it generally takes a couple of days for a new listing to show up in the
daily MLs, printed or online.  the reason some of these new listings are
sold before they even show up in the MLs is because an agent, who
specializes in that particular area, has already shown it and had written
the contract of sale, before the listing could even be entered in the MLs
online.  that's how my friend bought her house; she was the first one to see
the house, before it showed up in the MLs.  the best properties/buys
disappear fast.  that's one reason i suggest more than one agent.

if you have an agent that shows you, or tells you about, homes that haven't
even shown up in the MLs yet, then you know she is paying attention and
looking out for you.  but even then, your agent is only aware of new
listings in a tightly confined area.

any good agent will not be pushy, risk their license nor their reputation by
directly influencing the sale of known defective.property, just to gain the
commission.  a large percentage of their commissions come from referrals.
you don't get referrals if you do that kind of stuff.  not only that, but
other agents will avoid assisting you or sending you any clients when they
are too busy to service them.  that was one of the first things we were
taught after we passed out state exams.

kate

Actually, our agent sends us the daily multi-listings and we have been
looking at so many houses [weekend open houses] that she doesn't get
involved unless we want her to look at what we found and like. So she
only occasionally calls [usually if I haven't called her in several
weeks] and usually, I have already been in a house she thinks might
work. Some of them look good on paper and horrid in person and then some
look great in person and then the disclosure package shows the hidden
nightmare. When John gets back in Nov. she is taking us around San Mateo
[I hate that town] cause John wants to look there. But taking us on
fishing trips so to speak - we don't do very often.
I like this lady. She could have told us to bid on that house with no
permits just to get a sale, but she said run away run away...  She is
also not pushy which makes it easy to work with her.
Had a new house appear on the market and one of the blurbs in writing
was 'remodeled kitchen'. The original 65 years old cabinets and kitchen
set up was there - they had put in a new floor. Not my idea of
remodeled. That would need to be gutted to the studs. And that was not
the only obvious issue. Never even looked at the disclosures on that
one. A good house has the disclosures sitting on the table. If you have
to pry them from the seller's agent, there is usually something wrong.
At least that is what I am finding with the couple we have had to pry loose.
Getting really good at looking at a house and telling how to fix one
that needs remodeling though.
Duckie

d'huit wrote: