Mary Lee and Jeff Shaffer
Mary Lee and Jeff Shaffer
Your Somerset Team & Neighbors! (425) 941-4229
1200 112th Ave. NE, Suite B100 Bellevue, WA 98004  |  Direct: 425-941-4229   |  Office: 425-462-8000  |  Email: marylee@windermere.com
Here Is What Your Somerset Neighbors
Are Saying About Mary & Jeff...

 

 

 

To Prospective Clients of Mary Lee & Jeff Shaffer,

 

We had the privilege of working with Mary and Jeff this past summer.  We could not be more pleased at the service we received, and the results they obtained for us. 
 
The current real estate market presents incredible challenges, for those buying as well as selling.  In our case, we found a specific home that we loved, and with Mary and Jeff's help, we were able to get our offer accepted despite adverse circumstances.  We then turned around, and in a very compressed period of time, put our existing Somerset home on the market.        
 
With their expert guidance and sheer hustle, our home was beautifully staged and priced in a period of a week.  Over the next two weeks, the home was marketed, drawing some 50 families to view the home.  Several offers were tendered, one of which met our criteria. We were of course thrilled, but the process was not over yet! 
 
As we moved towards closing on both properties, Mary and Jeff stepped in and overcame some big obstacles, smoothed over communications between all parties, offered wise strategies, and provided moral support amid the pressure.  They gave up nights and weekends, even spending both of their birthday evenings with us, to make sure every detail was covered and we had the most up-to-date communication.  The icing on the cake was that Jeff was a perfectionist at getting photos of the house, and Mary even came over one night to help us clean when she heard we were behind schedule on getting moved out.  Service like this is extraordinarily rare, but it serves to show how deeply Mary and Jeff care about what they do!       

In the end, we moved into a new home that we love, in the time frame we were hoping for, while meeting our financial goals for the transaction.  When asked why things worked out so well for us, when there are so many stories about homes that won't sell or deals that fall apart, we respond with two answers: faith ... and the best realtors in Bellevue!    
 

We strongly endorse the work of Mary Lee and Jeff Shaffer.  They combine their expert salesmanship and very intelligent business skills with experience, dedication, and integrity.  They exhibit grace under pressure, are relentlessly positive, and get results!  We hope that you choose to work with them, and are absolutely confident you will have the same professional, high-quality experience that we did. 

 
With Sincere Appreciation,
 
John & Sandi Adami                                                            
   
 
We are writing to thank you both again for the outstanding job you did in the sale of our home.  We chose the two of you to list our home because of your professionalism, your knowledge of the Somerset market and, most importantly, we felt in very capable hands.  Needless to say, you exceeded our expectations.
 
As everyone knows, selling a home can be a very stressful time.  It was very reassuring to know you had a "team" working for you.  Our questions were always answered and we never felt alone in working to sell our home; we even had a few laughs along the way.
 
Mary and Jeff, I hope your future clients listen closely when you tell them your best exposure is when you first list your house and that they follow your suggestions to make their home ready for the market; after all, isn't that why we turn to the professionals!
 
Again, thank you.  We would recommend you both over and over again.
 
Best regards,
 
Robert and Glenn Carlson

 
You are amazing real estate professionals!  We want to thank you for your hard work and superior dedication to selling our home.  Your expertise in today's market, your superb analysis of our property, and your willingness to listen to our concerns made us feel very comfortable in listing our home with you.  You also developed colorful, well-prepared flyers, held timely open houses and kept us well-informed throughout the whole process.
 
Thank you so much for your hard work!
 
Sincerely,
 
Gil and Ann Graham
 
 
We are writing to let you know that we strongly believe that the way in which you and Jeff approached the process resulted in a speedy and trouble-free sale of the property at the asking price.  Firstly, your combined knowledge of the Somerset area over a number of years was very useful in setting the correct asking price and sale strategy.  Your business model of removing the contingencies and having a pre-inspection worked extremely well and certainly reduced the changes of anything going wrong during the process.
 
In addition, your attention to detail with the staging assistance and brochures all added to the end result.  To add to our complication, we were out of town at the time of the sale and despite most of the transaction being completed via telephone and e-mail, there were no setbacks and we believe both ourselves and the buyers were very happy with the outcome.
 
Having now settled into our new home we would like to thank you both again for the whole expereince you provided us with.
 
