Working with Overtoom Real Estate on Martha's Vineyard was very disappointing. The company is dusty and out-of-touch with technology and todays' buyers and sellers.
Perhaps as a result of enjoying a long run on the island prior to the Internet and review sites like Yelp,com, Overtoom behaves as though they are in a vacuum with a rigidity and arrogance that is off-putting.
We were selling in Massachusetts from San Diego, and good communication was key.
Our problems began when we discovered ten days before the property listing went up, our realtor, Leslie, was being let go from the company.
We were asked to begin again with a new agent after having invested most of the summer in dialogue with Leslie K. (a wonderful and enthusiastic younger Island realtor).
Selling a home in Massachusetts from San Diego was no small feat. There was a lot of planning and synchronizing required in order to get contractors in and out, and to time all the repairs within a very tight schedule. We had spent nearly 2 months correspondence with Leslie to make this happen.
We received news from Karen Overtoom that Leslie was being let go while on already on-island with a contractor I had brought with me from San Diego.
Because Overtoom Realty had yet to spend any actual cash advertising our property, we suggested maybe it would be better for all if we continued working with Leslie, rather than having to bring a new agent up to speed during our crunch time. We had provided all the photographs, taken by a professional, so Overtoom had not incurred any hard costs up to this point.
We presented this to company owner, Karen Overtoom, but she was unmoved and unwilling to let us out of the agreement.
We accepted what happened as part of business, and gave Karen the benefit of the doubt as we began again with a new agent, "Brenda G."
Brenda G. was unenthusiastic about our property from the outset, repeatedly suggesting the valuation of the house was too high. Not totally uncommon for an agent to say if the priority was a quick sale, but we prefaced all dialogue by explaining the sale was not forced and that we would simply revert the home to a rental property if the property could not get what we were asking (about 8% more than the agency had suggested).
In the end, we were able to sell the house for what we wanted, within six months, so we were very happy we stuck to our guns and our own research and did not take their advice. We kept pointing out they were sending us "comps" that were not actually comparable, i.e. four bedroom three baths in our zipcode. To justify the lower suggested listing price, Brenda would send us property listings in other townships, or listings with fewer bathrooms, or without a detached outbuilding garage, or lot sizes that were quite different - not true comparable properties with actual matching demographics.
After being "up" online for over a month, we discovered the listing on Zillow.com showed a pin marker in a totally different township, about fifteen minutes drive in a different area on the island.
It was clear Brenda never bothered to proof the listing and there were inaccuracies in the text description for the property. The listing was unenthusiastic and unimaginative, and failed to mention a number of important selling points.
We had asked Brenda to take a few "after" photos of the newly renovated kitchen to update the photos we had had taken previously by a professional.
We saw the two photos she had taken of the new counters, leaving open boxes of Home Depot contractor garbage bags and various personal items strewn around. Very unprofessional and indicative of the care we felt she had for the listing.
From the beginning, we felt the agency undervalued the house to make a quick sale, despite how we prefaced our objective. We insisted on a list price about 8% higher.
Even with the discrepancy, we had a steady stream of interested parties from the beginning. And even with concessions made in closing, we were able to sell the house for far more than had we listened to what was advised.
This company needs to learn they are no longer operating in a vacuum because they are located on Martha's Vineyard. They are a poor choice for middle class and lower income buyers and sellers.
They provide weak communication and customer service and, in our experience, expend minimum effort selling your home (meanwhile asking the highest commission on the Island).
Not recommended. read more
