"Travis Jordan" wrote in message
. ..
D. Gerasimatos wrote:
If that's really what the seller was going to do and he refuses on
those grounds, then I think the buyer should compensate the agent
himself, even if he is not legally obligated to. However, the buyer
should ask the seller first.

But...the agent didn't find this property for the buyer, the buyer
located it for themselves.

Legally there isn't any obligation to the agent. If the buyer wants to
thank the agent for the time they put into looking at properties then a
gift certificate for a (good) local restaurant or something equivalent
would be adequate compensation.



I agree. I worked with an agent a few years ago that showed me a TON of
places -- however, each time either the place was not what I asked for
(larger or smaller) or not in my price range, etc. there were one or 2 that
maybe was what I was looking for. One she took me to was a for sale by
owner (which she saw in the paper and thought was perfect for me) it was
perfect but the seller definately did not want to cover the agents fee and I
was in no position to pay over the asking price since it was already priced
at my maximum I could afford.

When I finally found a place (on my own by driving around) and it was a for
sale by owner and was below my max spending point, I put in an offer on my
own, it was accepted and I called my own lawyer to handle the deal. I sent
the agent a nice note thanking her for her time and explaining what occurred
(I found something on my own) and that was the end of it.

Had she actually took me to see some things that actually might have worked,
but fell through - well, maybe then a nice plant or gift certificate would
have been nice to send