The Home Buyer's Agent Of Ann Arbor Inc

I have been working with Jon for 9 years. We finally bought an old farm! Jon always treated us like we were his only clients and went out of his way to accommodate our new home buyer issues, one partner living overseas for most of the year, and countless other things we went through to find a place. We finally got a place we love and could not have done it without Jon's help. His skills, experience and evidence based approach to pricing helped us negotiate a fair price for everyone that was 35k less than the asking price.

When my nephew decided it was time to purchase his first house I told him that I had used The Home Buyers Agent of Ann Arbor when I bought my house. I strongly recommended the company so he decided to follow my advice. Jon Boyd treated us like we were his only customers. We weren't buying a million dollar house but you would have thought so by the way Jon worked with us. His services were paid by the seller as part of the commission for selling the house. We didn't have to pay a cent. I can't understand why anyone would purchase a house without using his services.

Our experience with Jon was fantastic. As first time home buyers, having him on our side was invaluable. We interviewed several agents, and he was the only one to walk us through the entire process in detail. His extensive knowledge about houses and their construction was particularly valuable for us because he knew what to watch out for. He helped us negotiate a great deal on our house in a tough market. We highly recommend The Home Buyer's Agent and would work with them again.

We could not be happier with Jon at The Home Buyer's Agent. This was our first home and we were so nervous and pretty picky. Jon really went the extra mile to meet with me and my husband despite our non-typical work schedules. He was friendly, punctual, and always willing to answer any question - no matter how trivial seeming. Besides all of that, Jon knows the area very well and is extremely knowledgeable about houses, so we learned an awful lot working with him. Jon spent months working with us to find just the right home and he never made us feel pressured into a purchase. We are so happy to have worked with The Home Buyer's Agent and would do so again in a heartbeat.

My wife and I worked with Jon from The Home Buyer's Agent. We explained what our budget was, what our criteria for our new house was, and the location we desired. Jon was extremely prompt, courteous, and definitely more knowledgeable than any real estate agent I have worked with in the past. He was always willing to squeeze us in last-minute to go check out a property that had just popped up for sale, and he worked with the sellers to negotiate the price down for issues that I wouldn't have caught myself (and I'm a bit of a perfectionist, just ask my wife). I can confidently say that you can trust, rely on, and even enjoy working with The Home Buyer's Agent. We will not hesitate to use Jon and THBA for our next home purchase.

Working with Jon was really great - he helped my husband and I understand every step of the process for our first home. We ended up moving very quickly on a house we liked, and I feel that Jon was with us for each step. He responded to our questions quickly, and helped us find the best mortgage option as well. We ended up buying a house we really liked in exactly the location that we wanted to be in for just about the price we were hoping to spend... Jon was the biggest part of making this happen, and we are very happy!

The gentleman we dealt with was nice enough, but he was not familiar with the area we were looking at and didn't add anything to the discussion that we couldn't see by ourselves. He might have been new to the real estate business - I don't remember anymore. We ended up using a local agent who lived in the town we were looking in (Chelsea) and who knew a TON about the town and local properties. She, for instance, steered us away from one home that she already knew had structural issues that we wouldn't want to deal with and another area with high water bills due to a quirk in how that area was supplied.

Jon is outstanding to work with and very knowledgeable in all aspects of the home buying process .

The only financial cost associated with the services provided by Jon and his team were gas money going to viewing properties, and the inspection cost for the home we eventually ended up purchasing. Throughout this process, Jon and his team treated us with respect. As first time home buyers we were educated as Jon walked us through the process and explained many things we saw on the various viewings which took us through a wide range of homes. We honestly cannot place a dollar value on the education and experience we gained through this process, entirely provided by Jon one of his colleagues. In the end we saved nearly 10% on the home we chose to offer on below the listing price. We hope to eventually sell the home we purchased in 5-10 years and very much hope to utilize Jon and his team's services again for the next home. Not only would we recommend a potential homebuyer to contact Jon, but we would not recommend any other agency in the area.

