Coldwell Banker Prime Properties

We listed our house in 10/2013 and had a 6 month contract, which ended 3/2014. We took the house off the market as of 12/31/13,but could not list or use other realtors for 3 months without having to pay listing realtor/firm. As contract has ended, we feel free to comment on experiences.

Seeking to downsize and we found house that met almost all the items on our search list. We found the listing and asked the agent to get us a viewing .The house we found was in former neighborhood where we still had friends-we were very happy with find. We put in full price offer which was immediately accepted.

Realtor had 3 open houses and listed home online with informational flyers available-extent of marketing we are aware of. Did not have other realtors in her reality office come see the house. Did not have general agent caravan for other local agents from other reality firms. We asked numerous times about this and were told she did not feel they were effective sales strategies. We were told there was one offer made on house which was vey low--never saw the offer and we had to call realtor after numerous days to find out what happened with our counter offer/ultimate result. When we expressed concerns to her-oh you are getting a lot of hits online. No one from her firm showed house that we are aware of and few showings beyond open houses by other realtors. On the first open house, she barely made it on time--she was walking in and putting on the lock box as people were coming up the walk to view the house. Since we went out of town for the other open houses, we do not know if she was on time or not. After we took the house off the market, the firm did not remove the lock box that contained the key to the house until we called them after 2 months. We said that if they did not remove the box by a given date, we would find a way to get it off the door and dispose of it. Only then did they bother to remove the lock box.

Our realtor insisted that the house be listed as 5 bedrooms, rather than 4 bedrooms and a study. In the past, we were told by other realtors the 4 bedroom/study was less overwhelming for buyers. The 5 bedroom was the only negative reported to us by our realtor from comments made by potential buyers---they thought it too big.

We spent over $500 to have the house inspected and radon tested-an unnecessary expense -we were told we needed to do this to show we were 'serious' about buying the house-even though we did not have offers on our house yet. We were also told we needed to get a statement from our bank that we were pre approved for a mortgage-a mortgage we did not need as the house we were planning to sell had been paid for years ago. The bank was totally confused as was the seller's lawyer--confusion that was not needed and time we did not need to spend getting something we did not need.

Numerous times phone calls were not returned in a timely fashion. We were having work done to ready the house for sale that made it necessary for us to leave the house for numerous days and were to meet with the realtor to do paper work for the listing. Leaving for such a long time, we made other living arrangements for a place many hours away. We were unable to meet with the realtor at the anticipated time she gave us for early in the day, as she did not return any phone calls we made to her-as she had gotten 'busy' that morning. We met with her so late in the day when she finally returned our call that we were unable to go to our other living arrangements that day and had to make emergency arrangements for a place to sleep that night. Another time she did not return our calls for over 2 days (she was not out of town).

We were unable to sell our home and lost the house we made an offer on, as they found another buyer. We went to an open house given by an agent from our realtor's office. That realtor was rude, dismissive and was totally unaware of our listing, despite the fact that it was one of her own firm's listings for numerous months.

On a positive note, the home repair referral service of the firm was excellent--you could call to get suggestions of firms that could do work to help ready the home for sale--it was quick, the suggested firms were excellent and the person who gave the referrals was knowledgeable and efficient.

This was not our first experience in buying/selling a home--we have done this at least 5 times in 30 plus years, so I do not feel we had unrealistic expectations.

Regina Keenholts was responsive and a consummate professional. Highly recommended !!

Mary Canova is wonderful! We met Mary at an open house, and started speaking to her about what we were looking for in a home.  She was very easy to talk to, informative, and not pushy.  After listening to us describe what we were looking for, Mary suggested a house we may want to take a look at.  We did . . . and fell in love.  Mary guided us through the buying process and was very patient and always available to speak with us. As with any real estate transaction, there were some quirky issues that arose, and Mary was a great advocate throughout those. She also provided helpful recommendations about contractors etc. to come work on the home.  Mary was very easy to work with, and always responsive to any issues/ concerns.

She did not actually sell my house, she almost did. She is very personable. She is very confidential and I felt she had high ethical standards.

Great realtor! True professional, smart, caring thorough! We had a great experience working with Kayel.

He seems personable, has been prompt with his appointments and he has done what he said he was going to do.We ask for his opinion on things and he has given his opinion on things. He hasn't told us things that were unnecessary that we didn't need to hear. He doesn't really waste time I would say. I have to admit my experience with him is pretty limited but so far it is an A. I have no complaints with him at all. He has referred us to two very decently operated companies. I will be honest, I have no idea what his price is because I don't think he has charged us for anything he has done so far. It has really been an appraisal at this point or a referral at this point. We have not put the house on the actual market yet. It is more along the lines of before it goes on the market by making sure it is marketable.