findwell

Tamar has been our real estate broker as a buyer once and a seller twice. Tamar is knowledgeable, understanding, honest, fun and extremely thorough. On our most recent transaction, we relocated before our home went on the market. We were confident from previous experience that Tamar would take care of everything and communicate throughout the process. We highly recommend Tamar! Rhonda and Matthew M

Tamar was a shining star in our entire moving process. She gave great advice about a few small things we could do and was able to sell our house for tens of thousands more than another agent we met with had suggested. For me, I thought selling the house would be the most stressful part of the process, but Tamar was incredible and we are very happy with the results. Highly recommended!

Tamar was excellent across the board. She was always very professional, even when dealing with some difficult buyers.
While selling my condo, she met me on my schedule and quickly provided a market assessment. As we went through the process of listing, she gave me good advice about what I should do to help my unit sell quickly. Once listed, we received 4 offers within a couple days during a time when the market was slowing down a little.
Next, my fiancee and I started looking for a house. Tamar regularly updated us with new options in the areas we wanted and worked around our busy schedules for looking at houses. Once we put an offer on a house, the selling agent wanted to work through a non-standard process. Tamar went to bat for us and made sure we got the house under contract before doing our inspection. She also continued to follow up with the seller's agent during a few repairs on the house.
Finally, Tamar helped my fiancee sell her townhouse. The buyer seemed to always want the last word and was regularly irrational. Tamar worked through the issues and kept us from having to deal with much of the stress.
All of our transactions closed on time and relatively pain-free (buying or selling a home can never be completely pain-free, right?). We can't recommend Tamar enough for her thoroughness and professionalism.

Tamar Baber was extremely patient and responsive. With the market so hot, and inventory so low, it was a challenge to find a condo that met our needs. Tamar worked with us tirelessly to track down the perfect place and to then handle all the details to make it happen.
Selling our house was next and it sold in six days with five great offers to choose from. We couldn't be more pleased with the buyers that purchased our home.
We found Tamar to be a delightful blend of professionalism and personality and highly recommend her as someone who will be there as your personal guide to a great real estate transaction.

If there was a better rating than 'A', Michael would get it. He was absolutely instrumental in helping us purchase our first home this year.  He was always quick to respond to all of our nervous emails, patient as we went through house after house that we didn't like, and when it came time to put an offer on THE house, he put together a fantastic package for us.  We are absolutely positive that we would not have gotten our house if it wasn't for Michael.  
Michael's also just a really fun person who we enjoyed spending time with, which is important when you are working with someone for long periods of time. We're still a little sad that we don't get to hang out with him anymore now that he got us our dream house :)

Tamar's guidance on staging, photography, and listing details really showcased our property, and we enjoyed multiple offers over a few weeks time.  Most importantly, our unit sold quickly and at the right price.

Highly recommend Michael Schafer of Findwell!
As first-time homebuyers we used to have a lot of questions and he would always take the time to answer them in detail. He is super responsive to emails and phone calls. He was always well prepared for the showings with all the details and research handy. On at least two occasions he encouraged us to wait and not settle for a house that didn't meet all our criteria. Commission was clearly not his only goal. He was never pushy and I never found him out of patience even though he had to stand in at least three inspections that we got done. He also helped us write best possible offers - we got our house even though we hadn't offered the highest amount and our down payment was on the lower side too. Findwell also offered us a 1% rebate that was super useful.

We have used Michael as a buyer's agent and a seller's agent.  During both processes we appreciated Michael's experience, communication skills, and professionalism.  We came to rely on Michael's advice and guidance.  Everything was handled promptly and handled well.  We were able to relax and trust Michael completely.  
Highly recommended.

For two years, my wife and I did research on homes and prices around the Puget Sound area. We used multiple websites to do our research (zillow, redfin, windemere, etc). We eventually found Findwell and from the first interaction with a person we were wow'd by the service and professionalism. Our realtor was very accessible and met every commitment he made. Eventually he helped us find the home we purchased. We would not hesitate to recommend the service and should we decide to buy another home, we would use their service again.

They were really awesome. You are given one agent who walks through to whole process. We had been looking for a house for a while, so they assisted finding exactly what we were looking for. We got a discount for the work. We also never felt pressured into buying something we were not absolutely sold on. He was very responsive and always available when we needed.

