Yeah I saw this a lot -- real estate people would recommend someone for some kind of independent opinion, but that person has a long-term relationship with them

Yeah I saw this a lot -- real estate people would recommend someone for some kind of independent opinion, but that person has a long-term relationship with them (passing referrals), but no relationship with you The problem is inherently that most people are buying a home for the first time. Or they buy maybe 3 to 5 homes in their life. So it's very easy to build up an information asymmetry / cartel there