Three 60-day agreements instead of one, and what changed at each renewal
Eleven months, 31 houses, one purchase at 348,000. The thing I'd tell anyone who plans slowly is that a single long agreement gives you nothing to talk about, and a short one that keeps renewing gives you a scheduled reason to reprice the relationship.
First 60 days: 2.5 percent, standard form, nothing negotiated except the term. He toured me through 14 houses and I bought nothing. At renewal I asked what he'd learned about what I wanted, and his answer was good enough that I re-signed.
Second 60 days: I asked for 2.2 percent and got it, on the argument that I was writing my own comp analysis and sending him addresses. Also added a carve-out I'm glad about, a flat 4,000 on any new construction bought directly from a builder, because I'd read enough to know the builder pays a fixed co-op and the percentage math gets silly there.
Third and fourth renewals: no change to price. Added a line that either of us could end it with 10 days written notice, which he suggested, not me.
What nearly broke it: I walked a model home alone on a Sunday out of curiosity and did not put his name on the sign-in sheet. That builder's policy said the agent has to accompany the first visit or no co-op is paid. We didn't buy there, but if we had, my 4,000 carve-out would have turned into me owing 4,000 out of pocket for a fee the builder would no longer fund.
Bought a 1978 ranch, 348,000, seller side funded 2.2 percent, 7,656, no cash from me for the fee. What I'd keep: the 60-day cadence. What I'd change: I'd have written the builder registration rule into my own calendar, not just my head.