My agent pulled comps that averaged $148k on a street where I watched three houses sell for $119k in the last eight months

The gap you caught matters, and your instinct about what caused it is probably right. A two-mile radius pulls from a much wider range of properties than a single block, and in older urban markets like Cleveland, one block can sell for 20 percent less than the street two blocks over because of condition, ownership patterns, or buyer pool. That is not the agent being dishonest. It is a comp methodology that works fine for owner-occupant markets and falls short for tight investor analysis on a specific asset.

So what are you actually buying from an investor-focused agent when you already know the block?

Mostly not the comps. You likely know those better than most agents will. What the right agent adds is on the other side of the deal: getting you access before a property hits the MLS, writing offers that protect you (inspection language, due diligence periods, assignment rights if you need them), knowing which title companies in Cleveland close investor transactions without delays, understanding what a Cleveland fourplex lender wants to see, and negotiating from a position of knowing the seller's agent and what they respond to. That is the operational layer, not the data layer.

The problem you are describing is a general buyer's agent doing investor work. An investor-focused agent should be stress-testing your numbers, not just pulling comps. If the agent cannot tell you the difference between a one-block comp and a two-mile radius comp without you pointing it out, that is a signal about fit, not a signal that buyer representation is useless.

I would ask any agent you interview: how do you pull comps for a Cleveland fourplex specifically, and what radius do you use and why?

What does your timeline look like on this fourplex? Are you still under the original offer or did you step back?

@obiora_nnamdi The assumption doing the most work in your post is that comp accuracy is the primary thing a buyer's agent sells you, and once you outperform them there, the value proposition collapses. That is true for a retail buyer, but on an income property the agent's job shifts to things that do not show up in MLS pull: seller motivation and timeline, how the listing agent actually communicates versus how they present publicly, which title company is slow, and what the inspection contingency language looks like in the purchase contract for your county. A two-mile radius versus a single block is a real failure, and you were right to push back, but the $29k gap you caught is the negotiation leverage, and an experienced investor agent should be the one helping you weaponize it against the ask, not the one who handed you the inflated number in the first place. What I would want to know before deciding whether this agent is worth keeping: has she closed income property in that specific zip, or has she closed residential and is now calling herself investor-focused?