Mike Robleto is a fantastic real estate agent. He is everything anyone could want in a relator - he is honest, genuinely cares and listens and most importantly, he is very good at what he does. I have written a detailed review below because I think it really demonstrates why Mike is such an incredible agent.
My fiance and I had a very unique home buying situation, we had to move from Arizona to California in a hurry. He received an incredible job offer in Los Angeles. We had 6 short weeks to pack, move, and find a place to live in California. We had our hearts set on buying a home. We were running out of time and we knew we needed a good, honest agent and quickly. We are so lucky that Mike was referred to us by friends who live in Orange County.
Mike reassured us he was up to the challenge. While we were still living in Arizona, Mike would send us links to potential homes. When we would find a house we liked, Mike was there at the home within a day, his cell phone in hand making detailed videos for us. He would record the street; we would get a feel for noise level and neighbors. He would do a thorough walk through - opening closets, measuring certain areas, explaining when something looked odd or damaged. He would email the videos to us daily. His videos were immensely helpful and were the next best thing to us physically being there.
Mike is incredibly knowledgeable - He has lived in Los Angeles for more than 25 years. His experience is evident when explaining things to us - which freeways to take, the pros and cons of living closer to the water or more inland, which neighborhoods are safer than others. Mike really understands the housing market in Southern California and was able to relay necessary information to us in a way that useful and easy to understand. There are countless yet important things you cannot learn from photos and Google searches and this is where his extensive local knowledge becomes invaluable. Mike has an large network of contacts, he was even able to find a lovely studio for us to live in temporarily while we continued to house hunt.
Mike is attentive - He has an eye and an ear for every detail. While doing the home walk throughs he would point out things that I didn't even take notice of, for example: I told him I thought a particular house near a freeway seemed quiet. Mike corrected me and explained that, yes even though it was quiet then at 11am, that if we were to come back around 5pm the freeway noise would increase considerably. Its the little things like this that make such a difference.
Mike is professional - He is on time, he dresses well, he answers emails and phone calls within minutes a majority of the time, and at most, within a day. He is professional in every sense of the word. His professionalism conveys how much he enjoys what he does.
Mike is organized - He created binders with printouts for each area we were interested in containing neighborhood overview info like: crime reports, school & hospital ratings, proximity to the beach, proximity to freeways etc. He drove us around for 7 hours touring 10 potential cities. Mike felt that seeing the areas would help us narrow our search. He was absolutely right. Being from Arizona and having zero exposure to the Los Angles area, Mike's extensive knowledge of the areas and his preparation were pivotal in helping us decide where we wanted to live.
Mike is honest and realistic - In the beginning of our search we were so convinced we wanted to buy a total fixer upper. Mike kept our feet planted firmly in reality by creating a 10-point rating system so that we could discuss how much work each house would need.
The scale - 1 being a total tear down /demolition and 10 being our dream home. After thoroughly reviewing this scale and accessing the costs, we agreed we were looking for a home that fell between a 6 and an 8 on this scale.
Mike is supportive, he listens and he genuinely cares - There were a few times that the stress of purchasing our first house really got the best of us. We would call Mike and he would lay out the best and worst case scenario including a time line. He would reassure us when things were a normal part of the process or when (in one instance) the seller was acting shady.
We were not easy clients. We had very specific criteria for our home.
Now we are happy first time homeowners. Our house is EXACTLY what we were looking for in our first home. Every single "must have" on our list was met or exceeded.
Even though Mike's job is technically done, I called him just last week because I noticed what looked like minimal termite damage on the back deck. He assisted me in getting the termite company that was used for the home inspection back out to the house free of charge.
Buying a house is a seemingly never-ending series of decisions. Make the first decision and easy one by choosing Mike Robleto - You will be so glad you did, I know we are. read more