I used to live near the UAlbany main campus off of western and fuller rd, and I will say that is a great area to live in.

The SE side probably has the worst neighborhoods, especially south of Franklin St. and west of Fuller Ave.

Quote from @Carolyn Fuller: I'm confused.

Erik Fuller of Joe Herbert Reality (actually he is also a Landlord as well as my old High School Civics teacher.

@Arthur Fuller IIA couple of ideas for you.

Buyers agency is sometimes confusing and varies by state law, some states and companies require the realtor to inform the client who's behalf they are working for, and still the commission is paid by the seller... this being different than hiring an agent with a set finders fee, when in reality that is the only way you can truly represent the best interest of the buyer... an agent with out that isn't going to work hard to get the price down usually and therefor lower the commission, there are exceptions such as loyalty, professionalism etc, most established agents know or should up front if they want to work with a particular type of buyer, some don't even work with buyers and will only work listing side,  if they know this they have a list of other agents they work with that may be newer, hungrier or plain just love a certain niche, say rentals, first time buyer, commercial etc... in many offices rentals go to the newer agents, lower commissions, less contingencies, faster closing to commission, a more experienced agent has a fuller list of clientele already, say investors.. that they have as time priorities, some agents may think they can stick with the bigger payout exclusively and they went hungry when the market soured,  were very poor at referring and public tact,  I started out in the beginning just like many but always supplemented with a rental or two a month,  had my pocket investor that had a very nice portfolio of 1br rentals, if any foreclosures came up in one of three condo developments they were guaranteed sales and was my job to make sure he knew about them first,  on that respect I was his buyers agent, finding and follow through on his behalf, the difference of sale price I negotiated  was worth the repeat business, as a main stream I represented a subdivision builder and usually referred many used home sales to a coworker if outside of the subdivision, was also a mentor to 2 newer agents, time management and if you represent both sides duel agency kicks in , not one side, yes double commission, but double the work and double sided representation , again in most states signing an agency is usually confined and limit to the individual transaction unless you specifically hire for a set finders fee, yes even if you signed paperwork, if you read the paperwork, you signed that the agent informed you of your rights and you understood them not that there was any exclusiveness involved, or guarantees , there have been lawsuits on commissions when an exclusive contract is signed or there is a dispute as to who originally introduced the property or showed it, say when an agent feels a buyer or seller went around to lower a commission or price, exclusive contracts are extremely rare, they would usually read I will work x hrs a week to find giga properties in xyz with set criteria  in return for $xxxx and return buyer will only pay realtor me or work exclusively, so till you actually purchase you do not have a contract with the agent just an agreement for intent if you do.

@Mathew Fuller it sounds like you work a traditional W2?

@Carolyn Fuller - Is Cambridge STR friendly?

Quote from @Carolyn Fuller: I use DocuSign to create fixed term leases for my mid term rentals but these rentals do not originate on any of the STR platforms. 

Quote from @Carolyn Fuller: I'm actually discovering that staying in other STRs is a great resource for discovering what my STR is missing.