I was introduced to Max from a good friend. He described Max as the guy who will get you into a house - be ready before you contact him. Well, I met with Max who also referred me to a lender that first day. (we were not 100% yet on buying in this crazy market) I had a few things to get in order before we were ready to run. I let Max know we needed about 40 days. We provided a criteria of what my wife and I were looking for - as experienced home buyers, we were looking for "the house" - and I was prepared for a long process. Well on day 35 Max sent over a potential match - we toured it, Max asked several questions of both of us - we didn't make an offer on the first one - partially because I was still getting my head around this 2017 real estate market. sure enough the house was gone in 3 days 10% over list price. Max adjusted the houses coming our way after that conversation - to what we were looking for, and had a couple real conversations about what it was going to take to win what we were looking for in this market. The insights of that conversation were ones I knew, but needed to have. Internally, my wife and I were second guessing our decision to play in this market. After a couple more emails and texts with Max, I let her know - "we better define what we want and be ready to do this, because this guy is going to get us into a house. If we don't buy its going to be because of us - not Max." the next week - we spotted a house at 10pm on a Monday, toured it with what must have been 30 other people on a Tuesday, put an offer in with a 20% escalator, and lost that one! (can you believe the insanity out there right now?). - all the while Max advised us on strategy, on the state of the offer pool, on the offer window that shrunk from 4 days to 24 hours, providing honest feedback about his listing agent relationships - when he had them, or even when he didn't. The next week a house, no wait, not a house - "THE House" came on the market at 1030am on a Thursday. We were touring (just us this time) at 6pm. An hour later, we decided to make an offer. No contingencies of course and over list price. Max wrote everything up that night, and sent it off - making himself available pretty late into the evening. Well - the Buyer accepted our offer - we got the house!, the Open House was cancelled and we are pretty much ecstatic. By the way - this was a somewhat complicated VA Loan, closing within 30 days just after Memorial Day weekend. Between Max and Dan Pittman at OnQ Financial (our referred lender) we were able to overcome so many of the obstacles that come up in the house buying process. I highly recommend this great team. I'll simply say this - a good partner in any business transaction must know his business, have strong relationships, be driven, and be assertive - all while being responsive, approachable and trustworthy - and ideally bringing a human element to what is a very personal process - a process that brings emotional highs and lows, redefines where you raise your family, exposes your financial limitations, and demands quick decision making on what for us was by far the biggest purchase of our life. Max is all of this. If you want to look at houses - there are a lot of websites and Open Houses out there. When you are ready to focus, buy and win a house - select Max as your Realtor read more

My husband met Max during a promotional sales event at a discount store, and told me I should talk to Max about a property I had not been stuck with for over 6 years. I was very skeptical that Max would be able to accomplish anything more than the all the other realtors prior to that point. I was afraid to get my hopes up, waste my time, or in the worst case become the subject of a scam. I talked to Max early in November 2013. He assured me he would get the job done. I guess the timing was right, because for the first time in 4 years, my loan account with the lender had just been assigned to an account manager who was determined to see this account closed one way or another. There was a second lender as well, and Max had no problem dealing with them as well, even when they were out of line. Max knows the intricacies of the laws on short sales and foreclosure. He did not succumb to intimidation from the lenders. Max did not waste any time. He took charge. Within a few days, I had signed all the papers giving him authority to deal with the lenders. Everything was done electronically, no need to drive anywhere. Via phone, text messages, or email, Max was constantly letting me know of the progress. I felt as if I was his only case. By luck, we had a serious qualifying buyer within a few hours of listing the house. This was hard to believe. The house had been vacant and neglected for years. Lots of repairs needed to be done and I was not willing to spend a dime! Max was there the whole time, communicating or negotiating with the buyers' realtor, with my lenders. He went to war for me... He made it happened. We closed on the house on February 21, 2014. Yes, luck played a big role, but I truly believe that without Max one of the lenders would not have "capitulated", the buyers would have given up, and I would be saying to Max "I told you so". I am still amazed at what just happened. I am grateful that I crossed path with Max, and very thankful to Max for his resolve and professionalism. Max deserves all the business he can get. read more

