Richard and I go back many years. I had the benefit of working with Richard, as an engineer. So I trusted your judgment and had faith in your integrity before real estate became your profession. Fortunately, the politics of real estate has not tainted your values, and I have even more faith in your capabilities, since we've had several real estate transactions together. You helped me through the difficult purchase of my first place after my divorce, and offered advice based on your analysis of the market status at that time, that I believe got me that condo, that I've now had over 10 years! That was when the bidding wars were on hot and heavy.

Then when John and I got together, you helped him sell Kentworth, which had its own idiosyncrasies, where your confidence and understanding of other agents, kept John out of a big potential legal mess, and got him the best price for his townhouse.

Then we began the year and a half quest for the 'perfect' house. You stuck with us, installed a fax machine to facilitate our sorting through the potentials, and never ever lost your patience with us. In fact, we put an offer on a house, then decided it wasn't the right one and asked you to get us out of it. Never blinking an eye, you went directly to the other agent and got us out of the deal with our initial check in tact. You, however, got a bit of a tongue lashing from the other agent, but just laughed it off, as is your nature. We did find the 'right' house and lived there for six years.

When John and I were ready to sell our house in Sunnyvale a year ago (yes, the market was just starting to fall apart), you came to us with charts and plots of historical and recent data to help us with our timing and pricing strategy. Before, the belief was in your head, but this time you had it on paper, and it was very compelling. There is a lot of information and the future, or timing of future events is certainly not exact, but I felt like I was making an informed decision about when to market our house and how aggressively, which is just as important.

The question should be, "How can Richard improve?" Wow, he always amazes me with the information and knowledge he has about the markets. He's also just as quick to tell you if there's something he doesn't know - but watch out, 'cause next time he will know! If anything I have a hard time toning down my praise for you, so it doesn't scare people off, because "no one can be that good."

Yes, of course you can use me as a reference.

You deserve the best,

Cathy Pochel