peter, I didn’t get any preference, I had the highest offer in the first two days, where it helped me was speed, less people involved, fewer schedules to coordinate and no need to deliver or drop anything off. I think using an agent for most people is the way to go but I think the years of investigative work I’ve put into this R/E thing made me smarter than the average bear, plus repos aren’t about negotiations, it’s pure bid and in this valley right now it can be a race as well. If you want to win this race, it’s won in the pits, you need a fast pit crew.

I can say that there were other “near deals” where the listing agent did seemingly grant prefernce but it usually made me feel “icky” and I’m glad I didn’t take that path. I’m also convinced I got screwed early on by using an agent, but this is not a knock to using an agent, I’m a weirdo, I’m obsessive about research, you can name a street in my zip code ad i can tell you the taxes, hoa, value, sq ft, amenities, drawbacks, all off the top of my head. I never found a realtor who could do the same, so I went it alone, I don’t reccomend it for the casual buyer. Just find an agent that isn’t working two jobs and driving kids here and there, they need to be able to move at breakneck speed for you, they need to look at their job as a job, like a fireman or anything else. All too often i found realtors who were in the game because they didn’t like real jobs, they just liked BMW’s and getting their nails done, I’ll chase those types, buy them drinks, but I’m not doing business with them.