Buying A Home
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How much to give our realtor that did a good job, but did not find us a house
We have been working with a realtor for about a month, he showed us around 5 houses (1 of them more than once), and we had put 1 offer on a house that was accepted, but the deal fell through (not by our fault or our realtor's fault). We since have decided we wanted to build and have met with a builder, but feel like we should give our realtor something for the time that he put in helping us. He is an aquaintance of my husband's (they play in a league together), so he will continue to see him weekly after we stop working together, which is another reason why we feel we should give him something instead of leaving him hanging. Just looking for an appropriate amount, we were looking for houses around $200-250k, we are renting right now so we don't have anything to sell, we were just looking to buy.
Re: How much to give our realtor that did a good job, but did not find us a house
Honestly, that's just part of the business for them. Some deals go through, and some don't. Your agent isn't owed anything unless and until a purchase closes.
Like PP said though, your agent can represent you while working with a builder.
However, if you won't use them for the new build, and feel socially compelled to give something, I might write a thank-you nice card, include $100 for a local restaurant, and call it a day.
Our builder offers a referral fee to our realtor and most do. They don't call it commission but they still give the realtors a 3% 'referral'. You should ask about that!
5 houses really is not that much time so don't feel too bad. I would get a gift card to somewhere. If they had shown you houses for months on end and a ton of properties I might feel inclined to do a little more but in your case a giftcard would be nice. Even that isn't necessary, it's part of the business.