Why We Love Deborah!

My wife, Pat, and I are writing this “long-in-coming” letter to let you know how much we applaud your agent Deborah Chelini.

We moved my 88 year old mother from San Carlos to Vancouver, Washington the later part of last year when she could no longer live by herself. She is now thriving in an assisted living facility near us in the Vancouver area. The process of preparing her home for sale was going to be a daunting task and one that we were not looking forward to since she had been in her home for more than 40 years and 14 of those years by herself.

After hiring Deborah to sell her house she stepped up to the plate and prepared a task list for us. She then hired a team to come in and take care of all the repairs, etc. She made sure that everything was not only completed but completed correctly and on time. Since we were up here in Vancouver, some 700 miles away, we definitely needed someone trustworthy and dependable. THAT DEFINITELY WAS DEBORAH. If anything ever went awry we never knew about it, she just took care of it all. What a dream! We would definitely like to clone her up here to help us with our land purchase and home building process.

In all our years of buying and selling homes, and there are many since we are not “spring chickens” ourselves, we have never, ever, found anyone like her. Truly, we are not exaggerating.

We could go on and on about how wonderful she is and how fortunate you are to have such a dedicated and awe inspiring agent in your office. Please feel free to pass this on to anyone you feel should, or would, like to know.

Sincerely,
Mark and Pat Raso

Dear Deborah,

Mike and I want to thank you for selling our home in a very short amount of time and seamless experience. We are very grateful for the customer service you provided us. We had become quite concerned as you know after a less than perfect first experience where we did not sell our home and this created over a six month delay. Once you called us and shared your plan for staging and marketing our home and your confidence in selling our home we were reassured we could move forward and find buyers for our home that would love it as much as we did.

I pride myself in service because that’s what I do 24/7 at Williams Sonoma and before that with my 29 years at Nordstrom. Mike and I are so grateful and would gladly recommend you to our friends and family. Your service with our busy lives was just “perfect”!

Please let us know how we can be of service to you in the future because you made our lives and experience selling our home so fantastic. We very much appreciate all you have done.

Sincerely,
Vicki McWilliams

Dear Deborah:

There are not enough words to tell you how grateful we are to you for the work you put into getting our home sold!

I had to think about the difference between a good realtor and a great one and it’s clear to me, that the great ones are those who possess the qualities that you have. Not only are you a true professional, exceptionally knowledgeable about the market and various communities in the Bay Area, and the complexities of buying and selling real estate, but what you possess are the qualities that made a difference in getting our home sold. Not only was the market at the absolute worst in many years, but we faced an economy that went into a deep recession, with many people looking at homes, but not buying. We found this depressing and at times lost faith that we would be able to sell our large home of 28 years to the right buyer. Not only that, but we were stressed as we already purchased our retirement home out of the area over a year ago when the market was much stronger. We were concerned about carrying two houses endlessly, which was frustrating and daunting, but you continued to encourage us with faith and determination. You said “I never give up and I’m not a quitter.” I would have thrown in the towel several times, but you always provided the right perspective and support.

Several times you reviewed marketing and pricing strategy with us, and provided staging for rooms that would present a better image to prospective buyers. You marketed our home every week in newspapers and magazines at your expense. You held open houses every Saturday and Sunday, which I sometimes grumbled about, but you said “open houses sell houses.” You explained that a prospective buyer may have to look at a home as frequently as six times before they decide to write an offer. Once a prospective buyer was identified you tirelessly kept after the other realtor and their clients with a weekly update so that getting a call from you every Wednesday was never missed and you kept after the realtor and would not let the potential deal disappear.

When we had open houses each weekend, we received an update of the traffic and interest in our home within 10-20 minutes of the open house closing. You never missed a call! If we left you a message at work, you called back immediately. On top of that excellent service and support, your team was exceptionally gracious in caring for our home during the open house weekends ensuring the doors were locked, lights were left on as specified, and the key box in or out as we needed it to be.

Although I have many friends in real estate, I have never worked with anyone who was so committed to excellence in their job, or how tirelessly they worked days, evenings and weekends. Because you put 300% and more into your profession, it is the sole reason you stand out above all others, and have sold our home!

As excited as we are that our home sold for an excellent price in this market, we will miss your frequent calls, as we have become more than a realtor and a client – we have become friends, and hopefully will continue that for a lifetime. You were there for us through a number of difficulties and held us up with never ending hope, and humor. It’s not only your skills that we appreciated, it is your personality and drive to get things done well, and never, ever giving up! We cherish those qualities you possess.

Coldwell Banker is lucky to have you. We clearly understand how you achieved your outstanding status with them, and know you will continue to be exceptionally successful in real estate in he future. Doing the impossible took a bit longer, but you did it! Of course.

With deep gratitude,
Jim and Sherry Joyce, Redwood City

There is a reason why Deborah is so highly regarded in Bay Area real estate, she is quite simply the best! Prior to working with Deborah, we had worked with another real estate agent in trying to sell our condominium. After six agonizing months of not being able to sell, we pulled our home off the market. Shortly after pulling it, we received a call from Deborah. We were skeptical that anyone could sell our home during this difficult time in real estate, but agreed to listen to what Deborah had to say.

Deborah visited our home, went through her detailed marketing plan, and convinced us that she was the right agent to represent us. We hired Deborah, she went to work, and we are happy to say she was able to sell our condominium at the price we wanted. Additionally, Deborah helped us in purchasing our new home.

Bottom line, Deborah is a real estate star who gets the job done. We highly recommend her.

John & Paula Clinton, San Mateo

Deborah gets the job done! My house on Potrero Hill in San Francisco had been on the market for some time and was not selling when I had it listed with another agent, even though I had completely rebuilt it and it had awesome views of the Bay and downtown San Francisco. Deborah and her team came in, told me exactly what to do to make it “shine” and get noticed. She had a marketing plan and system that immediately increased the open house traffic and revitalized buyer interest in my property. Deborah sold my house quickly and for over the asking price–I couldn’t be happier! I will recommend her to anyone looking for a top notch agent.

Alberto Villasenor, San Francisco

If you are looking to sell a home and you want a strong agent that eats, breathes and sleeps real estate 24/7, then Deborah is your agent!

In late spring of 2007, we had a house for sale at a time when prices in the real estate market were dropping. During the longest six months of our lives, we were forced to follow the market by lowering our price significantly. We were thinking of lowering the price again, but opted to find a new real estate agent instead.

We were specifically looking for an agent who had enough long term experience to understand how to handle a sale in the fluctuating market and who also had a proven track record for selling in tough markets. Our house was stale and interest had considerably dropped off. We interviewed a handful of top producing agents, but were disappointed with the cookie cutter marketing plans and the insistence that we lower the price yet again.

Then, a business acquaintance referred us to Deborah. Our first meeting with Deborah sold us on her ability to move our house. She was quick to respond and persistent – plus, she was the only agent who had the house professionally appraised. She was confident that she could sell our house for the price we had listed it for.

Our open houses went from what had become one or two visitors to over fifty as soon as Deborah had the listing. Deborah updated us nearly every day and sent us weekly packages with copies of all the advertising she had done for the house. Within just three weeks, we had two strong offers and one of them resulted in a sale.

Mike and Serena C., Redwood City

We have worked with Deborah on 4 transactions in the last 6 years. Deborah is professional, diligent and very good at what she does. We trust her judgment and feel that she is an aggressive agent who has her clients’ best interests at heart always. She is creative and experienced. We highly recommend her.

Kelly and Brett B., Menlo Park