With kind regards and best wishes for the future,
 
Paul and Monika March
 
Thanks so much for everything you did to quickly sell our house and obtain our asking price.  We were very pleased and impressed with everything you did to find qualified buyers and close the deal quickly.  It was the "icing on the cake" that you were able to arrange to close our sale before we closed on our purchase so that we avoided the expense of a bridge loan.
 
We'll definitely recommend your services to others and would be happy to serve as references for prospective clients.
 
Sincerely,
 
Glenn and Laurie Griffin
 
Mary Lee and Jeff Shaffer did a great job of selling our home very quickly in a challenging market.  From the open house on the initial weekend to the colorful and detailed flyers, and postings on numerous web sites, they provided heavy exposure of the home from the start.  They consistently kept us abreast of all activity during the showing of the home and throughout the transaction process after we accepted an offer.  We really appreciated their constant communication while our home was on the market all the way through closing.
 
One of their unique strategies was the home inspection contingency where the seller gets an inspection before putting the home on the market so that they know early on what deficiencies are uncovered.  That gives the seller time to choose and fix the problems they want on their own schedule rather than be caught off guard by a buyer's inspection much later in the process, which can derail a deal.  Also, this gives the seller the option to have the buyer waive the home inspection contingency in a much shorter time period while keeping the home on the market until the contingency is met.  In a market where buyers can be more selective because there is a large volume of inventory, in our case this strategy was a major factor in the transaction closing successfully and as soon as it did.
 
Danny Lau
 
We sincerely appreciate all of your professional advice and service through both our recent home sale and purchase.  You make a wonderful team and are definitely the best in the business!  Your guidance and execution of all aspects of our transactions was truly outstanding.  From buying negotiating tactics, to selling marketing strategies, to all of the detailed contractual requirements everything was perfect.  You were completely supportive, responsive, and professional throughout the entire process. 

We also appreciate all the times you went above and beyond to work issues, facilitate solutions, and help make our experience the best it could be. 

Thank you for everything!

Alan & Kelly Wittman
 
I first met Jeff and Mary when I bought my home 6 years ago as the selling agents.  I was so impressed with their knowledge of the area and professionalism, I asked them to represent me when I was ready to sell and buy a new home.
 
With constant communication and diligence through some potentially disastrous complications, they sold my home quickly and for top dollar and made my new home purchase a breeze.
 
If the time were to ever come again to sell or buy another home, Jeff and Mary are my choice of agents.  I would recommend them to my friends and family members first and foremost.
 
Sincerely,
 
Dave Crosier
 
Please accept our sincerest gratitude for taking care of the sale of our home in the Forest Hill neighborhood.

Frankly, we were initially stressed out with how the cooling down of the housing market as result of the subprime mortgage melt-down would affect the sale of our home. As you knew, we had already committed to buying a new home and we would be paying two mortgages as long as our old home remained on the market.

During our first meeting, we were already comforted by a presentation of a very well-thought out strategy. We were more impressed as we witnessed you put your plan into action. The net result is that even under much dampened market conditions, we got a few offers after its only been on the market for a few days.

With your negotiation skills, we were able to get a final offer which is the highest bid from a buyer with the best financial background to close on the transaction. The latter turns out to be a crucial factor as it has become much more difficult for buyers to get loans as the mortgage market tightened recently. 

It is not too much of an exaggeration to say that the two of you have worked magic for us.

Thanks again!

Joana & Alvin Lo
 
When we chose to sell our home in Somerset there was no other choice but to list with you and we were so right to go with our gut instinct!  Your expertise and attention to detail was amazing, and produced the results we hoped forwe were so pleased!  Our home sold in just a few days, and without a hitch...it was such a smooth transition!

One day, when we find ourselves ready to move on you will be our first call.  Until then we are happy to    recommend your services to anyone looking to buy or sell a home - just give them our number!

Thanks again - we appreciate everything you've done for us!!

Best Regards,

Steven & Kyleen Carlson

Thanks for the great job selling our Somerset home.  All our friends are stunned when we put the house on the market late on Friday, February 2nd, and had the final-closing check in hand on February 29th.  Jeff and you deserve a lot of credit for making our sale happen so smoothly, professionally, and rapidly.  We really appreciate your organized, business-like approach.  No doubt sellers don't usually approach long before intent to sell, the way we did, with the sale date dependent on our new house construction and its indeterminate permitting delays.

