Hank & Jennifer Israel

I would have to say that the service that Hank provided when I bought and sold my townhouse was nothing short of perfect. I had heard about Hank from a friend who recommended him highly.  In buying, he paid attention to my needs, and quickly found a place that was perfect for me at a great price.  At that time, I  went with a different mortgage company than he recommended, and his idea proved to be better than mine. When I needed to rent the townhouse, he recommended a great management service that found a great tenant. When I sold, within two weeks or so, he got several offers;  I went with a cash offer for above the asking price that allowed my tenant to stay. Working with Hank has been win, win, win.

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SheThe sale of our home went smoothly.  Jennifer dealt with the other broker on negotiations.  The purchase of our new home was more difficult as it was with a bank owned property.  Jennifer really had to quite a bit of work on this transaction and was there for numerous inspections.  We were able to negotiate a $35,000 price reduction from the bank, which is very rare when buying a REO property.  Jennifer didn't stop working for us after the purchase was completed...she helped us find contractors and other resources.  She works very hard for her clients.

Sold quickly for full price. Hank communicated frequently and made sure everything went smoothly. He is well connected and works long hours.

Hank and his team are bona fide real estate professionals with in-depth knowledge of the Las Vegas area. Especially as a real estate investor from out of state - and a first time investor, to boot - Hank's expertise and guidance were absolutely essential to the success of my home search. His greatest strengths are his responsiveness and his attention to the specific needs of his clients. He is patient with his clients and has a genuine interest in ensuring they are as educated as possible so that they can make the most informed decisions. I look forward to working with Hank again and would recommend him to anyone in a similar situation as a potential investory or owner occupant.

His service was prompt and he had great attention to detail. He put me up with a real estate agent who was like we had been talking about the information for hours and the contact from them was within forty eight hours which made buying a home real easy.

I will start out by saying that I agree with many of the comments from previous posters.  Hank is very personable, knowledgable, and an extremely experienced realtor.   He knows the Las Vegas real estate market, and is one of the most organized people I have ever met.   That being said, our experience with him left a lot to be desired.      

He was the first realtor we dealt with in Las Vegas, and we spent about 3-4 weeks with him.   We wanted someone knowledgable who could show us around to get an idea of what was available in our price range, and I thought he would be the ideal person based on the reviews.  Unfortunately, it did not work out that way for us.  

Basically, he doesn't like it when you don't follow his advice.  For example, he told us from the very start that he doesn't deal with short sales.  He explained that most short sales don't make it to closing, so he doesn't want to waste his time putting in offers and showing those houses.   He said the other problem with short sales is that you may miss some good houses in the interim while you are waiting for the bank to respond to your short sale offer.  However, there was one short sale that caught my eye, so I asked him if we could see it.  His initial reaction was that he would not show it to us, and that we should contact the listing broker if we want to see it.  When Hank realized that I might actually follow his advice and contact the listing broker, he had one of his associates (Dean) call me to explain why short sales are a waste of time, and try to talk me out of it.   The two of them finally convinced me not to look at this short sale.  Remember the story about this short sale, because I will be coming back to it later.  

The were other disagreements.  We found a house for sale in Summerlin, gave Hank the address, and asked if he could set up an appointment for us to see it.   He called back and told us he didn't think we should look at it because the back of the house was off of a main street.   We told him that we didn't care because we liked the house and the neighborhood very much.   He then gave his real reason for not wanting to show us the house.  Apparently, this house had previously fallen out of escrow twice (sales fell through).  He told me that he was running a business, so he wasn't going to waste his time showing this house.   He said all of this despite the fact he had never seen this house, and had no idea why it had fallen out of escrow the previous times.   He said he would continue to work with us for another 1 or 2 weeks, but if these disagreements continued we would have to find another realtor to show us houses.  I was shocked.  Our realtor was threatening to terminate us.  Isn't it usually the other way around ?  I insisted on seeing this house in spite of his threats, so he relented and had one of his associates (Francheska Sandoval) show it to us.  But. at least he didn't have to waste his own time showing it to us.   After we saw the house, we had him write up and submit an offer but, unfortunately, the seller did not accept it.   

