Thanks for the ping ^redacted‌ Hi ^redacted‌ Some great answers already. Before you spend any money ask yourself what you could do if you put that $12k a year to work in ways you haven't already tried. There is no magic bullet; calls, emails, networking, walk-ins, vendor input and connections, snail mail, AI searches through licenses and certifications, etc. etc. it's not glorious work but it leads to results every time. No knock on great brokers, however less than great know that more than likely you won't put a chain on them and that $12k a year will probably have an NOI of $8k after taxes and minimal overhead; 10 "subscribers" is $80k a year of easy income. I'll say one other piece, and please know I'm not trolling you; be sure you are ready to be a business owner if you're frustrated after only a year of search. As others have said, you have options that should be considered.

Thanks for the tag ^redacted‌. We have been doing buy side only work for over 20 years. One of the biggest selling points when we go to market is that the buyer pays all our fees. 98% of the time, we are the only one they are talking to as it is a non-listed business. Have done a few deals in NC (glad to furnish references). That relationship sounds very conflicted. Agree with the other comments. There are only a small handful of buy side only firms who focus on the under $5mm transaction values. You do get what you pay for.