"I wholeheartedly recommend hiring Steve French with Foothill Real Estate as an excellent realtor for any purpose. I hired Steve to sell my house in July 2019. From the very first meeting with Steve, he impressed me with his calm, professional demeanor. Steve is an excellent listener and took time to carefully listen to my concerns and preferences. Steve was very respectful and careful to ensure that he identified all of my requirements and expectations before actively beginning the sale process. Steve was very flexible with his fees and tried to help me in any way he could to help me realize the maximum profit from my home.
The first step that Steve took was to hire a professional photographer to take excellent photos of the interior and exterior of my home. The photos were beautiful and some of them even included a photo of a 1940 Ford fuel truck that I was trying to sell separately and was having a very difficult time selling. When I saw the photos of the house, I told Steve that we should delete the photo of the fuel truck because it was an eyesore, in my opinion. Steve said that I was the boss, but he had received a lot of positive comments about the truck and recommended leaving the truck photo in with the others. I trusted Steve’s opinion and agreed.
Steve did a few walk throughs of the house as we were completing improvements and repairs. Steve recommended painting some dark beams in the living room white to brighten the room. I followed his advice and painted the beams. They looked beautiful and completely changed the room.
Steve put up a “For Sale” sign and began marketing the house on MLS and Zillow. He received calls almost immediately. Steve showed the house informally to one of our neighbors, and they made an offer immediately, but the offer was too law and contained unacceptable contingencies. The first day that Steve showed the house to prospective buyers with realtors, he showed it to two prospective buyers. The first buyer said that he was interested and made a full-price offer the same day. Incredibly, the buyer also offered to buy the fuel truck!! The buyer later told me that when he saw the photo of the truck along the photos of the house, it really caught his eye. I accepted the offer.
Following further inspections, the buyer asked me to lower the price in order to allow for some additional repairs and I agreed. Steve was helpful with explaining the sale process, the buyer’s expectations and that this was a normal part of the process at times. There were unexpected delays by the buyer, which were stressful. Additionally, during this time, PG&E was turning the power in Auburn and parts of Northern California, off for several days at a time to avert wild fires. My house had an electric water pump so, in addition to trying to pack without lights or air conditioning, I did not have water. Needless to say, I found these circumstances to be frustrating and ridiculous. Steve was a calming influence during this stressful time and reassured me that the process would end soon and that everything would go according to my expectations. He was right. The sale concluded, and I vacated the house within thirty days of accepting the buyer’s first offer.
Signing the final sale documents was seamless and fast. Steve had a long-term, well-established relationship with the title company that we used and everyone there obviously liked and respected him. Steve was there the entire time to answer any questions that I had. The sale was finalized, and I could not have been happier with the results.
I would give Steve French five + stars out of five stars as a realtor. He is professional, has over thirty years’ experience with real estate in the Auburn area. His tips and insights were spot-on and ultimately helped the sales process in ways that I could not have imagined. I would gladly recommend using Steve French as a realtor to my closest friends and family."
- Jimmy & Mary