re: Realtor Negotiations

I agree there's a conflict of interest in general. The seller and buyer are both trying to get the best price for their clients, so why would one person represent both? It's never made much sense to me.

Seems like that was a hard lesson learned doing it in a completely new market with a dual agent. I have friends in the business that I trust and they have not steered me wrong yet. Sucks the agent you originally had just laughed in your face. I can't imagine trying to move into a completely new market with no knowledge and trying to buy. I'd have to have someone I truly trust or possibly rent for a year to get a good personal feel of the city I'm in.

Addressing an issue of the value of a realtor and buying, while I did a good bit of the searching for the house I bought, my realtor did find some other similar places I really liked to make the choice tougher. He also was able to handle a lot of leg work during the work week when I couldn't. I can understand FSBO since the seller eats the costs, but for buying it's very helpful and many times isn't worth the difference for extra hassles you go through in a thorough search process.