What a nice thought!

I my own self think that it would be better to give him a check as a 'deposit' toward the commission due at closing, but since he's in the 'friend as well as Realtor' category, I don't know if he'd be comfortable.

You might ask him?

Curious, you mentioned most of the places are within a mile or so from him, and maybe you need to look outside the box---or is this a real good neighborhood you want to stay in.?

I don't see that this is at all necessary. It's part of the job. Verbal gratitude is sufficient.

In a similar situation, we gave our realtor a nice bottle of wine around the holidays. I think she was surprised, but pleased. We found a house with her a few months later, but in the meantime, we wanted to give her some token of how much we appreciated her hard work and honest advice during our long house search.

I think it's a very nice thought. To me, whether or not it's necessary isn't the point. If you would like to do so, do. It's certainly not inappropriate. And I think it reinforces a sense of good faith.

Do not give a check and say it is a "deposit" on future commission as this would need to go through the Broker too.
A simple thank you is usually good enough at least for me anyway.

good thought loto!

Thanks everyone for your opinions. And yes, it is a geographically small area that I want to find a house in.

Krisz I once had a client who gave me $100 Amex card because he realized he had kept me on the phone during dinner time. To me, it made me feel appreciated and that he valued my time. It's a nice gesture. A gift certificate to a nice dinner is a very nice thing to do to show you appreciate how much time he has put into you.