Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee Real Estate Forms Are Live: Three Paths to Dual Agency, Three State Editions
Sixteen states down, thirty-five jurisdictions to go. The Real Estate Forms Library started with California, Texas, Florida, and New York, then grew through Georgia, New Jersey, Arizona, Illinois, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, and Colorado. Today three more states join the catalog: Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee are live, each with all 12 core forms re-drafted around that state's own license law, agency-disclosure rules, and property-disclosure statute. That brings the library to 16 states and 192 live state-specific editions.
These three are a natural trio because all three permit disclosed dual agency, but each gets there by a different road. Michigan uses a statutory agency-disclosure form and recognizes designated agency as the modern alternative. Ohio layers a consumer guide, a statutory agency disclosure statement, and a split-agency structure that keeps a management-level licensee in the dual-agent seat. Tennessee starts every licensee out as a facilitator and only moves them into agency, dual agency, or designated agency with a written agreement. If you work across the Great Lakes and the mid-South, the differences matter on the first page of nearly every transaction.
Why generic templates fail in these three states
Most brokerages start with a generic template. It has a paragraph on agency, a paragraph on disclosure, and a signature block. That is fine as a starting point and dangerous as an ending point, because the state-specific pieces are exactly what regulators, arbitrators, and opposing counsel look at first. A listing agreement that says "dual agency is permitted with consent" is accurate in Michigan, incomplete in Ohio, and misleading in Tennessee where the default relationship is not agency at all.
The state editions fix that at the drafting level. Every reference to a disclosure deadline, a written-agreement requirement, a commission-payment rule, or an electronic-signature statute is re-anchored to that state's law, and the 50-state appendix that ships with the master template is removed. What is left is a document that reads as if it were written for a Michigan, Ohio, or Tennessee transaction, because it was.
What just went live in Michigan
Michigan real estate licensing lives in Article 25 of the Occupational Code, and the agency-disclosure requirement sits alongside it: a licensee must provide the written Disclosure Regarding Real Estate Agency Relationships before the client discloses confidential information. The Michigan edition of the Dual Agency Disclosure & Informed Consent is built around that sequence. It explains the single-agent, dual-agent, and designated-agent options in plain language, requires informed written consent from both sides before dual representation begins, and offers designated agency as the structure most Michigan brokerages now prefer when two agents in the same office sit on opposite sides.
The Seller Property Condition Disclosure Statement — Michigan Edition follows the Michigan Seller Disclosure Act. The Act requires delivery of the seller's disclosure before a binding purchase agreement is signed, and it gives a buyer who receives the disclosure late a window to walk away. The template's commentary walks sellers through the timing, the "as-is" interaction, and the categories a Michigan seller must address, without copying the statutory form itself.
The Exclusive Right to Sell Listing Agreement and Exclusive Buyer Representation Agreement both reflect Michigan's statute-of-frauds rule that a promise to pay a real estate commission must be in writing, which is why the commission clause is more carefully drafted than in many generic forms. The Independent Contractor Agreement and Commission Disbursement Authorization incorporate Michigan's rule that a salesperson may be paid only through the employing broker.
Rounding out the Michigan set: the Addendum to Purchase Agreement, Counteroffer Form, Lead-Based Paint Disclosure, Real Estate Team Agreement, Referral Agreement, and Termination of Listing Agreement.
What just went live in Ohio
Ohio's agency framework is one of the most procedural in the country. Chapter 4735 of the Revised Code requires licensees to hand consumers the Consumer Guide to Agency Relationships early in the relationship and then deliver the statutory Agency Disclosure Statement before an offer is presented. Dual agency is lawful with written informed consent, and Ohio adds a split-agency option in which two affiliated licensees represent the two sides while the broker or a management-level licensee acts as the dual agent.
The Ohio edition of the Dual Agency Disclosure & Informed Consent is drafted around that structure. It explains what the dual agent can and cannot do, identifies the management-level licensee, and documents the client's consent in the manner Ohio practice expects. The drafting notes are explicit that this template supplements, and does not replace, the state-mandated disclosure documents.
The Seller Property Condition Disclosure Statement — Ohio Edition tracks the Ohio Residential Property Disclosure requirement, including the buyer's rescission right when the disclosure arrives after the offer. Ohio buyers and sellers tend to be surprised by that rescission window, so the commentary spends time on it.
The Exclusive Right to Sell Listing Agreement and Exclusive Buyer Representation Agreement build in Ohio's requirement that a listing or buyer agreement be in writing, carry a definite expiration date, and be signed by the licensee's broker or an authorized manager. The Independent Contractor Agreement and Commission Disbursement Authorization reflect the rule that compensation flows only through the broker, and the commercial-only scope of Ohio's broker lien statute is explained rather than overstated.
