If you're buying a home in California, your agent will ask you to sign a Buyer Representation and Broker Compensation Agreement — the BRBC. It's a California Association of Realtors form, and as of 2024 it's required before an agent can show you homes.
Watch the walkthrough below, then use this post as your reference.
https://youtu.be/0N4M05cAVaM
The agreement does two things:
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Confirms we owe you a fiduciary duty — the same standard of care a doctor or attorney owes their client. We act in your best interest, full stop.
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Makes our compensation transparent so there are no surprises later.
Here's what's actually in it.
Representation Period
The form says 90 days maximum. In practice, that means 90 days at a time. If you haven't found the right home by then, we sign a quick modification and keep going. It's not a deadline on the relationship - it's a checkpoint.
Type of Representation
We only do exclusive representation. That means:
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You don't walk into a new construction sales office without us. (When you do, the builder's rep represents the builder - not you.)
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You don't write an offer at an open house with the listing agent. They already represent the seller.
Exclusive representation is how we protect your interests through the entire search.
Property Type & Locations
Because Southern California zoning is what it is, we usually leave property type blank unless you've already identified a specific home.
For locations, we typically include all the counties we cover — LA, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego. Buyers move targets. Someone starts in Corona, ends up in La Mirada (which straddles LA and Orange County), and we don't want paperwork to slow that down. If you'd rather keep it narrow, just tell us.
Compensation — The Part That Matters Most
Two things to know.
The rate. The form lists a percentage — often 3%. That's a ceiling, not what we get paid. The actual number lives in the "other terms" section, and ours reads:
If the seller is compensating 2% or less, the compensation will be lowered to 2%.
So the practical range is 2% to 3%, depending on what the seller is offering. Two percent is the baseline — pretty standard across Orange County. LA County tends to run a little higher.
How it plays out in an offer. When we submit an offer, we ask the listing agent what compensation the seller is offering. They tell us, we write it into the offer, and your signature follows.
If the seller pushes back during negotiation and says they'll only pay 1.5%, we counter and explain that our offer included 2% to the buyer's agent - please factor it in. In rare cases buyers choose to cover the gap to win a home - but typically, the seller will pay the minimum compensation.
Continuation Period
After the agreement ends, homes we showed you during the term are still considered "ours" for an additional 90 days. This stops a listing agent from telling you to wait out your contract and come back to double-end the deal. It's a protection mechanism - It's wildly uncommon to actually have to use it.
The Advisories
The rest of the BRBC packet is advisories and disclosures — nothing we can edit.
They cover:
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Agent fiduciary duties
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Fair housing and anti-discrimination law
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Buyer transactional advisory
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Possible representation of more than one buyer, or both buyer and seller
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Compensation advisory (it's negotiable, and the seller is typically the one paying)
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The recommendation to always get a home inspection
These come in the same signing package and exist to make sure you have the full picture before we start writing offers.
If you have questions before you sign, ask them. That's the whole point of the document.
Ready to start your search?
Schedule a buyer consultation or reach out at [email protected].