Ann Cuseo

Ann gets an A+++++ (Five-Star, Gold Medal!) for everything she did for us. It was clearly an enormous amount of work that drew on her many years of experience and her exceptional real estate savvy. Anyone who thinks a Realtor?s commission is not justified by the work she does should read through the list, below, of everything she did on our behalf. She earned every nickel of her commission. Ann gave us unstintingly of her time right from the beginning. She always responded promptly, by phone or email, to questions we had throughout the process. She sat down with us as we began planning our move to California, listened to our needs and concerns, shared with us her knowledge of the market, and helped us figure out how best to get the highest price for our home at the least cost both in dollars invested in sprucing it up (there was some work that clearly needed doing) and in the time and effort we would have to expend to do so. She advised us not to spend a lot of money on significant kitchen and bathroom upgrades, as she felt these would not likely pay for themselves in the final sales price. She told us, much to our relief (given our time constraints and the significant amount of work we would in any case need to squeeze into the time we had available), that we would not need to prepare the house for showing while we were still living there. That saved us a tremendous amount of time, effort and angst. Instead, she suggested that we simply move out, after which she would send in the various professionals she often works with and trusts (carpet man, interior painters, fix-it guys and cleaning lady) to make the house ?show? to its best advantage at minimal cost. (Our investment in this spruce-up came to under $22,000, a bit less than her preliminary estimate, and far less than a significant kitchen-bathroom upgrade. As we recall, she felt this modest investment resulted in our netting perhaps $100,000 more than we would likely have received if the work had not been done.) She recommended first-rate professionals, who worked for a reasonable price, for the carpeting, painting, fixing (including installing a new oven, refinishing kitchen and bathroom cabinet doors, installing new doorknobs and other simple touches) and cleaning. And she kept an eye on their work as it proceeded, all of which took place after we had left for California. The work they did was excellent ? we had a chance to see the house again on a short trip back to Hawaii just as it was about to be listed. The place looked great! (And it showed wonderfully, not only due to the spruce-up, but also thanks to the various objects and artwork Ann tastefully placed around the main living area.) She devoted a lot of thought to the listing price, researching sales of comparable homes and suggesting a price that she felt would not scare buyers away, and might even result in a bidding ?war? and quick sale, yet would net us the most we could expect under prevailing market conditions. In the end, her efforts paid off in a sale $2,000 above the listed price. We were impressed not only with the final result, but also with the way she repeatedly checked her assumptions about the listing price ? first running it past her own colleagues for their thoughts and then discussing it with other agents as they came to see the house, getting repeated reassurance from them all that it was well and fairly priced. She timed the listing cleverly, so that the house went on the market just a day or two before the next brokers? open, which allowed her to quickly maximize exposure. When no offers were received in the first few days after listing, she found a great way to highlight the value that the house represented, by conducting several open houses concurrently with those of an agent who was listing a nearby home that compared unfavorably with ours in price/value. She followed up every showing (and there were many) by talking with the potential buyers? agents, and she kept those agents whose buyers had expressed tentative interest informed whenever a new potential buyer expressed interest. These efforts were designed to convert mere interest into an offer. She kept us informed every step of the way, with phone calls and emails almost every day. When one potential buyer expressed strong interest but was unable to make an offer right away because she was involved in a divorce-related contingency situation, Ann followed up repeatedly with her agent in an effort to assist in any way possible in hastening the removal of that contingency. When, finally, two offers were received almost simultaneously ? one with a contingency and one without ? she conferred with both the would-be buyers? agents to generate offers at the listing price. She counseled us through the negotiating process and wound up getting two offers, both at $2,000 above the listed price. She bird-dogged the escrow process every step of the way. We were particularly impressed by her knowledge of the various inspectors who would be involved. She facilitated the signing of documents electronically, so the sale could be completed easily despite our being in California, 2,500 miles distant. When actual signatures were required, the escrow company she chose for us found a notary in our new community who came to our house with all the documents, making the final signing as easy as pie. The escrow company she chose for us managed to wire the proceeds from the sale to our bank account just a few hours after closing! Finally, in addition to helping us sell our Hawaii home, Ann helped us find an excellent Realtor in our new California community, who has been helping us find a new home. Because we are new in this community and don?t know the agents here, we asked her to do some research and, as we put it, ?find someone we can work with who is as savvy as yourself.? Not only did she do the preliminary research, she interviewed three agents here by phone, to make sure they had the knowledge and experience we would need to be well served. We are delighted with the agent we are now working with.