There's typically a time limit to how long that lasts, but the fact is this agent helped you and is considered the "procuring cause" of the deal, so you should honor that and ensure they are paid.It was unethical of you to approach the buyer and try to cut out the agent, and it is definitely unethical of the seller, which makes me question whether the seller is someone you want to deal with. 

But "it didn't redeem and he got tired of paying the tax bill and cutting the grass so he let it go". 

Sellers won't list because they have 3% mortgages and won't want to trade those, or won't be willing to have to absorb price cuts so they'll be knocked out.

And cut spending where I can!

You cannot cut locks, you cannot take possession, you cannot set foot on the property, you cannot make any improvements.

The nun's explained that they proposed the advance payment to cut down on the work of their AP department, simplify their finances, as they would be renting a number of rentals, and having the AP department prepare checks monthly would overwhelm them.

With cutting edge software.

Furnishing a place is also death by 1000 cuts.

@Blaise Peterson from a PMC point of view:If the property is vacant, we'd just terminate the contract, because there's nothing really to manage and we don't just want to be used cut the grass.If tenant-occupied, there's a host of liability issues for a PMC if owner hires another agent to list for sale:1) Who knows what transgressions the Owner's agent will cause with the tenant while showing it, possibly resulting in the owner and the PMC getting sued.

In person cuts a lot of that out. 2.