Do Buyers Pay Realtor Fees in Arizona?
What Arizona buyers owe their agent in 2026: written buyer-broker agreements, seller-paid compensation negotiated off-MLS, VA rules, and Tucson market context.
In Arizona, a buyer is responsible for making sure their own agent is paid, and whether that money comes out of the buyer's pocket or out of the seller's proceeds is negotiated on each deal. Since August 17, 2024, offers of compensation are prohibited on Multiple Listing Services nationwide, and an agent working with a buyer must enter into a written buyer agreement before the buyer can tour a home. Sellers are no longer required to offer buyer-agent compensation, though most still do in order to attract buyers, as of July 2026.
That is the short answer. The longer answer is that the buyer-broker agreement is now the document that controls the outcome, and buyers who read it carefully before signing are the ones who never get surprised at the closing table.
What a realtor fee actually is in an Arizona purchase
Realtor fees, also called agent commissions, are a percentage of a home's final sale price that goes to the agents involved. In most Arizona sales two agents are involved: the listing agent representing the seller and the buyer's agent. The listing side earns its fee by pricing the home and managing the closing process. The buyer's agent earns a fee by bringing a qualified buyer who agrees to the contract terms and completes the sale on time.
Compensation in Arizona is fully negotiable. There are no fixed rates. A broker's compensation for services rendered to a seller or to a buyer is solely a matter of negotiation between the broker and their client, and it is not fixed, controlled, recommended, or maintained by anyone who is not a party to the brokerage service agreement.
Only a broker may employ and pay active licensees, and under A.R.S. § 32-2155 a licensee may accept compensation only from the legally licensed broker to whom the licensee is licensed.
Where the money comes from in most Tucson transactions
Realtor fees in Arizona are not paid upfront. Like closing costs, they are deducted from the sale proceeds when the purchase is finalized. The seller pays for at least their own agent, and often covers the buyer's agent fee as well.
Three structures are possible on any given deal. The seller pays the buyer-agent compensation as a credit or concession. The buyer pays their own agent directly. Or a portion is paid by each, which happens in many scenarios.
If a seller does not offer a concession for the buyer's agent, the buyer owes their own agent's fee on top of the price of the home and closing costs. That is the scenario every buyer should price into their cash-to-close before writing an offer.
Why buyers no longer see compensation before they write an offer
Offers of compensation are prohibited on Multiple Listing Services, and the prohibition covers notes, remarks, and any other MLS field. In Arizona, listing agents can no longer advertise buyer-agent compensation on the ARMLS system. Locally, the Multiple Listing Service of Southern Arizona does not track any compensation, commission, or co-op fees, and agents may not place a co-op amount in Private or Agent Remarks.
The Multiple Listing Service of Southern Arizona is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Tucson Association of REALTORS® and is a cooperative database of listing and sale information in Southern Arizona. It is governed by the Arizona Department of Real Estate, which regulates the real estate profession in the state. Its coverage in Pima County includes Tucson, Oro Valley, Marana, Sahuarita, Green Valley, and Catalina Foothills.
The practical consequence: a buyer and their agent do not formally know, before submitting an offer, whether or how much a seller will pay toward buyer-agent compensation. Who pays and how much becomes part of the purchase contract terms.
These changes apply only to residential transactions. They do not apply to commercial or land transactions.
What your buyer-broker agreement has to say about compensation
An agent working with a buyer must enter into a written buyer agreement before the buyer can tour a home. Those written agreements must include a specific and conspicuous disclosure of the amount or rate of compensation the real estate agent will receive, or how that amount will be determined.
The agreement also has to carry a term prohibiting the agent from receiving compensation for brokerage services from any source that exceeds the amount or rate agreed to with the buyer, plus a conspicuous statement that broker fees and commissions are not set by law and are fully negotiable. A buyer's agent cannot be paid compensation in excess of the amount agreed upon in the buyer-broker agreement. If the seller offers more than your agreement specifies, your agent cannot collect the difference.
A buyer agency agreement outlines the services provided, the commission charged for those services, the length of the agreement, and the buyer's responsibility for ensuring the agent is compensated. Under Arizona law, a real estate employment agreement is a written agreement authorizing a broker to purchase or sell real property for compensation, and every such agreement must be written in clear and unambiguous language, fully set forth all material terms including the terms of broker compensation, have a definite duration with dates of inception and expiration, and be signed by all parties.
Arizona state law does not require a written agreement simply to show property or to establish an agency relationship. The written agreement requirement is a Multiple Listing Service participant obligation triggered by working with a buyer and touring a home.
Before you sign, ask for four things in plain language: the amount or rate, how long the agreement runs, what happens if the seller pays part of the fee, and what happens if the seller pays none of it.
How VA and conventional financing treat a buyer-paid agent fee
The Department of Veterans Affairs temporarily lifted its ban on buyers paying for real estate agent representation, and VA Circular 26-24-14 announced a temporary local variance allowing Veterans to pay for certain buyer-broker charges, stating the variance was appropriate to keep Veterans competitive in the rapidly shifting real estate brokerage market and that VA would develop a more permanent policy through notice-and-comment rulemaking. That circular was effective August 10, 2024. Buyer-broker fees became a VA-allowable charge for purchase transactions closing on or after that date. Refinances and IRRRLs are unaffected. The VA made the buyer-broker fee rule permanent in April 2026.
