While it's very kind of you to want to compensate her in some way, the time she spent emailing you, and maybe showing you a condo or two, is part of her doing business. It's one way of marketing for her. As a former agent, sometimes I "won" with these kinds of emails, and sometimes I didn't. I certainly never would have "won" if I didn't spend time doing it though.

I think a nice thank you email telling her you have decided not to buy would be a nice gesture. You might also say you would refer her to friends/family IF this is true. Otherwise you owe her nothing. It's just part of the RE biz.

It's courteous and thoughtful and costs very little to say thank you in a really meaningful way. Send her a thank you letter and maybe a small basket of fruit or a small gift certificate to a "lunch" type restaurant near her office. Yes, she didn't "win" this one, but even on those occasions, it's nice for the potential client to say thank you in a way that leaves a good taste in the mouth. Too many just disappear without a trace or even say why they are no longer interested in your services.

While I agree with the advice that it might be nice to do something to recognize her effort so far, I also suggest you may be a bit off track in writing off this agent for a future negotiation.

Whether or not she lives in the complex, a professional realtor knows what the realistic prices are for an area. As a resident herself, in addition she should know VERY well what the comps are, as well as potentially having much greater knowledge of the specific neighborhood.

Especially if you will end up being her neighbor she certainly isn't going to want to facilitate someone buying a property who will then have bad feelings about it, or her!

I also doubt she would have any incentive at all to 'high-ball' you. In fact, she could be a gold mine, in terms of knowing much more than simply the facts about an area.

If you've had a promising start to this professional relationship you may well want to keep her in mind if and as you decide to buy. Finding a good realtor, as with most other service representatives, is something that doesn't always happen easily and isn't to be tossed away lightly.

Thanks for the replies, everyone. Rrah, yes, I know it's part of the game, but in my own profession I always like it when someone does something to show appreciation for what I've done, even if it was just doing my job. :)

Runninginplace, I maybe should have said that her listings are generally much, much, much above market, and I must assume that she's guided her clients that way. Average recent sale prices in there are probably around $65K, assessed value is ~70K at most and her listings are all over 110K. So while she's a very pleasant person I'm not at all convinced she's a wise realtor (she hasn't sold anything in there since I first met her, and while her listings are impeccably maintained properties, there's not a thing that special about any of them).

If she was serious about making sales they wouldn't have sat on the market at those prices all those months without budging. One property or two, yeah it could be the owner and not her, but not when they're all priced in wishfulthink dollars instead of real ones. I'd like to have her as a neighbor but not to represent me in trying to get the best possible deal, at least not in that particular development. Her listings in other developments are more realistic.

A thank you and referrals.

Agents LOVE referrals.