I have worked with a number of real estate agents in the past 30 years, buying and selling some 12…read morehomes. I was fortunate to have the assistance of a number of good agents, but Caroline is without a doubt head and shoulders above all of them.
I recently sold my current condo home with Caroline as my sales agent. Caroline was also the agent who helped me to buy my place some 13 years ago. I had such a wonderful experience working with Caroline that I immediately thought of her again when I decided to sell my place.
Most real estate transactions tend to follow fairly standard operating procedures. Thus the basic mechanics of a property sale or purchase can be handled by most agents without issue. However, when things go awry, that's when the experience, expertise and professionalism of a real estate agent really become absolutely critical. Such was the case with me. After my house was on the market for about 10 days, a couple made an offer that I accepted. So after signing the initial agreements, the couple proceeded to do their due diligence, which included various inspections. When the latter were all completed to the buyers' satisfaction, they removed all their purchase contingencies, and we were officially in escrow. Now all we had to do was wait for the buyers' bank to fund the loan. And that's when things took an unexpected turn.
My buyers were pre-approved for a so-called faith-based loan from a small community bank in Chicago. Neither Caroline nor I, nor the title company where we opened escrow, knew much about what exactly a faith-based loan entailed; we just thought it would not be that different from any other mortgage loan. We were wrong! With us now in escrow, the bank in Chicago unexpectedly asked for various additional data/information that was outside of the scope of what was in the condo disclosure package that was provided to and signed off by the buyers earlier. So Caroline had to scramble very quickly to respond to the bank. That was by no means an easy task as multiple parties had to be identified and contacted. But after moving heaven and earth, Caroline did deliver everything the bank requested. Yet, in the end, my buyers were not able to get their loan. So that escrow, which by then was 3 weeks past the agreed closing date, fell through.
I was, to be sure, a bit crestfallen. But Caroline was able to put that setback quickly behind her, and promptly arranged for the staging company she had long worked with to re-stage my condo in short order. With Caroline resuming hosting open houses again, I did quite quickly receive another offer that was in fact better than the one I had accepted previously. This time, we were able to close escrow without any issue within a month. So it all turned out well, and that was totally to Caroline's credit. Her hard work and undaunted spirit truly made all the difference.
I should also note that I was overseas in Asia during all that time, so my communications with Caroline were mostly by email. On those few occasions when I felt that a phone conversation was needed, I would call Caroline. Given the 15-hour time difference between Caroline's Pacific Standard Time and my time zone in Asia, I would often reach Caroline at 8 or 9 pm her time. Quickly brushing aside my apologies for calling her so late, Caroline would always cheerfully take such time as we needed to discuss our next steps. Caroline wrote well, and fast, and she presented all her points clearly and succinctly. So I was always kept fully apprised of what's going on notwithstanding we were in different continents and time zones.
In summary, I cannot imagine a real estate agent who is more efficient, pleasant to work with, experienced, hardworking, dedicated, and smart as Caroline. If Yelp were to change their maximum star rating from 5 to 10 stars, I would have to give Caroline eleven stars!