Key takeaways
- Written buyer agreements now come before touring, so the first meeting must show value fast.
- Numbers are the most concrete value you can show: payment, budget, cash to close.
- Run three calculations: affordability, payment at the target price, cash to close.
- Discuss your compensation plainly. It's negotiable and set in the agreement.
- Estimates frame the lender conversation. They never replace it.
Since August 17, 2024, the first serious conversation with a buyer has changed. Under the practice changes from the NAR settlement, MLS participants working with buyers need a written agreement before touring a home, and that agreement has to state the broker’s compensation. Many agents now hold a buyer consultation earlier, and it carries more weight. The buyer has to see enough value in the first meeting to sign.
This guide is about the most concrete value you can show in that meeting: the numbers. It’s general information, not legal advice. Follow your brokerage’s process and your state’s rules for agreements.
What changed for buyer conversations?
In short:
- Agreements before touring. Buyers sign a written agreement with their broker before seeing homes, rather than after they’ve been touring for weeks.
- Compensation is explicit. The agreement states what the broker will be paid, in a specific amount or rate, and it’s negotiable.
- No MLS compensation offers. Offers of compensation to buyer brokers can no longer appear on the MLS. Seller-paid compensation, where it happens, is negotiated in the transaction.
The practical effect is that the buyer consultation is now a sales conversation as well as a planning one. Buyers want to know what they get before they commit, and “I’ll show you homes” isn’t enough.
Why do numbers make the strongest case?
Because they’re specific to the buyer and immediately useful. A buyer who leaves your consultation knowing their comfortable budget, their likely payment and how much cash they’ll need at closing has received something they couldn’t easily get alone, and something that makes the next few months less stressful.
It also sets up everything that follows: the search range, the lender conversation, the offer strategy and whether to ask for seller concessions.
Which three calculations should you run?
Run them in this order, with the buyer, on a screen they can see.
1. What can they comfortably afford?
Start with the affordability calculator. Enter household income, monthly debts, the down payment they plan to bring, and realistic local taxes, insurance and HOA. The result is a maximum home price and payment based on debt-to-income limits.
Then do the important part: talk about comfort, not maximums. Most buyers don’t want to spend their full debt-to-income allowance on housing. A useful framing:
“Your maximum came out around $410,000. Most people I work with feel better somewhere under that. Would a search in the high $300s feel right?”
If the buyer has debts, the DTI calculator shows how a specific payment fits. Keep the conversation about the budget and leave credit advice to the lender.
2. What would the payment be on a typical home in range?
Pick a recent listing at the target price and run the mortgage calculator with its real taxes and HOA. Show the full payment: principal and interest, taxes, insurance, mortgage insurance, HOA. Compare it with their rent.
This is where loan types come in. If the buyer is likely to use FHA or VA, select that loan type to show how mortgage insurance or the funding fee changes the picture. Don’t recommend a program. Show the numbers and let the lender advise.
3. How much cash do they need at closing?
Finally, the buyer closing cost estimator: origination, title, appraisal, prepaid interest and recording fees, plus the down payment, for an estimated cash to close. This is the number first-time buyers most often underestimate.
Walk through what offsets it: the earnest money deposit is credited at closing, and seller concessions toward closing costs may be negotiable, subject to the loan program’s limits.
A consultation agenda that works
| Time | Topic | Tool |
|---|---|---|
| 0–10 min | Goals, timing, must-haves | Conversation |
| 10–25 min | Budget and comfort | Affordability, DTI |
| 25–35 min | Payment on a typical home | Mortgage calculator |
| 35–45 min | Cash to close and offsets | Buyer closing costs |
| 45–55 min | Your services, compensation, agreement | Your agreement |
| 55–60 min | Next steps: lender, search, first tours | Calendar |
Putting compensation after the numbers is deliberate. By then the buyer has seen what working with you looks like.
How should you talk about compensation?
Plainly. The agreement states your compensation, and it’s negotiable, so say so. Explain what you do for it: search strategy, the numbers you’ve just run, negotiation, managing inspections and appraisal, coordinating with the lender and title, and getting them to closing.
If a seller may contribute toward buyer-broker compensation in some transactions, explain how that works under your agreement and your brokerage’s policy. Avoid promising that a seller will pay. That’s negotiated deal by deal.
What about buyers who aren’t ready to sign?
Some buyers want to think about it, and some just want numbers. Send them home with their estimates (a link to the calculators works well) and a short follow-up. Buyers who come back to rerun their affordability a week later are telling you they’re still interested.
Calculators on your website do some of this work before the consultation, too. A buyer who has already run affordability and closing costs on your site arrives with expectations, and you arrive knowing them.
Keep estimates in their place
Everything above is an estimate built from the buyer’s own inputs and typical local figures. It frames the lender conversation. It doesn’t replace it. Encourage buyers to get Loan Estimates from more than one lender, which lenders must provide within three business days of an application, and to compare them line by line.
If you introduce lenders, don’t accept anything of value for the referral. RESPA Section 8 prohibits it.
The takeaway
The settlement moved the buyer agreement to the start of the relationship. The best response is to make the start of the relationship valuable. Three calculations, done well and explained honestly, give buyers a budget, a payment and a cash figure they can plan around, and give them a clear reason to work with you.
Tags: Buyer consultations, NAR settlement, Affordability, Closing costs, Buyer agreements
CalcCapture Editorial Desk · Guides for agents, teams and brokerages
The Editorial Desk writes CalcCapture's guides on buyer and seller conversations, listing marketing and lead compliance for US agents.
This guide is general information for agents, not legal, tax or lending advice. Calculator figures are estimates.