The Showing Now Starts With Paperwork
For years, plenty of Texas buyers toured homes on a handshake. That ended in two steps. First, the NAR settlement practice changes on August 17, 2024 told MLS participants to have a written agreement before touring a home with a buyer. Then Texas wrote its own version into the license act. Senate Bill 1968, effective January 1, 2026, added Section 1101.563 to the Texas Occupations Code.
Now it’s not an association policy. It’s state law, and TREC can discipline a license over it.
This guide covers what the statute requires, how the 14-day showing-only agreement works, and what should be in the file. It’s for agents, brokers and TCs. It isn’t legal advice: when a question turns on how the law applies to a specific buyer, take it to a Texas real estate attorney.
What §1101.563 Actually Says
The statute is short. Three parts matter.
Who and what it covers
It applies to a license holder who performs any act of real estate brokerage for a prospective buyer of residential real property. “Residential real property” is defined narrowly:
- a single-family house
- a duplex, triplex or quadraplex
- a unit in a condominium or cooperative
It’s the purchase side of residential sales. Vacant land and commercial property aren’t in that definition, and a tenant isn’t a prospective buyer. (Your brokerage policy may still want a written agreement on those, and the IABS says putting agreements in writing avoids disputes even when the law doesn’t require it.)
When the agreement has to be signed
Before the first of these:
- Showing any residential property to the buyer, or
- If no property will be shown, presenting an offer on the buyer’s behalf.
That second trigger catches the deals agents used to think were exempt: the buyer who found the house on their own, toured it at an open house, and calls you to make an offer. No showing, but the written agreement still comes first.
What the agreement has to state
Under §1101.563(c), the agreement must state:
- the services the license holder will provide
- the termination date
- whether it’s exclusive or non-exclusive
- whether the license holder represents the buyer as the buyer’s agent, or doesn’t, because the only brokerage act is showing property under §1101.562
- the amount or rate of compensation the broker will receive, and how that amount is determined
And it must disclose in conspicuous language that broker compensation is not set by law and is fully negotiable.
Most brokerages use an association or company form that already has all of this built in. The statute doesn’t name a form. It lists contents. The risk isn’t usually a missing paragraph in the form; it’s a blank one. A termination date nobody filled in, or a compensation section left empty, is a form that doesn’t state what the law says it must.
The 14-Day Showing-Only Agreement (§1101.562)
SB 1968 also added Section 1101.562, which lets a broker show property without representing the buyer. To do that, the broker:
- hasn’t agreed, orally or in writing, to represent the buyer
- isn’t otherwise acting as the buyer’s agent at the showing
- gives the buyer no opinions or advice about the property or real estate transactions generally
- performs no other act of real estate brokerage for them
The broker can still confirm the size, price and terms of the property. Before the showing, the broker either discloses that they represent the owner or gives the buyer the written notice described in §1101.558(b-1).
For residential property, §1101.563 still applies: a showing-only arrangement needs a written agreement too. That agreement can’t be exclusive and can’t have a termination date more than 14 days after it’s signed.
The handoff to a real buyer agreement
Here’s the part that trips people up. If the buyer likes you and wants you to make an offer, the showing-only agreement doesn’t stretch to cover it. Section 1101.563(d) requires a separate agreement for any additional brokerage acts after the showing.
Don’t let the showing agreement become the representation agreement by default. It’s limited on purpose. The day the buyer asks “can you send them an offer?”, that’s a new agreement first.
How This Lines Up With the NAR Settlement Changes
The two overlap, but they aren’t the same rule.
| NAR practice changes | Texas §1101.563 | |
|---|---|---|
| Effective | August 17, 2024 | January 1, 2026 |
| Applies to | MLS participants working with buyers | Texas license holders performing brokerage for a buyer of residential property |
| Trigger | Before touring a home | Before showing residential property, or before presenting an offer if nothing is shown |
| Enforced by | MLS and association rules | TREC (failing to enter the agreement is a ground for discipline under §1101.652) |
| Content | Compensation objectively ascertainable and not open-ended | Services, term, exclusivity, representation status, compensation and how it’s determined, plus the conspicuous “fully negotiable” statement |
If you’ve been following the NAR rules since 2024, most of your workflow carries over. The differences are the offer-only trigger, the specific content list, and the fact that the regulator is now TREC.
