Winning Clients: Buyer Agency Strategies With Phil Sexton

What changed: the settlement in practice

Source statementthe interview is an eXp Realty webinar recorded a few weeks after the Arizona Regional MLS rolled out the post-settlement rules on August 1, 2024. Phil Sexton runs the Sibbach Team in Scottsdale (about 40 agents, a top-five team on the Phoenix Business Journal list). His headline: the fear beforehand was worse than the reality. "Once you get across the line and everybody's in the same boat, it's okay." 00:00-02:03

Inferencethe practical change is that the buyer-agent's pay is no longer quietly set by the listing side in the MLS. It is a fee the buyer's agent now has to name, put in a signed agreement, and negotiate, which is why the whole video is about presenting value and handling the new conversation.

The mindset shift: present value, defend your fee

Source statementagents who never had to present their value in a compensation conversation should be worried, because they now have to. But for full-time professionals who know the forms, buy-side commission could actually go up, because they control what they charge rather than relying on what the listing agent negotiated months earlier. 02:03-03:34

Source statementwhatever you write in the agreement is the maximum you can be paid. You set it to what you feel you are worth and what the buyer will agree to, then negotiate, first with your own client to cover it, then with the seller and listing agent over how much they will concede. 03:34-04:40

Get the agreement signed before the showing

Source statementleads come in three main ways for his team, Zillow leads (first meeting at the property), open houses (which he expects to grow, because buyers can view without signing a representation agreement), and internet advertising to out-of-town relocators (first meeting in the office). 05:04-06:35

Source statementthe biggest objection is simply that buyers do not know the rules changed. The failure mode is being the "slimy salesperson" who springs the contract at the lockbox. The fix is to set it up ahead of time. 06:35-08:05

Source statement (a specific credibility tactic): rather than hand over a National Association of Realtors or brokerage document (which feels self-serving and can make the buyer wonder about your brokerage), he texts a neutral local news story that reported the change, then the agreement: "here was a local story that ran, the world has changed, we'll have to execute an agreement before we go in the house." 08:05-08:30

The "golf bag": five buyer agreements

Source statementhe keeps five buyer agreements as clubs to pick from, an eXp buyer-broker agreement, an eXp single-property buyer-broker agreement, an Arizona Realtor buyer-broker exclusive agreement, an Arizona Realtor showing-property agreement, and Zillow's touring agreement. Different situations call for different clubs. 08:05-09:25

Source statementfor a buyer who wants to see one specific address, he prefers the eXp single-property agreement over Zillow's touring agreement for two reasons: it carries the compensation (which he argues is the spirit of the settlement, having that conversation up front), and it has no cancellation clause, so it is binding and the buyer cannot cancel and call the listing agent minutes after leaving. 09:25-10:40

Establish agency, and send the documents ahead

Source statementalongside compensation, Arizona requires establishing the agency relationship (are you working for the seller, the buyer, or both), via a form he calls the "READY" form (a real-estate agency election form). He sends both the agency form and the single-property agreement (with the address and his compensation on it) ahead of time, offering a Zoom to walk through them, so nobody is doing paperwork in a 113-degree driveway. 11:26-12:58

Source statementthe most common buyer question now is "if I don't buy the house, do I owe you anything?" The answer is no. 12:58-13:14

Take the pressure off, then present value

Source statement (the pressure-off script): "You don't have to hire an attorney to represent you in court, you don't have to hire an accountant to do your taxes, you don't have to hire a realtor to buy a house, if you choose to, though, here is how we help." 13:28-14:36

Source statementafter the pressure-off, present a list of reasons to work with the team, his team uses 11 items, as part of a buyer presentation. Standouts he mentions: a "Love It or List It" guarantee (if you dislike the home within a year, they will relist it with no listing-side commission), home previews, and access to exclusive properties (eXp exclusives, a "coming soon" MLS section not yet syndicated to public sites, and the team's own pre-market seller list). 14:36-17:07

Inferencethe buy-side conversation is now run like a listing appointment. You have to distinguish yourself and justify a fee, so a repeatable value presentation is the core asset.

The two-step play: light agreement, then exclusive

Source statementthe single-property agreement is really a "light" version whose job is to get into the house without breaking MLS rules. Once inside, he builds rapport, demonstrates market expertise (charts about supply, demand, and prices, with the buyer presentation behind them), and parlays into a fuller, more exclusive buyer-broker agreement. 17:07-20:08

Source statement (the analogy): this mirrors a two-step (or even four-step) listing appointment, where the first visit builds trust so the fuller agreement is easy to sign. Use a smaller agreement to buy the time to build the relationship. 20:08-21:03

The one-fee-number rule, and the fiduciary trap

Source statementthe rules and interpretations are fluid, so he has had to "relearn what he just learned" week to week. A concrete example: they originally planned a two-tier fee (charge X if I negotiate my fee into the deal, a lower Y if I cannot). An attorney shut that down: your lower number is your number, because the settlement forbids an open-ended amount. 21:03-22:58

Source statement (the fiduciary point underneath it): if the buyer finances your commission into the loan, that amount accrues interest over the life of the loan, and you must disclose that to the buyer. Skipping that disclosure is how an agent lands back in "problem waters" with the DOJ. So: set one number, do not pre-sell adjustments, and "don't be soft on that number," because whatever you say up front sticks, especially in court. 22:58-24:30

