)? That was our Realtor. Anyway, she more or less sucked...not too mention we fell into a bit of a dual agency trap. Granted the only house we looked at with her that we were really interested in, she happened to be the agent for the seller...so it was sort of just luck. But she certainly did not play hardball for us. And why would she? Hardball against her own client (the seller) makes no sense. The higher the price, the better.Anyway, it's hard to find a Realtor you like. So I wouldn't try too hard. What I would suggest is find someone who is a friend...or a friend of a friend. Someone who has something to lose by screwing you...or at the very least, not treating you extremely well. And find someone who knows something about houses. My real estate lawyer friend told me once that the best agents are engineers or contractors who have transitioned willingly and successfully to real estate. Because they actually KNOW about houses. They can make informed judgments about property even before an inspector steps foot in the place (although an inspector is a must).
Which brings us to inspectors. I could not be more disappointed with our inspector. He was a very nice guy...which isn't really all that helpful when trying to determine how deep a particular hole is that you will soon be throwing all your money into. So yeah, he was nice. He also used the words (and I quote) "no big deal" when describing our home's structural issues. And I wouldn't say he looked rich, but apparently 8 large is "no big deal" in his world. Anyway, the point is you want a pitbull. You want Sherlock Holmes. You want a rabid, anxious, pessimistic, disgruntled inspector who will make the seller cry. Hell...he can make you cry. Just make sure he looks long and hard into that hole (the one you're thinking of throwing your money into that is).
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re: agents. i completely agree with everything you wrote. our agent (who, imho, is awesome) was pv's friend that we had met once or twice before. while she wasn't necessarily too too familiar with the neighborhoods we were interested in, she was very interested in our thoughts and didn't push us towards or away from houses for reasons that would benefit her. plus, i really appreciated that our first conversation started with her trying to figure out what our needs in a house were.
plus, i feel that she lives life fully (works hard, but then plays hard too), which i very much appreciate about her.
basically what i'm saying is that we really lucked out getting an agent that we trust and get along with. and the fact that she has connections in the real estate nitty gritty (our awesome inspector who has engineering and inspecting in his blood and the master plumber that came and looked at the pipe issues) really made this part of the home buying process cake.
now, why couldn't we just have had the same luck with the seller? blah!
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