Recently, they have become so busy that they are willing to do referrals to outside agents (agents working for another brokerage); the outside agent in turn pays the listing agent a referral fee if anything closes.The outside agent who is in a referral arrangement will be given treatment the same as the listing agent's other team members; so they will have access to listings during the exclusive listing period in spite of being an outside agent.

I agree with you, and get this, I work for the federal government.We are no different than anyone else and we must be good on or financial obligations in spite of what our employer is doing.

Also we have seen reasonable appreciation inspite of this strategy ie 2.5 to 5% gains last few years and I some case much more with no property declining in value.

LOLFWIW I've been clicking around on there, and it appears that there are surprising number of MDs..... now, if only doctors earned enough to qualify for mortgages on Bay Area real estate at price points suitable to Their Majesties, in spite of their student loan debt, I'd be onto something! 

In spite of the holiday weekend many open homes had good traffic.

Many real estate investors I've met are so married to their numbers that in spite of loads of great advice, they are still going to do what they wanted to do.  

I met lots of great people (in spite of VERY poorly timed laryngitis!)

Michael Yarbrough In spite of hearing otherwise from other investors for years, most code violation info is not public information in CA.

Cap rates seem to be holding steady in spite of the high interest rates.

They are lovely girls in their 20s and one has a service dog in spite of my no pets policy.