We listed our Seattle home for sale in August of 2010.  We interviewed Michael of Findwell, as well as Redfin.  Redfin's suggested list price was higher, so we went with them.  Too bad we didn't really think this through...after 2 months on the market, we had almost no interest, despite price drops.  

We were extremely frustrated at our agent, who we felt didn't like being bothered by our phone calls, and who didn't seem very motivated to sell our home, so we got back in touch with Michael, begging him to consider taking us on as clients.  He spent a long time on the phone with me, listening to me vent about how disappointed I was with my Redfin agent, and then explained what he would do to try to sell my home as quickly as possible.  

We terminated our agreement with Redfin that night, and that was likely one of the best decisions we've ever made. OK, so now more about why we think Michael and Findwell are fantastic:

1. Michael's listing price recommendation was based on detailed comps, personal inspections of similar homes for sale in our neighborhood, and a thorough evaluation of the local market.  We're not sure what Redfin's market analysis was based on, but we think it was wishes and dreams, or perhaps a random number generator.  Redfin's comps were selected by home size and distance, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything in Seattle.  A Ravenna home is not really comparable to a U-District home, even if they are half a mile apart.  There's a qualitative difference there that Redfin failed to notice, but that Michael did.

2. We knew we were in a tough position - a house with some odd characteristics in one of the worst markets in decades that we needed to sell fast.  Michael never painted the picture as rosier than it was.   Instead, he focused on explaining how he would address those challenges, how he would market the house to show off it's strengths, and what we should realistically expect.  He has a very positive outlook, but it is realistic.  That is critically important in real estate.

3.Michael has more patience than the vast majority of people out there, and I tested his patience repeatedly with countless panicked phone calls and emails.  Michael always took the time to talk to me and listen to what I said, which is not easy since I am a high-maintenance control freak.  His advice was always based on fact (not my level of freak-out), and I was able to relax and trust him.

4. Michael's pricing recommendations turned out to be quite accurate.  Every week he emailed us a summary of showings and online activity, as well as an update on the comps (had they sold, changed their price, etc.), and any new comps that  came on the market.  

5. We got an offer on our house the day I boarded the plane to move back east.  Michael worked with us long-distance, and I was able to completely trust him to watch out for our best interests.  Everything was handled proactively so we never had to worry.

6. When we were negotiating, Michael worked with the buyer's agent to get a feel for where the buyers stood.  He knew we needed to keep the buyers, but that we couldn't afford to accept their initial offer.  After a few back-and-forth negotiations, Michael guided us to a final price that the buyers could manage, but that was as painless for us as possible.  We felt that he was truly watching out for our best interests the whole time, even if we were not there or part of every conversation.

In summary, Michael was everything that you expect from a full-price agent.  Stellar communication, accurate pricing, a solid marketing plan, thorough review of comparable homes and market activity, and experienced guidance through negotiations, inspection, and closing.  I used Windermere for my first two home sales, and I can honestly say that Findwell meets or exceeds the service level of a full-priced real estate powerhouse like Windermere.  Of course, Findwell does it for half the commission, which is nice, but I would whole-heartedly recommend them even at full commission.

We read several reviews for real estate agents and Findwell was at the top of the list. We met with an agent, liked her, and liked that their agents are salaried and that you get 1% back.

Michael Schafer from Findwell made the entire process of home buying a very enjoyable and memorable experience. We can't thank Michael enough for having been so patient with us and always keeping our best interests! We were involved in a strong multiple offer situation and our agent worked very well to create the best possible offer from our side and got us our home.

