Samia was Terrific!
We began the thought process of moving from Boston back to the SF Bay area about a year ago. We love the Bay Area for many reasons, and had hoped to get back some day. We had been in Boston for over 13 years, and it was not obvious to us that we could afford a house if we moved back. Moving back to California appeared to be, and turned out to be, one of the most complex things that either myself, or my wife Teri, had ever done. We were very fortunate to meet Samia, and her help in dealing with the complexity was irreplaceable. We love her, and cannot endorse her more strongly.
Here's an itemized list of specific things that Samia did for us:
1. 3 House Hunting Trips - We did not even know whether we could accept the job offer to move us to California. Even being from Boston, which is in the top 5 highest priced real estate markets in the US, we were concerned that we had been priced out of living on the peninsula. On these 3 trips, Samia showed us about 30 houses. Almost every one of them sold in less than a week, and we all knew that that would be the case. The point was to identify the real price of houses out here, since all the good ones are highly overbid.
2. Samia set us up with Lillian Montalto, our real estate agent in Massachusetts. Our house in Newton, MA, was the first house that I ever owned, and I had all sorts of questions on how to sell our house. Lillian and Samia are good friends and have known each other for a long time. Like Samia, Lillian is a real professional and we greatly appreciated her guidance through the process. She immediately chose a date to list the house, which set the schedule for getting the house ready. The project of decluttering, and fixing up the house went very well, as we worked hard, and employed a contractor that Lillian introduced to us, who did a great job painting inside and outside, and fixing lots things, like doors that would not close properly. We first met Lillian in April, the house went up for sale on June 1st, and we sold it in 6 days for $70,000 above the Zillow estimated price.
3. Samia connected us with Andy Block, of OPES Advisors, who got us through the finance process quickly, so that we could bid on houses.
4. Because of the complexity of buying a house in SF Bay area, we chose to get a rental property on a 3-month lease. We needed to get a property in the school district that we intended to have our kids in, and a property that would allow us to have our dog and cat with us. Samia found Park Place at San Mateo for us. It turned out to be a very nice apartment, with a great pool. It worked out perfectly for us.
5. Samia knows San Mateo very well. She first met Marilyn, the lady from whom we purchased our house, a year, or so, before we purchased it. She is a nice lady who lived in the house for over 40 years. She did not have major work on the house to drive a higher price. She valued highly a quick and hassle-free process of selling her house, and was happy to get a price that funded nicely her move to a retirement community. Samia understood her very well, and knew the price that she would be happy with. Samia also encouraged Teri to write a letter to Marilyn, where Teri did a great job of stating what a nice house it is, and how it could host the lifestyle that we were looking for.
Before meeting Samia, and having scared ourselves by looking at too many listings on Zillow.com, we had the belief that a house in the Bay Area would be twice the price of our house in Newton, MA, and that it would be 2/3 the quality. The house hunting trips were critical to educating us on what we could get. The early conversations with Andy Block were critical in helping us to understand what we could afford. We came to understand our budget would be from 1.5 to 1.9 million dollars, and that we could afford this. We were very fortunate in that we got our house at the low end of our budget at 1.5 million dollars. This was the first and only house that we bid on. We got it all done in the 3-month window set by our lease at Park Place in San Mateo. Although our new house is a little smaller than our house in Massachusetts, in many ways it fits us better, and there is no doubt in our mind that we have upgraded. Taking on such a complex project requires you to find some real professionals to guide and advise you. We found one in Samia, and she was wonderful. We love her, and are very grateful for what she enabled us to do. read more