I give and receive referrals all the time and I've found that my buyers from the US are quite surprised at how straight forward our system is.  Rarely are there required appraisals, surveys are not required but they are appreciated, and lawyers are required by both parties to close the transaction.     My Canadian buyers purchasing in the US are shocked at the amount of details required.

AND, yes we abide by the same Code of Ethics

I do a great deal of mortgages on purchases here with Canadians. Their monetary system is similar with checking and savings but they get a mortgage like it was here prior to 2007 (easy). Couple commons threads I see: Canadians don't like to give up the mountain of paperwork required to get a loan in the US (who does?). Canadians must be notarized by a US notary and that requires either flying to the US to sign,  making an appointment at a US embassy and waiting in line, or finding an American notary with US book and jurat... They can wire funds to a US escrow - they go to their bank a convert the funds to US dollars and wire. They can open US checking accounts with an ITIN number  (The IRS issues ITIN numbers to them with about  2 week  turn time. Their court system is different than our real estate law. Canadians have a fear of US court systems and think we are  all suing each other. There are a number of Northern neighbor gurus who sell classes , books, seminars on how to get rich buying US investment properties - some  are awful. // US resident buying in Canada (I've bought once) -  abide  by their system. Canada is  user friendly

Great question and answers.

Sometimes referrals are about finding a good agent rather than just selling a lead.

I never had a chance, but I'm curious how do you actually handle referral fees. Any different than inside States? 

I haven't had the opportunity to do a referral with anyone from Canada yet. I look forward to having that opportunity someday. 

I had one set of buyers from Canada, but they were not selling their home there. So I never had the occassion.

If anyone needs a realtor in the DC metro area - I volunteer to be that person! 

Val - This is a really good question, since we seem to get lots of Canadians buying second homes here. However, I have never given or received a Canadian referral, so I would rely on my broker for the correct answer.

I have never received referrals from our Canadian friends and I have never sent any referrals to them.

Val. Real Estate agents can refer buyers and sellers but from what I see is you are not licensed so you are able to give referrals but are not allowed to receive any compensation in terms of a commission.

I would defer to my broker/manager with that question.

I have only had one and it went as promised, easy...

Yes, have done it both ways without any issues.  Handled the same way as with any referrals in the states.