I've been meaning to write this post for quite some time but with moving into our new home and having a new baby its been pushed to the back burner. So this is definitely long overdue...
Our story begins with my husband and I looking to dive into the Irvine housing market mid 2012. After some research, we decide to enlist the help of a Redfin agent to help us in our search of finding the perfect home and also benefit from the rebate check we would get after the purchase. We narrow down a new build which we think is perfect and fits our needs but we soon realize our Redfin agent isn't up to par in terms of what we would like in a realtor and decide to part ways with her. I thought realtors were supposed to negotiate for you? hmm...perhaps I was wrong...I think. In the process of parting ways with Redfin, I came across someone by the name of USCtrojan on the Talk Irvine site who seemed extremely knowledgeable and decide to run a few things by him via the site. I must have asked him at least a dozen questions and scenarios which he patiently answered for me. We received wonderful advice and suggestions from him and this from someone who had never met us but ended up saving us thousands of dollars in the process. We eventually came to meet USCtrojan at a later date and at that point we were sure we wanted him to be our realtor and help us find our home. At that time, it wasn't clear whether he was going to be receiving a commission from the builder of the home we were interested in but he wanted to help us nonetheless. USCTrojan educated us regarding the Irvine market which our Redfin agent never did but I guess that is what you get from a limited services realtor. We realized what we thought was the perfect home was nice but didn't quite check all the boxes. Luckily for us, USCtrojan introduced us to the Las Ventanas community. We were able to snatch up one of the last few homes available in the community and he assisted us in negotiating a deal with the builder. An added bonus is USCtrojan splits his commission he gets from the builder with you so in the long run we benefited much more with going with USCtrojan then Redfin. Our home buying experience could have quite possibly turned into a nightmare costing us far more but thanks to our wonderful realtor buying our home was positive and relatively pain free. Since closing and moving in, we have received numerous referrals from him who have been great as well. USCtrojan thanks for the advice, suggestions and referrals!!!
On a side note....Laura and John at the Las Ventanas sales office were absolutely wonderful. We never felt pressured at all and I would always stop by to say hi to them whenever I was taking a look at the home being completed. Definitely not the usual sales agents you run into at all. If only more people with Taylor Morrision were like them....sigh.
Our story begins with my husband and I looking to dive into the Irvine housing market mid 2012. After some research, we decide to enlist the help of a Redfin agent to help us in our search of finding the perfect home and also benefit from the rebate check we would get after the purchase. We narrow down a new build which we think is perfect and fits our needs but we soon realize our Redfin agent isn't up to par in terms of what we would like in a realtor and decide to part ways with her. I thought realtors were supposed to negotiate for you? hmm...perhaps I was wrong...I think. In the process of parting ways with Redfin, I came across someone by the name of USCtrojan on the Talk Irvine site who seemed extremely knowledgeable and decide to run a few things by him via the site. I must have asked him at least a dozen questions and scenarios which he patiently answered for me. We received wonderful advice and suggestions from him and this from someone who had never met us but ended up saving us thousands of dollars in the process. We eventually came to meet USCtrojan at a later date and at that point we were sure we wanted him to be our realtor and help us find our home. At that time, it wasn't clear whether he was going to be receiving a commission from the builder of the home we were interested in but he wanted to help us nonetheless. USCTrojan educated us regarding the Irvine market which our Redfin agent never did but I guess that is what you get from a limited services realtor. We realized what we thought was the perfect home was nice but didn't quite check all the boxes. Luckily for us, USCtrojan introduced us to the Las Ventanas community. We were able to snatch up one of the last few homes available in the community and he assisted us in negotiating a deal with the builder. An added bonus is USCtrojan splits his commission he gets from the builder with you so in the long run we benefited much more with going with USCtrojan then Redfin. Our home buying experience could have quite possibly turned into a nightmare costing us far more but thanks to our wonderful realtor buying our home was positive and relatively pain free. Since closing and moving in, we have received numerous referrals from him who have been great as well. USCtrojan thanks for the advice, suggestions and referrals!!!
On a side note....Laura and John at the Las Ventanas sales office were absolutely wonderful. We never felt pressured at all and I would always stop by to say hi to them whenever I was taking a look at the home being completed. Definitely not the usual sales agents you run into at all. If only more people with Taylor Morrision were like them....sigh.
