Ask our AI for the "typical" commission. It won't give you one, on purpose.
An agent types a simple question into reTEQ: "What's a typical buyer's agent commission in Arizona?"
Most AI tools would answer it. They'd produce a tidy range, maybe a sentence about "market conditions," and the agent would walk into the next buyer consultation with a number in their head.
Ours doesn't. It says there is no standard or typical rate, that compensation is fully negotiable, and that whatever the buyer and broker agree to has to be written into the agreement as a specific amount or rate. If the agent pushes, "just ballpark it", it declines again.
We built it that way deliberately. Here's why we think it's the right answer, and why brokers should want their agents hearing it.
The form already says so
Start with the document every Arizona buyer's agent works under. Lines 25–26 of the AAR Buyer-Broker Exclusive Employment Agreement (BBEE) state, in capital letters, that broker compensation is not set by law, by any board, by any association of REALTORS®, or by any MLS, only as "fully negotiated between Broker and Buyer in this agreement."
The rest of the compensation section backs that up:
It has to be specific. Line 34 requires the compensation to be a fixed amount or rate, a percentage, a dollar figure, or another defined term. Not "the usual."
It has a ceiling. Lines 40–44 say the broker will not receive more than the agreed compensation from any source. If a seller or seller's broker offers more, the difference is credited to the buyer, to the extent the lender allows.
It's the buyer's agreement. If the seller doesn't pay it, the buyer does. That's why the number has to be one the buyer actually understood and accepted.
Since the NAR settlement practice changes took effect in August 2024, that written agreement, with the compensation spelled out and the not-set-by-law disclosure on its face, has to be in place before an agent tours a home with a buyer.
So when someone asks what the "typical" number is, the form's own answer is: there isn't one. There's the number you and your buyer agree to, in writing.
Why a "typical rate" is a liability now
A quoted range feels harmless. It isn't, for three reasons.
It becomes the script. A number an agent hears from a trusted tool doesn't stay a data point. It becomes the opening line of the next consultation, and then the next one. Repeat that across a brokerage and "typical" quietly turns into "default", the opposite of negotiated.
It's exactly what regulators are watching. In late December 2025, the Department of Justice filed a statement of interest in Davis v. Howard Hanna, a homebuyer commission lawsuit, arguing that rules and practices coming out of trade associations can still be treated as per se antitrust violations. Antitrust lawyers quoted in the coverage read it bluntly: "the association told us to" is no longer a shield. A platform used by agents across many competing brokerages, telling all of them what the "normal" rate is, is the kind of thing nobody should want to explain in that environment.
It's wrong for the deal in front of you. Compensation depends on the property, the services, the buyer, and the conversation. Any range an AI produces is stale the moment it's generated and has nothing to do with the buyer sitting across the table.
What a good answer looks like instead
When an agent asks reTEQ about "typical" compensation, the answer covers what actually helps them:
Compensation is not set by law, by any association, or by the MLS. It's fully negotiable.
It must be written into the BBEE as a specific amount or rate, as accepted by the parties, before showing property.
The broker can't be paid more than that amount from any source; any excess offered by the seller side is credited to the buyer.
Have the compensation conversation during the buyer consultation, and document it.
That answer protects the agent, the buyer, and the brokerage. A number protects none of them.
What brokers should do this week
Tell your agents never to quote a "standard," "typical," or "normal" rate — not in consultations, not in texts, not in listing presentations. Negotiable means negotiable.
Train the consultation, not the number. Agents should be able to explain their services and why their compensation is what it is. That's a value conversation, not a market-rate recital.
Check every BBEE for a fixed amount or rate. Blanks, "TBD," or "per MLS" defeat the purpose of the form and the settlement.
Put it in your written policy. If your brokerage has a position on how agents discuss compensation, write it down so it's applied consistently.
Ask your counsel where your gray areas are. This post isn't legal advice, and your attorney is the right person to review your compensation practices.
We could have built reTEQ to answer every question with a number. Plenty of tools do. But "grounded" means the answer comes from the source, and on compensation, the source is clear: the number is yours to negotiate and write down, not ours to suggest.
Sometimes the most useful answer is the one that refuses to make something up.
