The area I currently live/work in has absolutely no opportunity for a home in my price range.

By small I mean in the $8 to $20 range.

Of course, we don't know where you're located or what price range you are considering, but I would think you'd want a little more $$$15k is great and I commend y'all for getting that squirreled away, but that's only 10% down on a $150k house.

On what planet would any self respecting REI ever accept that as an annual return? 

I think if it were me as the client I'd ask for a trial date range for the agreement, i.e. one week, and just explain to the agent that you want a chance to see how you work together.A fair compromise, IMO, would be that you'd use the agent if you bought a home you saw with them, but the option would remain for you to leave with no strings attached at the end of the week.

Depending on your location and the complexity of your site, this cost can range anywhere from $5,000 to $50,000.

Prop the most hardest question , what is a respectable and ideal fee to collect?

Also talk to a lawyer about how long a respected boundary becomes a true boundary.

A home ranging between 100,000 and 150,000!

We think, based on comps in the area, that our property will appraise for in the $310-$325 range.