I used to prefer helping buyers, when you'd schedule a buyer to see a morning or days' worth of homes, lots of choices, maybe schedule a 2nd showing the next day for favorites, then negotiate an offer and be surprised with the occasional multiple bid.

It doesn't work for everything but occasionally kitchen cabinet deals or if something is running over budget I can grab second hand deals there.

I'm on their mailing lis and occasionally I see good deals from them.

I have started attending GRID Clifton, and Reston (occasionally).  

It seems like this would be more on seller side.It’s not a deal breaker for the buyer, just a pain and occasionally a time suck, it absolutely can be an issue when you sell, not something that can’t be overcome but something that can cost time, money, effort, which again is why I’d just much rather be in condos than multi family all things equal, the per unit savings aren’t even that big in large swaths of D.C.

We let it ride & then found it was her brother going through a tough separation so occasionally he needed to get away. 

i occasionally go to the monthly sheriffs sale on the courthouse steps with a wad of cash and hope to get a good deal. the list above lets me know about potential houses that i can drive by and do title searches for.

Petersburg, I occasionally come across deals in Sebring and other growing areas.

We put a lot of efford and attention into keeping basements dry, but we still have an occasional pipe burst or sump pump fail and see issues and when you get water in a basement; carpet can be dried and cleaned, it's the open cell pad that is holding on to gallons of water like a kitchen sponge.

FYI, over the years, we've also learned to save a lot of money wasted on excessive management labor costs (we call them "stupid trips") by planning the occasional weekend to drive down, inspect our units and address any labor-cost intensive items that we can do over a 3-day weekend.