Since beginning my househunt, I have run in to just about every type of realtor.

At the high end of the scale are the sharp & courteous (but not overly friendly) professionals who really seem to really know the market. Some are knowledgeable about building techniques, geography, and even interior design.

At the low end are the ones that seem to either ignore me or are distracted by something else, and aren't able to answer basic questions. These tend to be the Mercedes-Benz driving, rhinestone-studded-jeans wearing, French manicure types.

In one instance, a group of FOUR ladies were setting up refreshments at an open house; they were so busy getting ready for "their guests" that they could barely stop to answer the questions of an actual potential buyer that was standing right there. I did fill out the guest registration form, and FIVE days later one of the women called me --- she was not even a realtor but a mortgage broker pushing her services. I tried evading her questions ("No - We don't need help arranging financing" etc) but finally just came out and said we'd be paying cash. She thanked me and said good-bye --- Then, lo and behold, 15 minutes later the agent Emailed me letting me know how pleased she was to have met me --- yea right!!! blech

Well ... anyway ... Today I had a most interesting realtor encounter, like nothing I've ever experienced before. Pretty soon after I walked in to the open house, he was showing me a list of all homes for sale in the area with stats including how long they had been on the market (this is the kind of information I love). He also explained about how different areas around Austin have different types of soil and so construction in some parts is more stable (extremely interesting). He eventually asked "What are you looking for?" (the usual realtor question) and when I replied "a bargain" he paused for a second, kind of stared at me and then asked: "Are time & money on your side?" I replied "Yes" and then he said the words that no agent has ever said to me: "You guys should be looking at short sales and pre-foreclosures" ...BINGO! How did he know that is exactly the kind of thing we are interested in? Very interesting indeed.... Perhaps because he himself was not very polished (a bit of a slob, actually) he knew to look beyoned the fact that I came in wearing a Tshirt, plain tan pants, and no jewelry/makeup/manicure. Or maybe he just got lucky. Or maybe he says that to all the buyers these days. Who knows? We'll see what kind of follow-up he does. I'm still not convinced that I want to work with a realtor, but if I did, it would be someone like that: Someone who gives me hard core information, is trying to help me find a real bargain instead of trying to be my "new best friend," and who really listens to what I say and responds accordingly.