Thao Tran & Ian Hayles - Smart Works & UW Research
Request more photos!
- Features
Ian: This was our first home purchase and we were buying into a difficult market: Seattle. Rhena was able to get our offer accepted before the seller's first weekend showing, by Saturday afternoon, even though the seller's agent was clearly delaying. This got us a more-than-affordable price; something that's going to let us have some cash for projects. That's important, since the only thing in our price range in Seattle were fixer-uppers, but her background and first-hand knowledge with older homes helped us select one that wasn't going to be a money pit. Her recommendations of contractors after our purchase are people she has work on her own home, so you know you can trust them.
Thao: It was difficult buying in Seattle; so much is different than what I saw my parents go through in the suburbs. Even when suprises cropped up after our purchase, Rhena was available to recommend various contractors to help us start remodeling. Rhena continues to be a resource for us, even though we are not "big buyers". She's helping us be homeowners and eventually landlords or sellers, not just doing paperwork to finish our purchase. Also, while it might be a rule-of-thumb to avoid "one-stop shopping", Sage and Rhena found us a better loan program (ACORN) than we were aware of, and her contractors do good work at a very competitive rate.
-Ian Hayles and Thao Tran are first-time home buyers in Columbia City in Seattle.
"We just wanted to thank you for standing behind your service as a Realtor and helping us fix the problem the inspector overlooked. Brad did a great job getting some of our more worrisome jobs done, such as the rotten rim joists/sill plate and the (unrelated) improper pier block. He also put some plywood down for us in the bathroom.
The electrical is a little more extensive than I'm prepared to deal with by myself, so I'm placing GFCI's in the ungrounded outlets for now and placing some AFCI breakers as well. We're going to plan on getting the electrial redone when remodel. We're hoping to add a 3/4 bath attached to an additional(master) bedroom and add heat and plumbing to the outbuilding. In a few years, we might be able to refinance and rent out BOTH. :)
Thanks a lot and we'll be in touch,
Ian Hayles and Thao Tran
Thao: It was difficult buying in Seattle; so much is different than what I saw my parents go through in the suburbs. Even when suprises cropped up after our purchase, Rhena was available to recommend various contractors to help us start remodeling. Rhena continues to be a resource for us, even though we are not "big buyers". She's helping us be homeowners and eventually landlords or sellers, not just doing paperwork to finish our purchase. Also, while it might be a rule-of-thumb to avoid "one-stop shopping", Sage and Rhena found us a better loan program (ACORN) than we were aware of, and her contractors do good work at a very competitive rate.
-Ian Hayles and Thao Tran are first-time home buyers in Columbia City in Seattle.
"We just wanted to thank you for standing behind your service as a Realtor and helping us fix the problem the inspector overlooked. Brad did a great job getting some of our more worrisome jobs done, such as the rotten rim joists/sill plate and the (unrelated) improper pier block. He also put some plywood down for us in the bathroom.
The electrical is a little more extensive than I'm prepared to deal with by myself, so I'm placing GFCI's in the ungrounded outlets for now and placing some AFCI breakers as well. We're going to plan on getting the electrial redone when remodel. We're hoping to add a 3/4 bath attached to an additional(master) bedroom and add heat and plumbing to the outbuilding. In a few years, we might be able to refinance and rent out BOTH. :)
Thanks a lot and we'll be in touch,
Ian Hayles and Thao Tran
- Type: Other
end of line
