I hired a Realtor to rent one of my apartments. Another agent from a different agency found a woman and she moved in signing a 1 yr lease. I paid my Realtor the one months rent fee and of course he gave half to the other realty co. The woman ended up leaving after two months without letting anyone know. She took off to Florida. My realtor apologized and told me he would help me find a new tenant at no cost. Well here we are 3 months later and through his listing another agent found a suitable tenant. My Realtor said HE won't take any fees but I need to pay the other realtor 1/2 months rent fee. I don't feel this is right. He made the contract the first time with the other realtor and now they won't return his phone call or give him or us a refund. I'm sure someone out there has had this same situation and can tell me if I'm off base here. Thanks and appreciate the advice. --68.191.xx.xx

Terry, you are off base. You have the nicest realtor willing to work for free but asking another realtor at the same time to work for free also is pushing it. Realtors cannot guarantee the performance of a tenant and people do strange things all the time. This bulletin board is full of such stories. Most of us advertize, screen and rent our own places. If you are going to hire someone to do this work for you, you will need to pay them. In your situation right now, I would recommend you advertise yourself on Craigslist and other free websites and find someone. It would be faster and cheaper for you. Most renters do not approach realtors when they are looking, it is usually the buyers that deal with them. A huge number of people are now searching the internet and Craigslist is very popular. Good luck. --12.161.xxx.xx

See if you can work a deal to protet yourself. --69.115.xxx.xxx

Thanks Nancy. Yes, I agree with you. Although, the best case would be to not use a realtor, I'm close to 45 min. away and can't run and show apartment and well as have the time to screen tenants. We pay the realtor to find qualified people to the best of their ability. You will always find rotten eggs. The fee was for a 12 month lease which was paid all up front. (I have learned from this mistake)My realtor is trying to get the prorated amount back from other realtor which he split the finders fee with however, I'm not hopeful. Since I never had an issue before, I never thought of negotiating this with realtor. I will try to do this for the future. Thanks. --68.191.xx.xx

The situation for you sucks, but you can't get blood from a turnip. Delayed compensation is the only way to go... it's the only way to protect yourself from what happened the first time... also, be involved in the screening process... don't get caught with another bum. --70.250.xxx.xxx

You screened the tenant the agent only made the connection. Really the pay is so little that most Realtors don't bother. If somebody wanted to pay me only if the person stayed for the entire year I would walk. Were you planning to pay them more if the tenant stayed for 5 years? You need to be more involved in the process or sell it. --146.165.xx.xx

It is really the Realtors job to screen the tenants and get recommendations. That how it works in my area. That's what I pay them for. The pay is so little? $1400 to walk someone through and do a credit check and the tenant. You call that little pay. You must be a realtor! --68.191.xx.xx