I've known Max for 20 years, but I've never had the opportunity until this year to tap into his real estate expertise. We were looking for our first home, a 10-20 acreage property at that, and we were prepared for the whole process to be long, complicated and daunting. We were completely perplexed when it actually turned out to be the opposite. We got pre-approved, looked at a property 5 days later which we fell in love with and the next day our offer was accepted! There were two other offers on the table, one of which even included an escalation clause. Given Max knew we were at the top of our budget and we weren't going to budge, he did everything he could to win over the seller without moving the price point. Max recommended that we write a letter to the seller and we included a paragraph about our 11- year old pup and how excited we were that she would finally have her own dog run and 15 acres of property to hike around on. Guess what? Our pup won the seller over despite our offer not being the highest on the table! As for the closing process, we were novices, so we relied heavily on Max to make the process run smoothly, which it did. Admittedly, we never quite knew how much work a real estate agent did until we went through this process. That said, now we realize how lucky we were to know Max because of his knowledge and experience. There was a vast difference in quality and knowledge that we found between Max and the seller's agent, to the point where we kind of felt bad for the seller! Just goes to show, you have to be diligent in finding the right agent...or you could just take our word and go with Max. : ) He'll be available any time (we texted between 6 and 7am regularly during closing!), he'll fight for you, he'll celebrate with you and he's one of the most genuinely good people you'll meet, which is a rarity in the sales sector. We can't recommend him enough! Thanks, Max! read more

Bottom line for: if you're looking for someone who just simply gets it right in this crazy real estate market, then you really can't do any better than working with Max Rombakh. We found Max by chance online and my wife and I were so happy we did. We had met with other real estate agents before and were either turned off by their arrogant personalities, or unimpressed with their talk first, listen second attitudes. Finding Max was simply put- "a breath of fresh air." He responded right away to our initial inquiry for a consultation visit and did his due diligence in preparation for that first visit. His initial presentation was confident but most important to us, he listened to everything we had to tell him first (not to mention he actually took the time to focus on our young attention-seeking toddler). This confident yet caring personality persisted throughout our entire working relationship together. Max understood well (because he listened!) to our circumstances with young children in the house while trying to sell, and found creative ways to work with us (and nap times!). He remained 'on-call' to all of our questions by phone, e-mail, texts all with a quick response, a positive attitude and with all the information we needed. Even after our house sold, Max remained very involved with every detail to see the deal through closure and beyond. I can't say enough kind words about Max and his professional, friendly, and efficient work ethic. In this competitive real estate market, he is really in a class of his own. It shows from day one and doesn't let up until everything is done. I can't recommend a real estate agent any higher than Max Rombakh. He's the one you recommend to family members to get it done right! read more

I am very pleased we selected Max as our realtor. The last time we were in the market to buy a house we had bad advice and in hindsight made some bad decisions out of ignorance. So we were nervous and in two minds on whether we wanted to sell or not. We agreed a fair price to sell our home, and took Max's advice on multiple occasions which helped us through what can always be a stressful process. He reduced the stress by being direct, not sugar coating things, he was honest, set clear expectations on timings and when the market situation changed to everyone's surprise we always felt informed and that we could trust Max. His teams photography and marketing was impressive, he kept us well informed on when and where the home was being promoted. He balanced appreciation of our home (he knows the market in Kirkland extremely well) with rational thinking on pricing and demand. Dealing with some frustration and some "flaky" potential buyers, was easier with Max there to depend on. He went out of his way to help us find a rental property, and was very clear and efficient throughout the whole sale process. He is very good to deal with, and is able to do his job to very high professional standards and connect well with his client. His honesty and on some occasions humor, kept us sane through the process. I highly recommend Max Rombakh for his knowledge, service, professionalism and integrity. He is the first person we will reach out to when we are ready to buy our next home. read more

