Nevada Buyer-Agent Pay After NAR Deal

On August 17, 2024, the National Association of REALTORS® settlement rewrote the rules for how buyer-agent commissions get paid in the United States.

The short version

• No more MLS advertising of buyer-side commissions

  MLS systems may no longer publish offers of buyer-agent compensation from the seller side.
• Written buyer-broker agreement required upfront

  Any buyer-agent compensation must be set out in a written agreement between the buyer and the agent before the agent shows them a property.
• Seller contribution lives in the offer

  If you want the seller to contribute toward buyer-side costs, that has to be negotiated in the offer itself.

What this means in your offer

Before the settlement, buyer-side commission usually flowed quietly from the seller’s proceeds at closing — you didn’t see it as a buyer. Now you do. The offer is where you tell the seller what (if anything) you want from them on the buyer side, and the seller decides whether to accept.

Three ways to ask the seller to cover buyer-side costs

1. As a credit at closing (cash back)

The seller pays a dollar amount that gets credited to you on the settlement statement, reducing the cash you bring to closing. Useful if you’re tight on cash to close, or if you want to apply the credit toward closing costs, escrow fees, or your buyer agent’s fee.

These are general numbers — verify with your lender before you write the offer.

2. As a price reduction

The seller agrees to lower the purchase price by the amount you’d otherwise have asked for as a credit. Cleaner from the lender’s perspective — there’s no concession on the settlement statement, just a lower price. May change the appraisal calculus and the LTV ratio.

3. Paid directly to your buyer agent

If you’re using a buyer agent and want the seller to cover their fee, the offer can request the seller pay the agent’s fee directly at closing. The seller decides whether to accept. If they don’t, your Buyer Brokerage Agreement governs — the buyer ultimately owes the agent the agreed amount, even if the seller refuses.

What if you’re not using a buyer agent at all?

Then there’s nothing to compensate. You can — and probably should — request none. A clean offer with no buyer-side compensation request is the most attractive version of an offer at any given price. The seller’s side keeps more of the proceeds and is more likely to take your offer seriously.

The traditional rebuttal — “but won’t I lose buyer representation?” — misses the point. After the settlement, buyer representation is no longer bundled into the seller’s commission. You either pay your agent yourself (in cash, in a credit, or in a price reduction the seller absorbs), or you don’t use one. The seller-side cost stays the same either way.

How the conversation usually goes

On a $485,000 Las Vegas home with a buyer agent, here’s a common pattern:

1. 1
   Sign the Buyer Brokerage Agreement

   You and your buyer agent agree on, say, 2.5% of the purchase price ($12,125).

2. 2
   Ask the seller in the offer

   Your offer asks the seller to credit $12,125 toward your buyer-side costs at closing.

3. 3
   Seller counters

   The seller comes back agreeing to credit only $7,000 of the $12,125 requested.

4. 4
   You decide

   You and your agent agree: you pay the $5,125 difference at closing out of pocket, or you walk away.

Or, on the same property, with no buyer agent:

1. 1
   Request none

   Your offer asks for zero buyer-side compensation from the seller.

2. 2
   Seller compares offers

   The seller stacks your offer against one from a buyer requesting $12,125 — and yours nets the seller $12,125 more.

3. 3
   You win the deal

   Same price, more attractive offer. You close.

Required disclosures

Whichever path you take, the offer must clearly disclose any buyer-side compensation arrangement. The Greater Las Vegas REALTORS® form has specific fields for this. The wizard fills them in based on your answers — see our breakdown of the GLVAR Residential Purchase Agreement for the full form layout.

One more thing about lender caps

This is general information, not legal advice. Draft a Deal is a software service, not a law firm. Real estate transactions involve meaningful legal and financial consequences — consult a Nevada-licensed attorney or real estate broker before acting on anything you read here.