This review is specifically for Susan de Stein…read more Susan: thank you for all your help! My mother moved to Salt Spring a few years back and after what seemed like a monthly trip to the island, I realized that I was head over heels for SSI. I was living in Vancouver at the time and there was no chance in hell I was ever going to afford a house in the city. After a bit of research however, I realized that a little place on Salt Spring was well within my budget and so I began to plan my epic island getaway. Susan was amazing. I was looking for a place on a tight budget, that would also allow for a separate suite to both help with mortgage costs and have someone onsite to look after the place when I had to hop a ferry (theoretically) back into Vancouver for work. When we met her, she had a day of viewings ready and almost a dozen places that fit the bill. It was the first time I had ever even considered buying a place but she never treated me as such - was great about answering questions, showing the pros and cons of each spot and suggesting alternatives. Though I fell in love in a few places that day, one little yellow house that is still haunting me, I eventually concluded that the commute for work would be too much to make the island jump at that specific moment. But Salt Spring is still in my future - for that I am sure and when I do run away to the island, Susan will most definitely be the first person I contact to find my little island home.

was a little disappointed in the lack of response and uninterest from Mariann Abram. I am new to…read morethe area and had to move on to another real estate company....

In 2022, we were looking for a local realtor in Sidney BC. Found Holmes Realty through the…read moreinternet searches and sure glad we did! Our contact was Mariann, who is a sole buyer realtor (works on the buying side only). She was fantastic from the start. Very professional, excellent research and knows the market. We wanted a 2-bedroom condo that accepted dogs (2) and needed to have enough room for our furniture from Calgary. Mariann did the work - she reviewed all the Strata documents and floor plans to find condos that could work for us. In the end, she found us our Island Dream home condo. Just outside Sidney (North Saanich) and in a nice quiet area. We can't thank Holmes Realty and Mariann enough for their outstanding service. Don't look anywhere else as Holmes Realty is based in Sidney and knows the market better than others. 5 Stars from us!

Wes Smith is an honest realtor who puts his client first. He helped me to purchase the house I'm…read morecurrently in and he made the transaction easy. His experience and knowledge was very helpful. He was available after the purchase to answer some questions I had. Exceptional service!

This testimonial is 10 years in the making. I first met Wes in around 2009. I was working as a…read moremortgage broker and did some mortgages for some of his clients. The first thing I noticed about Wes is that he always put his clients first. This seems like it should be standard practice with every professional but it rarely is. He spends more time with his clients, working on their behalf than any other realtor I have ever met or worked with. Things like being at the home when the home inspection is being done (for the entire duration of the inspection), helping customers get quotes for renovation for their new purchase, trips to City of Nanaimo Office or RDN offices to thoroughly check zoning issues etc. Simply put Wes is there with his customers every step of the way guiding them through the process and simplifying a process that can be complex and scary for those that do not do it often. He is quick to point our red flags about a property or the contract even though it may result in the collapse of a purchase and the loss of a sale for him. Wes is not motivated by money, he is motivated by helping his clients find the home that is perfect for them, getting it at the best possible price for them and making the purchase transaction as smooth as possible. Clients are not dollar signs for him - they are people that become friends and repeat clients. I would hazard a guess that Wes is amongst a small group of realtors with an almost 100% repeat customer rate. Wes' clients become customers for life because each customer is so much more to him then a number or transaction. When the time came for me to make a house purchase I did not even need to think who my realtor would be, Wes was the obvious choice, the only choice. We looked at no less than 30 houses. He spent countless hours researching each and every property we looked at pointing out the pros and cons of each property from his professional prospective. I made offers on 3 properties before getting one accepted with pricing and terms that were suitable to me. With an accepted offer in hand Wes' work did not end here. This was a house that needed some work. He spent countless hours getting contractors in to the property to provide quotes for the work and helped me structure the purchase so that the work that was needed was structured in to the purchase price. I bought the house over a year ago and Wes has continued to help me on this property including helping me hold open houses for the suite in the basement of this house, helping me post professional ads for this suite. These are services that your normal realtor does not provide. He spent his own personal time (probably 20 hours) helping me get the right tenants. I should point out that I am not the only client he has done this for. There was no financial benefit for Wes to do this. He did it because he has expertise in this area and just wanted to help me and to make sure that my home ownership experience is working out the way I envisioned it when I bought the house. I am pretty certain the list of realtors will to provide this extra assistance is a very very short list. I could honestly go on much longer but the point is, Wes is great realtor, and a great person and if you need a realtor, whether you are buying or selling, Wes should be on your list of people to speak to.

I just had the pleasure of completing a house purchase with Susan Pipes as my realtor. She works in…read morepartnership with Bev Carey, and together they make an exceptionally efficient team. The deal had some complications, but they guided me through, with grace and humour, to a successful conclusion. Their integrity is a credit to their profession. If you want a team that is detail-oriented, quickly responsive, courteous, prompt, and dedicated to their client, I can strongly recommend them. There's lots of realtors out there. Believe me, you won't regret choosing these two!

My family and I are new to Vancouver Island, and we had a very tight timeline to find and purchase…read moreour first home. Thankfully, I had John Atkinson and his team at Finlayson & Associates working for me. John made house hunting fun and was instrumental in getting our offer accepted during a multiple offer situation. John is a great guy and I would not hesitate to recommend him to anyone looking for a home in the Cowichan region.

The only real estate office on the island... they are super honest and really know the island as…read moreall three agents have lived on the island for years, great website with current listings details and pictures

We booked Bekins Moving because of reviews online. We had a Bekins rep come to our house and do…read morean estimate and we set up a move date. Over the next month several emails were sent regarding questions for our move. We showed up at the office and picked up extra boxes and packing material getting ready for our move. Finally moving day. Everything in our house was now packed and ready. After a few hours of waiting in the morning we phoned to find out when the moving company would be there. We were told we had nothing booked. After searching they found the email chain and advised that someone forgot to submit the paperwork. There would be NO ONE coming that day to pick up our stuff. All our food was pack all our bedding was packed. Bekins offered to put us up in a hotel for the night because of that. They then had to scramble and ended up getting a crew from Parksville to come down the next day to move our stuff. The trucks that arrived were old and unmarked the crew were not wearing any identification showing they were Bekins moving crew. The final move was over $700 more that the initial quote. When we finally moved into our new place there were items in our stuff that was not ours . Including a wooden bed frame and a purse. NOT OURS!!! My Webber BBQ had a big dent in the door and my step ladder and weed eater were bent in half. All in all I would not use Bekins moving for any of your moving needs.

Bekins did an excellent job of moving my mother's furniture and belongings, and for only half the…read morecost of what two other companies estimated. The movers, Dan and James, were friendly, fast workers who were careful to cause no damage. The final cost of the move was exactly what Bekins had estimated. Overall we were totally satisfied with the job.