Virginia defines the term, and it covers more than walking through a house. Showing property includes:

• taking you to a property, obtaining access to it, and taking you through it;
• entering a property to give you a live, virtual tour when you are not physically there;
• answering questions or giving you information about that property that is not public record while at the property; and
• otherwise providing brokerage services while at the property.

The virtual tour point matters if you are buying from out of state. A live video walkthrough your agent runs for you is still showing property, so the agreement comes first there too.

It is the written contract that creates your brokerage relationship with an agent and their broker. Virginia calls it a brokerage agreement. You will also see it called a buyer broker agreement, a buyer agency agreement or a buyer brokerage agreement — in everyday use, people mean the same document.

It sets out the services the licensee will provide, what they are paid and how, how long the arrangement lasts, and whether the licensee is acting as your agent or as an independent contractor. Beyond the handful of items Virginia requires, the terms vary by brokerage and by form. Descriptions online — this one included — do not bind anyone. Your copy does.

That list is the floor, not the document. Read for these as well:

• whether the agreement is exclusive or non-exclusive;
• the geographic and property scope — which areas, which property types, which transactions;
• the compensation amount, or the objective method used to arrive at it;
• how a seller or listing-broker contribution is credited against what you owe, and what happens if it comes in lower;
• any retainer, administrative or transaction fee;
• how the agreement can be amended, released or ended;
• whether anything survives termination, such as a protection or continuation clause; and
• any renewal or extension language.

You can ask. Compensation is expressly negotiable in covered REALTOR® agreements, and the term, the scope, the services and the release provisions are all things buyers raise. What you cannot assume is that every request will be accepted — a broker can decline terms, and brokerage policy may limit what an individual agent can change on their own.

Raise the changes you want before you sign rather than after, and get any agreed change written into the document instead of relying on a text message.

Virginia recognizes several ways a brokerage relationship ends: performance is completed, the agreed expiration date arrives, both sides agree to end it, a party defaults under the terms, or a client declines to consent to dual representation and the licensee withdraws. After it ends, the licensee owes no further duties except to account for money and property connected to the relationship and to keep your personal and financial information confidential, unless you have agreed otherwise in writing.

What that framework does not tell you is what ending it early costs you, because that lives in your contract. If the relationship is not working:

1. Find the termination and release language in your own agreement and read it before you say anything to anyone.
2. Ask the agent — and, if needed, the supervising broker — to explain how a release would work in writing.
3. Get any release, change or substitution documented in writing before you start working with someone else.
4. Talk to a Virginia attorney if there is a genuine dispute, or if money is being claimed after the relationship ends.

Be skeptical of anyone who tells you an agreement can simply be canceled whenever you like. Whether it can, and on what terms, depends on the paper you signed.

An exclusive agreement commits you to working through that broker for whatever the agreement covers, so the compensation terms can apply even to a property you find on your own inside that scope. A non-exclusive arrangement can leave more room to work with more than one broker. Forms differ, and not every brokerage offers both.

The label matters less than three details underneath it: how wide the scope is, how long it runs, and what triggers the compensation obligation. A narrow, short exclusive agreement can be easier to live with than a loose non-exclusive one. Read those three things together rather than reacting to the word "exclusive" on its own.

That is dual agency or dual representation. Virginia permits it in a residential transaction only after written disclosure of the consequences and the written consent of all parties, given before the dual role begins.

Consent is not a formality, because the disclosure Virginia sets out is specific about what changes once dual representation starts. The licensee cannot advise either party on what terms to offer or accept. They cannot advise you on whether the property suits you or on its condition, beyond the disclosures any licensee representing a seller has to make. They also cannot advise either party on what repairs to make or request. They cannot advise either party in a dispute over the transaction. And either party may hire another licensee, at additional cost, to represent their own interests.

Compare that list with what you actually need for that purchase. You are also allowed to say no: if you refuse consent, the licensee may withdraw from representing you in that transaction, which does not prevent them from representing you in others.

Start with the agreement, not with assumptions. The written agreement states what your agent is paid and how and when. Before the brokerage relationship begins, the licensee also has to tell you what the broker's compensation is and whether it will be shared with another broker involved in the transaction.

A seller or listing broker may still contribute toward buyer-broker compensation if that is negotiated into the deal. That is a possibility to pursue, not a default. A contribution changes where the money comes from; it does not change what your agreement says you owe.

No. No percentage is set by Virginia law, and NAR's rules require covered buyer agreements to state conspicuously that broker fees and commissions are not set by law and are fully negotiable. Figures quoted in forums and agent blogs describe somebody's practice, not a rule and not a verified market rate.

Comparing agents on an invented benchmark will not tell you much. Instead, compare what a specific agreement charges, what services it includes, and how a seller contribution would be applied.

Nikki Lagouros works with buyers across Fairfax County, Loudoun County, Arlington, Alexandria, Prince William County and the wider Northern Virginia region, including buyers relocating from out of state who tour by live video before they arrive. Her published answer on buyer-agent compensation is to walk through how it would work for your situation before you sign a buyer representation agreement. In her words, she would rather over-explain it than let it become a surprise. If this is your first purchase, her first-time homebuyer guidance for Northern Virginia covers the wider process.

That is the right order for the rest of it too: understand the term, the scope, the fee and the exit before you start touring, not after you have found a house you want.