Saturday, September 24, 2011

A review that made me blush.

My lovely clients occasionally Yelp me good reviews. For some reason Yelp does not post most of these reviews (possibly because I do not pay them), so no one sees them including me. Occasionally, I'll go through the two step security process to look at the filtered reviews and check if there is anything new. Today I did and I found this gem from a recent buyer in Atwater:


Filtered Reviews for Preferred Realty and Loan

Note: The reviews below are not factored into the business's overall star rating.
Photo of Tyler P.
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  • 25reviews

Los Angeles, CA

5.0 star rating
7/21/2011


No one likes long Yelp reviews right?
I'll make it simple: if you're even THINKING about buying a house (especially on the East Side), give Sky a call. Just do it... thank me later.
If you have more time to read specifics, however...

Pros (in order of importance):

-Sky likes a good bargain (being active in real estate himself)... and that translates very well with investment savvy clients like myself. This is incredibly important. A lot of agents (95% of them) won't go the extra mile and take the risk and submit an offer for a dangerously low price because it means less commission for them, and it could cost them the deal. They'd rather just make excuses as to why the house is "worth" the ask price and not make an effort. Not so with Sky... he'll go to bat for you and has a talent for throwing around ball park numbers with the seller's agent to find out where the absolute floor is, ie where you're almost spitting in the seller's face. Sounds crude, but that's all potentially future money you'll be paying out of YOUR paycheck, right? We ended up taking 15% off the ask price after several negotiations, which is pretty good.

-Seems like the guy genuinely enjoys his job, and that he's done pretty well in real estate himself (owns multiple units), so there is a readily apparent feeling of "doing it for fun" that goes a long way towards not making you feel pressured to do anything you don't feel like doing because he's likely not THAT dependent on the commission. He's also genuinely fun to be around and has a redeeming sense of humor, not like other stuffy agents.

-A "knock your door down" professional across all levels. Half the time, my wife and I were done for the day, but he always had more suggestions to go look at. Even though we ultimately bought one of the first houses we saw, there were a few that we saw in the later stages that that very well could have been veritable backups had our primary fallen through. That means a lot to a buyer, to have options.

-Supremely more tech savvy than any other agent (which is important... up to the minute automatic updates on market moves and new listings in your exact desired market, and lightning fast with emails).

-Knows the market unbelievably well (I mean, laughably well... ie pointing out new trends in housing, and several houses that were done by same developer that look 100% alike, even though 10+ miles apart)

-Last but not least, free lunch 8)

Cons:

-None. Absolutely none.

I would advise you call him soon, though, because his weekends are starting to fill up.
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Many thanks to my buyers Ty + Pia for the Morel Orel Tshirt and for
being good sports while I drug them around to so many houses.
See you guys at Hugos Tacos!


Thanks!!