We just bought our first home with Findwell! These guys are simply great!
First, a little bit about why I went with Findwell:
If you are considering Redfin because they give you rebate, consider Findwell instead. Findwell takes the same model as Redfin and makes it even better. 1.5 yr back, I had to make a choice between the two. I met with Redfin agents, did tours with them but finally went with Findwell. Here is how I thought through it:
- Redfin won't provide you with one agent to work with always - there'll be a team of people to work with. It's painful to tour with different people every time as you end up explaining your criteria again and again and never form a personal touch..
- Redfin agent's are tied to localities - so if you want to look in Seattle and Kirkland both, you will end up working with different agents and their different teams. 
- Findwell gave me the same rebate + they gave me one point of contact (Lauren GeRoy) for my search across Seattle and Kirkland. 
In hindsight, that was a great decision! 
Now, a little bit about our agent: Lauren GeRoy
Lauren was very patient with us throughout our 1.5 yrs of search, including more than 200 houses toured, multiple bidding wars, inspections and all that. She never pushed us to buy a home we were not sure off.. She always maintained that we need to be comfortable with the home we were buying, and even if it takes multiple years, it's worth the wait.. Couple of times we backed out after mutual acceptance (mental/emotional demons!), but Lauren never showed her frustrations. Instead, she was supportive and helped us get out of the offer. 
Lauren is extremely professional. She's always on time for tours, always responsive on emails, and extremely prompt to get documents in place. Couple of times when she was out, she made sure to arrange one of her colleagues to help us. All of them were brilliant, and treated us just the way they would have treated their own clients. 
Seriously, give these guys a try! They are probably the best out there!

I used Findwell to buy a house in Seattle.  Michael Schafer from Findwell was my agent.  I can't recommend Michael enough -- he is great in all areas, from the beginning of when he first gathered input from me to determine proper areas to research all the way until the end when I was making an offer on the house.   Michael is very careful and diligent and very responsive throughout the whole process.  You really get the feeling that he is on your side, and he is.  The next time I need a real estate agent in Seattle, I will for sure be calling Findwell.

This was a basic service. They lead us through the process of buying the home. They are a very straight forward, no nonsense type of company. We knew where we wanted to live and had an idea of the house we wanted to live in. We were sold on the house we purchased, but they even pointed out some negatives, which was good. When it came to the price, we will more willing to go low and they know the market and were willing to work with us to get a good price but also knew what the seller wanted. The agent gave us recommendations on contractors to maintain the home.

The "A" rating on Angie's List is meant to represent "As good as it gets", and I therefore have absolutely no hesitation in awarding findwell with a A+ ! They are quite literally, as good as it gets.
From beginning to end, findwell did everything possible to help us get the house of our dreams. They are professional, hard-working, knowledgeable, friendly and caring. We made multiple offers on different types of properties (foreclosure, short-sale, regular sale) before finding the right house for us. Kevin always stuck by us and gave us the benefit of his expertise and knowledge (without ever applying any pressure). We were always made to feel that our happiness was the most important thing to findwell, and I really believe that's true. 
Our purchase was far from simple and there were many hurdles along the way, but Kevin navigated us through every problem with professionalism and grace. Thanks to findwell, we now own the house of our dreams and we couldn't be happier! I would use findwell again in a heart beat, and I will certainly be recommending them to all of my friends. Thanks Kevin & co!

We had the pleasure of working with Michael for almost a year while searching for a house. After an unsuccessful experience with the first offer, we decided to switch agents and to find somebody who understood the competitive nature of this buyer's market and had a lot of experience in multiple offer situations. Looking back, we're very glad that we made that choice! 
Michael is a true real estate professional, very responsive, quickly answers questions and is happy to provide detailed explanations and reasoning behind his advice, as well as suggesting different options. While touring homes, he has a wealth of knowledge on what a certain remodeling job would cost based on experience with past clients and has great recommendations for inspectors and various contractors. All of the paperwork is done digitally, which is a great time saver, especially when you want to make adjustments to an offer. If out of town or unable to make it, Michael quickly arranges home tours with other agents, so you don't loose precious time with a new listing. 
When it comes to multiple offers, Michael knows what questions to ask the listing agents to put together a competitive offer and is very detail oriented. After several unsuccessful attempts, not only did we finally win a multiple offer bidding, but also sold our townhome in just a day with Michael's help! 
Whether you're looking to buy or sell, we would highly recommend meeting with Michael before settling on a real estate agent.

We found an investment home we wanted to buy sort of by accident. I wanted to use a realtor to help us buy it, because there is a lot of benefit of going with a realtor rather than doing it alone. I asked around and saw that findwell is a company similar to redfin, in that they are based online and rebate some of the closing costs. But findwell is smaller, which I like, so we went with them. We were set up with Matt Martel. He was really great. We didn't end up getting the first house we looked at, and he helped us to find another one. He was mostly helpful in the buying process... he walked us through every step, even came to the signing with us. He's a landlord, too, so was able to give us a lot of extra information and resources, too. I liked him a lot, he's very professional and friendly, and easy to talk with. I would definitely use him again for buying a home.

