, B and C. Broker B's buyer purchases the home. Who earns a commission?

Only Broker B, who produced the buyer

All three brokers split it equally

The first broker to sign the listing

No broker, because open listings never pay

A seller tells the listing agent not to show the home to families with children. The agent should:

Refuse, because the duty of obedience covers only lawful instructions

Follow the instruction, because obedience is a fiduciary duty

Follow the instruction only if the seller puts it in writing

Show the home but quietly discourage families from making offers

Three months into a six-month exclusive right to sell listing, the seller tells the broker the listing is canceled. Which statement is most accurate?

The agency ends, but the seller may be liable to the broker for breach of contract

The seller cannot end the agency until the listing expires

The agency ends, and the seller owes nothing because no buyer was found

The agency continues until the broker agrees in writing to end it

A listing expired last month without a sale. The former seller had told the listing agent he must sell quickly because of a job transfer. Now a buyer client of the agent wants to make an offer on that home. The agent:

Must keep the job transfer confidential, even though the listing has ended

May share the job transfer, because the listing has ended

Must share the job transfer, because the buyer is now the client

May share the job transfer only if the buyer signs a confidentiality agreement

A buyer signs a buyer agency agreement. At closing, the buyer's agent is paid from the seller's proceeds under the purchase contract. The buyer's agent represented:

The buyer, because compensation does not determine agency

The seller, because the seller paid the commission

Both parties, because the buyer hired and the seller paid

Neither party, because the agent acted as a facilitator

A cooperating broker agrees to work as a subagent of the listing broker to help sell a home. The cooperating broker owes fiduciary duties to:

The buyer the cooperating broker is showing

No one, because subagents are nonagents

A listing agent makes four statements at an open house. Which one is a misrepresentation rather than puffing?

"The roof was replaced last year," when the agent knows it is 15 years old

"This is the prettiest street in town."

"You will love cooking in this kitchen."

"This home has a wonderful feel to it."

Which is the best example of a latent defect?

A foundation crack covered by newly finished basement drywall

A large crack in the front sidewalk

Peeling paint on the exterior trim

A broken window pane in the garage

A broker deposits a buyer's earnest money into the brokerage's operating account, intending to move it to escrow later. None of it has been spent. The broker has:

Commingled client funds, breaching the duty of accounting

Done nothing wrong, since no funds were spent

A buyer's agent finds in public records that the seller of a home the buyer likes is facing foreclosure. The agent should:

Tell the buyer, because it is material to the buyer's negotiating position

Keep it quiet, because it is the seller's private business

Tell the buyer only if the listing agent agrees

Tell the seller first that the buyer's agent knows

With both parties' informed written consent, a licensee acts as a disclosed dual agent. Which action is NOT permitted?

Telling the seller that the buyer would pay more than the current offer

Presenting each party's offers and counteroffers

Sharing known material defects in the property with the buyer

Helping both parties complete the contract paperwork

A buyer's agent is negotiating for a buyer client on a home listed at $400,000. Which action fits the agent's role?

Showing the buyer comparable sales that support an offer below list

Telling the buyer to offer full price to protect the listing agent's commission

Telling the listing agent how high the buyer is willing to go

Refusing to point out the home's drawbacks so the sale closes

An unrepresented buyer at a listing agent's showing asks several questions. As the seller's agent, which may the listing agent properly do for this buyer?

Answer factual questions about the property honestly

Advise the buyer on how much to offer

Reveal why the seller is moving, to help the buyer

Suggest the lowest price the seller is likely to accept

An owner signs an exclusive agency listing with Broker A. During the term, the owner sells the home to a neighbor the owner found without any broker's help. Who is owed a commission?

No one, because the owner found the buyer

Broker A, because the listing was exclusive

Broker A, but only half the agreed rate

Any broker who advertised the home

Dana is the listing salesperson for a seller. An unrepresented buyer asks Dana how low the seller will go. The seller has told Dana privately they would accept $400,000 on a $425,000 list price. What should Dana do?

Keep the seller's bottom line confidential while answering the buyer honestly about the property.

Tell the buyer the seller will take $400,000, because the buyer asked a direct question.

Tell the buyer the seller will not accept anything below the list price.

Disclose the $400,000 figure, because working with an unrepresented buyer makes Dana a dual agent.

Agency relationships

Who the agent works for, fiduciary duties, listing types and how agency ends.

PSI national outline: 13% of national content6 min read32-question check

Agency in one paragraph

A client is the person the agent represents and owes fiduciary duties to. A customer is the other party, owed honesty and fair dealing but not advocacy. Confidential information, like a seller's lowest price, stays confidential.

