Although I have had good experiences with other homes that I have owned, I never understood the…read moretrue value of a Real Estate Agent until I met Danyelle Daniel.
The last few months of my life have been a whirlwind. Spurred by the need to move back home to California due to a terminal illness in the family, I gave away my chihuahua (which I still miss), began converting a rental property near my family member (Sacramento) into a second home, started looking for housing in San Francisco (where my new job was), and began preparing my house for sell (including cleaning and doing home improvements). All of this exhausted me financially, emotionally, and physically (due to a lot of sleepless nights) but what made matters worse was all of the false leads that caused me to waste precious hours interviewing Real Estate Agents that did not live up to their claims.
My agent interviews felt like a sad, non-enjoyable rendition of Goldilocks and the Three Bears (only it would have been called "Crazy Asian and the Four Agents"). The first two agents suggested listing prices that were probably priced to satisfy what I wanted to hear over what was realistic. One of the two agents even went so far as to inform me, in writing, that she sells homes at full listing price 99% of the time only for me to find upon further research (all I did was visit her webpage to see her current listings) that "full listing price" means "listing price at the time of the sale" and not "original listing price" since she had a pattern of listing at a high starting price then marking down the home several times over several months until the home finally sells. The third agent pointed out every flaw in my home and tried to convince me that my home would sit on the market for several months unless I listed it at a price that was $30,000 less than what I ended up selling my home for.
It was disgusting. I no longer knew who to trust and felt the pressure of vultures flying overhead while I felt the most vulnerable. I felt like none of the agents were looking out for my best interest and that the first two were just trying to tell me what they felt I wanted to hear so that they could get a contract (knowing that I would be forced to lower the price when the home doesn't sell) and the other one was trying to make a quick sale.
I was complaining about my experience to a coworker when she recommended Danyelle Daniel. According to my coworker, she sold her home after having it listed for only one day and was referred to her by her sister-in-law who had sold her home after two days. When I met with Danyelle (my fourth bear, who was just right), she did not promise the same. Instead, she promised to be honest with me and that she would set my expectations realistically and will always meet, and sometimes hopefully beat, those expectations. She then gave an honest assessment of my home's value (which was lower than I hoped but reasonable) and explained why the first week on the market is the most important week.
Danyelle is a great listener and an awesome negotiator. What was most impressive was that she invested herself into my home as well, paying for two free hours with a stager as well as an awesome professional photographer. These were all costs that she would lose, at no harm to me, if my home didn't sell.
Danyelle negotiates a FAIR deal in which everyone comes out a winner -- you, her, and all other parties involved. She listens to what is important to you (time, money, etc) and forces you to prioritize. She oozes integrity and is someone I wish I can clone. She sold my home slightly above full list price (I actually had 2 competing offers on the table!) in one week's time in 2011 (oh yes, in a neighborhood and at a tine where the market was COLD). I don't think I would have had those results if I went with an agent who over-listed my home's value (thereby discouraging buyers to even look at my home) or was unwilling to add the extra touches that Danyelle did (staging assistance, professional photgraphy, honest/knowledgable advice, etc).
Selling a home can be a very stressful experience --- but Danyelle made it much less stressful than what it could have been. I like to think of her as my angel in a business suit.