Also live for Ohio: the Addendum to Purchase Agreement, Counteroffer Form, Lead-Based Paint Disclosure, Real Estate Team Agreement, Referral Agreement, and Termination of Listing Agreement.
What just went live in Tennessee
Tennessee is the one of the three where "agent" is not the default word. Under the Tennessee Real Estate Broker License Act and the broker-relationship provisions that accompany it, a licensee is a facilitator (a transaction broker) unless and until a written agency agreement says otherwise. From there the licensee can become a single agent, a designated agent within a brokerage, or, with written informed consent of both parties, a disclosed dual agent. Tennessee licensees must also confirm their status in writing with a Confirmation of Agency Status at or before the contract stage.
The Tennessee edition of the Dual Agency Disclosure & Informed Consent presents all of those choices in one document so the consumer can see facilitator, designated agency, and disclosed dual agency side by side before consenting. The commentary explains why most Tennessee brokerages steer toward designated agency when two in-house agents are involved and reserves true dual agency for the narrow situations where a single licensee is on both sides.
The Seller Property Condition Disclosure Statement — Tennessee Edition follows the Tennessee Residential Property Disclosure Act, which lets a seller choose between a full disclosure statement and a disclaimer statement, as long as the choice is made before a binding contract. The template explains the trade-off and gives the seller the mechanics for either path.
The Exclusive Right to Sell Listing Agreement and Exclusive Buyer Representation Agreement are built on Tennessee's statute of frauds, which requires contracts for the sale of land to be in writing, and on the Tennessee Real Estate Commission's expectation that written agency agreements carry defined terms. The Independent Contractor Agreement and Commission Disbursement Authorization reflect Tennessee's rule that affiliate brokers are compensated solely through their principal broker. Because Tennessee has no general broker lien statute for residential sales, the lien discussion is phrased generally rather than citing a section that does not exist.
Also live for Tennessee: the Addendum to Purchase Agreement, Counteroffer Form, Lead-Based Paint Disclosure, Real Estate Team Agreement, Referral Agreement, and Termination of Listing Agreement.
What stayed out, on purpose
None of these editions reproduces a state-mandated or association-copyrighted form. Michigan's statutory agency disclosure, Ohio's Consumer Guide and Agency Disclosure Statement, and Tennessee's Confirmation of Agency Status are documents the licensee must deliver in the state-prescribed format. The library editions sit alongside those documents and explain how to use them; they do not substitute for them. Likewise, where a precise section number could not be verified, the drafting notes describe the rule generally rather than invent a citation. That is a deliberate choice: a template that is honest about what it does and does not cite is more useful to a broker and safer for a client.
Electronic signatures and the statute of frauds
All three states have adopted the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, so a properly executed electronic signature satisfies the writing requirement in each. The signature blocks in every edition are drafted to work on paper or through an e-signature platform, and the commentary explains what "properly executed" means in practice: a signer who intends to sign, an audit trail, and a record that can be retained and reproduced. Each state's statute of frauds is referenced in the listing, buyer, and addendum documents so that the writing requirement is addressed on the face of the form rather than left to assumption.
Independent contractors and broker lien law
Michigan and Ohio each have a commercial broker lien statute; Tennessee does not have a general one. The independent-contractor and commission documents in all three editions describe the licensee's status under state license law and the federal statutory non-employee rule for real estate agents, and they are careful to explain that the broker, not the salesperson, is the party who holds and disburses the commission. Teams get the same treatment in the Real Estate Team Agreement family: the team operates under the broker's license, and the agreement allocates money and responsibility among team members without pretending the team is its own brokerage.
Using the new editions responsibly
Every edition carries a disclaimer and a set of drafting notes, and both deserve to be read. The templates are drafting tools for licensed professionals and their counsel. They are not a substitute for the state-mandated disclosure forms, for brokerage policy, or for legal advice on a specific transaction. The commentary flags the places where a brokerage should check its own office policy, where a client should be walked through a choice rather than handed a form, and where a lawyer should review before the document is used in a live deal.
Format and pricing
Each edition is delivered as a print-ready PDF with fill-in-the-blank fields, signature blocks, drafting commentary, and disclaimers. You can browse the full catalog on the forms library page, including every state edition of the Exclusive Right to Sell Listing Agreement, the Dual Agency Informed Consent, and the Independent Contractor Agreement. Each form page lists the states currently available and links to the matching state edition.
What's next
The expansion continues through the remaining states in order of agent population: South Carolina, Maryland, and Massachusetts are next, followed by Indiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri, and the rest of the country, with the District of Columbia last. Once all 51 jurisdictions are live, the library shifts from adding states to adding form types: escalation addenda, escrow instructions, open house sign-in and liability waivers, FSBO commission agreements, lease listing agreements, and property management agreements, each drafted state by state on the same pattern. If you work in Michigan, Ohio, or Tennessee, the state editions you need are live today.