Referred three deals to a group on a handshake and got paid on one

The piece that would have fixed all three is not the referral agreement, it's the escrow instructions. If you're named as a payee on the settlement statement, the closer pays you and you get a document showing the math. Verbal 50/50 makes you an unsecured creditor of a guy with a phone.

One page is fine. Put in it that they will provide the fully signed assignment and the final settlement statement within five days of closing, and that your share is paid at closing through escrow. Whether a title company or attorney handles that closing at all depends on your state, so ask whoever closes in your market what they'll actually agree to disburse. Some will pay a third party off the statement, some will not touch it.

I read deal two differently than you do, harrow. A buyer renegotiating at inspection usually means the contract price was wrong when it was signed. If their spread went from $9k to $800, they either bought high or marketed a number they couldn't support. You got half of a bad deal, which is what half of a bad deal pays.

That's separate from deal three, which is just not paying you.

If you keep doing this, ask for the original purchase contract on every referral, not only the assignment. It tells you the price they locked and how much room existed before anyone touched it. If the room was thin at signing, expect the fee to move.

Dumb question, when you say closing statement, that's the document listing every dollar in and out at the closing table? I'm starting from zero and I've been sending leads to a guy in my area on a text agreement, which after reading this I'm going to write down instead.