I asked for a different agent in the same office and got $13k off

Duplex, side by side, both units leased at $1,150. Listed at $268k. The agent who had the listing also handles a lot of the small multifamily around there and when I called about a showing she offered to write my side too.

I said no and asked whether her broker would assign a different agent in the office to me instead. That's designated agency here, two agents from the same firm, one on each side, and the state allows it with written consent from both parties. Took two days and a phone call to the managing broker, who wanted to know why. I told him straight that I didn't want the person who knew the seller's floor deciding what I should offer.

What happened. My assigned agent was newer, four years in, and had no history with the seller. She pulled six closed sales within a mile and three of them were under $250k for similar unit mixes. We offered $249k. Countered at $262k. Settled at $255k. Inspection turned up a shared sewer lateral with root intrusion and we got a $4,200 credit, so call it $250,800 all in.

The part that nearly broke it. My agent missed the financing contingency deadline by a day. I caught it because I'd been keeping the dates on my own calendar out of habit from construction scheduling. We got a one-line extension signed the same afternoon. If I hadn't been tracking it I'd have been out of contract protection on a $255k purchase.

What I'd keep. Asking the broker directly rather than the agent, because the agent has an obvious reason to say no. And keeping my own date calendar regardless of who's representing me.

What I don't know yet is whether the firewall was real or whether the two of them talked. She quoted me a comp range that landed within four thousand of where we closed, which could be good work or could be something else. The building's fine either way.