DCUM. Do a search. Lots of threads on here about agent recs. Start here. DCUM has already vetted many candidates. The go to the next step and give them a call.

Corollary question: if there is a prevailing top-selling RE agency in our neighborhood, would I be crazy to use a less-used realtor? Will the prevailing agency circle the wagons?

Agent here.

Yes. Shop. It removes the crappy ones from the profession.

And if they make claims about prior track record, ask how and why their methods worked. Lots of transactions doesn't necessarily equate
to good service.

Yes, interview. Find an agent that works mostly in the price range and neighborhoods you are looking to buy in.

We interviewed 3 to sell our house and picked from there.

We have a different buyer's agent because we are moving into DC from VA and I just don't believe anyone can truly specialize in both markets. I didn't really interview our buyer's agent, they came highly recommended from a family member who has used them to buy 4 different properties in DC.

We spent a few weeks talking to friends, asking them what they liked about their realtors who bought and/or sold their house and if they would recommend them. We spoke to family, friends, acquaintances and coworkers. After several weeks, we had the list narrowed down to five candidates that were recommended. We review what we knew about them and picked three of these to interview. We called them, scheduled an interview and asked them each to prepare a market analysis for our house. They all did. We reviewed the market analyses and discussed what we liked about each candidate from their interview. Frankly, our friends chose well...all three were excellent agents that we could have been happy with. We selected one, gave polite replies to the others including a comment that we would be happy to recommend them to others, and worked with the one we selected. It was hard to sell our house (in 2008 with the housing bubble burst) but we did and we were happy with how he worked.

We found our agent by going to open houses on our own. He did about the same amount of selling/buying so we felt comfortable using him as a buyer's agent. At the open house we really clicked. You can ask for recommendations, or you can just go visit some local realtor offices.

For using the same agent for both sides or not, there's pluses and minuses. The plus for using the same for both is you may be able to negotiate a lower commission. The minus is agents often specialize in one side or the other. So a good seller's agent may not be a good buyer's agent. But yes - definitely interview. I think we interviewed 3 agents when selling our last house. They're used to competing for business. You should be able to negotiate a lower than 6% commission on the sale of your house.

It's been 9 years since we bought a house. The last time was during the housing bubble. The real estate agent was a friend of a friend. We are once again in the market for a house. I do not want to use the same agent. How do I go about finding an agent? Do I just call places and interview them? Do I still want the same agent to sell my house and help me find another house? (we have outgrown our house and decided against an addition which would price us out of our current neighborhood--which we are not crazy about anyway).