Back HomeRuth Morentz and Doug Vogt
We wanted a second home in the Fall River Valley area because of my husband’s flyfishing hobby. In my opinion, the area has always been overpriced, with limited quality properties in a limited inventory with a very limited number of buyers for the quality properties. When the market crashed in 2008 we began looking again because then the prices became more realistic and some good quality properties began to appear on the market, usually under bad circumstances. We found Allison because she was the listing agent for most of the best properties in the area. Our mothers had both been in real estate, so following the market was second nature and we had a very good sense of value and the market and what makes a great agent. Allison not only knew the market, but understood the turmoil that sellers were going through and the reality check they would undergo when the offers came in so much lower than expected. Anyone can sell houses in a good market. It takes an extraordinary agent to list and/or sell houses when prices are crashing, people are being foreclosed on, appraisals don’t support the sales prices, buyers can’t qualify, buyers want bargains, and sellers are upset at seeing their perceived equity in their homes disappear. Allison and I spent three years on and off looking for the perfect property and she never gave up. I was looking for a great property that we could obtain at a very good price, that would actually appraise, and that the seller was willing to be realistic about what it would sell for. That gave us a few wonderful properties to work with. She hung in there as we moved area locations and expectations, as my husband repeatedly got “cold feet”, as houses we made offers on didn’t work out. Once I even had to call her and tell her that we just had to give up due to changes that we were going through. She was always supportive and understanding…and tenacious in wanting to find us the right property. Even when I thought we would have to give up, she would check back just to make sure how things were with us. Finally we were in the right place to look and look we did. Two “dream homes” deals didn’t work out, but then she helped work out a deal with a listing she had for a very long time, a house I had loved from the beginning but was so far out of our price range. As it sat, she continued to try to get the sellers to understand the reality of the market. Then along we came with a low offer, which she artfully worked on with both sides until we all reached a number that we could live with. The sellers were able to finally move on with their lives and we now have a stunning log home that is now my husband’s “personal fishing lodge”. It took three years of on and off dedication as the market conditions and inventory changed, but Allison watched, waited, and negotiated to make sure we finally have our dream getaway home. Having worked through some failed deals with her, and having watched the work of some of the other agents in the area, there is no comparison. Allison is a real estate professional in an area that seems to have more than a few agents who think of real estate as a second job or a hobby. She would survive as a real estate agent even in the competitive San Francisco Bay Area market. I’d work with her again in a minute.
