Lora is a very friendly and personable person, as is her team, and they are very nice, however I cannot in good conscience endorse them as real estate agents, especially to first time home buyers who have no idea what they're doing.
We informed her when we were first purchasing, that we would be new homeowners, and I stressed to her that I was concerned about the process and we'd need extra help going through it, and she assured us she would.... It was the complete opposite. I was constantly frustrated with the process and multiple times had to reach out to her and her team to explain what was going on and ask them for more information. I felt lost and stressed, which was the opposite of the stress free buying experience we were promised.
The first problem was the lender. She set us up with a person she said she trusted, who also said they'd explain everything to us and then left not explaining anything to us. Multiple times I called and asked for clarification, and I feel like I only got headway after I called and told him I was going with a different lender because I didn't feel he was being forthright. This was after Lora recommended we didn't go with the original lender we had (USAA) because she said they were difficult to work with and we could potentially lose our bids if USAA took too long to file the paperwork on our behalf which is why it was better to work with someone local that she knew better.
She and her team helped us buy a money pit. Within the first year of owning the house, we have spent 60,000 in MAJOR repairs, the inspector she selected for us assured would be no more than 10,000. The inspector also left out a cracked rafter which affects the roof's integrity, which a roofer has since informed us was due to the house being built with the wrong size wood for the size of the roof, and a major water pipe leak into the garage ceiling that has been going on for YEARS (which will add probably another 10-15k on the 60 we've already spent). This was all after being instructed by our agent that one of the only ways our offer would be accepted in the current market was if we went significantly over asking (30k) and made the offer "as-is" so I definitely feel misled. Especially since I later learned I could technically ask for the seller to repair certain things, but the seller has the right to deny. Should I have known this, I would have asked for more corrections, or a lowering of the over-asking price.
Lora put us in touch with a local contractor, who looked at our inspection report, told us he could do it for ~6,000 making us feel confident in our purchase, then disappeared the moment the sale went through and we actually needed the repairs done. I even texted her and her team and informed her how bad it was going after purchase, they offered to help us re-sell, and then promptly disappeared when I asked them to help us figure out how much we would lose if we tried to sell then. I felt taken advantage of as a first time home-buyer.
Suffice to say as a first time home buyer, my advice is do NOT get the mortgage lender your agent recommends (do they get kickbacks for referrals??) and find your own inspector. read more