CA Realtor vs Wholesaler Ethics Question

[Amy Konopka]

I've landed an off market deal but I'm afraid I may be stretching some ethical boundaries. First off, never my intention to "swoop in" and make the deal. The seller contacted me after she cancelled with her current wholesaler. But do I owe my realtor a commission? Would a $1000 thank you be a bit rude?

My realtor sends out the mass email listing. I like the property, ask her to show me the property on Thursday. She doesn't have time till Sunday. I ask her to contact listing agent-- never got through. I'm impatient and went up by myself. Established rapport with the seller. It was a hoarder house, but I imagine people just weren't very nice and she gave me her whole life story and I shared some of mine. She even wanted me to call her if I had more questions. She gave me her number and I gave her mine.

My question is this- if I get a lawyer and do this deal off market, do I inform my agent and pay them the 2.5 commission she was expecting when it was on the MLS? I don't want her handling the deal at all- she admitted in a text she knows nothing about wholesaling (when it was on the MLS the broker told her its a wholesale deal-cash only), not to mention she messed up the contract by +10K when writing it up (I was going through the Docu sign when she texted me and said the Seller pulled out). But she did send the mass email that got me to look. I'm planning on just getting a Real Estate attorney involved to whip up the paperwork since I may be doing Seller Financing for 100K .Couple grand better than a 14,500 commission. Plus they know what they're doing.

I'm not attached to this realtor. She's more like a friend of a friend. I lost a lot of confidence in her with the 10K contract mistake amongst other things.