Real Estate Agents

[Vishenka69]

I just wanted to say how much I love our real estate agent. The hospital recommended her and she's been awesome. We told her that we're not ready to buy and want to rent for awhile and she totally supported that and found us a few rentals. One of the places even gives discount to hospital employees and has pro-rated rent and leases in 6 months intervals and allows pets. And all her suggestions have websites with pictures and floorplans.

I guess the point of this post is to ask the hospital/program to recommend an agent when moving to a different city/state. They can really ease the anxiety of moving.

[SuzySunshine]

ITA! Also ask if they have a list of residents selling their homes or if there is some kind of intranet with housing. Several of our friends bought their houses from former residents which they found about through the hospital.

[Vishenka69]

ITA! Also ask if they have a list of residents selling their homes or if there is some kind of intranet with housing. Several of our friends bought their houses from former residents which they found about through the hospital.

That's great advice but not sure it'll work for us. We have a freaky taste in houses that nobody seems to understand.

lucky you, one program I went to, I used their recommended office, and got a guy smelling like an old cigar talk to me, about how life is hard sometimes you just have to settle for the crappy stuff, (come to find out he was only promoting areas he sold in which I couldn't afford anything or much at all in, and the area I could afford and fwiw liked better he didn't even mention). The guy was totally depressing, my dad was with me and we both said the same thing.

From my recent experiance don't use one realtor, use two, see which gives you better service, an go with that one. One realtor I used didn't even know where the hospital was, set up appts when I got in the office, didn't know how to open the lock box on the house, and I flew in to see this guy

Oh to add to this another realtor told me that once DH was out of training, not to drive around and find out neighborhoods that I liked, and tell him, for him to pick the "best" neighborhoods out for me. Over my dead body guy, guess who won't be our realtor should we match there!

[Cumberland]

My experience matches Julie's. Everytime I see a sign up for that guy I shudder.

[Vishenka69]

I'm so sorry you guys had bad experiences. I absolutely love this woman. We spoke on the phone for about 10 minutes and I was worried but when we came down, she showed us exactly what I had in mind. She drove us all over the area, which she knew really well, and really wasn't pushing anything. The several houses she showed us, she even pointed out the flaws and said some were overpriced and could rattle off how far each was from each hospital location (his will have 3 campuses).

I was also afraid she's be pushy and will steer us toward buying right away and instead she's so laid back and supportive and helpful that I'm just amazed.

[DCJenn]

I've had one completely insane realtor and two fabulous ones. Oh and one completely slimey one.

However, the crazy one wasn't a bad realtor, he was just a whack job who showed up drunk on Christmas Eve with a 4 pound box of chocolates. He represented me on one sale and one buy. We almost used him again to sell the DC house but went with the Coldwell Banker agent recommended through USAA. LOVED those guys. (if anyone in DC wants to use a fab group of realtors, PM me and I'll forward you their names)

Here in SA, we used our friend Julie again. Actually, our friend Laura represented us while Jules represented the seller.

Slimey guy sold me my condo and when I listed it with crazy realtor slimey realtor called and wanted to know why... (small town in the big city is SW DC)

Jenn

[houseelf]

When we were seriously contemplating buying, we talked with the recommended realtor who was realllllly pushy. (As in talking about houses $50,000 over our price range and driving us into high property tax neighborhoods when we are very committed to private school). We said "no thanks" and if buying in our next locale ever becomes an issue, we'll use someone else.

With that being said, the realtor that we've used in Minnesota is great.

Kelly

Word Lily. Sounds like I had John's sister in Baltimore. Same scenario -- gave a price range (which in retrospect was completely too low).

Said agent arrived to pick me up from Hopkins frickin 45 minutes late. After I'd confirmed five times and had literally confirmed on the phone 30 minutes prior to our agreed upon time.

Rolled up with a junior agent - a young man. Who I was soon to find out was a combination of navigator and bodyguard.

Took me through boarded up areas, trash on the street, folks yelling at our car, ambulances circling etc.

At first street like that asked me what I thought. I said, "I'm scared and embarrassed - step on the gas. With the thumbnails I saw, I had no idea we were going through neighborhoods like this."

I could go on but I've never been so pissed and scared.

What an idiot!!!

If nothing else, I can say that ride helped me to value the relative safety I enjoy every single day.

There are some mean streets out there.

[Vishenka69]

If nothing else, I can say that ride helped me to value the relative safety I enjoy every single day.

There are some mean streets out there.

May be I should refrain from getting people to reconsider NYC. :>

On the other hand, we tried really hard to find a non-white person in PA. The only ones we seen were Asians behind the sushi counter in Wegmans. Although appearantly the public schools in the area are no longer safe because of the "newcomers who don't speak English." DH and I decided not to reveal our origins after that one.

I don't know...at least NYC is post-Guilliani and that's supposed to be great. The part around Hopkins in Baltimore was more like post-nuclear halocaust.

[Vishenka69]

I don't know...at least NYC is post-Guilliani and that's supposed to be great. The part around Hopkins in Baltimore was more like post-nuclear halocaust.

I have to agree that it's much better, but there are still rough areas. We live about 10 minutes from the hospital and they regularly get shooting victims in ER. Building a multi-million dollar condo next to the methodone clinic and across the street from the projects looks better than a boarded up house but doesn't make the problem go away.