Dear [Jesper was kind enough to write this to another potential client from the Netherlands],

My name is Jesper, and I’m writing your to tell you something about the very good experience and excellent service my family and I have received from Lynette Hensley & Larry Baumgartner. 

It all started in late January when we had realized that our new home would have to be in Seattle. Tracy – my wife – had done a lot of research concerning school districts as this, if you have kids, have a great influence on where you want to settle. You do not want to have your dream house in a poor school district, as you in general are bound to the neighbourhood school! 

Searching the web for real estate agents, we found among others L&L, and we send them an E-mail with our basic requirements and other information. We did that to 3 other realtors too. A reply came immediately from L&L, whereas 2 of the other replied in a few days and the one that came last took himself 3 weeks to reply. Needless to say that the party was over for him! 

With the help of L&L we soon got a good search function set up. This returned a lot of hoses and we managed to narrow things down to around 30 houses or so. Then I felt it was time to go further and got on the phone with Lynette. After that phone call I was sure that we were in good hands. Lynette told that they would also go around to visit the houses and take pictures for us and post it on a special link on the web. 

We then scrutinized our “favorites” and when we had around 10 houses left, we informed L&L that those were the interesting ones. Soon after that links with pictures and descriptions of the houses and the neighbourhood started coming to our mail box. It was amazing sitting in Shanghai, China, and basically take a tour around a house in Seattle. We realized that most of the houses were OK, but that there were still some details to see in real life. 

At the end of March we came here to have a look at Seattle, schools and houses. We went on a one day “journey” around to see the houses on our list and at the end of that day we had 2 preferences left. Larry had at that time had a talk with the builder of the house we finally ended up buying, as he was at the house when we toured it, and Larry he had gotten the information he needed for his negotiations. 

We agreed to take a look once more of the 2 houses, which we did the next day, and then we agreed to give a bid for the one we wanted to go at first. This was around 2 o’clock in the afternoon. Larry managed to arrange the pre-inspection of the house by a very professional inspector the same afternoon at 4 o’clock. All this was finished at around 7.30 in the evening, and then we left and L&L stayed behind to meet with the seller/builder of the house. 

At 9 o’clock in the same evening, we had an agreement on the house here in Bothell (north side of Lake Washington) and with a good price, lower than advertised, and the clause that the list from the inspector to be taken in as a guide for small things to be corrected. 

You would might think that the story ends here, but no. As we were still living in China, L&L helped out all the way until we arrived 2 weeks ago, with looking after the house, helping having an alarm system installed, emptying the mail, connect to all the utility companies, a local  bank, a gardener to take care of the garden while we were not here, checking on the list of corrections etc. At any time when we had a question, we’d just mail or call, and an answer would come up! 

You may also ask what the price is for all this, and I can tell you that it is all in the real estate agent fee paid for by the seller of the house to his own and buyer’s agents. You do not pay anything but the house – as it is all in the price of the house, regardless of how much work your real estate agent do! This is worth knowing, because I’m sure that not all will go as far as L&L!! That will be a fraction of agents only. 

The whole family here agrees that we have had the greatest of help from Lynette & Larry, far beyond what one can expect. Not only have they helped us buy a house when we were 10.000 km away, they have become very good friends, and I do believe that this friendship will go along for many years to come. They both have a very winning personality and we are so happy that we chose them to help us buy our new home. 

They are very professional in the way they do their business, and in spite I have bought property several times in Denmark, one time in China, I have never experienced something as good as this. I will always be able to tell everyone about how good an experience this has been. 

You are very welcome to write back to me at this address, it’s my company address so don’t worry that is still says China. I can also give you a call, just let me know, and remember that you are 9 hours ahead of us here in Seattle. 

With kind regards,

Jesper Th. Petersen
General Manager
MAN Diesel Shanghai Co., Ltd.
MAN Diesel PrimeServ Shanghai
Phone: +86 21 5866 2108
Fax: +86 21 58 66 2109
Mobil: +86 139 1660 7814

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The Holmes Family are the daughter, son in law and granddaughter of my first ever clients, Tom and Penni Mahon.
It was my pleasure to help them find their first home.

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Thanks so much!  We're excited that the sale went so smoothly, but a huge part of that was getting to work with agents like you.  Thank you for making it a good experience for all parties. 

Allison and Will (Sellers of the house one of our buyers purchased)

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We really enjoyed working with you and we felt that you were always on our side and looking out for our best interests.  I appreciated all the emails with listings and your willingness to show us around!  I know we were a tough case with our limited budget and urban tastes!  I will certainly recommend you if anyone I know looks to buy a house.  Thanks!

Marci Burden

 

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Note from Lynette:  Kathy is an artist, a wonderful sculptor and human being with a whimsical take on life. You can find her art at:  http://www.krsculptureanddolls.com/  as well as around the continent at art fairs far and wide.

11/2/09
Dear L, Dear L,

I'm sitting drinking tea in my house. Marty & Co. are digging the drain thing. I've met several (great) neighbors.  There is a teeny little cemetery (a little up Cemetery Rd.) The beach is great and the neighbors aren't possessive about it.  

I want to write you something about how great you have been:

1. You said to me often that you wanted me to have the perfect place and that it would show up.  You weren't afraid to say to me: X place is not right for you.  When I changed my mind about a place, you were kind and understanding. You were reassuring about my process.  

2. I also was so reassured by attention to details in the (massive) paperwork.  I had an instant trust and it increased with time. I wish I could always have Lynette looking at every piece of paper in all parts of my life (sigh).  

3. You two are very entertaining; I loved all my free personalized concerts.  I loved when Larry took out a propane torch (map gas?) to cook a hot dog on a stick while we were waiting for one of those inspector kind of guys.  Larry’s big heart and great stories.  The kindness of you both.  High energy, low stress.

4. It was also important to me that L (Larry) didn’t say to me, “Oh, you shouldn’t have let X house get away.”  Except once he said “That house (ie. this house) was a pretty good place  --- and so when it came back I thought: OK!

5. So, thanks for all the research on all those (not my house) houses too. Remember when you called me about a terrible house and said, “Well, the property line is messed up, the roof is no good and just to sink the canoe, it’s an ex- meth lab.  There were some really laughable places. 

….
Oh yes,
6. Very thorough and responsible and easy to contact.
….

I hope all your life is going great.  You two are so nice together.  Thank you so much for being my friends. See you soon.

Ultra love,

Kathy Ross