He respected his tenants and they respected him also for showing up and fixing stuff ASAP.. although he tended to draw the line at clogs and had a great plumbing snake company for those and the occasional sink..but he knew his strengths and wasn't afraid to say he was the owner. 

He charges $75 to do the repair and even fixes the shelf in the next room.I have another vendor #4 who doesn't have a snake to do this kind of job, but he's usually around and can diagnose the problem and let me know what's really going on with it, as I am rather busy and often have to take the word of the tenant and photos etc to find out what is wrong.

Also, working with a buyer's agent can be helpful because as long as your agent is worth their salt they will help you know when the listing side is selling you snake oil. 

I hope it's not to late for this but please tell me you have seen a preliminary title report and there are no snakes hiding under a rock!

Sounds kind of snake-oil-ish to me.

I saw some books on Amazon , but was not sure which were snake oil and which would actually help some. 

In the world of agency it is better to be friends with the top agents, rather than known as a snake.  

I find the Old school wisdom and straight talk approach he dishes out much to my liking and a refreshing variation on the hucksters appearing every few years always trying to sell you the latest snake oil.

I know what snake oil salesmen - I mean "gurus" say, I know what I've read in books and forums like this and now, due to recent conversations with 3 local attorneys, I know what they say on the matter.

Is my property ‘snake bit’ because of this hack job appraisal?