In a procuring cause dispute between two cooperating brokers, the decisive question is generally:

Which broker started an unbroken chain of events leading to the sale

Which broker first showed the buyer any property at all

Which broker holds the higher license classification

Which broker first entered the property into the multiple listing service database

Broker Lin shows a buyer a home in May. The buyer stops responding, then in August works with Broker Ferraro, who reshows the same home, negotiates, and closes the sale. On procuring cause, the stronger position belongs to:

Ferraro, whose unbroken effort produced the contract

Lin, who was first to introduce the buyer to the property

Neither, because the MLS decides by first showing date

Both equally, requiring an automatic split of the fee

Broker Deane introduced the Larkins to a home and toured it with them three times. After a falling-out with Deane, the Larkins wrote their offer through Broker Ilsa, who had never shown them the property. In the resulting commission dispute, the decisive question will be:

Which broker began and sustained the unbroken chain of events leading to the sale

Which broker first advertised the property publicly

Which broker's name appears on the purchase contract

Which broker was a member of the listing office's MLS

Under an open listing, a seller may:

Engage multiple brokers and owe a commission only to the one who procures the buyer

Refuse to pay any commission at all

Owe a full commission to every broker who showed the property during the listing term

Cancel only with the written consent of all brokers

Exam vocabulary · basis for commission entitlement

What Is Procuring Cause in Real Estate?

Definition

Procuring cause is the unbroken chain of events started by a broker’s efforts that actually leads the buyer to purchase, and it is what entitles that broker to the commission. Disputes between cooperating brokers over it go to arbitration, not to whoever merely wrote the offer.

How the exam tests procuring cause

These mirror the phrasing you will see on test day. Answer them, then read the explanation whether or not you got it right.

Procuring Cause: exam questions1/5

Agency

Procuring cause refers to the broker who:

score 0/0

Every procuring cause question, answered

Every question above with its correct answer and the reasoning behind it. Read the explanations for the ones you answered correctly too. A lucky guess and knowing the rule look identical on a score report. These are sample questions from our larger bank.

1. Procuring cause refers to the broker who:
- AStarted and maintained an uninterrupted chain of events leading to the salecorrect
- BWas the first to register the buyer with the listing office
- CPhysically delivered the accepted offer to the seller
- DHeld the first open house on the property
Why: Entitlement turns on causation — beginning an unbroken series of events that produced the ready, willing and able buyer. Being first to open the door or first to file a registration form is evidence, not the standard itself.
Agency
2. In a procuring cause dispute between two cooperating brokers, the decisive question is generally:
- AWhich broker first showed the buyer any property at all
- BWhich broker holds the higher license classification
- CWhich broker first entered the property into the multiple listing service database
- DWhich broker started an unbroken chain of events leading to the salecorrect
Why: Procuring cause turns on which broker set in motion an uninterrupted series of events that resulted in the sale. Merely being the first to show any property is not enough, because an abandoned or broken chain of causation transfers the claim to the broker who actually carried the buyer to contract.
Agency
3. Broker Lin shows a buyer a home in May. The buyer stops responding, then in August works with Broker Ferraro, who reshows the same home, negotiates, and closes the sale. On procuring cause, the stronger position belongs to:
- ALin, who was first to introduce the buyer to the property
- BNeither, because the MLS decides by first showing date
- CBoth equally, requiring an automatic split of the fee
- DFerraro, whose unbroken effort produced the contractcorrect
Why: Ferraro's continuous involvement from reshowing to closing forms the unbroken chain that produced the sale. Lin's earlier introduction was interrupted by the buyer's abandonment, and a broken chain of events generally defeats a procuring cause claim.
Agency
4. Broker Deane introduced the Larkins to a home and toured it with them three times. After a falling-out with Deane, the Larkins wrote their offer through Broker Ilsa, who had never shown them the property. In the resulting commission dispute, the decisive question will be:
- AWhich broker first advertised the property publicly
- BWhich broker's name appears on the purchase contract
- CWhich broker was a member of the listing office's MLS
- DWhich broker began and sustained the unbroken chain of events leading to the salecorrect
Why: Procuring cause disputes are decided on the continuity of the effort that produced the sale, not on whose name got typed onto the contract. A broker who merely writes up a buyer another broker cultivated often loses the arbitration.
Agency
5. Under an open listing, a seller may:
- ARefuse to pay any commission at all
- BOwe a full commission to every broker who showed the property during the listing term
- CCancel only with the written consent of all brokers
- DEngage multiple brokers and owe a commission only to the one who procures the buyercorrect
Why: An open listing lets a seller engage multiple brokers and owe a commission only to the one who procures the buyer. Owing commissions to every broker who showed the property misdescribes the arrangement, which pays a single procuring cause.
Contracts

Where procuring cause sits in the exam vocabulary

Procuring Cause is a basis for commission entitlement, and so are ready, willing and able. That matters more than it sounds: a multiple-choice item builds its wrong answers out of siblings like these, because they are the options that look plausible to someone who has learned the category but not the distinction. If procuring cause appears as the correct answer, expect to see ready, willing and able on the same screen.

Procuring Cause does not stand on its own: it assumes you already know ready, willing and able. Questions that look like they are testing procuring cause are often really testing whether that idea is solid underneath it.

The exam most often tries to catch you by putting procuring cause next to ready, willing and able. Each of those is a real concept sitting close enough to be tempting, and the question usually turns on the single feature that separates them rather than on the definition of either one. Read the contrast, not the term.

Related exam terms

Tested alongside

Often confused with

Know this first

Procuring Cause belongs to the basis for commission entitlement family of exam concepts. When it is solid, take the free real estate exam prep or browse the full real estate exam vocabulary.