As mentioned above you need a good and honest real estate broker. I have witnessed recently a method that a real estate dude uses and it is not honest but does help to make a sale for the selling real estate rep.
The one example is one where a prospective buyer asks the selling rep if anybody else is interested. The rep says lots of people. I know for a fact this was not the case and the seller's rep got close to the asking price.
Also nothing wrong with asking the neighbors about the house you are looking at and also this way you see what the neighbors are like.