Client vs customer

Client vs customer
	Client	Customer
Who it is	The party the agent represents	The other party in the deal
Duties owed	Full fiduciary duties: obedience, loyalty, disclosure, confidentiality, accounting, reasonable care	Honesty, fair dealing and disclosure of known material facts
Advocacy	The agent negotiates and advises for them	No advocacy. Share facts, not strategy
Example for a listing agent	The seller	An unrepresented buyer at a showing

Agency: 4 rules to memorize

OLDCAR.

Obedience, loyalty, disclosure, confidentiality, accounting and reasonable care.

Clients get advocacy, customers get honesty.

Know who you represent.

Exclusive right to sell always pays.

Even if the owner finds the buyer.

Agency can end automatically.

Death, destruction of the property, completion or expiration.

Agency, explained

Listing types matter. An exclusive right to sell pays the broker no matter who finds the buyer. An exclusive agency does not pay if the owner sells it themselves. An open listing pays only the broker who brings the buyer. Net listings are illegal in New Jersey.

Practice has shifted nationally too. Since August 17, 2024, under the practice changes from the NAR settlement, MLS participants working with a buyer need a written agreement before touring a home, and offers of compensation no longer appear on the MLS. New Jersey's 2024 law goes further and requires a written brokerage services agreement in residential deals.

Know the three kinds of agent. A universal agent can act for the principal in all matters. A general agent handles a range of matters, like a property manager. A listing agent is usually a special agent, hired for one task: finding a buyer for one property. Agency can be express, created by a written or spoken agreement, or implied by how the parties act.

Customers are not fair game. You do not advocate for the other party, but you owe them honesty and fair dealing. New Jersey rules require licensees to disclose material information about a property's physical condition that they know or would have learned with reasonable effort, no matter who they represent.

The details of the August 17, 2024 practice changes are testable. The written buyer agreement must state the agent's compensation as a specific amount or rate, cannot be open-ended, must bar the agent from getting more than agreed, and must say that fees are fully negotiable and not set by law. It applies to in-person and live virtual tours, but not to simply talking with an agent at an open house. Sellers can still offer buyer agent compensation, just not through the MLS.

NJ vs national: On the state side, New Jersey adds the Consumer Information Statement and transaction brokerage. See the NJ agency topic.

How the exam tries to trip you up

The owner finds the buyer. Under an exclusive right to sell the broker still gets paid. Under an exclusive agency the broker does not. Read the listing type twice.
A question says the agent can stay quiet about a known roof leak because the buyer is only a customer. Wrong. Customers are owed honesty, and known material defects get disclosed.
The NAR settlement did not set or eliminate commissions. Fees remain fully negotiable, and sellers can still offer buyer agent compensation off the MLS. What changed is no compensation offers in the MLS and a written agreement before touring.
A listing agent is a special agent, not a general agent. A property manager running a building is the classic general agent.

Agency practice questions

1 of 32

A licensee represents both buyer and seller in one transaction with informed written consent. This is:

Agency flashcards

0 of 7 known

Keyboard: Space to flip · ← → to move · 1 still learning · 2 got it

All 7 terms at a glanceShow

Fiduciary: A person in a position of trust who must put the client's interests first.
Exclusive agency: Broker is paid unless the owner sells it themselves.
Open listing: Only the broker who produces the buyer is paid.
Special agent: An agent authorized for one specific task, like a listing broker hired to sell one property.
General agent: An agent authorized to handle a range of matters for the principal, like a property manager.
Exclusive right to sell: Listing that pays the broker no matter who finds the buyer during the listing term.
Written buyer agreement: Since August 17, 2024, required before an MLS participant working with a buyer tours a home with that buyer, with compensation stated specifically.

Agency: common questions

Obedience, loyalty, disclosure, confidentiality, accounting and reasonable care, often remembered as OLDCAR.

Agency relationships

Client vs customer

Agency: 4 rules to memorize

Agency, explained

How the exam tries to trip you up

Agency practice questions

Agency flashcards

Agency: common questions

Sources and further reading

Agency relationships

Client vs customer

Agency: 4 rules to memorize

Agency, explained

How the exam tries to trip you up

Agency practice questions

Agency flashcards

Agency: common questions

Sources and further reading

Client vs customer

Agency: 4 rules to memorize

Agency, explained

How the exam tries to trip you up

Agency practice questions

Agency flashcards

Agency: common questions

What are an agent's fiduciary duties?

What is the difference between a client and a customer?

Does an exclusive right to sell listing pay if the owner finds the buyer?

Do I need a written agreement before touring a home with an agent?

Can a seller still pay the buyer's agent after the NAR settlement?

Sources and further reading

Client vs customer

Agency: 4 rules to memorize

Agency, explained

How the exam tries to trip you up

Agency practice questions

Agency flashcards

Agency: common questions

What are an agent's fiduciary duties?

What is the difference between a client and a customer?

Does an exclusive right to sell listing pay if the owner finds the buyer?

Do I need a written agreement before touring a home with an agent?

Can a seller still pay the buyer's agent after the NAR settlement?

Sources and further reading