A Sammamish buyer agent agreement is the written contract between you and a real estate firm that appoints a specific broker to represent you, and Washington law requires one before, or as soon as reasonably practical after, that broker starts working on your behalf. It is not optional paperwork and it is not a formality at closing. It is the document that defines who represents you and on what terms.

Most buyers sign it in the first meeting, read it quickly, and never look at it again. That is understandable and it is also backwards, because the statute puts five specific decisions inside that document and two of them are yours to make on the spot.

Here is what the agreement contains, what the law requires of it, and what each part means when you are touring homes on the Plateau.

What a Sammamish Buyer Agent Agreement Actually Is

The legal name is a services agreement. Under RCW 18.86.020, the agreement is between you and the firm, and it appoints an individual broker to act as your agent. That distinction matters more than it sounds. Your relationship runs to the brokerage, and the firm's designated broker and any managing broker supervising your broker are also your agents.

The statute is direct about timing. A firm must enter into a services agreement with the principal before, or as soon as reasonably practical after, its appointed broker commences rendering real estate brokerage services on that person's behalf. In practice a Sammamish buyer agent agreement gets signed at or near the first working session, not after you find a house.

One narrow exception exists. Under RCW 18.86.020(3), no services agreement is required when a broker acts as a buyer's agent solely for commercial real estate. For residential buying on the Plateau, it applies.

Washington Required This Before the Rest of the Country

The requirement arrived here through 2023 c 318, and the effective date note in the chapter reads plainly: this act takes effect January 1, 2024. Washington buyers had been signing written representation agreements for months before the practice changed nationally later that year.

Northwest MLS described the change the same way when it took effect, noting in a November 2023 announcement that the new law would require brokers to enter into a written services agreement to represent either a buyer or a seller. If you bought in Sammamish before 2024 and are buying again now, this is the part of the process that has genuinely changed since your last purchase.

The Five Things the Law Says Must Be in the Agreement

RCW 18.86.020(2)(b) lists the required contents. There are five, and reading them in order is the fastest way to understand the document in front of you.

• The term of the agreement. For a buyer, a default term of 60 days with the option of a longer term
• The broker appointed as your agent. A named person, not the firm generally
• Whether the relationship is exclusive or nonexclusive. For a buyer, the law requires checkbox options to select between them
• Whether you consent to limited dual agency. This consent must be separately initialed and must include an acknowledgment that a limited dual agent may not advocate terms favorable to one principal to the detriment of the other
• Whether you consent to the designated broker or a supervising managing broker acting as a limited dual agent, in a transaction where different brokers at the same firm represent different parties

Compensation is not on that list. It is governed separately by RCW 18.86.080, which is a common point of confusion and the reason the two sections should be read together.

What the 60-Day Default Term Means for You

Sixty days is the statutory default for a buyer, and a longer term is an option rather than a requirement. The term is simply how long the appointment runs.

Sammamish market speed is the local reason to think about it rather than skim it. The Plateau has been running a median of about 6 days on market with roughly 2 offers per home as of August 2026 per Redfin, a pace we cover in our Sammamish housing market outlook for fall 2026. A market that fast cuts both ways on term length. Some buyers here are in contract inside the default window. Others, particularly those waiting for a specific school attendance area or a particular neighborhood, spend far longer than 60 days looking, which our guide to how competitive the Sammamish housing market is gets into.

The term is a term. What length suits your search is a question for you and the broker you are considering, and the agreement should reflect what you actually discussed.

Exclusive or Nonexclusive: The Checkbox That Is Yours

This is the choice the legislature specifically protected. The statute does not merely require the agreement to state whether the relationship is exclusive. For a buyer, it requires checkbox options for the buyer to select either an exclusive or a nonexclusive relationship.

An exclusive relationship means you are working with that one firm during the term. A nonexclusive relationship means you are not. The presence of a required checkbox tells you the answer is meant to be chosen rather than assumed, so if the box is already filled in when the document reaches you, ask about it before you sign.

The related question, whether one broker can represent both sides, is limited dual agency. Under RCW 18.86.060, a broker may act as a limited dual agent only with the written consent of both parties, set forth in the services agreement. That is why your consent has to be initialed separately, and why the agreement has to spell out that a limited dual agent cannot advocate terms favorable to one side at the expense of the other.

