They are just making a last ditch effort to see if there is any way they can lose.

Profits should be distributed based on shares invested in entire business regardless of whether they invest in a particular house or not.The more troublesome issue is how to reimburse the member who inevitably will put more personal effort into the business.  

With not too much effort, you can buy very high quality assets.  

From my marketing efforts, I have couple of leads generated that are way out of my area/state.  

Obviously not all agents are willing to put in the same effort but I like to think the better ones earn their keep.  

As things stand here in NB for the moment, the best I can hope for from our energy efficiency and net-zero power efforts is reverse metering to the point of zeroing out my bill with the electrical utility.  

I think as @Steve Vaughan mentions "procuring cause" is an important issue with listing agreementsRemember that it's the sellers money that needs to be paid to the listing agent even if they fail to sell the house for a period of time after the listing expires if that listing was the reason why you found the property (MLS)What I do with the seller if we have an existing listing it hasn't expired yet but it's close to expiring, is to ask the seller to contact the broker of record, Bring your listing agreement with them, and have them cancel the listing in writing, specifically saying that if they do rent it or sell it down the road they are owed no moneyAnother possible solution is to give the agent/broker of record some money to reimburse them for marketing efforts, which include signs and Internet labor."

I guess why make the effort if you're just renting out or flipping.

Is the accounting easy enough to do by oneself (is the ration time/effort to cost worth it ?) 

MaxMax,What you're missing is a good chance you'll receive any positive return from your efforts...I don't know about you, but I don't work for FREE.