THIS MONTH'S TESTIMONIAL

This past June, a house in our neighborhood came up for sale. It was everything we wanted. It had more square footage, a nice pool, beautiful curb appeal and a three car garage. We quickly contacted the real estate firm representing the buyers and scheduled a showing.  That's when I met Pat Kelly. He took his time and allowed me to roam around the house, inspecting everything I wanted to and answering all of my questions. I left with a great impression of the house and a sense that Pat was a "no nonsense" agent.

Now that both my wife and I were convinced this was the house we wanted to buy, we realized that selling our own house had to be done with exact timing. Moreover, we needed to get the most from the value of our house in terms of price. We began the search for a realtor and called an agent that came out and gave us a glossy presentation for two hours.  He made claims of being the very best at what he did, how his outfit was the leader in the area for percentage of houses sold.  He showed us facts and figures that would support how he could sell our house in short time. After grinding through several sheets of recent sells in our neighborhood, he almost had us convinced we should sell our house for a lower asking price than we had originally thought. We weren't convinced and after he left, our thoughts went to Pat.

We called Pat. He came out and we explained our situation to him. That we needed to get X amount for our house in order to afford the one we wanted. And we needed the entire process of selling ours and buying theirs to be seamlessly dovetailed together so we wouldn't end up homeless waiting for paperwork, etc. Pat took all this in stride. He confidently provided us with solutions and options that would get us what we wanted, the way we wanted. He put his sign in our yard and within hours I was being asked by people driving by about our house. The next day brought two showings. The next couple of weeks produced many more showings and eleven days after Pat listed our house, he called me with the good news that we had a contract! The buyer came within $2000 of our asking price and was eager to move in by the end of June. Earlier we had made an offer on the house we wanted to buy and received a flat NO in response. In fact, not just NO, but don't bother waiting on a counter, because they would be out of town for awhile. We talked to Pat about what kind of offer he suggested we make that would be more appealing and within our budget. We accepted his advice and made another offer and this time the seller countered with an expected amount. Our expectations were set because Pat had given us the benefit of his experience in this scenario.

Pat arranged all the documentation, worked with the buyer's realtor to meet all of their requirements. He also worked with the seller's realtor facilitation inspections, reports, etc for both sides of the negotiations. Some of the negotiations weren't that pleasant, but he never missed the opportunity to see the positive in any situation. He was always factual with us, giving us the bad news as well as the good. He always had options for each opportunity that came up during the process. Through Pat's efforts, we were able to sell our house for top dollar, buy the house we really wanted and close on them both on the same day. The transactions at the closing were effortless.  We walked away with a nice check in our pocket and keys to our new home. Pat even gave us a house warming gift as a show of his appreciation.  We couldn't have been more pleased with the work he did. He met and exceeded all of our expectations and was always there when we needed him. A few times we were exchanging emails with him after midnight!  Anytime we hear someone we know talking about buying/selling their home, we always feel comfortable recommending Pat to them.

On a final note, the realtor that had originally made his presentation to us called back checking on where we were with selecting a realtor. After a few moments of figuring out who I was talking to, I told him that we had already sold our house and no longer needed a realtor. He seemed surprised when I told him how much we got for our house. (several thousand more than he wanted to list it for) He was even more surprised when I told him that we bought the house we wanted and were in the process of moving into it. The phone got noticeably quiet on his end. The phone got quiet on his end when I told him that we closed on both houses on the same day! After a few more moments of silence before he ended our conversation by saying he should have called us back sooner!

Mark & Deidra of Houston Texas