I cannot believe I haven't written a review for Linton Hall yet!…read more
In late 2010, my husband and I decided we were sick of paying rent, and wanted to buy. We couldn't afford to get as much house as we wanted in our suburb (Centreville) so we started driving around PW county, checking out different neighborhoods.
We found a house that looked gorgeous in Bristow, and drove by it, deciding on the spur of the moment, to call the listed real estate agent. It was the best decision we could have made.
We got a gentleman named Howard Swede on the phone, and he explained that house was a short sale, and not a good idea, but invited us to come in and meet with him. As we weren't sure quite how serious we were and didn't want to waste his time, we were very frank with him, but he told us to come in anyway.
We went in and he explained to us several things about the market and current loan conditions, answering our questions patiently. He took detailed notes on what we wanted, got us to his finance guy to arrange prequalification, and we were off.
Sort of! You see, at this area, in our price point and for what we wanted, competition abounds. We put a bid in on the very first house we saw. And the second, and eight or nine other offers in the span of eight weeks. Every time, we were outbid. Every time, Howard assured us that this was just a necessary step on our path.
He refined search parameters as we got more knowledgeable and always listed to our wants and needs, filtering out the dream list items, never being anything but positive even when we were ready to give up.
And lo and behold, one of those offers that we'd been outbid on fell through, and Howard secured a walkthrough before the weekend, so we were able to resubmit our bid without a huge chance of a bidding war.
We got our dream house, but Howard's service didn't end there. A monthly newsletter is delivered to our house monthly, and imagine our surprise when last Thanksgiving, he and his wife delivered a Thanksgiving apple pie to us. These guys care about clients, not only at time of sale, but even after the sale.
I couldn't fathom working with anyone else for my real estate needs and I thank god we discovered him. I'm sure we wouldn't have found our perfect house without his guidance.
If you're looking for a house in NoVA, call these guys and ask for Howard. He'll treat ya right!