Traded exclusivity for a 48 hour first look, and the non-circumvention clause saved deal three
Buyer is a rental operator running around 40 doors who adds two a month when the price is right. He wanted exclusivity. I wanted repeat volume without being his unpaid acquisitions department. What we papered instead:
First look on anything matching his written box, 48 hours from when I send it, after which I can go anywhere. Fee schedule tiered by the discount to his stated all-in ceiling, so the deeper I bring it, the higher my number, capped. Non-circumvention on any seller I introduce him to, twelve months. Buy box dated, and it expires every 90 days unless he re-signs it.
Five months in, three closed. Fees were 6,500, 9,000 and 4,000. All three closed in under 30 days because he was already committed on the phone before I sent anything to title.
The 4,000 was ugly. Sewer line came back worse than my walk suggested, he wanted to renegotiate the fee rather than kill it, and I took the haircut because a live buyer is worth more than being right.
What nearly broke it was staff. His acquisitions guy left in month four and the replacement had never heard of me. He went back to a seller I'd introduced on a deal that didn't close and tried to buy it direct. I sent him the non-circumvention clause with the date on it, he sent it to their attorney, and the deal came back through me at the scheduled fee. That clause cost me nothing to include and paid for the whole arrangement in one afternoon.
What I'd keep: the 90 day expiry on the buy box. His ceiling moved twice in five months and both times the re-sign is what told me, instead of me finding out by wasting three weeks.
What I'd change: the tiered fee cap. I capped it at 12,000 to make him comfortable signing and the second deal would have paid more than that on a straight percentage.