The RE-14, section by section

Idaho Buyer Representation Agreement, January 2026 edition. In plain English, written for the buyer consultation and for the compensation conversation that has to happen before the first showing.

Start with Section 4. If the seller does not pay the fee, the buyer may have to, and that sentence is what the whole consultation is built around.

Paired with the RE-16, the seller side of the same conversation, and with the RE-21, where Section 20 settles the money and Section 39 confirms who represents whom.

Agent training for Real Estate Two70. This summarizes the form and does not replace it. The form controls. Legal questions go to the client's attorney.

4

Section 4 is the whole conversation.

If the seller or the listing brokerage does not pay the fee, the buyer may have to. That is what this section says, and it is the sentence the entire buyer consultation is built around.

Broker pay is negotiable and is not set by law, and the form states that before it states anything else. The brokerage also cannot collect more than the amount agreed here, so this section is a ceiling as well as a promise. Both halves are worth saying out loud.

Have it before the first showing. Not before the offer, and certainly not at closing. A buyer who learns the number after they have fallen for a house is a buyer being asked to decide about money while they are emotionally committed, which is unfair to them and bad for us.

Option A, a purchase fee
A percentage of the sales price or a flat fee.
Option B, a lease fee
Based on rent, a number of months of rent, or a flat fee. Fill it on any buyer who might rent instead, which is most first time buyers in a tight month.
Option C, a non refundable retainer
Paid when the agreement is signed. Only if one is actually being charged.
Option D, an hourly fee
Applies even if the buyer never buys or leases anything. Only if one is actually being charged.
The tail, and its 90 day default
The fee can apply for a set number of days after the agreement ends, on property we introduced to the buyer in writing during the term. If the blank is empty the form uses 90 days. Written introduction is the operative part, which is a good reason to keep the showing list and the emails.
The cancellation fee
If the buyer wrongly cancels early, one may be owed. Cover it at signature in one sentence and it never becomes a surprise.
When it is paid
Usually at closing, or when the lease is signed.

Reading it against the offer

Section 20 of the RE-21 is where compensation is settled on a live transaction, and it can come in below what this agreement provides for. When it does, the buyer needs to hear it before they sign the offer, not at closing, because the gap is theirs. That reconciliation is a two minute read of two documents side by side, and it is the single most valuable habit on the buyer side of this office.

Read Section 20 on the RE-21 page, or see the seller side of the same money.

Write the scope to match the search

Section 1 describes the property type and the area. Section 2 sets the term. Together they decide how much of the buyer's life this agreement covers, and the temptation on both is to write them as wide as they will go.

Resist it. A description broad enough to cover every property type in five counties commits the buyer to us on land, on commercial, and on the new construction they were already talking to a builder about before they met us. That is the version that gets argued about, and it is the version a buyer feels tricked by when it is read back to them.

Narrow is fair, it is easier to explain at the table, and it is far easier to defend afterward. If the search genuinely widens later, that is a renewal, in writing, which is a conversation rather than a claim.

Term length is a real negotiation, and short is a good answer
Thirty days with a buyer who is still deciding beats twelve months they resent by week three. A buyer who feels trapped by the end date goes quiet, and a quiet buyer is worth nothing to anybody. Set it where they will genuinely sign it and renew it when you have earned it.
Ask about the builder and the family friend before you write
The model home they toured last weekend, the FSBO down the street they already called, the cousin's house they might buy. If any of those need to sit outside this agreement, that is a carve out written into Section 16, agreed now, in daylight. It is a much better conversation than the one that starts with a fee claim.
Our duty runs to property we know about
Section 3 says it plainly, and it is the honest answer to "why did we not see that one." Give it at signing rather than after the fact, then say what you actually do beyond the MLS so the expectation you set is the one you meet.

What gets signed, and when

Order is the whole point. Every one of these documents confirms something that was already true when it was signed, and a document signed out of order does not reach back and fix the gap it was supposed to close.

1
Agency Disclosure Brochure
Given and acknowledged before representation starts. The RE-14 then carries the client's confirmation that they received it and understood it.
2
The buyer representation agreement, this form
Signed before we act as their agent, not after we have already been doing it. This is the document that makes the relationship exclusive and sets what we get paid.
3
Section 9, the agency election
Part of this same form, and it is a required choice with no printed default. Idaho Code 54-2088 lets a brokerage represent both sides only as a limited dual agent, and only with the express written consent of every client involved, signed before the brokerage starts acting that way.
4
The RE-21, Section 39
The purchase agreement confirms who represents whom. It confirms a relationship that already exists in the paperwork above. It does not create one, and checking a box there does not cure a consent that was never signed.

The failure this prevents

A file where Section 39 of the offer is checked for limited dual agency and there is no signed consent behind it. The box is not the consent. The consent is signed first, on this form, or it does not exist. That is the single most common defect in an in house transaction, and it is entirely preventable at the table where this form gets signed.

Read Section 39 on the RE-21 page, or open the RE-16, the seller side of the same conversation.

Before it gets signed

In the order the form is filled out, plus the three things to say out loud that are not blanks at all. It saves as you tick, so you can work it during the consultation.

Every section, explained

All 23, in order, plus the signature block. Written for the moment a buyer is on the phone asking what something means. Search below, or scroll.

Words the form uses

Plain meanings, for reading the form out loud with a client sitting next to you.

Buyer
The person or company trying to buy, lease or option a property.
Broker
The real estate brokerage the buyer hires. The agent works for that brokerage.
Exclusive
The buyer agrees to work only with this broker for the kind of property described in the form.
Compensation
The money the brokerage is paid for the work. Negotiable, and not set by law.
Retainer
A non refundable fee paid at signing, under Option C. Only if one is actually being charged.
Tail
The window after the agreement ends when the fee can still apply, on property introduced to the buyer in writing during the term. 90 days if the blank is empty.
Closing
The final step, when the sale is completed and money and documents are exchanged.
Hold harmless
The buyer may have to protect someone from a claim, or pay the costs tied to it.
Default
Someone breaks the contract, or fails to do what it requires.
Limited dual agency
The same brokerage connected to both the buyer and the seller in one transaction, unable to advocate for either against the other, and unable to pass one side's private information to the other.
Assigned agency
Limited dual agency where different agents in the same brokerage are assigned to different clients, with the supervising broker still carrying the limited dual duties.
Interpleader
Handing disputed money to a court and letting the court decide who gets it. The costs come out of the money being fought over.
Force majeure
A major event outside a party's control, such as a flood or an epidemic, which excuses a missed deadline caused by it.
Venue
Where a legal action is heard. This form sets it as the county where the broker's office is located.

Internal training material for licensees of Real Estate Two70. Not legal advice, and it does not replace the form, which controls. Legal, tax and title questions go to the client's own licensed professional.