We are top credit, pretty high income, and easy clients; we were a guaranteed sale for some real estate agent. I had some difficulty with a junk fee at the agent we chose (Reinhart has a fee of several hundred charged to buyer's if you use them as a buyers' agent). So, we found ourselves again looking and I liked the pitch and mentality of this company's website. I interviewed Mr. Boyd. We talked for an hour or more and, while it could have been a little more focused on the decision at hand, I was impressed with him and his personal style (more technical and not sales oriented; make the best decision; save money; etc). He recommended a lender that I ended up using, and they are the best service I have encountered among 3 or 4 other lenders we have used over the last 10 years (Rate One, the Mortgage People). They are not local so raised some eyebrows among the local-obsessed crowd, but they are not a big national lender either. I don't know to this day why for real, but Mr. Boyd took some form of offense at my personality, early phase of our thinking process on whether to build or buy, or that my wife and I delegated the choice of agent to me; I don't know. When I emailed to say we decided to work with him, he wrote back and belittled me for not obeying him in bringing my wife in for a meeting as the next step of the process and criticized me for some question I had about construction costs. He said "it's not going to work out." I thought that was pretty offensive, but hey it's a free country and the real estate profession is generally kind of annoying. I appealed to him to cut me some slack, saying of course the wife will be involved, maybe a misunderstanding, etc. Nope. No mercy. Back to the search. It's a weird situation; I chose him but he rudely rejected me. My feeling is that customers are pretty lame as a whole and so more power to him if I annoyed him. Still, as I said, we were not marginal clients with any uncertainty of not getting a commission. If you chose him too, I suggest a very formal/professional style of interaction. Don't relax. Don't take him for granted. I think he will help you make a good choice, but just be careful and extra engaged/attentive. Update: I just saw the response. Wow. Clearly some sort of misunderstanding and clearly he did take some sort of offense. I still recommend and even more sternly say "be careful and extra distant/polite." A lot of false attributions in the response (could be misunderstandings). I don't go in for getting bids with no intention of hiring; that's for sure. I also never had any intent of excluding my wife from the search or transaction; who would do that? I simply screened real estate agents on my own. I'm going with this: I was rebuked in a humiliating way by this man after actually interacting face to face in a lengthy interview. He had a right I suppose, but I think the response to my review is illuminating.

I emailed Jon to help us with buying a new home. Although it was a Saturday night, he responded right away. He asked for more info and I sent a lengthy email explaining our situation. I heard nothing for several days. I couldn't figure out what had happened. Finally, on the following Friday, I emailed him to see what had happened and if he was going to help us. On Saturday evening, he responded that he'd told another agent to contact me. She hadn't, so he said he'd find out what was going on. She called us the next morning and said she couldn't help us because she already had a client who wanted the same type of property in the same area we wanted and it would be a conflict of interest situation. She said she'd been waiting to see if those people found something before she turned us down. It seemed very strange to me. I had mentioned in my earlier email to Jon that my husband is a real estate attorney and I had to wonder if that put them off, for some reason. I called another buyer's agent who didn't hesitate to take us on and our experience has been great. We found a condo and our offer has been accepted. I gave Jon a C for responsiveness because he did respond quickly the first time, but after that, I sat waiting for a week. I figured a C was the average and maybe this was just a fluke. I don't like to leave negative reviews, but this is what happened. The overall experience is a C because it was disappointing to be turned down after waiting a week for an answer.

Jon is very knowledgable, thorough, and patient. He knows a lot about houses and construction and was able to point out many important details about the homes we were looking at. He helped us understand what a reasonable offer would look like and offered feedback on how to negotiate. It's important to note the Jon did NOT actively suggest what offers and counter offers to make, but rather helped us understand how to make informed offers ourselves. This is because is the negotiation were to fall apart (ours didn't) we needed to have full control and not feel like it was his fault. Jon provided excellent recommendations for both the lender and home inspector - his lender came in several points lower on the mortgage rate than local companies and with no junk fees. Our home inspector founds many issues, mostly small, and Jon helped us understand which we could ask to be corrected - the three issues we chose to focus on were all corrected by the seller at our request. Jon helped us get the lawn tractor as part of the deal. Toward the end of the process the seller was slow to respond to requests and to actually vacate the house, so on closing day Jon took an extra 2 hours out of his morning at 7am to do the final walkthrough. Regarding the "price paid" it's important to note that clients pay Jon nothing out of pocket, but rather he gets the buyer's agent commission that is written in to a purchase agreement (generally 3%). One of his main selling points is ethics and a promise that he does not take kickbacks from anyone involved in the process (as is standard practice for some other agents, to the buyer's detriment). I would recommend Jon to anyone looking for a buyer's agent.

