Most people hire a buyer's agent the way they'd pick a dentist from a friend's text message. A name, a "she was great," and a signature two days later. Then they spend six months and several hundred thousand dollars on that decision.
This is a guide to doing it slightly more carefully. It's written for Clark County specifically, because the rules here are not quite the national rules and not quite the Seattle rules, and because the advice that applies to a $450,000 ranch in Hazel Dell is different from the advice that applies to a new build in Ridgefield.
One honest note before the process. The paperwork side of a purchase is roughly the same in every competent agent's hands. Inspections get scheduled, deadlines get tracked, forms get signed. What varies, and varies enormously, is judgment: what to offer, when to walk, what a disclosure is actually telling you. You can't see judgment in a headshot or a review count. The whole point of the steps below is to make it visible before you're emotionally attached to a kitchen.
Start with what changed
Two things are true in Clark County that weren't true a few years ago.
First, you will sign something before you tour. Washington's agency law was updated effective January 2024 to require a written services agreement between a buyer and their broker, and the NAR Settlement that took effect in August 2024 added the same requirement nationally, along with a rule that the agent's compensation has to be stated specifically rather than left open. Our market runs mostly on RMLS, which is NAR-affiliated, so both sets of rules apply here. The longer version of what changed is here.
Second, the buyer's agent fee is now a real line item that you negotiate, not a background number the seller quietly covered. Sellers can still offer to pay some or all of it, and many do, but it's a conversation, not a default.
Together, these mean the moment to choose carefully has moved earlier. You are picking an agent, and agreeing to their fee, before the first showing. That's actually good for you, as long as you use the moment.
Interview three agents, not one
Three is the number for a reason. One agent gives you no comparison. Two gives you a coin flip. Three gives you a pattern, and the pattern is what tells you which answers were rehearsed and which were real.
Twenty minutes each, by phone or video, is enough. Tell each agent up front that you're talking to a few people and that you'd like to see how they work before you sign anything. An agent who bristles at that has told you something useful already.
Spread the three. One referral from someone whose purchase went well. One you found yourself, from a listing you liked or a neighborhood you're watching. And one who has written or recorded something about how they think, whether that's a market commentary, a video, or a newsletter. Writing is a cheap way to audit judgment before you spend twenty minutes on it.
The seven questions
Ask all seven of every agent. The answers matter less than the differences between the answers.
1. What will you charge me, and will you put it in writing before I sign?
The law now requires a specific number in your agreement, so every agent has to answer this eventually. The question is whether they answer it now, plainly, or steer you toward "let's find you a house first."
A good answer names the fee, explains in one or two sentences why it's that fee, and offers to send it in writing before you commit to anything. A weak answer is a range, a shrug, or "it's usually covered by the seller." Which brings up the next question.
2. What happens if the seller won't cover your fee?
This is the question that got much more important in 2024. If a seller offers less than your agent's fee, or nothing, someone has to make up the difference. Ask the agent how they handle that. The strong answers involve negotiating the concession into the offer itself, or pricing the offer with the gap in mind, and telling you in advance what your worst case is. The weak answer is "that almost never happens." It happens.
3. Show me the last offer strategy you wrote for a client.
Not described. Written. Most agents will tell you about their negotiation strategy. Very few can hand you a document that shows what they recommended, why, and what happened next. Ask for one with the client's name removed.
If they have one, read it for specificity. Does it name comparable sales, days on market, the seller's likely situation, an opening number and a walk-away number? Or is it a paragraph of confidence? If they don't have one, ask how they'll communicate the offer recommendation to you when the time comes. "We'll talk it through" is the default answer. It's not a bad answer. It's just not a checkable one.
4. When did you last tell a client to walk away?
Every honest agent has done this. A house that inspected badly, a bidding war that stopped making sense, a new build where the numbers didn't work. Ask for the most recent one and listen for the details. Agents who can tell you the street, the problem, and what the client did next are agents who actually walk away. Agents who answer in generalities may not.
This question matters more than it looks, because the buyer's agent's fee is usually paid at closing. The structural incentive is to close. You want the person who has demonstrably overridden that incentive before.
5. How do you handle new construction?
A large share of what sells in Clark County each year is new construction, and it's a different transaction. The builder's sales office is friendly, helpful, and works for the builder. Most builders also require your agent to register with them on your first visit; show up alone and you may lose the right to bring representation into that community later.
A good answer knows this without being prompted, knows which local builders negotiate on price versus incentives, and has an opinion on rate buydowns versus closing-cost credits. If new construction is on your list at all, this question is a filter. Here's what to know before your first model-home visit.
6. What will you do that I couldn't do myself?
This is the fee-honesty question, and the answer you want is one that concedes something. A lot of a purchase is administrative, and a capable buyer with time could handle a fair amount of it. The agent who says so, and then explains precisely where their judgment earns the fee, is being straight with you. The agent who claims everything they do is irreplaceable is selling.
For some buyers, the honest conclusion of this question is a narrower engagement, or no agent at all with some coaching along the way. A good agent will say that too.
7. What's the exit?
Buyer agreements have a term, and many have a protection period after the term ends. Ask how long the agreement runs, what happens if you want out, and whether you can leave without owing anything if the agent isn't delivering. An agent who is confident in their own work will make leaving easy. Read the agreement for what it actually says, not what the agent says it says.
Red flags
Some of these are disqualifying on their own. Most are worth a second question.
- The fee is described as free because the seller pays it. It isn't free, and in 2026 it isn't guaranteed.
- The agent wants a signed agreement before your first conversation, with a long term and no exit.
- "I have access to off-market properties." Occasionally true. Usually a hook. Ask which ones, and ask why a seller would keep a home off the open market, where it gets the most eyes and usually the best price.
- Dual agency, where the same agent or brokerage represents the seller, is raised as a convenience rather than a conflict. Washington allows it with disclosure. You should still understand who your agent owes what to.
- Every answer to the seven questions is about them: their volume, their years, their awards. None is about how they'd approach your purchase.
- They can't name a time they told a client to walk away.
Score the three calls
After three calls you'll have a feeling about each agent. Feelings are how most people choose, and they're not worthless, but they're easy to manufacture in twenty minutes. So before the feeling fades, give each agent a point for every one of these they earned, and be stingy about it. A point means they gave you a specific, not a reassurance.
- Named their fee on the call and offered to send it in writing.
- Had an actual plan for a seller who won't cover the fee, with your worst case stated.
- Showed you, or offered to show you, a written offer strategy from a real client.
- Described a recent walk-away with the street, the problem, and what the client did next.
- Raised the builder registration rule before you did.
- Conceded something you could do yourself, then said exactly where their judgment earns the fee.
- Explained the term and the exit without you having to ask twice.
Six or seven is an agent to hire. Three to five is worth a second call with the questions they answered vaguely the first time. Two or fewer, keep looking, however nice they were.
The tally isn't the decision. It's a way of noticing which agent gave you things you could check, because that's the person you'll want at nine on a Tuesday night when three offers are on a house and yours is one of them.
Where we fit
We're one of the agents you could put in that table, and the questions above are the ones we'd want you to ask us. Our answers, for what it's worth: the fee and the scope go in a written Engagement Proposal before you sign anything, the offer recommendation arrives as a written report, and every proposal includes a fire-us-anytime clause. If you interview us first or last, you'll know exactly what you'd be getting before you commit to anything.
Book a Strategy Call. Twenty minutes, no obligation, and you'll leave with the proposal in hand whether or not you hire us.
