Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage

We are first time home buyers. I sent Lisa Brende a list of our desires in a house and our price range. She read it, had me come in to see her and her partner about it and we spoke for an hour: they were completely confident they knew the areas I was looking at (Atwater, Glassell Park, Pasadena, a few others) street by street, that they had homes to show me and that with the pre-​approval I had that I could be in a new house very soon. She then emailed me a list of 35 homes to look through. I was a bit worried because her picking out the right properties so that I didn’t have to see a million homes to find the right one was, well, one of the reasons I chose her. She came off as warm, down to earth, and totally on my side. So I spent several hours looking through the 35 houses and chose some to see. After spending all this time, she sent me a curt email saying that based on our desires and their caseload they did not want us as clients. I’m guessing a few clients looking for things in the 2 million range came in and they decided I was small potatoes, though days before I was a treasured client. I guess I got lucky in the sense that I only wasted about 10 hours total on her, but those 10 hours could have been better spent finding a house! I don’t review often, but it’s so hard to choose a realtor given the range of personalities and so I don’t want others to waste their hard earned time with Lisa Brende. I hope I find someone truthful soon!

Words can not express what a nightmare it was to have Yolanda as our buying agent (of Los Feliz Coldwell).The property I purchased was in Los Angeles County and we were first time home buyers. As far as finding the home, she conducted herself professionally and promised to «hold my hand» during the entire process. It was easy until we actually found our home, and started escrow. Emotions aside let me state why I would never recommend her as a buying agent:
Poorly drafted contracts; Our loan was delayed because the addendum she drafted had $ 1,000 missing from the agreement.
We bid over the asking price of a property; despite no competitors we were encouraged instead of advised otherwise.
Represented the OTHER party; without my consent requested changes to escrow to MY lender on behalf of sellers requests.
No negotiation skills; refused to negotiate with seller to fix 20+ yr old roof on the property we were purchasing after poor inspection report. It was like pulling teeth getting her to even draft a request to the seller.
Late/​No show; went to the property a total of 3 times, was conveniently ‘unavailable’ despite previously scheduled events:
When we finally got a contractor to look at the roof it was just me and the seller at the property (and the seller would not let us in! no agents to be found)
30 min late for final walk through; waiting in the car during the summertime in LA– no bueno.
And here’s the topper, before we funded, recorded and received the key she planned a vacation and didn’t let us know until 2 days prior. As a result the seller refused to leave and remained in the property 3 additional days after recording because no addendum was drafted for retro pay on the property, and we were left with no representation. The evening she was suppose to arrive from vacation and we were suppose to receive the key we did not! She told me to pick it up under the mat of the house because she was extending her vacation for another 24 hours and could not hand it to us, or find someone who would.
Words cannot express how much time, sleep and wages I lost over how poorly this purchase was handled. Her ’25+ years experience’ resulted in apathy and arrogance. Escrow is difficult enough, PLEASE heed this warning and choose otherwise.

If you’re looking for a real estate agent who is patient, knowledgable, and has won awards for design (search «Mike Chapman» in Curbed LA for more info), then Mike is your guy! I first met Mike Chapman while he was conducting an open-​house, he listened to my wish-​list and tailored listings that were exactly on point. Mike was not pushy, honest to a fault, and gave me advice that was helpful to me but in some cases counter to his own interests. If you’re looking for a condo or house in LA Mike has years of experience and wisdom to share, I cannot recommend him enough!

My experience with this real estate agent is limited. We met Rose Marin during one of her open houses in Los Angeles. Again, we hadn’t found a real estate agent that we were comfortable with. We allowed Rose to show us a few houses. She was timely and sent us many listings and willing to show us around. We didn’t continue to use her services because we weren’t finding any houses we loved and we wanted to wait to buy.