Ethics question

[Josh Sterling]

background:

About 2 years ago a commercial broker whom I know through friends showed us a building he had as a listing. We liked the property and entered negotiations with the seller. As it turned out, when we met the owner to view the building, we found out that he had gone to school with my wife and they knew each other. Shortly after we submitted an informal offer, the seller decided that they were not going to sell the property after all (the market was rapidly improving). We went our separate ways, the listing must have expired, and we thought nothing else of it.

Fast forward to this week (about 2 years later) the seller contacted my wife to see if we were still interested in buying, as now they are ready to sell. The building is not listed with anyone and has not been for quite a while and the sellers would like to do this deal without an agent/broker to save the commissions.

Is it wrong for us to proceed with the deal? We would have never known of it if not for the listing broker. On the other hand, it turns out that my wife knew the sellers, and the listing has long since expired.

Should we go through with it and then give the listing broker a referral fee as a show of gratitude? (Which obviously would have to come from our pocket as opposed to a traditional transaction where the seller pays the commission)

What do you think?

Josh