I have had good experiences with Tom Hannah ([email protected]) in that neck of the woods.
He is just honest and fair as hell.
As the cynicism (often deserved) on this board demonstrates, honesty and integrity are at a premium in this business. Oftentimes, they are not practiced.
Today, I sat down with a couple who found me based on one of the blogs where I post.
They had a list of questions regarding my service.
I think the most important questions were:
What will I get as far as service should I choose to work with you?
Is this your primary vocation?
How much (and what kind of) experience do you have?
In what ways would working with you be better (or worse) than working with another agent?
In addition to this, I would look up their DRE record
If the agent is offering something special (eg: I offer free inspections, other agents offer buyer rebates) then you owe it to yourself to find out what the requirements are for that perk. For example here is house rebate’s explanation of discounts: http://sandiego.houserebate.com/about/buying.asp
(you should read the fine print at the bottom).
That being said, good luck.
Oh, also, remember that a big part of the service we provide is consultation and information. No questions are ever off limits (or at least they shouldn’t be).