Who Actually Pays Your Agent? Buyer and Seller Compensation in North Carolina, Explained

Every buyer eventually asks me some version of the same question: if I use a Realtor to help me buy a home, who pays for that? The honest answer used to be simple and is now, thanks to a national lawsuit settlement and a brand new state law, genuinely more complicated. Here is how compensation actually moves in a North Carolina deal today, and the two forms that make it happen.

This picks up where my Commission 101 post left off. That one covers what Realtors pay to practice: dues, licensing, MLS fees. This one covers something different: who pays the agents on your deal, and how that gets decided.

What Changed on August 17, 2024

For years, a seller's listing agreement typically set an amount the seller would pay to whichever agent brought the buyer, and that offer was published inside the MLS for every buyer's agent to see. Buyers rarely signed anything with their agent upfront, because the money question was already settled behind the scenes.

A nationwide class action against the National Association of Realtors changed that. Starting August 17, 2024, MLSs could no longer publish offers of buyer agent compensation, and written buyer representation agreements became required before an agent can show homes on most MLS platforms. In North Carolina specifically, the Real Estate Commission's rule requires that written agreement no later than the time you make an offer, and compensation remains a fully negotiable term between you and your agent's firm, not something set by the Commission or anyone else.

In practice, this means your buyer agency agreement is now the document that spells out what you owe your agent and how. It is worth reading closely and asking questions before you sign it, not after.

So Who Actually Pays? Meet Form 220

Here is the part that surprises people: even though buyer compensation can no longer live in the MLS, sellers can still agree to cover some or all of it. North Carolina Realtors just needed a new way to document that agreement once it could no longer be published for the world to see.

The answer is NC Standard Form 220, the Cooperating Compensation Agreement. It is a short form signed between the listing firm and the buyer's firm, at the broker level, confirming that the listing side will pay the buyer's side a specific amount if that buyer's offer is the one accepted. It is optional (nothing forces anyone to use it) but it has quickly become the standard way agents put a compensation offer in writing once it left the MLS. A listing firm might even post an unsigned version of Form 220 on its own website so buyer agents know what is being offered on that listing, similar to how compensation used to show up in the MLS, just one step removed.

One important boundary: NC License Law has long prohibited putting commission or compensation terms inside a pre-printed purchase contract, meaning Form 220 has to stay a separate document from your Offer to Purchase and Contract (Form 2-T), not folded into it.

A New Law Is Changing That Separation

That was true, at least, until this year. In June 2025, the General Assembly passed Senate Bill 690, now Session Law 2025-52, which specifically authorizes brokers to include buyer agent compensation terms directly inside an offer or purchase contract, something the old rule flatly prohibited. The Real Estate Commission has to write the permanent rule to implement it, and while that rulemaking is underway, the Commission announced it will not enforce the old prohibition, so brokers currently have room to include compensation terms in a contract if they choose to.

What this means for you as a buyer right now: Form 220 is still the standard, widely used tool, but do not be surprised if your offer itself starts referencing buyer agent compensation more directly as NC forms catch up to the new law. Ask your agent which approach they are using on your specific offer. It is a fair question, and a good one.

How This Plays Out When You Write an Offer

Here is roughly how it comes together on a real Greensboro purchase:

• Your buyer agency agreement sets what you owe your agent's firm if you buy a home, and under what conditions.
• Your agent finds out, broker to broker, whether the seller is offering to cover some or all of that through Form 220 or a similar arrangement.
• If the seller is not offering enough to fully cover it, you and your agent can build a request into your offer, sometimes as a general seller concession, so the seller effectively covers more of your side's compensation as part of the overall deal terms.
• The seller decides whether to accept your offer as written, counter it, or decline, exactly like every other term in a negotiation.

None of this changes what a seller pays their own listing agent, which is still simply a term of that seller's listing agreement.

What This Means for You as a Buyer

Before all of this, most buyers never thought about agent compensation because it was invisible to them. That is no longer true, and honestly, I think that is a good thing. You deserve to know, in writing, before you tour your first home, what you are agreeing to and why. Ask your agent to walk through your buyer agency agreement line by line. Ask whether the seller on a specific home is offering compensation, and how much. These are not awkward questions. They are exactly what the new rules were designed to make normal.

This post is general information, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Talk to your attorney, CPA, or lender about your specific transaction.

Joy Watson Real Estate is an independent, non-corporate brokerage in Greensboro, NC. Joy Watson is a licensed North Carolina real estate broker (Broker-in-Charge). Questions about buying, selling, or renting in the Triad? Reach out through JoyWatsonRealEstate.com.