We found Max through YELP, after being on the market with our previous agent for 4 months. We chose him because we knew we wanted someone from Windermere and had good reviews. Max was prompt and met with us on Sunday evening, the day we released our previous realtor. We shared our frustrations and what we hoped to accomplish. He created a plan for us to go back on the market in 3 days. We re-staged the house, took knew pictures, raised our house price slightly (due to worth and to cover the new agent fees) and hoped we would sell the house quickly. We went live on Wednesday morning and received a call Wednesday evening that we had a full price offer with a quick close. SUCCESS! Important things: Max being with Windermere has connections. I do believe it make for a quicker sale. Great photographer- our new pictures were amazing. Worth the hassle to re-stage and clean. He had a solid plan for selling the house and was confident in his approach He is open to lots of open houses- he wants to sell your house. Though we didn't have to have one with him. Max was able once the sale of our house was final to provide us some buffer for moving out and taking possession of the new house, which is incredibly helpful. He has contacts for moving, financing and "home improvement contractors" Overall, Max likes his job, displays confidence in his approach and can sell a house. He's worth the 3%. read more

I had a very unique experience with Max to purchase our first home in Kirkland, WA. We started looking for a house from the east coast before moving to Seattle. Imagine that this was our first time purchasing a house, we seriously had no idea what to do, maybe my wife and I were too brave. Luckily, everything started going well as my closest friend introduced Max to us. We started chatting on the phone to find out what kind of home we can pursue given our budget. He also explained what are the important steps until closing. For several weeks, we exchanged emails and talked over the phone to make a list of houses that were interesting to us. And, finally, we made the house hunting trip for a week to Seattle to submit the offers. It was a sunny Sunday noon in Seattle. As soon as we arrived, we started visiting the houses on the list and ranked them in order of our interest. On Monday morning, we submitted our first offer for the house that we liked the most. About 6 hours later, Max called us and believe me, or not, he told us our offer has been accepted. We knew the Seattle real estate market is very competitive and most of my friends told me not to expect the first offer to be accepted, but Max really made it in one shot. All these processes were done within three months. If you really want to buy a house that you like to buy, I can tell you that Max is the one who you need. read more

We had quite a difficult sale due to neighborhood's low appraisals and sellers accepting offers much lower than listing. With Max's suggestions on landscape improvements and his strong negotiation skills we were able to close comfortably above the listing. The extra buffer helped us win the bidding war on the home that we really wanted. We experienced Max's service on both sides (sale then buy) and we can safely say we did not regret for a second keeping him as our agent. Here's the thing, Max sells over 50 houses a year which makes him rather busy. This was a bit of a red flag with us because we did not think he'd have any significant time to spend with us during the process. To be honest, we have never been so informed and up-to-date with the process. He was always available, responded to our emails and answered our calls. He met up with us at our convenience and we never felt out of the loop. Even when Max was out of town, on his previously planned vacation, he was still very responsive and was able to clear any concerns that we had. We actually felt like we were his only clients. Max also remodels homes which makes him a valuable resource when hunting down that perfect fixer-upper. He's able to estimate the remodel cost and put things in perspective. Even after we closed, Max kept in touch and helped us with remodeling. We highly recommend his services! read more

