Our contract says 30 days.

Read the contract. If they have a right to a commission, it will be in the contract. It will spell out what selling with or without assistance means and for how long. It is most often a period of months if they brought the person who later buys to the property. If the person buying didn't see the house during the listing period, chances are the contract will not give them a right to a commission.

This is a piece of land. The agent has brought no one to the property. People have stopped to looked and WE showed the property. I'm curious as to how much effort on the agent's part we should expect.

You really need to read the contract. You question is asking for a legal conclusion That has to be determined from reading the contract and applying it to specific facts. If you need help understanding the contract, discuss it with your agent or an attorney.

It doesn't matter who physically showed the property. What does matter is that it was shown to people while it was listed. It could be shown by another agent in that time period, or as in your case, shown by you. That is called an exclusive right to sell agreement in real estate lingo. The efforts of your agent in listing the property, marketing, signage etc. were the reason people knew about it, and you agreed to pay your agent for selling to ANYONE that saw the property in that time period.

Since we don't know what your contract specifically says with this agent, we cannot answer your question. One note though, how long this time period lasts is negotiable in the listing contract before you sign it. Some contracts might say 30 days and some 365 days. Typically this clause does not apply if you list with another agent. Again, read your listing contract and specifically the exclusive right to sell clause. The answer is there.

BTW--in my area, if it's a larger piece of land, it's not uncommon for a seller to be present during a showing. They know the property like no one else does unless it is staked.

I'm guessing you live adjacent to the listed property; saw people stop and look; and offered to show it to them. In that situation the agent would have had no opportunity to actually show it.

Your listing contract should show the "protection period". Typically allows for the listing agent to be paid if a buyer that had seen the property during the listing period buys the property during the protection period.

Thank you Linda for your information.

Here we agents have to give the seller a list of names of the potential buyers who looked at the property while it was listed, w/in, I believe, seven days of the expiration of the listing. If not, the protection period is null and void.

Around here, some of the worst of agents try to enforce a commission 180 days (or even longer) after the expiration of the listing agreement. Cross it out and put a reasonable time frame. No more than 30 days. Agent should be able to prove if he is a procuring cause or not.

All agents should have to produce such a list as NC mentions. I've not seen that in my area. Of course, my houses sell quickly. I would never, ever list and tie myself up with anyone for 6 months in the first place. Three months is an absolute maximum. You can always renew if you happen to be in a bad economic period or something.