Carmen Halstrom, Windermere

Carmen is the agent that you want on your side. She's been in the business a long time and knows what is in your best interest. She helped us buy a house in Seattle even though she's based on the Eastside. She did an excellent job of refining the list of potential places whenever we gave her new thoughts about what we were looking for. She knows what the true costs (time and money) of home ownership and remodeling are, so she was able to give us sound advice about which homes were really worth their cost. She dissuaded us from a home that had already been remodeled, telling us that we were being influenced by the nice furniture and fancy paint jobs and that our second choice was the better investment because it could be remodeled to an even nicer state. When it came time to make an offer, she assessed the situation and let us under-bid by a great deal on the house we eventually bought and stood by the offer when the seller's agent came back with a quibbling counteroffer. We got it for the price we wanted and have never looked back! Thanks to Carmen, we may never move! more

She came as a recommendation from a friend. Her office is in Bellevue, but she did a great job helping us look for houses in the Rainier Valley/West Seattle. Even thought we weren't buying in the high-end, she went out of her way to make her schedule work with ours and provided a lot of helpful insight into the process, construction costs/quality, market and resale (we were first time buyers). She's also just a very nice person. more