Sandi Reeder and Associates @ Keller Williams

To set the stage here: My wife and I and our two daughters were looking for a home in the "East Mountain" area east of Albuquerque, NM. We really liked a home that was "about to go into foreclosure". We were told by Sandi Reeder in no uncertain terms, that the sellers were NOT eligible for a short-sale. Sandi is a very nice lady who is very knowledgeable and experienced in the Real Estate market. We made the mistake of going directly to her for a listing she had. She was very loyal to the sellers and it showed. Some of the blame falls on us with credit issues initially but she sent us to a mortgage broker who was used to working with wealthy individuals and was condescending and unhelpful with respect to our situation. We got in contact with Sandi via email and her initial response was that she was going on vacation but one of the Realtors she partnered with would show us the home we were interested in. She let us in but couldn't answer any questions about the house or the town we were in and wasn't quite sure about the financial state of the sellers and seemed somewhat anxious to leave. If you're showing homes in an area for another Realtor, shouldn't you know basic information about the house and the area? It gets awfully old hearing from people in the service industry in general is "I don't know" when it's not followed with a "but I will find out the answer for you asap". We changed our offer amount based on our pre-approval letter and didn't hear back from her office for days while she went on another vacation, off the grid completely so to speak, with no cell phone or email contact with her assistants. All this during the peak of Real Estate season in late May mind you. At any rate, here assistants were her weak link. They struggled with reasonable communication time-frames leaving us, the buyers, in the dark about our offer, which somehow suddenly became a short-sale. Huh, we though they didn't qualify. No explanation but it's now a short-sale. Wow. Banks require some sort of financial hardship. When I asked to speak with Sandi asap, all I heard were crickets from her assistants. No response whatsoever. Additionally, we asked Sandi if she would list our current home giving her quite a bit of additional commission and she ignored the question, possibly not taking us seriously or thinking we didn't know how the Real Estate game worked. Quite possibly thinking that our home wasn't really worth her time. I'm not really sure but that was a big first strike so to speak. We had to find another Realtor to list our home because she wasn't interested. After seeking some consultation from our listing agent on our current home, we decided to sign with him and terminate our contract with her. When she arrived back from her second vacation, she was shocked and perplexed that we had any issues with her "assistants", not really wanting to hear our side of the story. We knew we had done the right thing by terminating our contract with Keller Williams. After our contract termination, the real "games" got underway. She now claimed that the sellers of the house had worked out a deal with her Brokering agency (Keller Williams) and that the offer we put in before didn't look good any longer and that we didn't give the sellers enough time to respond. Fine, but why not try and work something out with our agent, trying to agree to a commission reduction on both sides given the current market? We extended the offer time-frame by another 48 hours and never heard anything back within the time-frame stated in the offer addenda. Not only is this extremely unprofessional but she did a major disservice to her sellers who will now have to go into foreclosure as a result. We liked Sandi as a person but as an agent trying to represent our interests while trying to represent a couple she sold the house to for too much money in the first place, not so much. It's a big deal when a seller's status changes to short-sale qualified but the buyers are completely unaware. And to come back with a response of "that's between the sellers and their attorney and bank" is simply a shot back at us as "I know but I'm not going to tell you because I'm mad that you fired me". Obviously the details as to why is between those parties but a buyer needs to know the basic information because it directly affects them. At the end of the day, my wife and I believe that some people are stuck in the housing boom mentality of the early and mid 2000s. A time when you could treat people poorly because you knew someone else would swoop in and buy your home. You didn't care. There's an inertia, so to speak, and it takes time for people to realize that they better make any offers that come their way in this housing market work. You would have thought this would have set in with sellers by now. And as far as "higher end" agents go, you can no longer brush aside middle income folk looking for a house in the $275-320K range because you're used to dealing with higher end buyers that bring in more commission. Or maybe you can, I don't know but at least don't claim it's about helping people when you have a million dollar house and drive a new Infinity SUV. Just be honest, it's about the MONEY! Bottom line in our humble opinion, money talks with Sandi Reeder and Keller Williams Realty and the little people need not apply. Why else would you make two families unhappy and lose a sale in this market over one or two thousand dollars in commission? Simple answer, GREED. Maybe we simply found her at a bad time but if customer service is of utmost importance as she claims, then why would you send an agent to meet with us that had very little knowledge of the home or east mountain market? Additionally, why then would getting in touch with her during a critical moment in the buying process be so difficult? We left several messages with her assistants and heard nothing back for days. To us, there was a serious lack of genuine customer service from Sandi Reeder and her office..

I was impressed with Sandi's responsiveness throughout the entire process. She spent time listening to what we were looking for in a house and truly understood our needs and wants. She discovered a house that had not even made it as a market listing--the house we eventually bought! Her resourcefulness, intuition about what we were looking for, and guidance through the entire house hunting, finances, and closing process were exemplary. It was very obvious that she truly cared. I cannot say enough about her professional and communication skills as well as her delightful, warm personality. She made house hunting a pleasurable experience. I would highly recommend her to anyone who is seeking guidance with personal attention during the stressful process of buying a house.

Great...we're having our 1st open house in Feb 2013

I put my house on the market Thursday before Super Bowl Weekend. Sandi wanted to do an open house on Super Bowl Sunday. I told Sandi about a prospect who saw my house with her agent. The prospect came to visit twice, and counter offered. I counter-offered, and it was a done deal in 11 days. Then we did FHA closing. That is very slow, mindless, and expensive. I'm used to cash sales, and I'm not used to all the paperwork that goes with government loans. Closing got done in about 45 days. Everything Sandi did was first-class. I would recommend her to anyone looking for a knowledgeable, dependable, and honest real estate agent.

Professional, very experienced, straight forward, and honest. Sandi is very knowledgeable about the Albuquerque market (on both sides of the river), but doesn't limit herself to the city. She has indepth knowledge of all the outlying areas including Rio Rancho, Los Lunas and particularly the East Mountain areas. Add into that mixture a wonderful sense of humor, and approachability. Sandi helped my parents navigate through selling two separate homes in other cities to purchase a home in Sandia Park several years ago. I was so impressed with how she mananged, and addressed their many concerns that I asked her to help me list my home on the west side of town, so I could find something closer to my job in the NE part of town. She guided me through the staging process, was very honest about what I needed to do to get my home noticed, and sold it within one week of listing! She then helped me locate a great home in a wonderful neighborhood. Fast forward to present day - I am selling my home, as are my parents so we can purchase a larger, multigenerational home. Sandi is at the center of this major change in all our lives, and is a trusted partner in the entire process. We wouldn't consider undertaking such a huge project without her expertise! Highly recommended!!