Recommend a realtor? (Fox Chapel, Chalfant, Howard: chapel, mortgage, brokers)

[SoCalFam91604]

Can anyone recommend a realtor? Someone who is used to working with first time buyers and is comfortable with the internet?

Thanks

[la_torquemada]

My family has been very happy with Lisa Levine at Prudential Preferred -- 412-521-5500 ext. 236 . In general, I would avoid Howard Hanna -- I hear nothing but bad stories about them no matter which end of the deal they are on.

[Rona]

Interesting about Howard Hanna - we used Dana Chalfant at the Fox Chapel branch and he has been absolutely brilliant. We're not first time buyers but we've never bought a house in America, where everything is different from how we did it in Britain.
Dana walked us through everything, spent ages driving me around to get to know the areas we were interested in, gave us loads of local information (places to walk the dog, roads to avoid in winter, interesting places to visit, good restaurants ...) and, now we have bought somewhere, has made suggestions as to how to find approved tradesmen (he's not allowed to recommend anyone personally, apparently).
Not sure how comfortable he is with the internet, we've done most of our stuff by phone, but he's emailed us stuff so he must be able to do the basics!

[TRO Z]

la_torque,

That's a completely slanderous and ridiculous comment about Howard Hanna, they are a local company who have built a wonderful business. They are also like the 3rd largest independent in the US...You cant build a business that large with bad stories (as you claim)..

My recommendation to you socalfam, is to find out what part of the city you plan on living in first...As most good realtors focus on certain areas of pittsburgh..So the recommendations I could give you that are great, are limited to Mt. Lebo area, Sq Hill area, Shadyside, & N.Side-N.Hills...Different REALTOR for each area also...

[la_torquemada]

There's nothing slanderous about it -- she asked for opinions, I gave mine. Until Rona's post I literally had never heard of an HH transaction that went smoothly. I've known maybe 10 people involved in transacitons with them -- a small sample to be sure, but it did seem strange that they ALL told me they would never use them/use them again. You're right that they *must* do right by someone or they wouldn't have the business they do, I just don't happen to know any of those people.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by TRO Z

My recommendation to you socalfam, is to find out what part of the city you plan on living in first...As most good realtors focus on certain areas of pittsburgh..So the recommendations I could give you that are great, are limited to Mt. Lebo area, Sq Hill area, Shadyside, & N.Side-N.Hills...Different REALTOR for each area also...

Excellent advice! The OP definitely needs to pick where they want to live prior to chosing a realtor!

[Pghtebbie]

I would have to agree with finding a realtor that is specific to your area- they will know the neighborhood best.

If you are specifically looking online, find the realtor that has the most listings in the neighborhood you are looking for, then call/email them. For instance, in my neck of the woods there are 2 that stand out- their names are on ALL the signs. They will be the best person to help you decide if you are getting the best price, etc.

Our realtor grew up in our neighborhood....knew all my neighbors, where to get the best pizza, etc. He actually helped pour the driveway for the old lady that used to live in my house!

[the206]

I have to agree as well, it's good advice to consider the neighborhood. That being said, I'd like to make a plug for my realtor - I was a first time buyer when I used her, and I feel she's very knowledgeabel about many areas of the city and its suburbs, she's very invested in the community, she's very very dedicated to knowing the details that make her a good agent, and I felt like she was on my side. And yes she's comfortable with the internet:
http://realtybrokers.pennsylvania.re...Assid=07140801
And after all, you may not know enough yet to feel like you know what area you are interested in
Good luck!

[the206]

Oh and I also wanted to comment, I had limited experience with HH. Charlene, who I recommended above, was with HH when we started looking, but changed to re/max at some point deep into the process. I didn't ask her why. However, we used HH's mortgage services. It was not a good experience but I'll spare the details. I also have a friend who had a very bad experience with HH when she went looking for a house and is also very anti-HH like the poster above. I think that it must vary with the branch, and especially with the realtor, but in my limited experiece, I'm not too high on HH either.

[Katarina Witt]

I'm really confused. I've been loosely following this thread, and I thought there was supposed to be no advertising.