People whom we could not have done it without

Note: Permission is explicitly granted for any of the people mentioned on this page to link here.

A group of people including Neile Graham referred us to both Bill and Tina. Send email (to me or anyone listed above) if you would like to receive other names/testimonials in support of either. Ken was recommended by Bill, though we know of others who were also happy with him. Ivy (Ballard Escrow) was chosen by our sellers, but their service was just fine too.
Please feel free to send me an e-mail message with any questions about our experiences with any of these individuals/their companies.

Buyers Agent, William (Bill) Falk of Re/Max NW

Bill is an Associate Broker with RE/MAX NW. If he ever gets a webpage up somewhere, I'll gladly link to it. I won't put his direct number up without permission, but here's the office info:

Re/Max Northwest
300 NE 97th (near Northgate)
Seattle 98115
(206) 522-5500

What was so great about Bill? Well, just about everything. Mostly we just felt comfortable with him. He was responsive to our needs and desires. He listened, and could tell when we had questions or were uneasy about something. We felt like our happiness was more important to him than the money he would get from us. We also know that Bill took a little less than a full cut from our buy. We feel he deserved everything he got, and more, for the work he did for us. In short, Bill has our full trust and confidence. We plan to refer him to everyone who asks us and if we ever need an agent again, we'll try and give him a call. I don't know if he serves or specializes in a particular area (North Seattle?) or if he will look anywhere in Seattle. We do know that Bill also lists/sells homes.

Loan Officer, Tina Carter of Alpine Mortgage

Tina Carter is a Senior Loan Officer at Alpine Mortgage Services, Inc. She really got everything started for us. In the beginning, both Mary and I were looking at various mortgage calculators, and the numbers we were coming up with were widely varied and in some cases pretty low, such that we didn't even know if we could buy a house at all. Tina sat down with Mary initially, discussed lots of things, and pointed out several assets to us that we hadn't even considered (retirement funds, stock accounts. She ran our numbers through and came up with a higher-than-expected loan amount for us. She printed up several different purchase scenarios for us which gave us a good idea of how much money we'd need to have at close. Tina is very enthusiastic and motivated. The only downside is that she keeps herself so busy that sometimes it's hard to reach her right away. Even so, when I had to leave a message she always got back to me promptly. In her office I spotted a number of awards. I'm sure they're all well deserved.

Home Inspector, Ken Grimes, Puget Sound Inspections

As mentioned above, Ken was recommended to us by Bill. People are sometimes (rightly) concerned about using an inspector recommended by a real estate agent, but there are a few other things to consider here.
  • Bill was the buyers agent, not the sellers agent. He was clearly working for/representing us.
  • That trust thing again. We weren't just another sale to Bill.
  • Other people who had used both Ken and Bill were enthusiastic about both of them.

    Ken was very thorough. He has lots of good equipment and took his time crawling around everywhere and looking at everything. He clearly did not just give the house a once-over. His report is excellent. It's laid out in an organized and easy to read manner. Not only does the material reference problems, but also gives maintenance and care suggestions. Ken's inspection did turn up some problems which we brought back to the seller. After repair work was completed, he came back out for the re-inspection at a much reduced price. PSI is ASHI certified.

    Puget Sound Inspections (PSI)
    3706 SW Charlestown
    Seattle 98126
    (206) 935-8886

    Our closing/escrow agent, Ivy Brunskill of Ballard Escrow

    Our sellers (or the sellers agent) picked Ballard Escrow. It's hard for me to really compare service, especially since this was our first time. They sent us everything in advance for our review. They were always nice and clear on what we needed to give/bring. And whenever we had a question they'd get an answer for us right away. No surprises anyway. And by the end of the process, we were very glad for that.

    Ballard Escrow
    5315 22nd Ave NW
    Seattle 98107
    (206) 781-1002

    And now a word from the other side...

    Unfortunately, some other people we had to work with weren't so great.

    Questions, comments, new or additional links for me to access/add? Please drop me a line here, dst@serv.net

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