This Month's Award Winning Real Estate Agents Are Sascha Gummersbach and Leigh Ann Birkinshaw

Change is Good: Chet & Barbara’s Story

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Updated on October 5th, 2020

Redfin publishes all reviews of our real estate agents online, and each month we select one that stands out from the rest. The agent who served that client receives the Red Pants Award for excellent customer service. Here’s the story behind this month’s award.

Chet and Barbara Meyerson were ready for a change. They had been trying to sell their home in Atlanta for months, with real estate agents from several different brokerages, without success. “We had listed this house four times, and everyone came up with the same nonsense,” said Chet. “One guy wanted to gut the house and redo everything. I told him you can sell the house when I list it with someone else.”

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Redfin clients Chet and Barbara Meyerson

That’s when they called Redfin agent Sascha Gummersbach. “The only thing I said to Sascha when I met him, beyond the obvious details, was to do one thing: ‘if I write you or call you, it’s not because I want to chat and ask you what the weather’s like, I need an answer and I need it now,’” said Chet. “I said ‘would you please commit to me that you will do that.’ And without fail, through entire process, from listing to closing, it was exactly that way. Every time you called, you got an answer. You called again, you got an answer. You wrote an email, you got an answer.”

After the initial listing consultation, Chet and Barbara decided to sell their home with Redfin, and began the process right away. They were anxious to move to Florida, where they had planned to retire. The only problem was that it was mid-December, just a few weeks before the holidays, which is typically a very slow time for real estate sales.

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Chet and Barbara with their Redfin real estate agent, Sascha Gummersbach

Sascha knew that in order to sell the home during this slow period, the price had to be just right. He ran a comparative market analysis and set a price based on the data. Fortunately, the home was in good condition, in an area with highly-rated schools and a short commute to downtown. However, it didn’t have a backyard or basement, and was the first house in the entrance to the community, which would reduce interest from some buyers.

The home hit the market in the third week of December, and five people toured it in the first weekend, resulting in an offer on the home. It was only on the market for six days. Since Redfin charges a listing fee of 1.5%, not the typical 3%, the Meyersons saved $5,445 in commission.

“The service was over-the-top,” said Chet. “Actually, the service was so much better, with Leigh Ann and all the people in the backend that support Sascha to make your house work. Everything ran like clockwork, it wasn’t hit and miss.”

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After the home sold, Chet gave Sascha a five-out-of-five star rating, and posted the following review, which you can also read on Redfin.com:

“The Short Version:

Sascha is a consummate professional and an agent, backed by an outstanding organization, that you are not likely to find anywhere in the real estate business. Sascha genuinely cares about the sale of your home, does whatever it takes to insure you will get receive the highest value possible and to make the complicated process of selling your home as painless as possible. What other agents promise and never deliver, Sacha and Redfin will not only deliver but will exceed your expectations.

The Long Version:

Selling your home is a stressful experience at best. Marketing your home to get the best possible price and in the shortest time frame is very often promised by many real estate agents but in the end they never deliver.

Why?

Because it’s just another listing after they sign you up! Because it involves far more that just signing a listing, throwing it up on the MLS with some crappy photos and sticking a sign in your yard. It requires a team of professionals and an agent that can make it all happen.Sascha is just that agent! And Redfin is just that team.

I’ve listed my home with the big names, and experienced the empty promises. But when I listed with Sascha and Redfin, I was so pleasantly surprised at the level and quality of service I received. And I was even more surprised when my home went under contract in 4 days

Will you have the same experience? Yes, you will. Will you go under contract in 4 days? Maybe. But Sascha will do everything to make that happen.

Sascha will treat your sale as though it was his own. You will never call, text, or email him and not get a prompt reply. You will never not get an answer you need. Shortly (very shortly) after Sascha takes your listing, here what’s going to happen.

You will be contacted by his office (Leigh Ann is wonderful) and your professional photography will be scheduled. Your 3D walk through imaging will be scheduled, your flyers will be printed and FedEx’s to you and your sign will go up.

But what really counts is when your listing goes on the MLS, it goes on the Redfin site and that is the most viewed real estate site for buyers in the US. You will get exposure for your home un-matched by any real estate site today! Your home will look wonderful and a prospective purchaser 1000 miles away can literally walk through your house and see it as though they were there in person. It doesn’t get any better than that!

Of course the sale does not end when an offer is accepted. Sascha will insure that all the steps necessary to get to closing are accomplished professionally, all details taken care of and when your closing day arrives and he will be there to insure everyone leaves happy. I can say we did. It was the best real estate experience in my 40 years of buying and selling my personal residences.

So, Sascha and Redfin will give your more than a full service experience, they will give you an outstanding experience and the Redfin commission structure is a huge bonus to top it all off.

I wish you the best on the sale of your home.”

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As a result of their excellent customer service, Sascha and Leigh Ann were the Redfin Red Pants Award winners this month, which means they received a pair of red pants with parts of the review embroidered on the leg.

If you’re thinking about buying or selling a home and would like to work with Sascha or any other Redfin real estate agent, please get in touch today.

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Lorraine Woellert

Lorraine is enjoying her first real job after a career in journalism. She’s based in Washington, D.C., where she writes about housing and the economy. Before joining Redfin, Lorraine was at Bloomberg News reporting on politics, financial mayhem, housing and the economy. Her dream home is a top-floor loft with a pool, friendly neighbors and a terrace for throwing parties. Everyone's invited. Redfin is a full-service real estate brokerage that uses modern technology to make clients smarter and faster. For more information about working with a Redfin real estate agent to buy or sell a home, visit our "Why Redfin?," page.

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Makayla Zurn

Makayla oversees broadcast media relations at Redfin. She also has a knack for video and produces content for the Redfin blog and YouTube channel. Before working at Redfin she was a morning TV news anchor and reporter. Makayla loves living in Seattle, where she grew up, but her dream “second home” would be somewhere along the sunny SoCal coast.

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Luis Mojica

Lusic was a Redfin intern on the Test Platforms Team in San Francisco.

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