ERA The Property Professionals

I was finally able to sell my house when I switched to this real estate agency! I was very impressed about how professional these people are compared to some real estate people. I usually hear the run around but with them they just told me up front how it was and what was to be expected. They helped us every step of the way sort of acting like our own personal assistants reminding us of things that needed done. I really like the relationship that formed with this company and I highly recommend them if you are looking for an honest real estate agent. more

March 25, 2010 Success. How does one define that term when it comes to real estate? Well, if you are the seller your success will largely depend on a collaborative relationship between you and your agent. In our case, success came quickly and easily with our agent Steve Dhillon. Steve was our first and only choice to represent our house and us when it came time for us to sell. Perhaps unlike most client and real estate agent partnerships, ours with Steve started over a decade ago when we came to one of his open houses. We liked Steve’s easy manner, the way he presented a home, and the thorough way he represented that property by his aggressive marketing techniques. As the years passed, we realized that in order for a home to sell quickly in our area was to remodel it. We asked Steve’s advice about the housing market. He knew the demographics of who was buying homes in our area, and what savvy homebuyers were looking for in a house. With that knowledge we were able to remodel our house, often checking in with Steve for his guidance on which home improvements would add value to our property. Before we had even completed our remodeling project, we asked Steve when would it be a good time to sell our house? Again, with his knowledge of the every changing housing market he encouraged us to put it on the market straightaway. Even though there was little time to publicize that our house was ready to sell, Steve, against all odds, managed to complete a marketing strategy for our house in record time. Professional photographs, printing flyers, and web-site listings were done at the speed of light. The results paid off! Our house sold within a matter of hours after the first open house showing! Success like that could be yours too, and Steve Dhillon is the person to call! Sincerely yours, La Ronda and Steve Bucciarelli more

We sold our Union City house with Steve Dhillon in March 2006. Overall, we were not very happy with the experience and would not use him again or recommend him. Here's our experience: Pros: - Our house needed work before going on the market. Painting, new carpets, new blinds. Steve organized most of this: got the estimates, supervised the work (we were out of town). The cost estimates were pretty reasonable. He had good ideas and suggestions on the most cost-effective materials to use. - He's the #1 Union City selling agent and looks to have good marketing skills. His initial presentation was impressive. Cons: - Communication, communication, communication. After the sale, I wanted to get in touch with him to get receipts for all the work done and settle our accounts. He simply did not return any of my e-mails or phone calls for a period of 2 months. I was finally able to get a hold of him on his cell phone, but it was an ordeal. We were out of town while the house was on the marked. Steve also never called during that period to update us on how the open houses were going. We had to call and wait for a response a few days later. One of our bathrooms had a sticky shower door that needed to be replaced. Many of the agents and buyers looking at the house commented on this. Steve promised numerous times that he would get this fixed but it never happened. He later told us that the shower door was apparently an unusual size and needed to be special ordered. But there was plenty of time: almost 2 full months between when the work started and when we got the first offer on the house. - He charges the full 5% commission. He claims better marketing skills as one of the reasons for this. It's clear that he benefits from better marketing; less clear that our house sale benefited much. The final sale price on the house was lower than the minimum he initially quoted, and in retrospect does not look particularly competitive with other houses sold in the area around March 2006. After the sale, he also held over $500 for "repairs" and charged us an extra $395. After I finally got a hold of him, he agreed to refund the $395, but we are yet to see the money 2 months later. The $500 seems to have fallen into a black hole. His follow through after the sale was completed has been simply atrocious. - He had initially lined up his favorite/preferred handyman to do most of the work on the house (painting, flooring, blinds). We initially estimated it would take 2 weeks and the house would be on the market by Christmas 2005. We even moved out earlier so that they could start work on time. But his handyman ended up being too busy and delayed the whole process. In the end, it took 4 weeks and the house went on the market only in the 2nd week of January. Even so, there were items (like the shower door) that did not get fixed. more