I'll just add that you are better off using whatever marketing funds you've budgeted to invite people in your sphere out for coffee, a light lunch or beers/wine after work...or host a happy hour for a dozen or so people.

I invited a structural engineer to the property who told me there is no structural issues with the house and the wall that runs along the hall is not a load bearing wall but to extend the living room, dining room, kitchen and bedrooms into that space would require at least 3 foundation footings, a foundation beam and a 1 hour firewall to be built.

Did I unnecessarily inviting the realtor into a deal that did not require his efforts in the first place had i gotten in contact with the owners directly?

I would assume there are plenty of young couples that probably want a get-away to Gatlinburg without having to invite their entire extended family to fill a 7 bedroom home.

@Dan Mackin thanks for the invite to Erie.

Not sure exactly how those work, but if you're interested message me your email address and I can send you an invite to my "team".

I have been to many of these events as an invited guest .. and people do get caught up in it..the one I went to in Vegas the Vegas summit that had the flippin Vegas show stars that showed up for a cameo.. they did about 45 minutes of Q and A and they were out of there.but again what they did in that market and whats reality today is just apples and oranges..

I was thinking of going tonight and your invitation has tipped the scale.

They invite you to a 3-day seminar that is really a long infomercial to set you up to buy one of their training packages.  

He was nice to me when he invited me to do the NY Meetup.