Yes, You Must Sign a Written Agreement Before Touring a Naples Home. Here Are Your Three Options.

Buyers arriving in Naples and Marco Island, many of them from states like Wisconsin where we also serve clients, often ask the same question before their first showing: "Do I really need to sign something before you can open that door?"

The answer in Florida, as everywhere in the country, is yes. Since August 17, 2024, under the National Association of REALTORS® settlement, any agent participating in a Multiple Listing Service who is working with a buyer must have a written agreement in place before touring a home. That applies to in person showings and live virtual tours, which matters in a market like ours where so many buyers preview properties from a thousand miles away before ever boarding a plane. If a buyer declines to sign, the agent cannot show the property. There is no exception for luxury price points, cash buyers, or seasonal residents.

But here is what most out of state buyers do not realize: the document you sign in Florida, and the relationship it creates, works differently than it does back home. Understanding those differences before your first showing puts you in control.

Naples is distinctive even within Florida. The Naples Area Board of REALTORS®, our local board here in Collier County, maintains its own contract library, and its Legal Resources Task Force revised NABOR's forms to comply with the settlement alongside the statewide releases from Florida Realtors®. So depending on the brokerage, a Naples buyer may be presented with a NABOR form or a Florida Realtors® form. Both satisfy the requirement. What matters is not the letterhead but the relationship the document creates.

Unlike some states where a single government approved form is mandatory, Florida gives brokerages a menu, and the form an agent presents tells you a great deal about the relationship being offered. The Florida Realtors® framework illustrates the three tiers:

The Property Pre-Touring Agreement. The lightest option. It delivers the disclosures the settlement requires and basic compensation information so an agent can show you property. Think of it as the key that opens the door, nothing more.

The Showing Agreement. A step further. This form creates a compensation agreement tied to specific, identified properties. It suits a buyer who wants to see a handful of homes with an agent before committing to anything broader.

The Exclusive Buyer Brokerage Agreement. The full relationship. This establishes an exclusive engagement, defines the broker's duties to you, and sets compensation for the search. It is the form serious buyers sign when they want an advocate for the whole journey, and in a competitive segment like Naples waterfront or Port Royal, it is the one that matters.Whichever form starts the relationship, the settlement requires the same core protection: a clear, conspicuous disclosure of what the agent will be paid or how that amount will be determined, and compensation is always fully negotiable.

Here is the difference that surprises our Wisconsin and Midwest clients most. Florida's exclusive buyer brokerage agreement comes in variations based on the type of representation, and they are not interchangeable:

Single agent means the brokerage represents you alone, with full fiduciary loyalty.

Transaction broker means the brokerage facilitates the deal for both sides without full fiduciary representation, and this is the default relationship for most Florida brokerages unless your agreement says otherwise.

No brokerage relationship means exactly what it sounds like.

Read that middle paragraph again.

In Florida, unless your written agreement establishes otherwise, the agent showing you a twelve million dollar estate may owe you facilitation, not loyalty. The written agreement requirement is not just paperwork here. It is your one clear opportunity to see, in writing, exactly what level of representation you are receiving before you fall in love with a house.

At Powers Realty Group, Inc., we have built two decades of practice on the principle that clients should understand their representation before the first showing, not discover it at the closing table. The written agreement requirement simply made our approach the law of the land.

When we present an agreement at our Fifth Avenue South office, we walk through every provision: what relationship it creates, what services you receive, what it costs, and where that compensation can come from, including the possibility of negotiating seller contributions in your offer. A buyer who signs with clarity negotiates with confidence.

And a word of caution drawn from experience: an agent eager to skip the agreement, or one who slides it across the table without explanation, is showing you how they will handle the rest of your purchase. In a market where the difference between a good deal and a great one can be measured in six figures, choose the agent who treats the first document as seriously as the last.

If you are selling in Milwaukee's North Shore and buying in Naples, note that the rules diverge by state. Wisconsin uses state approved WB forms, including a distinct pre-agency showing agreement, and beginning January 1, 2027, Wisconsin Act 69 restructures how buyer agent compensation is negotiated there. Florida operates under its own forms and its own brokerage relationship framework. We wrote about the Wisconsin requirements in detail on our Wisconsin site, and our team practices daily under both systems, which means your two transactions are guided by one standard of care.

Yes. Since August 17, 2024, agents participating in an MLS who are working with a buyer must have a written agreement in place before touring a home, in person or by live virtual tour. Without a signed agreement, the agent may not show the property.

Florida Realtors® provides three forms: a Property Pre-Touring Agreement for initial disclosures before a showing, a Showing Agreement tied to specific identified properties, and an Exclusive Buyer Brokerage Agreement for full representation. Brokerages may also use their own compliant agreements.

Either, depending on the brokerage. The Naples Area Board of REALTORS® maintains its own contract library and revised its forms to comply with the settlement, so Naples buyers may encounter NABOR forms or Florida Realtors® forms. Both satisfy the written agreement requirement; the relationship the document creates is what matters.

No. The Property Pre-Touring Agreement provides required disclosures so an agent can show you property. Exclusivity arises only when you sign an exclusive buyer brokerage agreement, which is a separate decision.

A single agent represents the buyer alone with full fiduciary duties, including loyalty. A transaction broker facilitates the transaction without full fiduciary representation, and it is the default relationship for most Florida brokerages unless the agreement establishes otherwise.

Yes. The requirement covers live virtual tours as well as in person showings, which is especially relevant for out of state buyers previewing Naples and Marco Island properties remotely.