Wow, this thread has really exposed the predicament a diy unlicensed buyer, who wants to see some value rewarded for his efforts, faces.The cartel lives on. I didn’t think about the possibility that some listing agents might go to such lengths to hold on to the commission or avoid the unrepresented buyer for so many other reasons.
It seems like a reasonable compromise could be reached easily,on a case by case basis.

So where does that put you Now xBoxBoy?

I think the idea of getting the license still
looks good. I am a big diyfer though.

If you are going to do all the searching and find a property to buy and hand it to an motivated independent office on a silver platter, I don’t think it should be necessary to worry about doing the transaction to get a big rebate. They should do it.Even if you just find a broker and tell them that you want to be an extremely low maintenance client they might cut a good deal with you and give you just the support you need.Maybe they would even surprise you.

In previous listings I have written that I would charge the seller 4% ,if I did both sides, which I was willing to do. I let the seller know that it was pretty unlikely to occur.I guess I thought the benefit should go to the seller and that I wanted them to know I would not take an absolute windfall from them.It only happened once and the buyer wanted my representation rather than to do it himself. It would have been hard to cooperate with a buyer who was expecting a large percentage rebate from the commission.