When you are all ready to see houses, and excited about the prospect of seeing those homes, especially if one of them really caught your eye, there's almost nothing worse than having a piece of paper shoved in front of you the moment you meet an agent and being told that you MUST sign before you can see any properties.
It's simply not true. You don't have to sign anything. It's not the law.... (for you)
Now, the real estate agent is bound by law to discuss agency with you at the first substantial meeting. Whether or not you choose to sign an exclusive buyer representation agreement is entirely up to you. You should not feel pressured by any real estate agent to ever sign anything..
Buyers Agency agreements are intended to protect the buyer. Years ago, all agents represented the seller, and owed their fiduciary responsibility to the seller. So even though you were working with an agent who was showing you properties, that agent worked for the seller to get them the highest price. Seems a little quirky, doesn't it?
That's one of the reasons that Agency was changed, and there are all types of representation agreements. You can choose to be exclusively represented by one agency, you can choose (with the appropriate agreement and language) to work with a number of agencies, you can choose to be represented for specific properties only, you can choose representation for the day, the week, the month, etc., or define your parameters for the agreement in most any way you want. You can also choose NOT to be represented. By the way, there is also an agreement (form) for that, too.
What I am saying here is that the agreement, and type of agreement is also negotiable. If you are ever pushed into signing ANYTHING, run... don't walk to the next agent.