Apartment Investing Confidentiality Agreement?

[Tom Furlough]

Hey everyone,

I recently contacted a broker I found on LoopNet. They responded with a "confidentiality agreement" for me to sign. The first 8 points of the agreement seemed to be pretty reasonable items about contacting the broker instead of the seller, not sharing details of the property with anyone else, etc. However, the last item was basically an exclusive agency agreement with the broker for 12 months. I've never even communicated with the broker via email, and am not comfortable committing to them as an agent before I know anything about them, or they know what I'm looking for.

I'm new to commercial investing and am unsure whether this is common practice or something that should concern me. All thoughts are welcome.

Thanks!