At Home with Mark Gibson

Unilocal often makes me hangry (e.g. hungry + angry). Cuz people Unilocal to brag about good eats, or to vent anger at someone in the service sector. To write a positive review about something not involving food, the service has to be earth-​shatteringly good… and that’s how the missus and I feel about the team that helped us land our new home, headlined by Mark Gibson.
A good realtor is part couples counselor (getting us on the same page); part therapist (helping you through Kubler-​Ross grief stages after getting outbid, e.g. Hanger – I’m so irrationally angry at the competing all-​cash offer that I’mma eat something – or Depression – let’s move to a less competitive real-​estate market like say Cleveland!– etc); part style connoisseur; part expert on houses and neighborhoods and markets and finances; part tough-​as-​nails negotiator; part savvy yet cool friend; and good at parallel parking (I could never be a realtor). Mark is all these things, and more.
I’ll try to be professional, because Mark truly is. We explained our tastes, budget, and what we were looking for in a home, and Mark nailed it, showing us that we’d be able to find something we love. He’s a great educator, and armed us with knowledge about the market, how to assess a house and a property, and connected us with an outstanding loan officer; Mark really taught us how to craft a smart yet strong offer in this highly competitive seller’s market. He was patient and accessible, giving us wisdom and insider information immediately on any listing our interest would stumble upon. Unexpectedly, stuff got real in our house hunt when Mark was out of town – but he had already plugged us in to one of his partners (Karen Freeman, also a real estate rockstar) – and he’s so committed that he still kept in touch with us from vacation through every step. Though we got outbid by cash on our first offer, we learned how to compete well, and very much appreciated the guidance of our agents which prevented us from over-​reaching. We then found a house we loved even more… the day before the sellers were taking offers. Mark (and Karen) really made it happen for us, getting us a pre-​inspection on extremely short notice and working with us to write a unique and solid offer… and negotiating until we wound up beating out another cash offer. Even after the close, Mark was working on our behalf, asking the sellers for some reasonable repairs. And though he can be firm when needed, he does everything with such graciousness, wisdom, kindness, and a sense of humor, that you can’t help but feel good about having Mark advocate on your behalf. (I wish Mark could negotiate everything in our lives… not just real estate!)
In the internet era of apps like Redfin, anyone with an iPhone thinks they can play realtor. As first-​time buyers, Mark Gibson showed us how much of a difference an excellent real estate agent can make in navigating the process. Seriously, if we had more money, we’d buy more homes just to work with Mark again.