You did a great job of explaining your approach and the Somerset market / seasonality, and then keeping us apprised during the process.  Your handyman referrals for small repairs and painting were timely and cost-effective, as was Jeffs personal help in miscellaneous tasks.  Your pricing was spot-on.

Sincerely,

Robert Porter & Charlotte Lin


I wanted to let you know how much my husband and I appreciate your professionalism and positive attitude in the marketing presentation, preparation to sell, and actual sale of our house.  We interviewed several real estate professionals, and found your proposed strategies for selling Somerset houses to be the most comprehensive and well thought out.

In May, we bought a house with a non-contingent offer and had less than 45 days to sell our house.  We called you back to update the comparable houses and assist us with pricing.  You arrived at our house with updated comparables and a price range for listing our house.  We were doubly impressed with your track record of properly pricing houses to get multiple offers, having buyers waive contingencies and selling your listed properties at asking price or above.  We  only hoped that this would happen with our sale and you assured us that it was certainly possible, considering the market for homes in Somerset in our price range.

Your good natured willingness to get the job done on such short notice was nothing short of fantastic!  In the week prior to the actual listing, the house was staged by a professional stager and extensive marketing materials were prepared.  We left for our son's college graduation on a Friday, one day after officially listing the house, and when we returned on the following Tuesday, five days later, you presented us with two offers which were very good.  We accepted the offer that had no inspection or financing contingencies, and was also substantially more than the asking price.

We would highly recommend your services to other Somerset homeowners who would like to sell their house with the support of a professional team that really knows what they are doingYou exceeded our expectations!

Isaac & Kathy Seliger

Deciding to sell our house in Somerset after 25 years was a huge decision for us.  We were so relieved to have you walk in our door and calm all our worries.  You are absolutely the best!

We can't thank you enough for your professionalism, your ethics, your knowledge of the market, your wonderful marketing, your staff, and patience in answering all our questions.  It is always a pleasure to work with someone who knows every aspect of the process - buying, selling, marketing and legal.

We were so pleased when our home sold in 3 days for more than the listing price and it really was painless!  We would be pleased to have you use us as a reference and highly recommend you for anyone buying or selling a home.

Pam and Joe Wilton

Within a span of 13 months, we sold two homes and purchased one with Mary Lee & Jeff Shaffer as our real estate agents.  Prior to this we had been in our Somerset home for 18 years, so we were unaccustomed to the complexitites of selling a home in this new century.

Mary and Jeff are the epitome of the word "professional".  They truly uphold their commitment to work 100% in your interest.  Proof positive is that both homes we owned were sold for over the asking price.

Having Mary and Jeff as your agents does make financial sense, but just as importantly, they are a pleasure to do business with.

We heartily recommend the professional services of Mary and Jeff without a single reservation.  Our only disappointment is that they don't have a branch office in Southern California so we can call upon them again in the future.

Meredith and Ron Summers

We tried to be reasonably thorough in our search for an agent to sell our house, and interviewed four separate teams, including Mary and Jeff.  In fact, it was only a few months ago that we were sitting and reading these very same recommendations, looking for some sort of 'sign', any sign.  Well, look no further...you've found it! We think Mary and Jeff really are the best.  They take their work very seriously and are very, very good at what they do.

Some of the specific items which particularly impressed us included (1) they did a lot of 'homework' (i.e. researching comparable sales) in developing the right sales price for our house, (2) their staging contractors did an excellent job (and were physically helpful) in helping us prepare our house for sale, (3) we particularly liked the revolving room-by-room presentation of our house on their web site, and (4) their knowledge of Somerset and surrounding areas is probably unsurpassed.  Perhaps most importantly of all, savvy negotiating skills were very much required for our sale, and Mary did a fabulous job with this.  At a minimum, you want them on your side - you don't want them on the other side.

In the end, we received several over-bids in the first week of being on the market!  We are completely satisfied with their handling of our house sale, and recommend them without qualification to represent you.

Randy Siegel & Andrea Steinbach

1200 112th Ave. NE, Suite B100 Bellevue, WA 98004 | Direct: 425-941-4229 | Office: 425-462-8000 | Email: marylee@windermere.com