Clock is ticking for Real Estate Agent & Multi in MA

[Jason Bee]

Hi BP community, my dilemma is a 2 fold questions. My wife & I have a nice real estate agent who is a friend from high school but he has not delivered in bringing us houses from the MLS listing nor homes before they go on market. I know Massachusetts, specifically the Boston area is very competitive. We are looking in Boston and in the North Shore (Wakefield, Malden, Andover...etc) and I seem to be searching & trolling all the real estate websites and asking our agent to see houses. We don't get MLS updates nor suggestions for houses. Is this normal for an agent or is it because of the scarcity of available multi's in our market? Should we try and find an agent who has connections to get deals before the multi goes on the market and is that even possible in MA? If anyone knows an agent who can do that for us, that would great.

My second dilemma is my wife wants to get into a SFH soon and start our family, I still am holding out for a multi because in MA you have to put 20% down to buy a second property as an "Investment Property," is there anyway not to put down 20% on your second property in Mass? I also know if we can find a little fixer up single and house hack it, we can re-fi & use the equity to buy the second home. Any thoughts on this would be helpful. Thanks BP Community!