DROdio Real Estate

Listen to audio from David & Claire's experience:

We recently helped David and Claire buy a house valued at $611,000 for $500,000 by purchasing a bank-owned "REO" property. Here's what they had to say!

By: David & Claire – 28 January 2008“DROdio Realty was amazing and tended to each and every of our first-time home-buyer needs. From the beginning it was obvious that DROdio had a completely different view on the real estate process. Buyers finally had the power to search for homes and browse for house just like a professional. The real estate tools DROdio provided, including Birds Eye Search, The Best Home Search Ever, and The Best Foreclosure Home Search Ever, enabled us to get vast amounts of information and drive the property search, making us feel in complete control of the process.

Once we decided on some properties, Daniel drove us around and patiently waited while we viewed each and every one. He provided input when asked, but never pushed us toward anything or tried to influence us in any way. Daniel seemed to only seek the best for his client and refused to take “junk fees” that other buyer’s agent demand. Throughout our search, Daniel leveraged technology amazingly well, employing GPS to efficiently guide us around and speakerphones so that we could participate in each conversation.Once we found our perfect house, DROdio submitted the paperwork within a matter of hours. They held our hand through the pre-approval process all the way through closing.

Nick and Sue, Daniel’s assistants, were always available and helpful to answer each question. As a team, they were able to process our paperwork quickly and made the whole complicated process flawless. Nick, Sue, and Daniel were available until midnight every night and answered my questions within a matter of minutes, no matter how minute or insignificant.We would strongly recommend DROdio for your real estate needs. They turn the real estate search process on its head and empower the buyer by providing vast amounts of free and well organized information.

The whole firm works around your needs and lifestyle and is willing to do whatever it takes to make your real estate process as pain-free and successful as possible. We couldn’t be happier in our new house and we contribute a large part of that happiness to DROdio and their dedicated staff.”

Claire and DavidFirst Time Home-Buyers –Falls Church, VAJanuary 2008

Here's the transcript of the audio interview:

DROdio:  Hello and good afternoon.  This is Daniel Odio with DROdio  Real Estate.  And I have David and Claire on the phone, clients of DROdio.  You guys purchased a house what was it a couple of months ago?

David:  Yeah, January 2008.

DROdio:  January 2008. So hello.  Thank you so much for taking a couple of minutes out of your Friday evening to chat with me and anyone who might be listening, maybe people who have never done this before and are wondering what it’s all about. So thank you.

David:  Oh no problem.  I’m excited to do it.

DROdio:  So why don’t you start by telling everybody kind of how this whole process began.  Like when you were first thinking about buying a home, you know, what was it like, what made you want to start looking.  How did you get started here?

David:  Well Claire and I had been kind of wanting to buy a place and we saw real estate was dropping and it seemed like a good time to buy.  So, you know, we just kind of looked around different web sites and we decided, hey we need a real estate broker.  And  you know, we looked at a couple of sites and we just looked at DROdio and DROdio seemed very personal, very small.  And what really both liked was the fact that there were like blogs and web sites and he gave advice.  And you know, especially what I think I personally liked was the part about the low ball offers.  And you know, that really appealed to me, because Claire and I were both kind of interested of getting the best deal we could.  And it just seemed like the best deal for both of us.

DROdio:  So lots of information on the web site that you could read and kind of get comfortable with the process before you actually had to go through it,  I guess is what you’re saying.

David:  Yeah, absolutely.  And just feeling comfortable with Daniel.  We just felt like we knew him a little bit just from reading on the web site.  I think that helped a lot.

DROdio:  And you know, that’s part of what  this phone call is for as well is for you to be able to tell people who right now are in the shoes that you were in a couple of months where they’re just starting to look to really understand what the process is all about. So what was, you know, what was really, was it easier than you thought it would be?  What was harder than you expected? What kind of advice would you give people, things you wish you had known?

David:  Well I done a little real estate before and what I’ve known is, at least for me personally, is I wanted to know all the facts.  I wanted to look all the houses up myself.  I wanted to feel real comfortable that I was kind of driving the process and guiding it and that’s what I think…you have to know what kind of person you are.  If you’re someone that you need to be in the driver’s seat, you need to drive the process DROdio is great, because he really gives you all the tools you need.  I  mean between Birds Eye and you know, The Best Home Search Ever.  Like both those web sites really let you drive the process.  And for Claire and I, I think that was a huge fit, because we felt like every house that Daniel showed us, we knew what we were going to, we knew, you know, we knew it as best we could without visiting it and that’s what the technology brought to us.  And I think I’d say that to any first time homebuyer, any homebuyer would be either know what kind of homebuyer you are.  If you’re someone who just wants to be held by the hand, you know, you’ve got to look for that.  But if you’re somebody that really wants to drive the search yourself than DROdio is, in my opinion, the perfect fit.