On March 6th I called and left a message with the "Front Desk" leaving my telephone number and e-mail. No return call. I thought maybe no one was checking the voice mail for the Front Desk, so I called back on March 8th and left a voice mail for Jonathon with no return call as of March 14th. All the reviews were great, but I wouldn't know how good their service is because I can't get a call back. ************************************************************************ The same day I did this negative review, I received an e-mail... Here's the update... "Hello, We received your call this week about looking for a home in Canton. We normally would have responded sooner but the market is a bit frantic right now and we always need to complete work with current clients before we speak to potential new clients. If you are still interested in our help can you tell me a bit more about what you are looking for and your targeted price range and timing? Jon Boyd" If they would have just told me they were too busy I would've been happy, but "We always need to complete work with current clients BEFORE WE SPEAK TO POTENTIAL NEW CLIENTS" was really disappointing...

I worked with Joel Decker, he was referred to me by a friend from work. Joel helped me find a house, taking me to about 50 of them! I was a first time home buyer, single, trying to figure out what I wanted/needed out of a house. He was great counsel, very quick to respond, and patient. When it came time to make offers, counteroffers, and closing, he advised me when I needed help. I'd recommend Joel again for anyone looking to buy a house.

Very well!

Jon was fantastic. As an exclusive Buyer's Agent, he represented us and only us-- we didn't have to worry about hidden agendas, double agency, etc. His interests were our interests. He listened carefully, and helped us find a great house. He helped us every step of the way, from locating, making an offer, negotiating, securing financing, everything that we needed. Jon walked us through every step of the process. We had a complicated mortgage application, and he personally worked with the mortgage company to get us the best rate and get everything done in time. Jon was always professional and friendly, and easily the most knowledgeable real estate person I have ever worked with. He explained everything to us, so that we felt we really understood every step of the process. He negotiated the seller down $20,000 from what the seller said was his absolute lowest price. He was able to recommend inspectors, mortgage company, etc... all of which I checked out to make sure that they were the best deal/highest quality, etc. They always were. I felt Jon was on our side at all times. It was great to know that we had such a knowledgeable and skilled person in our corner. HIGHLY recommend!

We could not have been more pleased with Jon, his professionalism and candor were so appreciated. He never pressured us to make a particular choice, he just made sure we had the information to make an informed choice. His independence, experience and integrity make him an excellent agent. I have recommended him to others and would use him again in the future.

We spent a few hours talking about what I was looking for, what was important to me, where I wanted to live and how much I could really afford. After finding a number of properties we went over them and then visited a few together. They were amazing. Dealing only with buyers they are not interested in selling any particular property, they are 100% interested in making sure you find a home you want and can afford and then making sure that your interests are fully represented in the purchasing process. Most real estate agents are really working for the home sellers. I looked a few houses before I called the Buyer's Agent folks, meeting the listing agent at the houses and going through them. Let me tell you, the difference between the walk through I got from the sellers agent and the walk through I received when I went through the same homes with John from the Buyer's Agent was like night and day. John might as well be a professional home inspector (he's not) with the attention to detail and thoroughness with which he took me through the house. I couldn't get over the things he made sure I payed attention too and the education he gave me. I can't say enough good things about the service I got from them. I would never even consider buying a house without hiring someone from The Buyer's Agent to help in that process. I wouldn't let anyone I know buy a house without working with this agency. I can guarantee you will not be disappointed with their work.

