It's what I am trying to discern for the market I am exploring now (on the Treasure Coast because it is driveable for me- can't afford a shack in Palm Beach either :-)). 

I can't discern in the pictures of the sources mentioned if the brick is disintegrating or stair-stepping. 

Sellers USUALLY make a big deal of this to attract a discerning buyer and they get higher price.

This is why you are not able to discern a path forward.

You have to be ruthlessly discerning.

I don't want a "yes" man to tell me what I want to hear, but how can I discern good advice from the bad? 

I wonder if it is human nature (which would be maladaptive, I think) to not be able to discern well when something is an emergency or not.  

In fact, I feel that part of the broker's responsibility is Shiny Object Slayer:  help their agents discern their vision, plot a path to that, and stay the course. 

So, in order to get down to the real meat and potatoes of that person's life you're going to have to work on building rapport and discerning their needs or motivations. 

:) The difficult part is discerning where in the phase or business building cycle a Realtor is when you meet them... and why you (that posted the initial question): have to learn everything there is to know about your investment if you want to know that the person you are working with is telling you the truth or not.