We found Max through a referral and he was amazing. He's an excellent listener and in our first meeting, he was able to quickly zero in on what we were looking for and suggested a few places that we initially didn't look closely at (but ended up being our ultimate purchase). He worked extremely well with our lender as well. In our first meeting, we pointed out a place we were interested in and we all immediately went to view it while he multi-tasked and contacted the seller's agent. He and our lender helped rush a pre-approval/qual through so we could submit a bid and then helped us structure a strong offer in the ensuing process. He's decisive and has a good intuition for a properties' fair price as well as what can be negotiated. Max was extremely responsive and was available at short notice all the time. He loves what he does and it shows in the attention to detail and his overall availability and responsiveness to email/phone/etc... Even helping us (with the seller agent) afterwards with an oversight outside his control regarding a water-heater was something he didn't have to do, but did anyway because he takes so much pride in his work and clients. Max is awesome. Thanks for a wonderful experience from two first-time homebuyers. We will definitely look you up in the future if we're on the market again. read more

Max was great throughout our homebuying process. He was recommended to us by our mortgage broker who promised us that he was the best in the area. After working with Max, I would have to say that we wholeheartedly agree with that statement. Throughout the process, he always had our best interests in mind. Since we were first time homebuyers, we needed guidance at times when decisions needed to be made. He listened to what we were interested in looking at, and ultimately found us the house we ended up purchasing in two tries. It was exactly what we were looking for in an area that we really hadn't considered, but now love. We also dealt with a difficult seller and seller's agent, and Max took care of all of the interactions with them. This kept our stress level low and made the process really simple. He was always responsive when we had questions. He was very respectful of our budget and provided realistic feedback when we told him what we were looking for and how much we could afford. In the end, he negotiated us an outstanding price in a great area and even helped us with a few issues we had with the seller after the deal had closed. He made the process extremely easy and we can't recommend him enough to anyone in the market for a new home. read more

My family and I strongly recommend Max Rombakh. He and his team are exceptional on every level. Originally, my wife and I planned on sticking with our agent that we had used in the past, but prior to moving forward, we received a phone call from Max. He noticed our house was up for sale 4 years prior and never sold. He had a family that had interest in our neighborhood/area and felt compelled to reach out to us. In our conversations we decided to meet and discuss the possibility of working together. In no time we new Max was the right agent for us. He's a bulldog. Our home was on the market on a Wednesday, we reviewed offers the following Monday and papers were signed Tuesday. Max's knowledge of the market and other comparable properties in the area allowed our home to sell for well over listing price. Max and his team, Solli and Sonja are professional and accessible at all times -- regardless of their schedule. Buying and selling a home can be very stressful, so finding the right team to support you is key. The Rombakh Team at Windermere were right for us and I have no doubt they'll be the right team for you. read more

"Max is a very skilled real estate agent - within the first few meetings and houses we reviewed together, he quickly got a grasp of what our taste in houses is. He almost never showed us a home which didn't match our interests. He is knowledgeable of the market, gave us good advice and when we finally purchased our house, he got us a great deal at the asking price, which is unheard of these days in the larger Seattle area. He was very patient with us through our house search process - we were very specific about what we wanted and we ended up buying a house that matched most of our needs. We took a long time to pick a house we liked and he was patient all along. He is punctual and respectful of our time, which we appreciated a lot given our busy schedules. Also, when we purchased our house, he had a lot of contacts for work we needed done - paint, wood floors, and other contractors. Overall, a very good experience with Max, we would highly recommend using him for your house purchase/sale needs." read more

We have worked with Max a few times as both a buying and selling agent. Without a doubt, Max is the best realtor in the Seattle area, whatever your needs are, humble to palatial. Our first home was sold in a very low market within 6 days. Max then negotiated beautifully for our next bank-owned house (beating out other, higher, offers), handled a water emergency in that house, and then helped us sell the same house a decade later for over-asking price within 24 hours of going live on market. Listen to this man--he knows exactly what you need to do to sell your home for top dollar in any market. He says to paint? Paint. He suggests to stage? Do it. The best thing? He has excellent contractors to do the work. We sold our home in Bothell from our new home in Maui without having to be in-state. Max's career has been a pleasure to watch--he truly deserves every success that comes his way. Do yourself a favor and work with Max, you'll be glad you did! read more

