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...