Today we met an agent!
It was not as alarming as I had feared–she was very nice. (Presumably you only get into that field if you are capable of being very nice and personable and whatnot, but she did it well, and like all cat owners, I am willing to bond with someone over Tales of Feline Projectile Vomiting.) She came recommended by some friends of ours, who had apparently abandoned her during a giant water moccasin attack at a house showing, but she didn’t seem particularly bitter. Must come with the territory.
Armed with paperwork, recommended loan places, and the new knowledge that North Carolina is a non-escrow state, we will shortly begin actually looking at houses.
And then we might actually buy a house. But that’s a future madness.