The last house that he showed us was a short sale.  That's right.....I said short sale.   I couldn't believe it after all of the grief he gave me about the other short sale that I wanted to see.   I asked him why he was showing us a short sale, since he is so against them.   His answer was that this short sale was different because it was "one of theirs".   He said the listing broker who he was working with had a perfect record for closing short sales.   Supposedly, she was 100% successful in closing short sales, and never had a short sale fall through.   This entire situation was becoming a little disconcerting for me.   Well, the house was beautiful, in immaculate condition.  Just to add a little pressure, he mentioned that we were the first people to see it, but that next day it would be on the MLS listings for all to see.   So, we told him to draw up an offer which he submitted.   Unfortunately, we had second thoughts about it and withdrew our offer before the seller could sign it.  

That was the end of our relationship with Hank Israel.   He told one of his associates, Francheska Sandoval, that he was no longer working with us, and suggested that she contact us.   We contacted her, and found her much easier to work with.  It wasn't long before we found a house, and closed on it within 6 weeks after terminating our relationship with Hank. 

Here is my recommendation, in a nutshell.  If you are the type of person who prefers to have an "expert" make your decisions for you, then Hank is your guy.   Based on the prior reviews, it appears that those who work best with him are those who put their complete faith in him.    But, that requires you to do everything his way, and follow his advice.   If you don't, then there will be problems and he may not want to work with you.   I gave him a "C" grade for "Responsiveness" because of his inflexibility in this area, as well as an overall "C" grade for the entire experience.   I felt that his rigidity in this area overshadowed the higher grades that I gave him in the areas of punctuality, quality, and professionalism.  

We also found that he wasn't available on weekends because he leaves town.   He would hand us off to his associates, Dean & Francheska.   However, this was not a problem because we found them easier to work with.

Our son just moved to town and we needed to find him a house. We wanted something cheap and a fixer upper that didn't need too much work. Hank was very helpful in getting listings to us to look over. When we found one that looked good on paper he'd make time for us to go look at it. Even on the weekends. Once we found the house we wanted. He again was very helpful in getting all the closing information to us and was on top of it all the way. We didn't use the lender he recommended but I'm sure that lender would have been fine.

Hank is extremely attentive to detail and he gives you personalized service.  He is great about returning phone calls and emails right away.  Put simply, he's a true pro in a business that has more than its share of incompetent agents.

He also has been in the Las Vegas real estate business for over 20 years.  He is a great resource for someone new (or old) to the Las Vegas area, as he is happy to recommend handymen, contractors, etc. for work that might need to be done on a property you are considering.

Very prompt and professional in his reply. 

Hank was the 5th agent I used. The rest were useless, or financially dangerous to me in varying degrees. From the very start he educated me about pursuing a bank owned foreclosure, why it was a bad idea to pursue a short sale for my specific situation (which is the case most of the time), and many of the other insider secrets necessary to be successful in buying a new home. He got me quick legal representation when the bank refused to accept the signed agreement in a timely manner (gratis, by the way), and helped me keep my head on straight through the process. I can't stress how incredibly above the rest he is in comparison to my other multiple experiences in the Vegas market. And I'd been looking for close to 3 years! One month after close and he got a very modest fee from my purchase. The $300 approx listed as what I spent is standard as part of closing costs by any agency, not an additional charge. It's over a month after close right now and I just got off the phone with him after I was concerned with an AC problem in the house and a warranty. He talked me back into the warranty at closing (for less than $100 more) and it's going to save me $1200. Gambling in Vegas hardly ever pays off. Getting Hank on your side pays off big time. FYI I am a suspicious person who lived in NYC for most of the last 30 years. I am not easily impressed and seldom fooled.

EXCELLENT!!! As an out-of-town buyer, Hank would visit each property in which a contract might be written and provide a very timely report. Once a contract was finally accepted (for a property that was selected after viewing only the listing photographs and upon Hank's recommendation), it was very obvious that an excellent decision had been made! Furthemore, Hank's follow-up was excellent, which included all aspects of the real estate transaction. Hank was also very accessible by telephone and/or e-mail, so all questions were answered as quickly as possible. Without a doubt, Hank is very professional, dedicated, and is always concerned with the satisfaction of his clients. Therefore, I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND him for any transactions related to the sale or purchase of real estate in the Las Vegas area!!

Addition to previous report (10-23-2011): Even though it has now been two years since I had the opportunity to work with Hank, he still calls occasionally to chat and ensure my continuing satisfaction with the purchase of the condo. Talk about service!! This is VERY IMPRESSIVE, and I again state that I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND Hank for any transactions related to the sale or purchase of real estate in the Las Vegas area!! I have no doubt that you will NOT be disappointed!! Thanks, Hank, for your obvious commitment to CUSTOMER SERVICE and CUSTOMER SATISFACTION (which are all too rare in today's society and market place!!).