I most recently accompanied my boyfriend, a UK native, on his experience as a first time homebuyer here in Saint Louis. Initially we scoured the Internet and after spotting an open house of interest, we saw the property and fell, albeit naively, in love with the house. Upon receiving some advice from my stepfather who is a multiple homebuyer, we decided to contact a realtor to not only get an educated opinion of the home, but to eventually guide us through the very new to us process of securing it’s purchase.
To my great fortune, I read a series of positive reviews on a realtor in our area by the name of Dan Brassil. Employing him as our realtor was the best decision we could have made as first time homebuyers. Dan could have easily sold us on the first home we fell in love with & made his cut of the sale in quick order. Instead, he gave us an excellent unbiased and educated opinion of the home, pointing out both its strengths and weaknesses. Importantly, he noted that the original wood siding on the home had many layers of paint and due to its deteriorating condition, would likely need to be replaced before we turned around to sell the home in 4 years time. He would have been happy to help us place an offer if that was what we truly wanted, but he wouldn’t let us make that decision without giving us a reality check on the resale potential of the home.
After deciding against the purchase of the initial home we looked at, Dan astutely guided us through the search for other properties to consider. He setup an online portal for us that he tailored to what we specifically wanted in a home (# of rooms, price range, neighborhood, etc). He was always quick to reply on any questions/concerns we had on homes of interest on the site & would go out of his way to quickly setup a viewing of a home we wanted to take a look at. Once we decided on the house we would eventually call home, he made the process of buying that house effortless. He succinctly outlined what we would need to get done to close on the house in a timely manner, making sure we knew what would be involved at each step. In addition, he offered excellent advice and spoke on our behalf when we needed to settle on terms with the sellers.
As my boyfriend signed the final paperwork & deed on the house at the title company, he was confident & secure in the purchase he was making. We owe that peace of my mind on closing day to Dan & we will not consider going to anyone else when it comes time to sell our home.
