re: I put my money where my mouth was - I'm out baby, I'm out!

Your wife sounds like mine. I asked her to sell the house she'd just gotten settled into and leave the place she'd finally felt comfortable with, while four months pregnant, to move back home. The woman trusts me, I don't know why. And to cap it off, she kept me from blowing the sale of our house over $6k. I had my fill of the buyers' nitpicky bullshite and was going to tell them to stick it up their arse but she reminded me why I wanted to get out and that we might not have another serious buyer for six months and the difference was a drop in the bucket. Love that woman. I ended up taking a slight loss, most of that from the real estate commission. All in all, I think I was very lucky to get out when I did.

I'm with you on realtors. I didn't get as good a deal as you did, I paid 1.5% on both sides, but I did enjoy slapping the agents around. They are still living in lala land in NorCal about that. I can't tell you how many moronic agents I met over the years looking at houses. People who were probably making low six figure incomes who couldn't find their asses with both hands. That is a business that I am hoping has serious fallout over the next decade or so as people get access to more and more information. In my experience, they add zero value.

Renting here has been a bit different. My landlord, probably like yours, doesn't own any other property, just the house they live in, and the one I'm renting. They're not johnny on the spot with repairs and such, but I know them, so it's not a problem. It could be tricky with a landlord in financial trouble who has no experience. I'm a little worried about that.