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.