Dorothy E Curran, Weichert Realtors

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Ms. Curran came highly recommended to us by a young family who had used her both as a buying agent and a selling agent. Our overall experience is that she was ALWAYS attentive, professional, informed, hardworking, diplomatic and her advice continues to save us $$$$ and spare us heartache. Search processDuring the search process we supplied her the addresses that caught our eye online. She provided us with information NOT available online that saved us a lot of time, such as making us aware a house overlooked an expressway, or that the house does not have a bedroom on the first floor (important for us so that grandma could avoid stairs), or something about the sellers--maybe there was already a contract pending or that there was something about the layout worth knowing ahead of time.
She appeared to work around the clock answering our questions about listings and organizing visits. She absolutely worked around the clock during the escrow process.
During the visits themselves she did not tell us what we should think about a home or say useless things like "It's a beautiful home that I'm sure you will love." All of her adjective use was to tell us something important, example: "We're going to see a postwar construction that is typical of homes young families seem to quickly grow out of." Implication: Tiny, older home with not the best construction. While we envisioned whose bedroom might be whose, she was asking the age of the roof, and pointing out to us that the basement washing machine was raised, meaning there was a history of flooding.
NegotiationsShe gave us advice that served us well when it came to making an offer. I don't know how much agents tell each other, but our agent had enough of an idea about the sellers and a prior offer that had fallen through to indicate to us a smart starting bid amount that all parties could live with. When it came to subsequent bidding, she gave us a respectful berth to draw our own judgements.
EscrowThis is where a less experienced agent really becomes apparent. Escrow is an enormous teamwork process that rarely goes smoothly as legal bureaucracies collide against financial, not to mention the egos of all parties involved. A good agent is as good as the team of partners that she recommends. We are glad we went with the real estate lawyer and mortgage broker that she recommended, and that led us to further good recommendations. Each person Ms. Curran brought to the table was experienced, professional, and just decent human beings.
OtherMs. Curran continues to be a great resource for us. We've benefited from her restaurant recommendations and Town Hall advice, and learned what "mulching" means (and that we have to do it).