Do You Fight Over Money You Haven't Yet Earned??????

I think this happens when agents are in desperate times. It's hard for those that struggle to the next deal and feel they have to fight over money they haven't earned.

I hear you Tina.  My partner and I have sacrificed literally thousands of dollars this year to make deals work in the best interest of our clients.  A lot of agents don't seem to understand the concept of give before you get.  They're willing to let a deal fall through because they don't want to foot the expense of turning on the utilities for one of their listings. So we do it.  They don't want to give up part of their commission to close the gap on the net proceeds of short sale to make it work. So we do it.  What business owners have to understand is, once you place YOUR best interests ahead of your clients/customers best interests, you're done as a business owner.  Great post and best of luck to you.

   I must have missed your point. If I am going to host an open house for a listing agent, I want to know on the front end how we are going to handle commissions if I get a buyer.  The listing agent will get the listing side anyway.  Maybe the host who brings a buyer will also pay the seller a referral fee off the buyer side.  Some listing agents just say, "Bring a buyer, and SELL IT"  After losing two times this year on situations where other fine church-attending agents conveniently forgot what we had previously agreed upon, I make sure I find the right referral forms in the front office at the very start of working with MY CLIENT.  Not everyone, I found, had parents that taught them their word is their bond.