Barasch Group INC

As a first time home buyer, I wanted to find a realtor who I could trust to find me the perfect place. Michael Barasch was THE BEST! He immediately impressed me with the two hour educational workshop that he gave where he educated me about everything from short sales to escrow. When looking at different units, he was brutally honest, and was knowledgeable about the quality of construction and workmanship. When I was thinking about buying a certain place, he convinced me that another less expensive home was better, despite losing a huge part of his commission. What other realtor would do that, except for someone uber-ethical? He was communicative and supportive throughout the whole search process, and throughout escrow he was very protective of my rights as a buyer with some sellers, who were not exactly a walk in the park. He also kept me calm while waiting for a VERY late appraisal. Additionally, he directed me to a very honorable and upright lender, Joe Parisi, who helped me to get the best interest rate possible. I could no more

Michael made a lot of promises when we had our first meeting. Before the meeting began, he introduced us via phone to his financial associate, (not in his employ,) who took our basic financial information. Michael then proceeded by explaining his business ethic laying out what we could expect from him and what he expected from us. He made a clear point of advising us to find another agent if at any point during the relationship we were unhappy for any reason. He continues by articulating his understanding and opinion of how the current economy is affecting the real estate market in general and the market in our desired neighborhoods specifically. Most important for us was the connection he made to how everything he just explained will affect what was available and how he will approach the search for our house. Having been out of the market for a while, we found the education helpful in gauging our expectations for what we could find based on the resources we had at our disposal. By the end of that first meeting we had our credit scores, credit reports and a rough estimate of what kind of loan we could qualify for and what the payments would be. Timing is everything. While Michael, as good as he was for us, has no control of the inventory or what is about to enter the market, he showed excellent instincts for recognizing opportunity when it arrived and taking quick action on our behalf. He was respectfully aggressive in asserting our case and never tempted us to consider more than we could comfortably handle. Seven weeks later we're moving into our new house in the neighborhood we wanted. Michael kept every promise he made in that first meeting and conducted himself with honesty and a high sense of personal and business ethics. more