“This letter is to officially recognize John Maranto for the excellent services he provided to us in his capacity as a Realtor, assisting us in selling the property at 1700 Todd Avenue in Dundalk.
While we fully understand that we have paid for John’s services at closing time, we have worked with enough realtors for our rental properties and investment properties, to feel that John went above and beyond what was required of him in his official capacity.
The scenario for John was a tough one. We had a 91 year old Mother recovering from a massive stroke, a 97 year old Father who was a 100% disabled World War 2 veteran, and the two of us, with Joyce being an only child, uprooted from our own home and life in North Carolina coming to Baltimore for the duration, not knowing how things would turn out.
Realizing, somewhat reluctantly that neither parent would be able to care of the other, let alone manage a house, we made the decision that the house needed to be sold and the parents placed in facilities able to provide the care they needed. Although reluctantly understanding the need to sell, the Father was determined not to be of any help in the process, having planned to be in the house until his time came.
So, with a 60 year-old house that had not really seen any updates and had been occupied by the parents since 1954, we began the task of looking for a realtor. To shorten the story a bit, we met John through a series of interviews with half a dozen real estate agencies picked at random from web sites and review pages.
John stood out from the others due to his interest in our situation and an understanding of what we were going through at the time. He was realistic in his appraisal of the house and was very informative in explaining to us the general and specific real estate markets for our geographical area. His recommendations of how to market and sell the house were professional and unbiased and we found it refreshing that we felt like adults dealing with adults. We also liked the No BS” air of professionalism he presented. Prior to John’s interview we had been “handled” by several realtors who treated us like children, promised inflated sale prices which they could not back up with hard facts or examples, and one couple who promised wonderful “staging” and seemed more concerned with what pieces of furniture needed to remain in the house for showing than telling us what we needed to do to sell the house.
The one bit of advice John gave us that the house needed to be cleaned out before it could be shown, proved to be the most difficult and time consuming of the 10 months it took us to get this project done. John also suggested an independent home inspection be completed because a house of this age would be subjected to such an inspection by any knowledgeable perspective buyer. Of the six realtors interviewed, he stood out with this recommendation.
Throughout the march to market, John was able to provide dependable contractors to perform the necessary repairs, clean out, and cleaning, and his references were excellent with the work performed more than equal to the task with fair prices.
Finally, when the house was to the point to turn it over to John for marketing, he worked closely with us on pricing strategy, with realistic pricing and expectations.
As a direct result of his leadership, the house was shown less than a dozen times and sold within 90 days from the time we signed the contract with John. The price was fair, the minimum we had hoped for was more than met and that money deposited in the parent’s account for help in continuing their rather expensive care.
John helped make what seemed like an insurmountable task easier, helped us reduce the amount of time we had to stay in Baltimore preparing the house and making repairs, and, in the end, got us the price we were looking for in the sale.
Our thanks to him.” Joyce and Jim Cain, Seller clients, 2012