My daughter and I first met with Lauren at her office in Seattle. She was friendly and open, and my daughter was very comfortable with her, which was important because this was all such a new experience for her! She was looking for a small house with a big yard, and she just barely qualified for a $160,000 loan. She was looking anywhere between Seattle and Lynnwood. There wasn't a lot to choose from, given her parameters, but Lauren had a good sense of what was important to my daughter, and didn't waste our time looking at unsuitable properties, so that, after looking at 3 properties, she ended up buying the first one we looked at. Lauren was always on time for any meetings, and came out for all inspections, as well as the signing, and finally delivered the keys to my daughter at work, on her lunch break.

We listed our Seattle home for sale in August of 2010.  We interviewed Michael of Findwell, as well as Redfin.  Redfin's suggested list price was higher, so we went with them.  Too bad we didn't really think this through...after 2 months on the market, we had almost no interest, despite price drops.  We were extremely frustrated at our agent, who we felt didn't like being bothered by our phone calls, and who didn't seem very motivated to sell our home, so we got back in touch with Michael, begging him to consider taking us on as clients.  He spent a long time on the phone with me, listening to me vent about how disappointed I was with my Redfin agent, and then explained what he would do to try to sell my home as quickly as possible.  We terminated our agreement with Redfin that night, and that was likely one of the best decisions we've ever made.
OK, so now more about why we think Michael and Findwell are fantastic:
1. Michael's listing price recommendation was based on detailed comps, personal inspections of similar homes for sale in our neighborhood, and a thorough evaluation of the local market.  We're not sure what Redfin's market analysis was based on, but we think it was wishes and dreams, or perhaps a random number generator.  Redfin's comps were selected by home size and distance, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything in Seattle.  A Ravenna home is not really comparable to a U-District home, even if they are half a mile apart.  There's a qualitative difference there that Redfin failed to notice, but that Michael did.
2. We knew we were in a tough position - a house with some odd characteristics in one of the worst markets in decades that we needed to sell fast.  Michael never painted the picture as rosier than it was.   Instead, he focused on explaining how he would address those challenges, how he would market the house to show off it's strengths, and what we should realistically expect.  He has a very positive outlook, but it is realistic.  That is critically important in real estate.
3.Michael has more patience than the vast majority of people out there, and I tested his patience repeatedly with countless panicked phone calls and emails.  Michael always took the time to talk to me and listen to what I said, which is not easy since I am a high-maintenance control freak.  His advice was always based on fact (not my level of freak-out), and I was able to relax and trust him.
4. Michael's pricing recommendations turned out to be quite accurate.  Every week he emailed us a summary of showings and online activity, as well as an update on the comps (had they sold, changed their price, etc.), and any new comps that  came on the market.  
5. We got an offer on our house the day I boarded the plane to move back east.  Michael worked with us long-distance, and I was able to completely trust him to watch out for our best interests.  Everything was handled proactively so we never had to worry.
6. When we were negotiating, Michael worked with the buyer's agent to get a feel for where the buyers stood.  He knew we needed to keep the buyers, but that we couldn't afford to accept their initial offer.  After a few back-and-forth negotiations, Michael guided us to a final price that the buyers could manage, but that was as painless for us as possible.  We felt that he was truly watching out for our best interests the whole time, even if we were not there or part of every conversation.
In summary, Michael was everything that you expect from a full-price agent.  Stellar communication, accurate pricing, a solid marketing plan, thorough review of comparable homes and market activity, and experienced guidance through negotiations, inspection, and closing.  I used Windermere for my first two home sales, and I can honestly say that Findwell meets or exceeds the service level of a full-priced real estate powerhouse like Windermere.  Of course, Findwell does it for half the commission, which is nice, but I would whole-heartedly recommend them even at full commission.

I am pretty happy with Find Well. He was quick to get back to us. He has not been overly pushy with us. He has been very nice and genuine. His prices have been average. I will use him again in the future.

