Craig Avis

It’s no surprise to me that I’m not the first to rate Craig with 5 stars. He was great from our first conversation when I was only considering agents until even after closing on my home. I relocated to the area and wanted to buy but also had some issues with a short sale in my past when the market crash. In the end, I was going to have only a few weeks to find and buy a house and I never thought it would happen. But thanks to Craig having worked with me for months before I was even eligible, I knew the market, knew the area I wanted to look and it happened.
I’ve met agents that are super pushy and obviously only in it to get you to a place where they’ll profit more or rush you into something. Craig is the opposite and a good guy. He was willing to work with me, went above and beyond in negotiations and was always responsive. I honestly believe I got the house I wanted (yes, the first one I made an offer on and LOVED) because I was working with Craig.

Been meaning to write a Unilocal review for Craig for a while now, finally getting around to it. Long story short, Craig is one of those Real Estate agents who you feel great about working with. In my case, I’ve been trying to move neighborhoods for about four years now. For a variety of reasons, the first few times we went out (for months at at time), nothing came of the search. But Craig remained available and willing to help. Am now working with him on my third time out, and he has gone above and beyond in helping on my search — including physically mailing over 150 homes I identified as being of interest. Twice.
Most recently we went to make an offer on an way over-​priced house that was for sale by owner. The comps he put together were astoundingly detailed, and basically made it crystal clear to the seller that they weren’t in the right place. We’re still negotiating, but I am incredibly happy to have him drive that discussion.
Long story short, highly recommended. I’m also happy to give more details/​feedback in person if anyone wishes to reach out.

My wife and I used Craig to buy a house in NE Seattle. A friend/​coworker recommended Craig and said she’d had a fantastic experience. After meeting him we felt good about having him as our agent.
We had a fairly specific type of home we were looking for and Craig dutifully showed us dozens of homes and helped us put in several offers before we were successful. We never once got the sense that he wanted to hurry us through the process to make a sale. In fact he cautioned us against several homes and encouraged us to wait for the right one to come along, knowing that this would consume more of his time without any additional financial gain. He genuinely wants you to find the best home you can.
He’s technically minded and knows a lot of construction and renovation which was very useful. His insight and advice was invaluable during the process. This is especially useful if you’re in the market for an older home or a «fixer-​upper».
During the inspection period we hit some snags with the house itself and an emotional seller. Craig came to the rescue and went above and beyond anything I expected to help the process along and avoid a delayed closing date.
On top of being a competent and capable guy, he’s also just really nice and easy to get along with. That just makes the emotionally draining process of finding and buying a house a little easier.
I’d highly recommend Craig and we’ll be using him again the next time we buy or sell any real estate. You could do much, much worse than Craig and I don’t see how you could find a better agent.

I wish it was possible to give Craig a higher score – he deserves it.
The situation: My wife just finished law school and landed her dream job in DC representing foster care youth in the system. A great cause but one that falls short financially in a very expensive DC. When we bought our house in south Seattle, we certainly could afford it. The housing bubble burst right when we needed to sell. I remember having a local real estate agent come out and when I asked him what I needed to break even he literally laughed. We were under water. He wasn’t interested in working with us even if we were willing to take less. Now if we decided to stay in Seattle, we’d be fine. We could handle our payments – we didn’t get caught up with «too much house.» Unfortunately, we need to sell and sell immediately if my wife was going to pursue this employment opportunity. This is when I first heard the word «short sell.» A very good friend who had used Craig in the past recommend him to me without reservation. «You won’t find anyone with more integrity in the business,» he said. I decided to reserve judgement.
The Solution: When I first met Craig, he asked me a lot of open ended questions, focusing on our goal of getting to DC while taking the smallest amount of «shrapnel» as possible. Craig came up with a couple different possible solutions. Craig researched the area, saw what houses were selling for, and attempted to sell ours at a break-​even point («Let’s give it a try,» he said). The market wasn’t agreeing with us and because we weren’t going to have a lot of income coming in, we really couldn’t afford a hit. We then transitioned to short sale mode. Craig researched the two banks that owned our house (we had an ⁸⁰⁄₂₀ mortgage) and realized that historically, they were willing to work with purchasers. I was intimated by our meetings with the bank – I was way out of my depth. Craig was not – he had done it plenty of times and worked as my interpreter. For him to even go to this sit down was above and beyond what I would expect of any real estate agent. After the meeting, Craig made sure that we had good representation (the attorney he referred to us was incredibly competent and affordable). He said, «You’ll just want to make sure the document is airtight.» We are glad we did. With his help, we were able to short sale our house – the bank wrote off the loss because it was largely overvalued. Across the country, they squeezed other folks for all they could get. Craig (with the help of our attorney) was able to persuade them to negotiate a deal all parties could live with – it was not in their best interest to come after us. Yeah, our credit scores were initially and mildly hurt, but after 5 years they’re back to where we can purchase a home again if we wanted to. From talking to friends in similar situations, our outcome was the most desired.
Without Craig, we wouldn’t be where we are today. To say that Craig is the best real estate agent I’ve crossed paths with would be to minimize how good he is… Craig is one of the best people I’ve worked with in ALL lines of work. Hire him, you won’t be sorry. I’d go to war with this guy.

I am a loan officer who has worked with his fare share of realtors and can honestly say Craig is one of the good guys. He puts his clients needs at the forefront of the transaction and stayed in constant communication with me during the transaction to ensure that we were able to reach a smooth and punctual closing. We even had an issue come up on the property that the appraisal pointed out and were still able to close on time. Typically an appraisal issue sets the file back a week so that is truly saying a lot.
If you are in the market to buy or sell, Craig is a great option that will care about you and your families goals.

I first met Craig in 2008 while selling my then current home and purchasing a new one. Craig was assisting the agent that I was working with at the time while that agent was out of town for a few days. Being fresh to the situation and without much knowledge or background, Craig quickly acclimated himself to my goals/​objectives and provided incredible value in a short period of time. While I did not complete that transaction with him directly, I took notice of Craig’s customer focus, attention to detail and thoroughness and knew I’d be reaching out to him again in the future. Over the years I’ve had various real estate questions come up and without hesitation and with no «transaction» to complete, Craig graciously gave his time and expertise to help me through my situations. For example, I’m currently going through a remodel on my home and was trying to determine how big of a remodel I should complete. Evaluating current and future market value were key data points that would help me determine how I should proceed with my project. After an initial discussion with Craig and being upfront with the fact that I wasn’t buying/​selling, just doing a CMA, Craig went above and beyond to research the market, develop a comprehensive report and met with me at my home to review and discuss my project and options. Moreover, he followed-​up with me (unsolicited) with additional information on recent activity in the market, updated his report/​findings and scheduled showings for me so that I could get a better feel for comps. I’m now entering the beginning phase of my remodel project with the confidence that I am basing my decisions on factual market data. There is no way that I could have come to such a sound decision without his expertise and more specifically, the time and effort he gave. Craig has a keen sense of the market and knows how to leverage technology to the fullest but his most compelling quality is his customer focus and willingness to do what is right by the customer. I recommend Craig fully and look forward to our continued relationship and future transactions.

When I first decided to purchase another home I suddenly realized I desperately needed someone with experience to help me with all my needs. I was looking for something very specific, I was so pleased to be introduced to Craig thru my friends who purchased there first home a year earlier. Craig had the patience I needed to continue looking for my perfect house, and the experience which is required in dealing with everyone through the entire process… I am very pleased with my experience with you Craig and I thank you. I will defiantly be handing out your # and I’m sure I will be calling on you in the future again myself!!!