Based on a recommendation from my financial advisor, I tried realtor Josef Szigeti, a Coldwell Banker realtor in Orange County. He knows the area of Irvine and the cities around it very well. While I haven't finished the home-buying process yet, he is very good at listening and not adding pressure to the buyer who's working with him, while at the same time he seems to be a good, aggressive negotiator.
What I liked about him:
~ Initial phone conversation going over a "wish list"
~ Accessible by email and phone
~ Has a therapist's knack for figuring out what you're feeling or trying to say even when it's hard to articulate
~ Provides info about what he thinks a property's worth is, then breaks it down for you feature by feature, things that raise or lower the value
~ Nice Lexus SUV with GPS (since he'll be driving you, unless you want to follow) is a comfortable ride
~ Doesn't pressure. He says that the home buyer will eventually "click" with a place, and his job is to help you find the place
~ Relaxed, calm when something goes awry (e.g. keys not left out for visit)
~ Got a clear sense of what I was looking for, took me around the first day to get an idea of what neighborhoods I liked
~ Second time, he emailed me all the latest listings with all the details he had, told me to pick top ten to check out. We would've kept doing this as long as necessary, but I saw several I liked and one that satisfied everything on my wish-list, including price. It's a buyer's market, but still... a very efficient yet flexible system.
What I didn't like:
~ When I first talked to him, he said that the way he worked is that he'd take as much time as you needed, show you ten homes or ten thousand, work hard for you, but what he wanted in return is that after the first day of going around with him, you decide at that point whether you wanted him as your realtor... then, either commit to buying a house through him, or go separate ways.
I wasn't sure I'd have a strong enough impression of him to commit after just 2-3 hours. However, by the end of the first three hours, I was surprised to find that I was very comfortable with him as a realtor, enough to make that commitment.
As a side note, the first time I called him to make an appointment, he was out, and the next day apologized for not taking my call immediately: he said he was up in the mountains teaching handicapped kids skiing. That immediately gave me a favorable impression, because it shows not only a compassionate heart, but an ability to be patient and work with people's individual quirks and needs.
I just Googled him for this Intel and discovered he's written a little about himself (link below). It fits with what I have gathered about him during the two days we've been househunting so far.
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Addendum:
Today I will be doing the final walk-through of the property I bought with Josef.
Unluckily the seller's agent turned out to be incredibly difficult, causing one problem after another and making unreasonable demands without meeting contract obligations.
If I had not had Josef as my agent, I would have walked away from this sale. In the end, he and Coldwell Banker took a major, major cut on their normal commission in order to let the seller (not me!) make closing costs, so that the deal wouldn't fall through. Josef has sacrificed a lot of time, effort, energy, and sleep wrangling with the listing agent and escrow company. He's also had to deal with me and my family: we ask a lot more questions and are a lot more nitpicky than most clients.
At this point, I'm going to have the place I wanted, and I owe it to Josef's very hard work and commitment. The best thing I could do to thank him for this is to recommend him, which I do wholeheartedly.
