COLDWELL BANKER

unknown

My story is a bit of a long one, for
those who only skim, I?ll start with the happy ending: Sue Salehktou is a
fabulous agent who put me in a fabulous home.
 
This is a first house for my husband
and me, but she was not my first agent. I came to Sue angry and distrustful of
real estate agents. I had learned a hard lesson that a buyer?s agent doesn?t
work for you, they work for themselves. I tell the whole story to prove that my
praise for Sue was truly hard won.
 
Completely new to the process of
home ownership, we were working with an agent at a different company who had no
interest in explaining the process. The P.A. (previous agent) left many details
out, most harmful, the fact that I shouldn?t give notice at my apartment
complex until after the appraisal of the new place. Her commentary when the inspection
turned up both mysterious water damage and a heating/cooling unit on its last
leg was ?well what do you want to do?.  Without guidance, my husband and I assumed we
would have to budget for surprises and continued packing and planning our
mortgage, rather than re-negotiate the contract. When the appraisal came in
well below the contract price she did not notify us. I got a one line email
from her that said ?sign the attached for the return of your deposit".  No explanation of why, I had to call my bank
to find out what happened and turn to strangers on how to proceed. P.A. knew I
had moving vans coming in 3 days and no place to go, yet we had to go over her
head and ask someone else to try a re-negotiation. It all fell apart,
everything my husband and I owned went into storage, and we went to live in a
motel.
 
The next twelve weeks were
uncomfortable and expensive. Our first meeting with Sue was frantic. After
asking what we were looking for she said she had a listing which although
currently off the market (due to street construction) would be perfect when it
became available. My husband and I recognized the address as one we had passed
on a year ago. We had loved it back then but worried about it being 80 years
old. We were surprise it didn?t sell last year, and asked why. Sue explained
there was not enough opportunity to show it before the street went under
construction. It sounded plausible, but alarms went off in our head at the prospect
of ?our? buyer?s agent being the listing agent as well. Let?s look around a bit
we said.
 
Over the next weeks we began to
trust Sue more and more, mainly because unlike P.A. she showed us everything we
asked to see. We were used to handing over a list of addresses and hearing
?that?s under contract? or ?you don?t want that? (the under contract listings
would continue to pop up in searches and I?m thinking the ones we ?didn?t want?
were listed by agents P.A. didn?t want to work with).
 
Sue showed us everything, and talked
us through each property. She let us discover on our own the flaws or reasons
to pass. If something was unseen to our novice eye, she taught us about cracked
foundations or the tangle of a short sale and let us come to our own
conclusions. Occasionally she subtly reminded us of the charming Brock street
house, but never pushed it.
 
I tested Sue a bit. Remembering a
frustrating conversation with the previous agent about price; I moved my search
range around. P.A. got upset when I wouldn?t raise my bid for a house on a highly
taxed street. When I later asked to see something in the 170 range, P.A.
snapped that ?she thought I couldn?t afford that?. I had to explain to my agent
that I was calculating possible monthly payments. P.A didn?t care lower taxes
meant I could afford a higher house price, she was more interested in getting us
into something quick and getting her commission. Sue never blinked when I went
up or down in range. As a matter of fact, Sue treated my 155 to 175 price range
like I was searching for a mansion. P.A. had given me bottom rung attention,
rarely answering an email with more than one or two syllables. Sue was in touch
constantly, she scheduled around our needs and if she could not attend us, she
was sure to have a colleague help. We never lost a viewing opportunity.
 
Finally, a combination of tired of
motel room, trusting Sue a bit more, and the realization that nothing we looked
at stuck in our hearts as much as the 80 year old house; we asked if the owner might
show it again. She did, we loved it, it was charming and to our eyes in perfect
shape.
 
What wasn?t she telling us we
wondered? What was the real reason it didn?t it sell last year? A house built
in 1934 must have something wrong. Just because she says it has ?newer? windows
and plumbing doesn?t mean it has good windows or plumbing. We were much too
novice to know exactly what we were looking at, and it still countered our
bruised senses to fully trust an agent.
 
We figured we would have to lay out
the money for an inspection and see if the house we loved was a house we could
handle. Still we dithered on it, 400 dollars is a lot of money to throw away if
the inspection revealed problems too big for us. Knowing we needed help, Sue
let us look at the house a third time with a home owning friend whose opinion
we trusted.
 
I cried with relief when he told us
the house was solid. From the moment we put in the bid to the day we signed the
papers I have felt elated. Sue talked us through everything. Utility changes on
a street under construction gave us more opportunities and Sue helped us make
decisions that were wise for us and wise for the house. She cared that we were
happy, and once we were able to believe that, we let her make us happy. And boy
oh boy does the prettiest house on the block make us happy.