I was not happy with the first 3 agents (recommended to me) who I interviewed to sell my house, so I interviewed 4 more, and picked Dawn because she had: - the second-highest recommended listing price of the 7 agents - the second-lowest budget for preparing the house for sale (only $2,500 above the lowest budget) - a proven track record of selling her listings at the listed price in under 1 week Additionally, she excelled in subjective criteria: - she was enthusiastic about selling the house - she agreed without hesitation to take care of all the details of getting the house ready for sale (more below) - she presented a great market analysis and marketing plan The agent with the highest recommended listing price, by contrast, did not seem enthusiastic about selling the house, wanted to spend a lot more to stage and prepare the house for sale, and had a track record of selling the house for 95% of listed price after a month on the market. Dawn's recommended price matched exactly 95% of the price the other agent recommended. In the end, Dawn listed the house on a Sunday and we received and accepted a cash offer at the listing price on Tuesday, 2 days later. Once again, she sold the house at the listed price in under a week. And remember, this was not a lowball "priced to sell" price, this price was higher than 5 of the 6 other agents wanted to list at, and none of the other agents expected to sell above their listing price. On top of all the objective criteria and results, Dawn was highly competent and a pleasure to work with. I explained to all the agents that my plan was to empty the house and leave Florida, never to return. Once the house was emptied, I expected the agents to handle all the remaining prep work, including selecting and engaging vendors, providing them access to the property, and overseeing and verifying their work. All I was going to do was write checks. Dawn agreed to do that and did a great job, to my great relief. Highly recommended.
Dawn Merrill