How Compensation Works in a Sammamish Buyer Agent Agreement

RCW 18.86.080 sets the rules. A firm's compensation may be paid by the seller, the buyer, a third party, or shared between firms. Paying it does not by itself create an agency relationship with the person who paid.

For a firm to be compensated at all, the services agreement must state the terms, including the amount the principal agrees to compensate the firm, and any consent to compensation sharing between firms or to compensation from more than one party. Northwest MLS described the practical shape of this in the same November 2023 announcement: buyers agree on how much to pay their own brokers, and can then negotiate for the seller to help cover that cost as part of the purchase. Any compensation the seller chooses to offer is stated on the first page of the purchase and sale agreement, and can be accepted or separately negotiated by the parties.

Separately, RCW 18.86.030(1)(g) requires your broker to disclose in writing, before you sign an offer, any terms of compensation offered by a party or firm to the firm representing the other side. Amounts are not set by law and this article does not suggest any figure. What the law does require is that the number you agree to is written down in the agreement rather than left to a conversation.

The Showing Question Most Buyers Do Not Know to Ask

One requirement in RCW 18.86.080(7)(b) rarely comes up and is worth knowing before you sign. A buyer's services agreement must state whether the appointed broker agrees to show the buyer properties if there is no agreement or offer by any party or firm to pay compensation to the firm.

Put plainly, the document has to answer what happens when a listing offers nothing toward your broker's compensation. That answer is in your agreement somewhere. Reading it before you are standing in front of a house you want is the better order of operations, and it is the kind of question that separates a broker who works Sammamish weekly from one who does not, a difference our comparison of a local Sammamish agent and an out-of-area agent covers in more depth.

What Your Broker Owes You Once the Agreement Is Signed

The agreement triggers duties that are set by statute rather than by negotiation. RCW 18.86.030 lists duties owed to every party in a transaction and states they may not be waived: reasonable skill and care, honesty and good faith, timely presentation of all written offers and notices, disclosure of material facts the broker knows and that are not apparent or readily ascertainable, and a timely accounting for money received.

As your agent specifically, RCW 18.86.050 adds loyalty, timely disclosure of conflicts of interest, advising you to seek expert advice on matters beyond the broker's expertise, keeping your confidential information confidential even after the relationship ends, and making a good faith and continuous effort to find you a property.

That last cluster explains a great deal about how a Sammamish buyer agent agreement should feel in practice. The duty to advise you to seek expert advice is why a broker sends you to a certified arborist or a geotechnical professional on a sloped or heavily treed parcel, as our guide to trees, slopes and what you can build on a Sammamish lot describes, and to a qualified inspector during the contingency period, which our Sammamish home inspection and appraisal guide walks through.

Before You Sign a Sammamish Buyer Agent Agreement

A short list you can actually run before a signature goes on the page.

• Ask for the pamphlet first. Under RCW 18.86.030(1)(f) the broker must provide the state pamphlet prescribed by RCW 18.86.120 and obtain your acknowledgment of receipt, and for a represented party that has to happen before you sign the services agreement
• Read the term. Sixty days is the default for a buyer, and anything longer is an option that should have been discussed
• Find the exclusive and nonexclusive checkboxes, and make sure the selection is the one you made
• Look for the separately initialed limited dual agency consent, and read the acknowledgment paragraph that goes with it
• Confirm the compensation amount is written in, along with any consent to sharing or to payment from more than one party
• Read the showing provision that addresses properties where no compensation is offered to your firm
• Check that the named broker is the person you will actually work with, since the agreement appoints an individual
• Take questions to the right people. Your broker, that firm's designated broker, or the Washington State Department of Licensing, which enforces the rules for firms and brokers

None of this is meant to make the document intimidating. It is a two-page appointment, not a mortgage. Buyers who read it once, carefully, tend to move through the rest of a Sammamish purchase with fewer surprises, and our first-time buyer's guide to Sammamish picks up where this one leaves off. If you are heading into a competitive situation, the mechanics on the other side of the table are in our multiple-offer market guide.

Frequently Asked Questions About Sammamish Buyer Agent Agreements