They were fantastic. They are agents and were extremely willing to work with us and very knowledgeable about the area. They spent considerable amount of time to help guide us to look at houses within our criteria. I do remember the cost was considerably less than a traditional agent. We’ve never had a problem with them.

Findwell, and in particular our agent Shannon Ressler, were recommended to us by friends (who in turn had been recommended her by other friends).  The recommendations are justified!  This is a challenging market both in terms of pricing and inventory, but over many weekends Shannon was happy to tour us around homes we found on the Findwell site, and would send us suggestions of homes we consider looking at. 

We had a fairly clear idea of what we were looking for, and Shannon would give us realistic insight into why she thought particular homes did - and didn't - meet our criteria.  We left every house feeling like we were considering (or, more often, rejecting) it based on a good, objective understanding of its good and bad points.  In particular, we didn't have the "hard sell" experience we have heard others talk about from their "buyer's" agent - it always seemed that she was as interested as we were in finding the right house, not just pushing any house to close a deal.

Then, we found the home we wanted.  For myriad reasons, it seemed to be out of reach: it was offered above our budget, it had great craftsmanship inside and out that made us wary of whether the price would be reduced further, and on top of that it was taken off the market shortly after we found it!  We decided we wanted to wait and see if it came back on the market in a few months somewhere near to a price we could afford.  Obviously seeing how much we wanted this particular home, Shannon completely supported us in this decision, even though it obviously meant a delay in us making any purchase that would result in her being paid, and she somehow managed to be both realistic ("it's probably a long shot, but hey...") and optimistic ("let's try!") at the same time. 

In the event, after a few months the home was relisted at a price close to our range.  Shannon helped us through the contract and negotiation process and paperwork, and we agreed a price we could afford with the seller.  But as with any housing transaction in this environment, that was just the beginning :(  In the next few weeks, there were tons of subsequent ups and downs and moments of drama over which we had little control - wildly different appraisals to both the upside and downside (now there's an industry that does urgently need regulation, btw), subsequent loan changes, more negotiations, contractual issues as the sellers (understandably) became concerned about whether financing would be obtained .. the list went on and on.  Shannon took call after call, offering advice, experience and suggesting possible paths for us to consider - always as an advisor, but leaving decisions clearly up to us. 

The deal rollercoaster was not a good time for anyone, but right through we felt that thanks to advice from Shannon (and a great mortgage company who will get a separate review!) we were doing everything we could to get the deal done.  She connected us to excellent professionals at various stages - never demanding that we use them, but relaying her experiences of them having worked out well on other transactions - and just generally just helped us feel really good about the decisions we were making. 

You will not be surprised to learn after this that we cannot recommend Shannon and Findwell enough :)  We are sitting in a wonderful home today that we only like more every day, and that 6 months ago (and 6 weeks ago again!) seemed completely out of reach.  Much of this is due to Shannon and the Findwell team who helped us work through the entire process, didn't give up, and who went the extra mile for us when it counted.  The Findwell fee rebate is definitely a nice bonus, but having been through this process, that's not the best thing about Findwell or ultimately the reason I would recommend them - it's their ability to actually get the job done, and in such a friendly, professional and supportive way.

I started my real estate search with Redfin, and at first really liked them but then realized they pretty much won't do anything "outside the box" -meaning work with you on short sales, certain bank owned properties, etc.  They are clearly focused on a very specific type of very uniform, routine transaction.

I then went to a full service agent, well two actually.  And they were like out of control bull dogs just trying to get us to buy a house, any house, despite it not meeting any of our criteria.

Then we found Findwell!  They rebate the transaction like Redfin, have a website that has fantastic technology for finding homes that emails with updates and homes matching specific criteria, etc. etc., and they are willing to work with you on out of the box type of transactions.  

Our agent, Michael was personable, honest, and a true pleasure to work with.  He listened well and facilitated our home finding process in a way that worked really well for our family. He never missed a detail, communicated often and clearly (even on his anniversary vacation), and helped us navigate the Seattle market.  The rest of the findwell team stood behind him so we were fully supported in the event Michael couldn't make an inspection.  

Michael helped set our expectations to reasonable levels, coached us down on some offers and up on others.  We wound up with a house that we really really love and can't recommend Findwell highly enough.