By David Jones October 01, 2018

We sometimes get calls about whether listing brokers can make offers of compensation listed in the MLS dependent on some other criteria, such as applying only to full-price offers or that a buyer’s agent must accompany the buyer to the first showing. Those arrangements violate MLS rules, which state that offers of compensation must be unconditional except that the cooperating broker must be the procuring cause of the sale. Accompanying the buyer to the first showing may be a factor in determining procuring cause, but a listing broker is prohibited from making the commission conditional on that factor alone.

David Jones is associate counsel for the association.