I have a friend whom I confided in that I was buying an investment property in another state and using a Realtor. He told me he was thinking of doing the same but was worried that all the Realtors there were "self dealing"!

In my opinion, the sub prime meltdown has sent the self dealing real estate agents(refuse to call them Realtors) scurrying away chasing the money in other professions.

Because there were not a lot of Activerain Realtors in the area I am purchasing in, I spent 6 months looking for the right Realtor and know I made the right choice. In my case, I relayed the actual experience I have had with this Realtor and made sure my friend understood that my Realtor is very professional and not self dealing! I since have invited Scott Etter to the Rain and he is just now getting his feet wet here.

Actually, it is pretty easy to get a feel for the character of an Activerain professional by:

1. look at the groups he or she is a member of
2. See if they are active on Activerain
3. Read their blog posts
4. Read the comments they leave on others posts
5. Look for someone with the same passion, ethics and professionalism you or I aspire to

What do you think? Are there still "self dealing" real estate agents in your town or city?