The contract side moved too. Paragraph 12B of the current TREC One to Four Family Residential Contract (20-19) opens with the same line: brokerage compensation is not set by law and is fully negotiable. Each party pays their own broker under separate written agreements, and any seller or buyer contribution goes in 12B. The buyer agreement is one of those separate written agreements. For more on the listing side, see TXR-1101 Paragraph 5.
The IABS Changed With It
TREC updated the Information About Brokerage Services form to match SB 1968. IABS 1-2 has been required since January 1, 2026. It now tells consumers that a written agreement is required before showing residential property, describes showing property without representation, and says the showing-only agreement can’t be exclusive and is limited to 14 days. It also drops subagency, which SB 1968 removed. More in TREC’s 2026 form changes.
What Goes Wrong
The agreement is dated after the first showing. The agent showed three houses on Saturday and got the agreement signed Monday. The file now shows the order backwards, and the date is the evidence.
The agreement expired before the contract. Buyer searches for four months on a 90-day agreement. Nobody notices until the contract comes in. Check the termination date against the contract’s Effective Date.
The showing-only agreement turned into representation. Fourteen days, non-exclusive, no advice, and then the agent presents an offer without a new agreement.
The compensation section is blank or vague. The statute requires the amount or rate and how it’s determined. “Per MLS” isn’t either, and MLS doesn’t carry offers of compensation anymore anyway.
The buyer agreement and 12B don’t match. The buyer agreement says one thing, the contract’s seller contribution says another, and nobody explained the gap to the buyer before closing. That’s a conversation for the agent and broker, not something to discover on the settlement statement.
What a TC Tracks on the Buyer Side
A transaction coordinator doesn’t decide whether an agreement complies with the statute and doesn’t fill one out on their own. That’s the agent and the broker. What a TC does is check the file for completeness and keep it. On a Texas buyer file, we check:
- The signed buyer agreement is in the file, signed by the buyer and the agent.
- Its date is on or before the first showing date (or before the offer, if nothing was shown). If the dates don’t line up, we flag it to the agent and broker.
- The termination date is filled in, and it’s still in effect on the contract’s Effective Date.
- Exclusive or non-exclusive is marked, and the representation status is clear.
- The compensation section is complete, and the agent knows whether the contract’s 12B contribution covers it.
- If the buyer started on a 14-day showing agreement, the separate representation agreement is in the file before the offer.
- IABS 1-2 (not 1-1) is in the file with the buyer’s acknowledgment, if your brokerage collects one.
- Any amendment or extension to the buyer agreement is signed and filed.
When something’s missing, we tell the agent and the broker. We don’t interpret the statute for them, and we don’t “fix” a document the agent hasn’t directed. The broker back office stays current either way, so a broker reviewing the file sees the same thing we do.
Brokers: the Texas Broker Compliance Checklist has the buyer-side items alongside the rest of the 2026 file review.
The Bottom Line
The law didn’t invent the buyer agreement. Most Texas agents were already using one. What changed is that the date now matters as much as the signature. A signed agreement dated the day after the first showing is a file that tells the wrong story.
Our advice is boring and it works: get the agreement signed before you unlock the first door, put the termination date on your calendar, and treat the 14-day showing agreement as a 14-day showing agreement.
Agents: we keep Texas files complete from executed contract to closing, with a dedicated TC and a backup on every file. Onboarding is same day or next day. See our Texas TC services, our pricing, or get in touch.
TCs: our TC Training Course covers the file-review workflow that sits behind every checklist above.
