I am torn about how I feel about my experience with Camryn Foster and the Jim Allen Group. On the one hand, we sold the house in 30 days in a very hot neighborhood slightly higher than any realtor we interviewed expected. On the other hand, the only reason for that closing price was because we listed at my desired price (higher) and used the negotiating room to get that acceptable price instead of listing lower as was recommended and hoping for a bidding war. We were in a higher price range than average but not quite a "premium" million-dollar home, which skewed some of the statistics we could use to evaluate how we were doing with marketing because there just weren't a ton of homes in our category to compare to.
I found that Camryn was fairly responsive via text and email, he was very patient with the buy side of our equation too. However, I feel like the Jim Allen Group "machine" wasn't tuned as efficiently as it could have been. They did little to no social media marketing for our listing until we asked them to, they weren't telling us about any local outreach to various real estate entities (I mean actually picking up the phone and calling other agents), they weren't advertising in major metro areas that many Wake County residents relocate from (DC, Charlotte, Richmond, Va Beach, Atlanta; 64 people every day!)...all things that I would have done (and that I researched to make sure they were even a thing that could be done). We were told that an open house would be a waste of time, that a broker's open also would be a waste...but that they'd organize one if we wanted. It was almost as if the "machine" is tuned to older people buying houses instead of the exact demographic that was most likely to buy our house: the affluent, trendy, Millennial who earns a good living and wants to live in the middle of everything and is checking the listings online instead of in a circulated weekly paper...coincidentally (or not) at least 80% of our showings were exactly that demographic!
The MAJOR issue was a classic clerical error made by the Jim Allen Group: both buyer and seller were represented by different agents of the same company. The house we were selling was listed by 2 different addresses in the system for some unknown reason. However, this wasn't caught by the multitude of real estate professionals involved in the transaction and it nearly cost us the deal. It wasn't until the buyer's lender acquiesced, due to some pressure and massaging from Camryn, to covering the difference in cash for the buyer to get the deal across the finish line. This all happened less than a week before closing was scheduled. Movers were booked, cleaning crew, PTO was arranged with work...everything nearly came crashing down with thousands of dollars already tied up in the move. I alluded to the fault lying squarely on the real estate professionals involved in the transaction and was met with aghast displeasure by the real estate team we were working with. WHO ELSE WOULD BE RESPONSIBLE? They fixed it barely in time.
The last cherry on top was that we received a house-warming gift from the seller/agent who we bought from but we didn't even receive a house-warming gift from our own agent/team...they who took a rather sizable check to the bank from the buy AND sell side of our home change.
Like I said, I'm torn. I hope the Jim Allen Group uses this at least as a coaching and mentoring opportunity for their employees and perhaps even a revision of their standard operating procedures. It all worked out for us with some bumps and bruises, but it definitely could have been a lot better and, per Yelps' proposed 2-star rating explanation: "Meh, we've experienced better." read more