Negotiating compensation when the seller offers none

Source statementif the listing agent says the seller will not contribute to buyer-agent compensation, write the offer anyway for what your buyer wants, including a seller credit for your fee. "It doesn't matter what they say, it matters what we all agree to in an offer." Blow past the first objection, then negotiate the counter. In his experience so far, when it gets countered, about half the time the buyer accepts the countered number (adjusting the buyer agreement down) and about half the time the buyer's agent counters back. 24:30-27:17

Source statement (the framing): it was always negotiable, most agents just never bothered, an "American fixation on fixed pricing." The risk now is more buyers going unrepresented or contacting listing agents directly; Arizona rolled out an "unrepresented buyer addendum" spelling out everything such a buyer gives up. 27:17-29:55

Listing side: written permission to invite offers

Source statementon the listing side, when a seller does not want to offer buyer-agent compensation, he gets the seller's permission in writing to still encourage buyer agents to submit offers that include a compensation ask, so he can honestly tell a calling buyer's agent "my seller is open to compensation, submit whatever offer you need." Without that written permission he risks his fiduciary duty; a simple line is "my seller is willing to consider any bona fide offers." He does not have to disclose the specific number the seller might pay. 29:55-33:51

What to track now: the buyer-agreement pipeline

Source statementa new metric falls out of all this. He now asks his transaction coordinator how many active buyer agreements are outstanding, the way he tracks active listings, giving a clearer buy-side pipeline and new coaching numbers (presentations made, presentations signed, then showings and offers). His closing note: nobody stops buying real estate; the agents who skill up on scripting and value presentation take an unfair share of both buyers and listings. 33:51-38:47

Tools and resources

Claims to verify

• This is a late-2024 webinar recorded weeks into the Arizona rollout, and the speakers stress the rules were "fluid" and "evolving." Treat every form name, requirement, and tactic as time- and place-specific (Arizona / eXp) and verify against current rules before acting.
• "Your low number is your number" and the financed-commission interest-disclosure point are the speaker's account of an attorney's guidance, not legal advice. Confirm with a real estate attorney for a given jurisdiction.
• Whether buy-side commissions rise or fall is presented as opinion ("based on our skill level"), not data. No figures are given.
• Form specifics (the eXp single-property agreement having no cancellation clause; the "READY" agency election form; the "unrepresented buyer addendum") are as described on the webinar; read the actual current forms.
• Speaker identities were corrected from the auto-captions using the on-screen lower-thirds: the host is Bryon Ellington and Phil Sexton's team is the Sibbach Team. Other names (Holly, Lauren, Leo, Ramone, Tina Caul) are transcribed from audio and may be misspelled.

Glossary

• NAR settlement: The 2024 legal settlement between the National Association of Realtors and the Department of Justice that changed how buyer-agent commissions are disclosed and negotiated; buyers must now sign a representation agreement before touring, and co-op compensation is no longer advertised in the MLS.
• buyer-representation agreement: A signed contract between a buyer and their agent defining the relationship and the agent's fee; now required before showing homes.
• buyer-broker agreement: Another name for a buyer-representation agreement, often the fuller, exclusive version.
• single-property agreement: A "light" buyer agreement covering one specific address, used to get into a house compliantly before a fuller agreement is signed.
• cancellation clause: A contract provision letting either party end the agreement; the eXp single-property agreement is described as lacking one, making it binding.
• touring agreement: A minimal agreement (e.g. Zillow's) that lets a buyer tour a home; discussed as one of the five options.
• buyer-agent compensation: The fee the buyer's agent charges, now set by the agent in the agreement rather than by the listing side in the MLS.
• co-op (cooperative compensation): The commission a listing agent historically offered a buyer's agent through the MLS; the settlement removed that advertised offer.
• seller concession / credit: An amount the seller agrees to pay toward the buyer's costs, including buyer-agent compensation, negotiated in the offer.
• MLS: The multiple listing service; the Arizona Regional MLS rolled out the post-settlement rules on August 1, 2024.
• listing agent: The agent representing the seller.
• fiduciary: The legal duty an agent owes their client (loyalty, disclosure, care); central to why fee adjustments and financed-commission interest must be disclosed.
• agency (READY form): Establishing whom the agent represents (seller, buyer, or both); in Arizona via a real-estate agency election form the speaker calls the "READY" form.
• dual agency: Representing both sides of a transaction, one of the agency relationships the election form covers.
• unrepresented buyer: A buyer with no agent; Arizona added an addendum spelling out the protections such a buyer forgoes.
• value proposition: The concrete reasons a client should hire and pay you; the video's core buy-side asset, delivered as a buyer presentation.
• buyer presentation: A structured pitch of the agent's value (the team uses 11 items) run like a listing appointment.
• Love It or List It guarantee: A team offer to relist a home within a year at no listing-side commission if the buyer dislikes it.
• coming soon: An MLS section of listings not yet syndicated to public sites, offered as exclusive access.
• expired (buyers): The idea of lapsed buyer agreements becoming a future lead source, mirroring expired listings.
• SkySlope: A real-estate transaction-management platform, updated to store buyer-broker agreements.
• third-party credibility: Using a neutral outside source (a news story) rather than a self-serving one to make a claim believable.
• two-step appointment: Winning a client in two visits, a light first step to build rapport, then the fuller agreement.
• pipeline: The count of active deals in progress; here extended to active buyer agreements, not just listings.
• DOJ: The U.S. Department of Justice, the settlement counterparty whose enforcement agents fear.