In the Hamptons which is on Long Island a suburb of NY the market is improving but has started to slide again based on what local realtors have told me.

That usually helps instead of them giving a flat rejection, if it's presented well.Michael hit on something too, it's too bad that we have Realtors who are one, really not qualified to assess a good listing price but it's even worse when a Realtor agrees to almost any price to get a listing.

Seller is moving out of state for studies/ job; the owner tried listing this with realtors with 2 different companies and they both asked the seller to be prepared to bring in substantial amount of money to closing and the owner is not willing and also probably does not have that kind of money.Where do you expect to make your fee, a one time assignment to sub-let the property or are you expecting a monthly over ride from payments?

If you was close to buying one now, I would say get a realtor.

The realtor is telling me theres a good chance the neighborhood will go up.

I use my realtor to list the rentals and screen the tenants, I have many tenants I have never even met yet I am always at 95-100% occupancy with no significant rent payment issues.

Not only did I buy property that Realtors tried for decades to get their hands on, but we were given a donation in cash beyound the sale price for the project.

A realtor called us back with a new listing (her's) a couple of days after we explored open houses.

Realtors should be calling you, not the other way around IMO.You might narrow your mailings, say to those vacant homes or divorce filings and follow up with a call if you can.

Welcome to BP Sierra,First, you can try to get a contract from a Realtor, if they don't hand them out you could make a really low offer on something and get a copy (lol), but that should be examined and modified for your use.