I can see why he would not want to go through an agency for a surrogate and would prefer to have a volunteer (albeit paid handsomely) because he knew the women in his office, knew their character, their disposition, their sobriety, probably their family history, their natural talents such as music, art, intelligence, etc., and could see with his own eyes their physical appearance.
Many years ago there was a group here of women who chose to be mothers but not wives or girlfriends. Some went to sperm banks, some to male friends, some adopted newborns. The ones who asked their male friends to impregnate them knew exactly who the father of their child was and his background, the sperm bank ones worried that the donors may have lied and the adoptive mothers had little background information on the bio mom and dad.
Whatever works for one person may not work for another. The ones who were impregnated by male friends surely saved a ton of money. Most of those men have relationships with the child.
One friend who went the sperm bank route got exactly what she ordered. Her daughter looks like her, blonde and blue, and is very tall and musically talented (as was stated by the donor), very intelligent (as is the mother and as was stated in the donor bio) and she is hopeful that there are no genetic medial issues that were not revealed by the donor. So far, so good.
