Exclusive Right to Represent Buyer Agreement: Garrett Realty Partners
A common buyer brokerage agreement used in VA that those at my firm, Garrett Realty Partners (GRP), used to use is the Virginia Association of Realtors (VAR) Exclusive Right to Represent Buyer Agreement. I found that it wasn't ideal, and my dad (Greg Garrett, CEO of GRP) felt the same way. GRP now has brought back their own exclusive right to represent buyer form as of 2023. Below I'll be sharing the VAR agreement & the GRP agreement. Another option is the VAR Non-Exclusive Right to Represent Buyer form, which goes into more detail than this article on the meaning & content of the form. Since GRP discourages non-exclusive agreements and they are not common at GRP, if someone wishes to sign a non-exclusive agreement, the VAR form is available for use.
(Not used at Garrett Realty Partners as of 2023) Virginia Association of Realtors (VAR) Exclusive Right to Represent Buyer Agreement
Garrett Realty Partners Exclusive Right to Represent Buyer Agreement
Some of the main differences between the following agreement and the above agreement are:
"Dual Agency is not permitted at Garrett Realty Partners unless specifically authorized by the Principal or Managing Broker."
Rather than the agent assigning a number under minimum compensation (I've known some agents to assign as high as 4% here), the form defaults to 2%. It's rare for the seller to not offer as much, but when I checked REIN MLS, the primary MLS of Hampton Roads, a total 2.6% of active listings didn't offer at least 2%, the majority of which were Ryan Homes properties. Off MLS, some for sale by owner properties won't offer anything to the buyer's agent, & that number is higher than 2.6% of those properties, but a % would be much more difficult to determine, while the REIN sampling checked was 3582 properties.
https://www.adambgarrett.com/hours
https://www.adambgarrett.com/post/adam-s-sunday-policy-details
Differences Between GRP Exclusive Right to Represent Buyer Agreement & VAR Non-Exclusive Right to Represent Buyer Agreement
In addition to the differences between the VAR and GRP exclusive agreements, a non-exclusive agreement is one where a buyer may see properties and make offers in many cases independent of their buyer's agent, or where they may work with many different buyer's agents. GRP policies apply for GRP agents whether included in writing in the agreement or not (i.e. the rules on dual agency). If working with Adam, he still includes the greater of $3k or 2% minimum compensation provision. For more details on the VAR Non-Exclusive Right to Represent Buyer agreement, go here.