My current insurance agent only deal with residential insurance companies.

Those agents have their ego at the expense of the relationship, and there are such agents actively participating in this thread.

Just make sure you use a very honest agent that doesn't sugar coat anything and check the crime statistics and household income.

However, the suitability of buying and renting out a single-family home in Richmond can depend on various factors, such as market trends, rental demand, and property values (similar case with all markets, really.)Chatting with a local agent in the area can provide very helpful insights into the market, data, and specific neighborhoods.

Even still, it could be said that I've still lost money due to my time on the tools instead of prospecting as a real estate agent (the cost of lost opportunity).If you can truly do 80%-90% of the work yourself (at acceptable quality levels) and you aren't sacrificing your time where you can get better returns for your efforts, then yes, it can work even up here in Canada.

Connecting with an investor-friendly agent in your chosen market is also a good idea.

I’ve built strong relationships with local agents and other investors in the Hamptons, which helped me discover this off-market property.

Also about being an agent.

He seemed like a big-time agent who works with a lot of long-term investors.

@Sam McCormack is a great agent there that helps plenty of investors.