Buying with an agent

[Shawn Paradis]

Hello BP community!!

My name is Shawn, from Canada (Quebec city). I am currently reading Brandon Turner's: "The Book on Rental Property Investing," as I came upon the following sentence: "working with an agent is a no-brainer when you're looking for properties to buy." Here's my problem...I am building my teem and have met numerous real-estate agents. I finally found one who seems competent (at least much more than the others I have seen). He has an old list of rental properties which are not on the MLS and has offered to go through them and find interesting deals, where there would likely be no competition (or much less). Would it be stupid to give him 4% if ever he found a good deal (a 4% I probably wouldn't have to give to a selling agent anyway)?

Thanks a lot for your help!!!

Shawn