“Buying a house, especially in the over-priced bay area, is a very stressful and difficult process. It involves the need to take tough decisions and to react quickly without the time needed to get more comfortable with the decision.
We were thrown into the process, as many others, when the owner of the house that were renting decided that he needs the house, and required that we evacuate it within three months exactly, without any extensions. It happened just before the summer break with several plans for long vacations out of the country.
As part of exploring the different options we decided to meet with a realtor that was highly recommended by two of our friends. Our expectations were very low and the skepticism was high, as both my wife and myself were convinced we are going to meet the typical “car dealer” type of a person that will do everything he could to convince us to buy a house. But we were wrong.
During the first meeting, Avi Urban-that realtor, walked us very patiently through different calculations and analysis and laid out different potential options and scenarios that could work for us, if we decide to buy. We were surprised especially as there was no pressure whatsoever and that he really gave us the time required to get used to the idea that we are entering this process.
In follow-up meeting we started to realize that Avi is also very unique in the fact that he is extremely honest and will say only things that he believes are true and that will benefits us as his clients.
We were especially amazed when we were considering bidding on a house and Avi convinced us that it is overpriced and that it seemed to be a mistake to buy such a house. I am convinced that most of the realtors would have said nothing and would prepare the offer, hoping that their client will win the house even if they were sure it was a mistake.
Very quickly, we felt very confident in working with Avi and started trusting him and seeking his good advice.
After a few weeks of search we found a house that we really loved and decided to bid on it. Avi developed the strategy for us starting with how to interact with the owners, how much to offer and how to present the offer to them so that we have higher chance of winning in a very competitive market. –We won the house.
We were very impressed with Avi’s job and expected that now when he has finished his job we will have to do everything ourselves including finding all the people to do the fumigation, painting, flooring, gardening, etc. It was clear to us that we will not be able to travel the way we planed (three weeks in Israel and two weeks in Alaska), but here came the biggest surprise. Not only that Avi did not disappear, he encouraged us to travel as planned and took on himself to deal with all the workers and make sure the jobs will be done, and as good as possible. He negotiated rates for us, waited in the house for gas disconnection and then connection (around the fumigation), and came daily to water part of the garden were the irrigation system did not work well.
I must say that when I look back on what we have done and what we have decided over such a short time I am convinced we could have never done it without Avi.
His integrity, calm nature, intelligence and good instincts made him the ideal person to work with in such a stressful task. And not less important, I feel that during this process we found a new real friend.
I would recommend to anybody that is considering buying a house to work with Avi and will be happy to speak with anybody that would like to hear more about him.”