VA states that Veterans using the VA-guaranteed home loan benefit can and should still negotiate their buyer-broker fee, that nothing in the settlement prevents Veteran home buyers from asking sellers to pay the fees at closing, and that all buyer-broker fees charged to Veterans must be reasonable and customary within local markets. The VA does not allow buyer-agent commissions to be financed into the loan amount. The only cost that can be financed into a VA mortgage is the VA funding fee.
On conventional financing, Fannie Mae issued a Selling Notice in April 2024 clarifying the current treatment of seller-paid real estate agent fees under its interested party contributions policy, with no immediate changes to Selling Guide policies. If a seller or seller's real estate agent continues to pay the buyer's real estate agent commission in accordance with local common and customary practices, those amounts are not required to be counted toward the interested party contribution limits for the transaction. Interested party contributions are contributions made by third parties with a vested interest in the transaction, used to cover costs that are typically the buyer's responsibility, under Fannie Mae Selling Guide B3-4.1-02. Fannie Mae does not permit interested party contributions to be used to make the borrower's down payment, meet financial reserve requirements, or meet minimum borrower contribution requirements. On May 7, 2025, Fannie Mae issued Selling Guide Announcement SEL-2025-03, which updated interested party contribution definitions and identified items excluded from maximum financing concessions.
If you are financing, have this conversation with your lender before you write an offer, not after.
What Tucson's market numbers mean for your negotiating position
That is down 8.1 percent compared with last month and down 10.1 percent compared with the same period a year earlier.
The median sold price was $355,000, and the median days on market, the median time from listing to going under contract, was 56 days.
In the Catalina Foothills, homes sold at 96.5 percent of asking price with 68 days on market as of June 30, 2026. The 85718 ZIP code runs 87 days on market as of July 2026. Oro Valley averaged 51 days to pending as of June 30, 2026. Marana averaged 50 days.
At 3.64 months of supply and 98.4 percent of asking price, do not assume a seller will absorb your agent's fee simply because you asked. Ask early, put it in the offer, and know what you will do if the answer is no. Longer market times in the Catalina Foothills at 68 days on market give a buyer more room to open that conversation than the citywide median of 56 days on market suggests.
The Bottom Line
A buyer in Arizona is responsible for making sure their agent is paid, and the buyer-broker agreement you sign before touring your first home sets that number. Sellers are no longer required to offer buyer-agent compensation, though most still do in order to attract buyers, as of July 2026, and the amount is negotiated inside the purchase contract rather than published in the MLS. Read the compensation clause, the term length, and the seller-pays scenario before you sign anything, and build the buyer-paid case into your cash-to-close.
If you are buying in Tucson or the Catalina Foothills and want the compensation terms walked through line by line before you tour a single home, reach out to our team and we will go through the agreement with you.
Written by Cristhian Macias, part of the Kristan Cole Network team.
Sources
Pages read on September 21, 2026.
- Veterans Benefits Administration: Circular 26-24-14
- Fannie Mae: Selling Notice
- Fannie Mae: Interested Party Contributions (IPCs)
FAQ
Do buyers have to pay realtor fees in Arizona?
A buyer in Arizona is responsible for ensuring their own agent is compensated, and the buyer agency agreement states that responsibility. Whether the money actually leaves the buyer's pocket depends on the deal: the seller can pay it, the buyer can pay it, or both can pay a portion. Sellers are no longer required to offer buyer-agent compensation, though most still do in order to attract buyers, as of July 2026.
Do I have to sign a buyer-broker agreement before touring homes in Arizona?
Yes. An agent working with a buyer must enter into a written buyer agreement before the buyer can tour a home, a practice change implemented nationwide on August 17, 2024. The agreement must include a specific and conspicuous disclosure of the amount or rate of compensation the agent will receive, or how that amount will be determined. Arizona state law itself does not require a written agreement simply to show property or to establish an agency relationship.
Can a veteran using a VA loan pay their buyer's agent?
Yes. Buyer-broker fees became a VA-allowable charge effective August 10, 2024, and the VA made the buyer-broker fee rule permanent in April 2026. VA states that Veterans using the VA-guaranteed home loan benefit can and should still negotiate their buyer-broker fee, that nothing in the settlement prevents them from asking sellers to pay the fees at closing, and that all buyer-broker fees charged to Veterans must be reasonable and customary within local markets. The VA does not allow those commissions to be financed into the loan amount; the only cost that can be financed into a VA mortgage is the VA funding fee.
Does a seller-paid buyer-agent commission count against my seller concession limit on a conventional loan?
If a seller or seller's real estate agent continues to pay the buyer's real estate agent commission in accordance with local common and customary practices, those amounts are not required to be counted toward the interested party contribution limits for the transaction. Interested party contributions are contributions made by third parties with a vested interest in the transaction, used to cover costs typically the buyer's responsibility, under Fannie Mae Selling Guide B3-4.1-02. Fannie Mae does not permit interested party contributions to be used for the down payment, financial reserves, or minimum borrower contribution.