John has been great from start to finish. I have never purchased a home before so I was really pretty clueless. We have not purchased a house yet, but after working with John on the process, I know I would never buy a house without a buyer's agent and if it was anywhere in the area John services, it would not be without John as my buyer's agent. He spent a great deal of time with me just explaining the home buying process, helping me to identify houses in my price range and the area we wanted to buy and going over the unique issues that pertain to the type of property I am looking for (farm house with acreage). He is very knowledgeable about Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County. Walking through a house with him is an education in and of itself. I looked a house with the agent who had the house listed and then I went through the same house with John and the difference was like night a day. John brought up several non-obvious issues that I had never considered and obviously the agent selling the house never mentioned. It was a real eye opener for me. Since he is focused only on buyers he really has very little incentive to do anything other than make sure you get a house that best fits your needs and get the best price you can for it. I really can not say enough good things about John and the agency he works for, if you are in the market to purchase a house in Washtenaw County or surrounding area you owe it to yourself to work with John and his agency if possible. I am sure you will be happy with his services and you probably won't want to think about how things would have gone had you not worked with him.

We still have them on retainer. The person we worked with was Jonathan Boyd. He is the founder. They helped us understand all of the ends and outs of the real estate market and especially buying a home from a for sale from owner. The home that we were buying was extremely old; it was from the 1800's and it needed a bunch of work done to it. He guided us through all the things that we would need to know in terms of inspections, septic, electric, well and everything. He was extremely knowledgeable and after talking to him, we decided not to buy the house. He was awesome. They only work with buyers and they are not trying to sell you anything on their own listings. They are exclusively working for you. There are never any conflicts of interest. He was extremely knowledgeable, above and beyond most realtors that we had spoken with. He took a lot of time to sit and talk with us. He was extremely responsive to our questions. Sometimes it took a while for him to get back to us but that could have also been our fault because we were really casual about it. It also took us a while to get back to him so maybe he thought that was our MO. The fees were very reasonable.

When I decided to buy a house, I asked my friends who had helped them. All had the same answer: Jon Boyd. I initially emailed him and he followed up quickly. We set an appointment for a few days later, then I went in and met with him. We discussed what my time line, budget and needs were. Jon asked me many questions to help me flesh out what I was really looking for. When I first started looking at houses, I knew nothing. Jon made a point of not just showing me houses, but rather educating me about what I was seeing. What types of problems would be typical in houses of a certain age, differences in roofing materials, what would make a property appealing for resale, etc. We looked at dozens of houses over several weeks before I found one that I wanted to make an offer on. (At one point, when my car was in the shop, he even picked me up at my apartment on a Saturday so we could go look at houses!) When I was ready, Jon worked with me (on a Sunday!) to prepare my offer. He walked me through every step of the (very complicated) process and submitted my offer to the seller. The seller happened to be a bank as the house was a foreclosure, this made the negotiation process more frustrating and stressful for me, but Jon was there every step of the way to help assuage my fears. He explained to me what was "normal" for the process, how I could respond, etc. It took multiple back and forth offers and counter offers before we reached an agreement. Once we reached an agreement, Jon helped me arrange a home inspection with a very thorough inspector (by my request). Jon attended the inspection with me and was very helpful as he explained some of the things that we were seeing (i.e. what's typical for the age of the house versus something that is a result of poor up keep). After the inspection came a lot of waiting while the title was reviewed by a lawyer (also recommended by Jon; he was excellent, timely and relatively inexpensive), the property was assessed, etc. Unfortunately, three days before closing, my financing fell through due to some special conditions on the property (a sewer/water assessment that I was planning to assume, not pay off). When that happened, Jon sprang into action and helped me find another lender who was able to finance me fairly quickly. Note: Jon received no commission or fees for helping me find a new bank. He simply made some calls and shared what he found out. It obviously was on me to do the due diligence and ultimately decide on a lender. After about 3 weeks of waiting, and multiple changes to the close date, we were finally able to close. Jon attended the closing and helped me understand the paperwork I was signing. All told, from start to finish Jon worked with me for 4.5 months to buy this house, and it didn't cost me a single penny because a buyer's agent is paid out of the brokerage fees, which are paid by the seller. The absolute truth is that I can't imagine trying to buy a house without Jon there to guide me through the process. If I ever buy another house, you can bet that I'll be beating a path back to his door.