Jennifer – I rarely write reviews, but felt compelled to respond to your inaccurate and distasteful review of our realtor (we were the sellers for this real estate transaction and were represented by Philip Becker).
Philip Becker is one of the most professional, ethical, considerate people I ever had the privilege to do business with. He was very responsive to our many questions, and came highly recommended by one of the top-rated realtors in the national Realtor association. In addition, we recently recommended him to friends who were selling their home, and they had only rave reviews of his professionalism and pleasant demeanor. His many accomplishments speak for themselves; he and his office staff exceeded our expectations in all ways.
As previously mentioned, the mailbox keys were not able to be provided for you. This is the same process we experienced when we moved into the house (i.e. the lock on the mailbox had already been changed). It is inconvenient to have to go to the post office to obtain a new key, but it is done for your security. You wouldn’t want someone to be able to access your personal financial statements, for example. As for the house keys, you were provided you two copies at closing, from the lock box. Finally, as to the garage door remote, the movers accidentally packed it, and we have yet to find it in the new house. If we come across it, we can easily send it to you. We apologize for the inconvenience, but it’s also fairly simple/inexpensive to purchase a new one at any home improvement store.
I am sorry you feel that the home was not in a “move-in” condition as you may have wished. I am not a professional housekeeper, nor were we obligated to provide professional home cleaning services. Had that been written into the contract, we would of course have honored that stipulation. I did, however, devote a significant amount of time to dusting, vacuuming, wiping down surfaces and providing a general cleaning of the house. It met, if not exceeded, the cleanliness and condition at which your husband toured the house and submitted your offer to purchase it.
I also feel that the house’s “stale” condition (e.g. dead flies, lack of fresh air circulation, etc.) may have been due to the fact that the house sat vacant for over 2 weeks. This is a direct result of you postponing the closing date not once but twice (nearly a month’s worth of delays), costing us nearly $1,000 extra in mortgage, insurance, interest, etc. Surely you can understand how we were less willing to eat any further costs for professional cleaning services. Had we closed on the originally agreed upon date, I think you may have been more satisfied with the home’s condition. Furthermore, at the time of your final walk-through, Philip Becker provided you the name of a reasonably priced cleaning service you could use. Even though he wasn’t your agent, he still tried to make sure you were satisfied with your purchase. Does this sound like the actions of a “selfish and lazy” person? Hardly.
We have made many happy memories in that home, and hope you will experience the same. We have hosted many friends and family there over the years, and none of them would describe it as a “disgusting mess” that “hadn’t been cleaned in years.” I am sorry that this transaction was not as seamless as you may have wished (nor was it for us), but to resort to personal character attacks is both unproductive and not a mark of someone with class.