Claire:  And also in terms of questions and things we didn’t understand before were, what meant to buy foreclosure or a short sale house.  So it was also really helpful to have Daniel with us to explain what it meant to buy a foreclosure, which, you know, really didn’t have any added hassles or anything like that.  It was incredibly useful and helpful in our process as well.

DROdio:  And I think the whole foreclosure purchasing process ended up going really, really smoothly for you guys.  You know, just in terms of nothing unexpected happening where it would have put a wrench into  things.  So hopefully you had a good experience with the whole buying foreclosure piece.

David:  Yeah, I completely agree.  I mean it was kind of scary going through, because you felt like you were dealing like with a cold individual, I mean just a bank that’s purely about money and there is no sort of like manipulating the process.  But you know, we ended up being we really didn’t need to, the house was in great shape, we had no complaints and we ended up getting something for a much better bargain then we probably would have otherwise.

DROdio:  I think that… No, please go ahead.

David:  Oh no, no that was it.

DROdio:  It seems like if I remember the property appraised for a fair bit more than you purchased which congratulations.  It seems like you kind of got into a good deal.

David:  Yeah, we were very pleased.  I think overall the value ended up being evaluated a $111,000 more than what we purchased at.  It’s nice to have a little bit of equity right off the bat.

DROdio:  Yeah, that’s a lot a bit of equity right there.

David:  Yes.  Yeah.

DROdio:  So a lot of, you know, email type contact, text messaging, you know, calls late at night 1:00 A.M., 2:00 A.M., those types of things.  If I remember correctly, you know, you guys were available late yourselves and we were as well.  It seemed like you appreciated that part.

David:  Yeah, no question. That was the other thing that Claire and I were both extremely worried about was neither of us had internet at work and you know, we kind of felt like we were 5:00 P.M. and after purchasers.  And you know with real estate moving as fast as it can, you know, DROdio and Daniel were always on top of it and they were really into email, which Claire and I both were.  You know, we don’t use the phones that much and email was great.  DROdio had an electronic signature, I don’t know if that’s the technical name for it, but we pretty much signed our name and it made it significantly, you know, easier for us not having to come in all the time and sign documents.  It was great.  We’d scan documents and send them into DROdio and all that worked out fantastic for us.  That’s exactly the word, very technical in nature.  So it helped a lot.

DROdio:  Describe how the whole electronic signature piece worked for you, because a lot of people have a hard time understanding exactly how it’s going to provide value to me, but at the end of the process everybody says, oh wow that’s phenomenal.  So what was so great about the electronic signature piece?

David:  Well I mean I have a hard time trying to do this properly I think without it.  In general, Daniel asked us to sign on a piece of paper and both of our signatures, you know, on a square, you know, conforming box and then he took it, he processed it and whenever Claire and I  had to put a signature on anything DROdio would always come out and ask us and says, okay we were going to put your signature on this, is this okay, please review it.  There was never our signature put on anything that we didn’t pre-approve of.  But what it did is having the signature just allowed us to move very quickly. Once we wrote back an email that said, hey that looks fantastic, our signature was there, we’re ready to go.  We didn’t have fax, because we just have mobile phones so we just had a scanner so this worked out perfectly for us.  I couldn’t imagine doing it otherwise.

DROdio:  Wow!  That’s really great to hear, because it’s something that we find that is super helpful, but it’s also something that clients really have a hard time understanding up front, but then they just love the ease and use of it.  So you know to me the important thing for everyone to know is that DROdio   never stamps any signatures on documents without the approval of you, the buyer.  So for example when we put the signatures on we send an email to the buyer and the buyer has to send us back in writing an email approving the documents.  So there’s a paper trail showing that it’s approved.  But you’re saying that made it super easy for you to do it, addendums quickly and move very fast.  And it’s amazing that you say that you can’t imagine doing the process without it, that’s really powerful.

