What would you pay for a closed deal?

[Dana Haake]

First post here....  

Let me begin with a big thank you to the gazillions of people on here that have written all the content I've spent hours upon hours reading. I'll hopefully be able to one day share the knowledge that will come from the experiences of REI. On to the question...

It seems like one of the biggest keys to success is finding deals but from my initial experience so far, it appears this is also one of the toughest parts of the process, especially in a hot market like Charlotte, NC and the surrounding area. I am putting together a strategy for increasing the number of deals presented to me (using a lot of the suggestions found in various BP books) and one that I have a question about is offering a commission to someone for finding deals for me.  For example, if I have a friend who is would be willing to search for deals (drive for dollars, walk for dollars, search online, etc) and bring them to me so I could discuss and hopefully close on a purchase with the owner, what would be a fair compensation structure to offer that friend? Set price, percent of purchase price?  I know I would pay a wholesaler handsomely for this same service but I don't know what their markup is. 

In advance, thanks for any advice.