Nenah Sylver

Whenever I see dozens of across-the-board five star ratings on the Internet, I get suspicious–after all, who’s that good? And if someone consistently earns five stars, are real people giving the reviews, or are they plants? When I was looking for a realtor, I found reviews for Michelle Spalding on a website (I forget which one). People raved about her: how thorough and knowledgeable and dedicated she is, how hard she works, and how much she cares about her clients. A uniform five star rating from every single person who leaves a review made me wonder if this woman was too good to be true. But, based on those ratings (thank you, everyone, who left a review!) I had to check her out for myself. Three minutes into our phone call, I knew I had found my realtor. EVERYTHING GOOD SAID ABOUT MICHELLE IS TRUE. It’s rare indeed to find someone who’s smart, knowledgeable, helpful, and ethical. Moreover, being a carpenter’s daughter, Michelle knows construction and floor plans like nobody’s business. So if you need advice concerning knocking out walls, what construction materials to use, or what’s a good layout for your needs, she’s the person to ask. Michelle also has great sense. On our last day of house hunting, we were shown a house outside the geographical parameters that we’d given her. Michelle had used her intuition and decided to show it to us anyway. And it turned out that this was the house we ended up buying–and loving! In case you’re like me, with a naturally skeptical side, and you’re wondering if there are any down sides to this apparent paragon, I will say that sometimes, Michelle offered more details than we wanted. House hunting can be exhausting, and my brain was on overload. But you can always tell her “Too much information!” or “Let’s save this for later.” Her passion for what she does is evident. Michelle was born to do this, it’s clear. My family had only two dealings with Chris, during the times that Michelle wasn’t able to show us the houses. (It helps to be married to a fellow realtor.) On both occasions, we found Chris delightful, with his British sense of humor. I also appreciated hearing Chris’s opinion of the house we almost bought (he didn’t feel good about it, rightly so) and the house we eventually did buy (he felt good about this house, and it turned out he was right). He never forced his opinion on us, but he gave it because we asked him point blank. In summary, if you want someone who’s thoroughly committed to doing her job–which means working for YOU–then I suggest Michelle Spalding. I can’t recommend her highly enough.