To make matters worse, not everything is listed on an MLS like in the US; many agents keep listings to themselves, which makes the market more opaque. 

Agent and leasing experience can help with negotiation skills, market knowledge, and tenant screening.

I was wondering if anyone had experienced this and what’s the best way to go about it?

@Toby Fellows I feel ya as I am mainly an investor as well but also hold a RE agent license.

I highly suggest working with an investor friendly agent so you don't buy in the wrong locations.I like the west side of Cleveland.

We have everything microsoft so we use sharepoint to hold the files and when updated it automatically gets updated and use microsoft copilot and create a copilot agent based on those documents and internally we then have it in microsoft teams so anyone can use it.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Quote from @Justin Brin: I created a heat map showing the population changes in each state over the past five years (2020–2024).The states experiencing the largest population increases are Florida, Texas, Utah, Arizona, and South Carolina.

Agent in Fredericksburg, VA looking to make my first deal. 

I took up being an agent as my side hustle that slowly became my full gig but before that I didn't need a side hustle as overtime was readily available to me as a nurse.