If you’ve ever spoken with an agent once and hung up wondering why they’re asking you to sign something called the Consumer Guide to Agency, here’s the short answer: they’re required to ask.

That’s true even if you have no intention of working with them.
It’s true even if you’re “just looking”.
It’s true even if you won’t be ready to move for another six months.

And yes, this requirement is legally mandated. Failing to request it can be a licensing violation. So when an agent brings it up early - sometimes uncomfortably early - it isn’t a sales tactic. It’s compliance.

Let’s begin with what the Consumer Guide to Agency (CG2A) is not.

Most importantly, it is not an agreement to work with an agent or brokerage. It does not legally bind you to anyone. In fact, most versions don’t even include a place for the agent’s signature - only yours. A document signed by only one party cannot be a contract.

Instead, the CG2A is a disclosure. Its purpose is to explain the different types of agency a real estate professional may offer buyers, sellers, renters, and landlords through their brokerage. It outlines the duties an agent and brokerage would owe you if you later decide to work together. It also includes a Fair Housing statement identifying protected classes and explaining how to recognise potential discrimination.

These guides are not universal. They vary by brokerage. For example, some brokerages permit agents to represent both buyer and seller in the same transaction; others prohibit it entirely. That’s just one example of why the details matter.

If you’d like to see the version I use at Keller Williams Greater Metropolitan, I’m always happy to share it and talk through the clauses line by line.

The Consumer Guide is not required nationwide, but in Ohio it falls under Ohio Revised Code §4735.56.

It’s required for:
- The sale or lease of vacant land
- The sale of real estate with four or fewer residential units
- Residential leases that extend longer than 18 months

Without a signed CG2A, agents cannot advertise or show a seller’s property. On the buyer side, agents cannot discuss pre-qualification, show homes outside of open houses, talk through potential offers, submit an offer, or - critically - enter into a Buyer Agency Agreement.

Agents are taught during pre-licensing to request the Consumer Guide at the first substantive contact. Without it, our role is limited to things like sending listing alerts or general market updates. Anything more substantive puts our license at risk.

No.

Agents and brokerages must retain signed Consumer Guides for three years, but they are not routinely shared with anyone else. Your lender doesn’t need it. The title company doesn’t need it. A co-broker and their client don’t see it either.

The only time the document is reviewed outside the brokerage is if the Division of Real Estate requests it during an audit. If it becomes clear that a CG2A was not signed at the appropriate point in the relationship, the agent may face disciplinary action. Repeated noncompliance carries increasingly serious consequences.

Despite the fact that the Consumer Guide is simply a disclosure - and does not commit a consumer to anything - agents encounter refusals all the time. Ironically, once signed, the document does bind the agent and brokerage to specific standards of conduct.

When someone refuses, agents are required to document when and how the request was made, and when and how it was declined. And yes, agents hate this part. No one wants to start a relationship with repeated follow-ups that feel like nagging.

I don’t want you to feel pressured or cornered. Not on a first call. Not after years of knowing each other. But my real estate license matters deeply to me. It represents my livelihood, my credibility, and my professional standing. I won’t risk disciplinary action by ignoring laws I fully understand.

So I will ask. And I may ask again. And if you’d like, I’ll take the time to walk through the disclosure carefully and answer every question you have.

Now you know why that document appears long before you’ve decided whether an agent is the right fit. It may be the only document you ever sign with them - or they may guide you all the way to closing. Either way, the Consumer Guide isn’t the document that commits them to do so.