Working with multiple agents....

Did not quite work for me.

I started thinking that was the best way to get more accomplished, see more properties, and figure out who was really going to work out best for my needs. The first agent I found through a house-search site didn't work with me for very long, and we only got out to see properties one time. After discouraging me from selecting homes that were on Short Sale, three of the properties we ended up seeing in our first and only visit (selected by the agent) were short sales too. I didn't quite understand it. Then it would take a long time for the agent to communicate with me, or respond to emails or calls. That didn't last very long.

The second and third agents were better stories, but ended up not working out either because of experience (lack thereof), and they were not working as fast as I wanted things to go. I realize now, after being with another agent for a couple of months, that part of the issues were my own lack of patience and knowledge about house purchasing, but on my behalf I can say that my current agent team (there are two) works faster and seems more efficient. It is a good idea for them to work together, so when one is busy with another showing or open house, etc., the other can communicate with me about new properties, go on viewings, etc. The challenge here is to have a successful three-way communication chain of sorts.

Then there are the other agents. Lately, I've been discovering that agents who work directly with banks and their REO properties are pretty eager to sell. They generally work with one lender who works with the bank that has the REOs. This is a good team, however. If they seem to like you, it is my feeling that a buyer can have a better opportunity to get a given property. The advantage -one of the main ones- is that you can find out about properties for sale before they are listed in the MLS system. Since these days by the time a property is listed, it often has already 3-10 offers, it made no sense to me, and I would get upset that my agents were not being efficient. Now, I understand these sellers are receiving offers before the properties get posted. I am not sure how legal all these is, but seems to be fair game. At least for the seller agents and for the banks. The ones that would suffer are 1) the buyers - who don't get access to the same properties at the same time, and 2) the realty agents - who don't know about the properties until they get listed in the MLS.