Jay is the only reason that we found the home of our dreams. After spending tons of time showing us…read morehomes, we found a home we wanted to bid on. We bid along with a few others, then waited with baited breath, and then were disappointed to find that the owner pulled it off the market. My husband and I were DONE, we were ready to give up and told Jay as much. He told us it she was asking too much, not to change our bid, and closed our searching activity.
But about a week later, Jay gets in touch and tell us about a home that was under contract, a short sale...the contract had fallen through when the buyers lending failed, and the bank was looking for buyers to step in the shoes of the old buyers.
We were nervous, having NO knowledge about short sales except that that our friends had told us nightmares about timeframes. And we wondered if something was wrong with the house if the buyers bailed. But Jay explained how the whole short sale process worked, and he did research to find out details on why the deal fell through, even got us the previous inspection report to look at; and after we bid, he kept us in the loop the entire time.
He kept tabs on all the inspections, appraisals, check-ins, even helped us get documents in order to our lender, and he answered our questions and shared his knowledge. AND his network is what kept our short sale on track when disaster hit, because the lender he recommended was fantastic. By recommending a lender that serves as its own broker, we were able to avoid calamity when the house appraised as a two-family, because our lender didnt need 8-week lead time to search the lending market for a totally different loan product. Without Jay, I never would have known the difference and would have gone with a normal, sluggish mortgage broker. Also, note that I did not follow Jay's advice blindly. As a law student, I felt the need to scrutinize everything; and every time, I would find that I was getting excellent advice from Jay, and excellent service from the people he recommended.
Whenever we were in the hands of someone he wasn't familiar with, he attended meetings if we asked him to and wasted hours of his time. And he does it because he cares about his job and wants to share his expertise with the people that seek it, and to help us avoid being taken advantage of.
Late in the game, the deal almost fell through again when we had an appraiser from the depths of Hades, and he went to bat for us, helping us to appeal to the lender for help. In the end we got the house for $13,000 less than we originally agreed to pay!
But 1 week before closing, the underwriter refused to lend us the money unless certain things were fixed in the house, random things like removal of a garbage disposal, fixing a stoop, caulking some windows, it was crazy! Well, our purchase only because Jay did an amazing thing: Since the seller had deserted the home and would not fix the things that the appraiser required be fixed prior to loan approval, Jay bought materials himself at Home Depot and went and did the repairs on his weekend. That's commitment to helping your client close a deal they desperately want!!!
Finally, Jay's knowledge of the market and real estate opportunities is on point. He clearly knows his stuff and sees the trends and predicts well. I was nervous about buying our home because it was old, but My husband saw huge potential. We just needed to know that we could improve the home enough with little cash so that we could get a home equity loan shortly after the purchase. well in real estate like in any market, you can't "know" anything. But Jay got us pretty close. He really felt confident about this home and supported his thoughts with data; Jay kept us updated on comparables in the market and helped us make an educated guess on the true value of this home. With his continuous updates on market trends, we felt confident moving forward with the deal despite plumbing and roofing issues on the home.
Within weeks of closing on the home, we did some cosmetic repairs and gave the house some love, and removed a couple of things that took it from a two-family to a one-family under code (Jay educated us through his appraiser friend on the logistics of appraisals and what elements categorize a home). The home then appraised for $60,000 more (30% more!) and we were able to get the equity loan we needed to redo the kitchen and make it our dream home!!!!! I kid you not, really I'm like drooling all over Jay in this review, but it's only because he deserves it. Sorry, not everyone is going to have such an amazing outcome when buying a home, but I will tell you this: You will accomplish more with Jay as a trusted friend at your side than you would without him. Honest people are hard to come by and I'm so grateful.
If you have questions, please feel free to ask Jay for my contact information and my husband and I will be glad to share our thoughts on his services.
