i've bought two houses in my life. both times i thought looking for a house would be fun. both times i was very wrong.
in the rochester area, (i'm sure it's the case with most areas) the realtor mostly depends on the house pricing. for instance, a woman named holly creek has her own team here that sells houses that are half a million and up, (which for rochester is expensive). they're notoriously difficult to work with, act like they're doing you a favor, and are dislike by every other realtor. they do manage to sell houses though.
my first realtor was useless. she did nothing other than open doors for me. i actually found my first house online, and she didn't even want to show it to me because she didn't love the look. sure enough i made her open it for me, and it was perfect. for our second house, we used the person who found my sister in law a house. she just seemed to have good connections, and actually showed us our house before it went on the market. in other words, i have no idea how to help. i think it's just luck to an extent.