Like traditional real-estate agents, exclusive buyer’s agents typically split the commission with a seller’s listing agent. However, buyer’s agents don’t accept listings, says an Exclusive Buyer Agent (EBA)  and a member of the National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents, an industry association. That means buyers will avoid being pressured to look at their agent’s company’s listings, in which there is likely to be a conflict of interest, he says.

Home buyers who use buyer’s agents also avoid conflicts that may arise when buyers work with a property’s listing agent rather than their own agent, says a real estate attorney in Tacoma, Wash. If the buyer reveals, for example, that they can afford more than they’re offering, the seller’s agent is obliged to notify the seller — even if the agent says he can work with the buyer, as well, he says. “Many states,  have adopted laws that allow real-estate agents to act as dual agents.”