To: bovik@K.GP.CS.CMU.EDU
cc: dayne@cs.cmu.edu
Subject: Buying a house:  real estate agent recommendation
Date: Tue, 10 Aug 93 10:24:07 -0400
Message-ID: <8341.744992647@GS120.SP.CS.CMU.EDU>
From: Dayne_Freitag@GS120.SP.CS.CMU.EDU


Harry,

I want to recommend Ellen Connelly with Howard Hanna to anyone
considering buying a house near CMU.  Not only does she know the
Squirrel Hill/Point Breeze/Shadyside/Regent Square area like the back
of her hand and have loads of connections, but we found she took pains
to understand our needs and desires for a home, and to show us houses
she thought matched them.  She succeeded, too.

Because our landlord decided to sell the places we were renting, and
because we didn't want to face a rent increase or a move to another
rental property, we made the decision to buy a house a year before we
had otherwise planned.  We were under some time pressure, because we
received notification of our landlord's intention to sell about 3
months before our lease was to expire--a pretty tight window for
selecting and closing on a house.

We saw Ellie's name on lots of signs in front of houses around the
area, so we gave her a call.  She agreed to meet with us, even though
most of her business came from representing sellers.  At our first
meeting, she advised us to remember that, by law, she represented the
seller, so we shouldn't hold her in too close confidence about any
house we might be interested in.  We found we came to trust her
anyway.  Viewing houses with her was a real education, as she pointed
out advantages and potential problems at each one.  In spite of her
initial admonition, she was almost partisan in our favor.

In part because of her expert handling, our house-buying experience
was much less of a pain than others had led us to believe.  After
viewing about 5 houses, we found one at a good price in a quiet
neighborhood in Swissvale that fit our needs perfectly.  We closed 10
days before our lease expired.

Ellie's office is in the Howard Hanna branch in Shadyside at 5501 Baum
Boulevard.  Her phone number there is 361-4000.  Her home number is
421-6708.

Dayne