My son was not represented by a buyer's agent when he offered to buy a house, The listing agent told him to hire her, the listing agent, as his (buyer's) agent and agree to a 2.5% commission, so that the listing agent could then keep "both" commissions, just as she would have in the past before the new NAR rules. Presumably any potential buyer who refused to do this would not fare well in the bidding. My concern is that under the new NAR rules the agreement to hire a buyer's agent obligates the buyer to pay the buyer's agents's commission if the seller refuses to do so, and since the buyer's agent's agreement must be signed before the buyer can view a property or make an offer, the buyer has no guarantee that the seller will agree to pay that commission. So how should a buyer then structure his offer to stipulate that the seller must reimburse the buyer for that commission? I seem to remember that in the offer or purchase agreement the seller's reimbursement cannot be explicitly labeled as reimbursement for the buyer's commission. Should it be labeled as "2.5% of the purchase price toward closing costs"?