Long story short Ida was a lifesaver for us. She was very knowledgeable about the area and all the houses for sale in our price range and with our requirements. She never once pressured us toward a certain house or tried to gloss over issues with them. She weighed the pros and cons with us and made sure we were completely comfortable with our choice. Her patience was unbelievable, when we were at home trying to pick between houses we'd already seen, all we had to do was call her and she'd take us back to see them again. Best of all she felt like a real genuine person, not just someone who's smiling at you because they want your money. We saw a few other agents along the way at open houses and there was always a sense of them wanting you to hurry up or they had their sales faces on.
Long version: After over a decade of living in a log cabin in the woods of Spotsylvania, this past year my mother decided that she wanted to move to Virginia Beach, where I attend college and only a short distance to CNU where my brother is enrolled. Going from 27 acres of hills, a creek, gardens, and not a neighbor in sight, to here was a rough transition at first but we finally convinced her to sell her beloved cabin and buy a new home.
The first day of her search though turned out miserable. She didn't ask me for help looking so I assumed she didn't need it, but by the end of the day when we talked on the phone she was in tears. She had looked up online all the houses with her requirements at different real estate sites and gone to look at them only to find that they were in bad neighborhoods, were an inch away from another house, had no back yard etc.
I went with her the next day since I knew the area and we just happened to see an open house in a neighborhood I knew was nice. We walked in and there was Ida with cookies and Italian Coffee. Even just that made us feel a bit better about the day. The house was great compared to anything my mother had looked at by herself, however, it was great and expensive. It also was up against the road which was a problem. We have four family cats who were used to roaming the woods, they needed as much space and trees as possible with the city dangers as far away as possible.
We liked her right away and even though we hadn't intended to get an agent, we decided she was worth it. After that everything was easy. She brought us profiles on all the houses she thought we might like, and worked with us until we found one that worked and knew we wanted it. It has an amazing backyard perfect for the cats and not on a main road but in the same nice neighborhood we saw the first house in. The house was a short sale so it took us a while to get in but Ida let us know realistic expectations for the dates that turned out to be quite accurate. She wasn't overly optimistic or pessimistic with us during the house buying process, she was realistic and honest about everything and it really made us feel like she cared about us being happy to be getting a new house but that we'd be happy living in it for an indefinite amount of time.
We're now moved in but not quite unpacked and it was so much less stressful because of Ida. She really is a great agent and we're happy to have her at the house any time. read more