I typically don't take the time to write a review but Max is an exceptional real estate agent and deserves the positive feedback. Max is extremely proactive, detail orientated and an excellent communicator. He quickly identified the positive attributes of my house and utilized those in his marketing efforts in an effort to maximize the return on my home. The thing I probably respected most about Max is that he pushed the value of the home instead of trying to convince me that we should list it at a lower selling price so he could more easily sell the home and make his commission. He was truly interested in doing what was best for me and has always been above board in every one of his interactions with me. I would encourage anyone looking for a good agent to give Max a call and have a 5 min conversation with him. I think you will quickly resonate with Max and identify many of the same positive attributes that I have pointed out above. read more

Max helped us sell our condo. He introduced us to his contacts to prep the unit for sale (painting, cleaning, staging), who were all extremely professional and produced high quality, detailed work that exceeded our expectations. Throughout the process, Max was very responsive, provided timely updates and communicated clearly. Despite our situation being seemingly straightforward, we encountered hiccups during the offer process, but Max hung in there. He tapped into his experience, resources and network and successfully steered us through to closing. His transaction team was also excellent -- experienced, professional, punctual and responsive. They clearly laid out the steps and timelines, which allowed us to know exactly what to expect and meet deadlines. Max, his team and contacts have all been superb and a pleasure to work with, which says a lot about Max. He is also as good as his word and will follow through on his promises. read more

Max acted in a dual agent capacity for the transaction I was involved in where I was the buyer on the purchase of a $600k+ single family home in the Maltby area (Snohomish County). I appreciated his responsiveness to my needs as a buyer and was super impressed with the lender he referred me too (Dan Pittman at OnQFinancial). It is clear to me that Max is well connected in the Seattle area real estate industry, and his connections are good! I also really appreciated that several months after closing, when the seller still hadn't made good on one of the home inspection items, that Max took care of the issue and paid to get the item corrected out of his own pocket. To me, that shows dedication, loyalty, and commitment, even when at that point the transaction has been completed for several months and he had no obligation to fix the issue. Max is a good guy and I wouldn't hesitate to use him again in the future! read more

Max helped us purchase our first home in August 2019 in Kirkland. He took the initiative to reach out to us when one of the properties we liked had a price drop into our range. And we could not be more thrilled with the service he provided -- guiding us through the process and securing our dream home. Honestly we probably would not have had our offer selected if not for Max's relationships. We were competing with a higher all-cash bid, and he somehow convinced the sellers to go with us after a modest counter (despite the greater risk). Max is extremely responsive, knowledgeable, and on top of things. He also really knows the area and has a great instinct for what prices should be (as well as relationships to help line up vendors). We couldn't be happier with our experience. Max made the process as close to stress-free as possible! read more

Max has worked an absolute miracle for me in this insane housing market, and I can't recommend him more highly. My location requirements for a house purchase were extremely constricted, and it was extremely unlikely I'd be able to win a bidding war in my neighborhood. Max brought all his creativity to bear for me. He didn't try to convince me to look elsewhere but instead suggested sending out a letter to all properties that met my location requirement to try to solicit an off-market sale. He got a response and closed the deal with amazing speed! I ended up getting a much better house than I'd thought was possible at a fantastic price. Max is effective but also extremely easy to work with - he is knowledgeable, always reachable and highly personable. It's a no-brainer to choose Max as your agent. read more

"Be prepared to meet the last real estate agent you need to know - Max is the ONLY agent to hire in the Seattle area. He listens to what you want to achieve and devises executable plans to accomplish those goals effectively. After one said plan was executed, our property sold in 3 days (and this was when the market was sliding)! As such, we utilized his talents to purchase our next property, which was one that he thought we should look at in addition to the others we picked. It is interesting that he was able to glean something from our personalities that led him to the property we now call home. How would I describe him? Insightful, knowledgeable, actionable, responsive, committed and aggressive when necessary. Also, he is genuinely a great person. There is no other agent to know. read more