Recently, my husband and I went through the ordeal of buying our first home. This was an emotional roller coaster from day one, and I can honestly say I never even thought about getting a real estate agent to buy our home. I figured we would bum around and just call the number on the lawn sign. Besides, with a very limited budget, I figured we couldn't find one. I mean, rumor is those people charge exhorbitant fees...
I kind of fell into the Crockett Team. I was looking at a listing they were presenting, and called the phone number. A helpful secretary transferred me to a "buyer specialist", Lisa Cole, who sounded spunky and professional on the phone. After a short conversation, we had scheduled a showing of the house, and I just assumed we were going to meet her to let us in.
Later that evening, after touring the property, Lisa casually asked us if we had an agent. We of course didn't, and told her as much. She showed us a form that indicates different legal protections we had, and wanted to know if we would sign it. I read through it, noted it wasn't a contract, and we signed off. She also took the moment to advise of her services, and how she is a "buyer specialist", and all her fees are paid by the seller. She indicated that she could even get us in touch with her financing specialist (we had already lined up a pre-qual, but as it happens, her agent was the better deal), and she would be happy to help us find the home in our price range. After talking to her, in a slightly pressured but very minimal way, we decided to go with the Crockett Team to help us get a home. She literally jumped and said "Yes! I'm hired!", and thus, the partnership to find a home began.
Lisa was wonderful and patient, and Lord knows I asked lots of questions. She gave us her business card, and was great about replying to emails and sending us all sorts of listings as they became available on the market. She got appointments to houses, and offered many selections we may not have otherwise found. She was very patient when we went to a few of them more than once, and waited while we took lots and lots of pictures. If there was a question she couldn't answer about the property, she got the answer FAST, and wouldn't hesitate to call me and let me know.
Lisa was a great stress relief, and fought for us when we had some paperwork snafu's. She was efficient about getting us any forms we needed to sign, and walked us through the big step of making a bid. She offered her insight, and aside from her fast driving (she really pushes that Nissan!), she was great.
If you are looking to buy a home, particularly your first, in the Lake County area (although, I think they work for any area around Northeast Ohio), I recommend the Crockett Team. All of the staff is nice... even the founder shook our hand and introduced himself. Right up until closing, Lisa was there every step of the way, offering her advise and patience. She outlined all of the expenses we would need to spend for buying a house, and had everything ready to go when it had to be. Most of all she was patient and listened, and was NEVER intimidating or tried to push us into a deal we were not comfortable doing. This is definitely a must-do for anyone in the neighborhood.
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