Tell 10 people

If you're like me, when you have a great experience... or a horrible one, you tell your friends/ family. The idea is to get the word out. If you have a bad meal... or a great hotel stay... you share with your friends and family, your experience. This can be good or bad for business.

Throughout our recent move to the suburbs we encountered a lot of hurdles and challenges. I'd like to "tell 10 people" about a positive experience.... and negative.

Testimonial for Mike Long of Long Realty:

We decided to move to the Chicago suburbs during the summer of 2010.   After long, long hours of searching on the Internet via Realtor.com, Trulia.com and many other sites, I decided to go to Google to find an agent that would be able to show us some of the houses we had pinned as our favorites.  The first name that Google came back with was Mike Long with Long Realty.  

So, without doing an ounce of research on Mike, we picked up the phone and called him.  We shared our information with him... let him know what we were looking for and he had agreed to meet us that following Saturday so we could go house hunting. 

He chauffeured us around the different towns, showing us the houses we wanted to see, as well as some others that he thought might interest us.  During that time he explained his knowledge of the communities, schools, etc.  Three weekends & 3 trips later, we were ready to make an offer on the house of our dreams.

Mike assisted and guided us through the bidding process, too... advising us where to start bidding... and then how much to counteroffer.  His negotiating tactics were great and we ended up saving thousands of dollars off of the original asking price!

Once the offer was accepted, Mike got to work, bringing in his business partners to assist in the close of this deal.  He put us in touch with his trusted Real Estate Attorney (Paul Garver) and also scheduled our inspection to be done by Dunwell Home Inspections. Everybody that Mike brought into this process was so professional and so helpful to explain things to us.  Mike was there throughout the entire inspection (around 4 hours), answering questions and even pointing out how to take care of our landscaping, while offering other sound advice on things like garbage pickup, where to get garbage stickers, etc (all things that a city dweller has no clue about when they move to the suburbs).  He also helped my husband find the right train station to get him to his downtown office, while also recommending back-road-routes to shave time off his commute. 

Looking back now, I thank GOD that we found him.  Mike was INCREDIBLE.  Talk about a guy that knows the area!  He is a consummate professional.  Throughout this process, he helped with everything... from finding the right community...and ultimately, the perfect home for our family.  He was there with us, every step of the way. This guy knows his stuff... and the city of Chicago/ surrounding suburbs.  I will use Mike for any future real estate transactions as well as recommend him to anyone looking for the “real deal”.  I consider him a very trusted advisor in the crazy world of real estate, and now I can also call him a friend.   

As for the negative experience we had, let me just say I HATE YOU WELLS FARGO.  If it weren't for your IDIOT UNDERWRITERS we could have moved in 30 days earlier, allowing us to enjoy a tiny bit more of the Fall season.  Each month when I see you take money from our account, I will snarl and scowl at you.