Commission for a buyers agent for a residential rental property

[NewbieRentalOwner]

Hello everyone,

How do I handle the commission for the Real Estate buyers agent for a rental property I purchased? Is this a cost of property acquisition to be added to the basis? 
The IRS publication for rentals does not specifically mention it as a cost that gets added to the basis, nor does it mention it as a cost that does not get added to the basis. The publication does not mention it at all. The instructions for schedule E deductions do, however, specify that Real estate agent commissions are not included in annual expenses to be deducted. (You Cannot simply deduct the entire commission as an expense in the year you purchased the property.) So I’m not sure how to handle this. 
Thank you in advance anyone who could provide some help.

[tagteam]

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@NewbieRentalOwner wrote:

The instructions for schedule E deductions do, however, specify that Real estate agent commissions are not included in annual expenses to be deducted. (You Cannot simply deduct the entire commission as an expense in the year you purchased the property.) 

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In most all instances, a buyer's commission would be added to the basis of the property.

However, there are advocates of deducting a buyer's commission as an expense if (and only if) the rental rises to the level of a trade or business. 

My opinion is to take the more conservative approach and add the commission to basis.

[NewbieRentalOwner]

Thanks so much for your reply. I appreciate it!