David: Yeah and you’re absolutely correct what you said.  Everything, even the smallest detail is always pre-approved by us, pre-approved by us.  Nothing was assumed and it just worked out great.  I mean we saw the documents, said what do you think.  If we had changes, we made changes right there on the spot, then we gave the approval and then DROdio moved forward with us.  I mean I talk about Daniel a lot, but I know Sue and Nick were both extremely helpful.  You know, when Daniel was, you know, busy or anything they were great, they always stepped up.  The documents were always on time and you know, it just reminds me when we talk about the documents that they were always on time.  I was able to talk to Nick at any time and he was always helpful and Sue the same thing.  So I mean all of DROdio was extremely helpful.

DROdio:  Well that’s very great to hear that you had a good experience.  So last question, you know, I don’t know if you have tried telling your friends about your experience.  I’d love to know what’s the hardest thing to communicate if there’s one thing you could tell the world, because we’re going to put this on a pod cast and that sort of thing.  You know, what differentiates your experience with DROdio   what you perceive as like kind of a standard real estate experience?  Like what would you want to tell people?

David:  Well I mean I would reiterate that DROdio is extremely personal in nature.  Like real estate buyers including us, you know, we think we know what we want and then we go out and look and oh God, it’s really expensive, it’s not really what I want and DROdio definitely worked with us.  You know, they held our hand when we needed help and you know, it was extremely personal.  Like every house we visited it was, what do you think of this house.  Like I never felt lead by the hand.  I never felt like there was anything that Daniel was trying to push upon us.  Like he had any interest in getting these extra fees, like he was working with the seller.  I never felt like that.  It was always, Daniel was completely on my side.  He was working for us.  We were paying him and that was it.  Like there was nothing, an inch in my mind that he had any other interest.  And I’ve just read horror stories about people, you know, being dual agents for the buyer, seller or you know, even if they’re a single, they’re only complacent to the buyer, they’re still interested in, you know, selling to a certain company. So I never felt like that.  I felt like it was extremely personal.  I felt like everything I said Daniel took as my word and worked with me the best that he could.

DROdio:  That’s very telling, because the model, the business model of DROdio Real Estate is very different from the standard realtor.  You know the standard realtor might have two or three clients at any one time, but then they have to get one of those clients to buy, or else they can’t put food on the table that month.  You know, but with DROdio every agent has fifty to a hundred and fifty clients that they’re just talking to by email and so on and answering questions and maybe the clients use the web sites, you know, at their own pace and then naturally they kind of percolate down and get serious and so you know DROdio doesn’t ever have to be pushy to try to push them into a certain property.  So it’s just great to know that you felt the difference.  So thank you.

David:  Oh no question.  Yeah, I mean and the last thing I say is, you know, I’ve already recommended DROdio to all of my friends who are in the real estate process.  And you know, worse comes to worse you go out, you have some coffee and it doesn’t fit, you know DROdio, but I can’t imagine it wouldn’t, but you know, everybody’s opinion to themselves.  But I think, you know, Daniel and DROdio are great and to me, you know, you go out grab some coffee, see if you’re looking for the same thing.  See if you guys fit and work from there.  That would be, you know, the last thing I’d have to say about it.  But I only have good things to say about DROdio and I think Claire would agree with that.

DROdio:  Well thank you.  And I think, Claire, that I’ve been speaking right after David so I probably haven’t given you a chance to say anything.  I don’t know if I’ve been cutting you off.  I really apologize.  I don’t know if you have any comments or feedback that I have been letting you say.

Claire:  No, I totally agree.  At least coming from my prospective I wasn’t as well educated on the whole real estate process.  So it was incredibly helpful for a relative novice, you know, someone like Daniel and the whole DROdio team behind both of us to answer a lot of my relatively basic questions.  So find the process very educational, extremely helpful.  So I have nothing but full recommendation to anybody who asks.

DROdio:  Well thanks both of you for spending the time to give your feedback. I hope it’s helpful to anybody who’s thinking about going through the process.  And for both of you, you know, we’re here to answer any questions you might have after the sale.  So just because you’ve already purchased a home doesn’t mean we can’t help you afterwards.  So if anything comes up or you need anything, you know, please let us know.

Claire:  Thanks.

DROdio:  Thanks guys.  Alright.  Take care.  Have a great weekend.

David:  Thank you very much.  You too Daniel.

DROdio:  Bye, bye.
David:  Bye, bye.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 19th, 2008 at 11:12 pm and was filed under Client Testimonials. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.