Procuring Cause- Leg to stand on? (lender, homes, purchasing)

[natevander]

I was recently contacted by a lady living 4 hours away from me. She contacted me through some marketing that i was doing. She was interested in purchasing a home and was moving into my area. I quickly referred her to a couple different lenders and she became approved. All of this happened within a couple days. She then called me and told me about her pre approval and asked me to send her a list of existing homes in the area she wanted to live in. I did just that and within a day or 2 she advised me that she wasnt interested in any of them. During all this we had also talked about the potential of building a home and specifically we had talked about a certain builder. ( lets call them builder X). She decided to go with some different financing options that i had recommended to her since she was building a home. She decided on a lender and told me we would meet at builder X on a certain day to discuss her options. I jumped on it and we scheduled an appt to meet. Well she never showed up and stopped responding to my texts and calls. i thought she had changed her mind or something had happened with her relocation. 10-14 days later i learned that she had signed a contract to build a home with builder X. I was a little frustrated. Unfortunately the builder sees this client as theirs and doesnt want to include me in on this deal. i know i was never formally able to take her to see homes or formally bring her to the builder. I know the reason she ended up knowing and subsequently building with that particular builder was because of the talks we had. I dont know if i have a leg to stand on with this situation. I met with the builder and they have decided to exclude. Am i at the mercy of the builder on this one? I know for a fact if she was not from out of town this would of gone differently. I could of made an appt for an earlier date and i would of been able to formally take the client in.

I guess i am asking if i have a leg to stand on?

[rrah]

First, I'm going to assume you're a Realtor. Second--not much to stand on here. Is the builder a member of the MLS? If not, there is a much lower likelihood of you being considered the "procuring cause" as he doesn't need to follow MLS or NAR rules. Second, without ever actually showing her anything it's difficult at best. She elected not to use you as her agent plan and simple. Much the same way some one might show up at an open house, you talk with them, show them around, and then they make an offer with another agent.

The only thing you might have done is register her with the builder when you made the appointment to meet with her.