What Alabama's New Buyer Agreement Rules Mean When You Tour a Lake Wedowee Home

If you have looked at a house anywhere in the country in the last two years, you may have been asked to sign something before an agent would open the door. Buyers ask us about this on almost every first phone call now. Do I have to sign a contract just to see a lake house? What does it commit me to? What does it cost?

The rules changed twice in a short period, once nationally and once in Alabama, and the Alabama rules are not the same as what you may have read online. This article explains what you will be handed when you tour a home with us on Lake Wedowee, what you will not be asked to sign until later, and how to read a buyer agreement when the time comes. It is information, not legal advice. Ask us anything, and for legal questions talk to an attorney.

First, the national change in August 2024

In 2024 the National Association of Realtors settled a series of lawsuits over how buyer agents were paid. The practice changes that came out of that settlement took effect August 17, 2024. Two of them matter to you as a buyer.

First, listing brokers can no longer publish an offer of buyer-agent compensation on the multiple listing service. Compensation can still be offered and negotiated, but it happens outside the MLS and in writing.

Second, under the NAR rules, an agent who is an MLS participant must have a written agreement with a buyer before touring a home with that buyer. That is the rule most people have heard about, and it is why so many buyers were handed paperwork on the front porch.

Here is where Alabama went its own way.

What Alabama did in 2025: Act 2025-59

In 2025 the Alabama Legislature passed HB230, which became Act 2025-59 and took effect April 18, 2025. It amended the Alabama Real Estate Consumers Agency and Disclosure Act, known as RECAD.

The most important point for a buyer is this: in Alabama, you cannot be required to sign a buyer agreement just to tour a property. The East Alabama Board of Realtors’ summary of the law says consumers cannot be compelled to sign agreements merely to view properties. HousingWire, in its state-by-state review, described Alabama’s law the same way: buyers only have to sign a buyer brokerage agreement prior to submitting an offer, and not before touring a home with an agent.

So the Alabama rule differs from the NAR rule on timing. NAR ties the written agreement to the tour. Alabama ties it to the offer.

What Alabama does require is a written buyer agreement before a licensee assists a buyer with preparing or submitting an offer. That agreement can be an agency agreement, where we represent you, or a transaction brokerage agreement, where we assist without being your agent. Either way, before we write an offer on a lake house, there will be a signed agreement between you and our brokerage. The same law requires a written listing agreement before a property can be marketed, and written referral agreements.

One practical note. Our brokerage is a member of the MLS and the Realtor associations, so the NAR rules also apply to us as members, and brokerages reconcile the two through their office policies. If you want to tour with us and are not ready to sign anything, tell us, and we will explain exactly what our brokerage’s policy is at that moment. State law does not force you to sign to look.

What you will be handed on day one: the RECAD disclosure

Even though you do not have to sign an agreement to tour, you will receive a document early. It is the RECAD Brokerage Services Disclosure form, and it is not a contract.

Alabama licensees must provide this form to a consumer as soon as reasonably possible and before any confidential information is disclosed, which in practice means at or near first contact. The form explains the working relationships Alabama law allows: single agency, where the licensee represents only one party; dual agency, where one licensee represents both buyer and seller with consent; and transaction facilitator, where the licensee assists the parties without being anyone’s agent. If there is no agreement in place, Alabama law presumes the licensee is a transaction facilitator. The Alabama Association of Realtors notes that a consumer’s signature on the disclosure is preferred but not required. Signing only acknowledges that you received it.

Along with the RECAD form you should receive our brokerage’s Agency Disclosure Office Policy. Act 2025-59 requires brokerages to update that policy to describe how they are compensated and to give it to consumers alongside the RECAD form before property tours. So the conversation about how we get paid happens at the beginning, on paper, even though the agreement that sets the actual number comes later.

The second 2025 law: Act 2025-380 and the new form

A second bill, HB382, became Act 2025-380 and took effect October 1, 2025. Most of it is about how brokerages are organized, but a few pieces show up in what you will read.

It created rules for real estate teams and how they advertise. It replaced the term transaction broker with transaction facilitator (the terms remain synonymous). And it formalized designated agency, which allows one licensee in a company to represent a buyer and another licensee in the same company to represent the seller without dual agency automatically triggering, because the broker designates each as a single agent for their own client.

Because of those changes, the Alabama Real Estate Commission issued a new version of the RECAD form in the fall of 2025. It explains designated agency and the transaction facilitator role, and it states plainly that a written agreement is required by law before a licensee lists a property on your behalf or submits an offer on your behalf for compensation. The mandatory agency language in purchase agreements was also updated effective October 1, 2025, so the offer you eventually sign will identify whether each licensee is acting as an agent, a dual agent, or a transaction facilitator.

What the written agreement must say about money

When the time comes to write an offer and you sign a buyer agreement, the compensation section is the part to read slowly.

Under Alabama’s 2025 law, buyer and listing agreements must state the brokerage’s specific compensation. The NAR rules go a step further for members: the agreement must state compensation in a way that is objectively ascertainable, it cannot be a range or open-ended, and the agent may not receive compensation for those services from any source that exceeds the amount or rate in the agreement.

For you, that means three things. The number is written down before you make an offer, not after. It is a specific number or rate, not “to be determined.” And it is a ceiling: if the seller agrees to pay part or all of it as a term of the sale, that reduces what you owe, and we cannot collect more than the agreement says from anyone.

We are not going to put our own numbers in a blog post, because they are set in the agreement we sign with each client and can depend on the situation. We will go over them with you before you are asked to sign anything.

How to read a buyer agreement

Whether you sign with us or with anyone else, here is what we would look for on the page.

What kind of relationship it creates. Single agency, transaction facilitator, or something else. The agreement should match what the RECAD form and the agent told you.
The compensation amount or rate, who is expected to pay it, and whether seller-paid compensation is credited against your obligation.
The term. When it starts, when it ends, and whether you can cancel early.
The scope. One property, one area, or everything you look at during the term.
Exclusivity. Whether you are agreeing to work only with that brokerage during the term.
What happens with new construction or a for-sale-by-owner property.

If anything on the page does not match what you were told, stop and ask. A good agent will not mind. If you have a question about what a clause legally means, ask a real estate attorney, not us. We can tell you what the form is and how we use it, not what it means for your legal position.

What this looks like on the lake

Here is how a first visit with us usually goes. You call, we talk about what you are looking for and what part of Lake Wedowee (the reservoir Alabama Power officially calls R.L. Harris Reservoir) fits it. We hand you the RECAD form and our office policy and walk you through them. Then we go look at property, often by boat, since Terry shows most waterfront homes from the water. Nobody signs a buyer agreement on the dock.

When you find the one, we sit down, go over the agreement including compensation, sign it, and then write the offer. That order is what Alabama law calls for, and it is the order we prefer anyway.

If you have been putting off a trip to the lake because you were not sure what you would be asked to sign, call us at 404-317-5120 or send a note. We will explain the paperwork before you drive down, and there will be no surprises when you get here.