MARGARET HOKKANEN

Description of Work: Margaret Hokkanen represented us as buyer s agent in purchasing a house in Cardiff by the Sea in 2004 ( and into which we moved in Oct 2008.) We were stationed overseas and wanted to check out the North San Diego area as a potential retirement location. While researching, I came across Margaret s website and found it to offer an incredible amount of good information and analytical tools that I had found nowhere else. Margaret responded immediately and we arranged a short trip to the area during a trip to the US. Margaret knew this was only an initial reconnoitering trip, but spent the day introducing us to the area, showing us different neighborhoods and different types of houses and price ranges. From this initial meeting, Margaret developed a good idea of what we wanted, including the need for a dog friendly house. We returned overseas and over the next few months, Margaret emailed us listings of interest as they came up. Margaret had us back out of the first house on which we seriously bid when termite problems were discovered by a terminate inspector hired to double check the findings of the owner-hired inspector. When Margaret found a subsequent house of interest, she had us prepare financial documentation to support our offer, such that our offer was accepted even though it was not the highest offer. We completed the transaction from the other side of the world using email and many attachments (and DHL for a few documents) and the transaction went well, with many near real time email exchanges. For the next four years, while the house was rented out through a property management company, we kept in touch with Margaret. When we retired and moved to Cardiff in October 2008, over four years later, Margaret continued to provide excellent service, helping us with logistics involved in moving from 12 time zones away into the house and into a community in which we had never lived. We were even met at the airport with a truck to help get us and our three dogs to the house that s customer service!

Description of Work: Margaret Hokkanen represented me as the buying agent for my purchase of a single-story home in Carlsbad in the Sept-Oct 2007 time frame. I made good use of the unique material at her web site to help narrow down my target properties. Margaret also listened to my requirements, narrowing down the selection and suggesting other properties given her experience in my target communities with a lot of things I would never have known otherwise. After my existing townhouse was in escrow, we narrowed down my list and had an offer out quickly -- unfortunately the first selling agent didn't tell us about undisclosed hydrology litigation on the property until after the offer was written up and submitted. There was no pressure by Margaret for me to proceed despite all her work -- she wanted me to be happy and comfortable all the way. We dropped the offer and picked up on my "lets see" list again that Margaret refreshed with the latest info -- having another offer out within days.