Quote Originally Posted by grey View Post
This.
I've worked with a lot of Realtors over the years. The best ones show up with a stack of information on the house in hand. Tax records, the full MLS printout, last surveyor's report (or at least, what the county says the lot size is & where the lines are). They are knowledgeable about the area, and above all, calm and cool. They maintain a professional tone of voice, an ability to think on their feet when an awkward question is posed, and answer it in a way that neither the buyer nor seller lose ground, is a real talent. I've only met three Realtors like that, so they are rare.
This market will shake out the mediocre ones pretty quick.

I am amazed by how much we do electronically with our realtor. She's set parameters on what we are looking for, and any new/changed listing that comes up for us, we get an email with the MLS info automatically. www.realtor.com is a really useful tool and you don't have to be a realtor to use it. It's much more reliable than Zillow, which tends to have really outdated info on it.