12/27/2023
“Trustworthy at every step of the way!” is how I’ve been describing Daniela Spigai to friends ever since she acted as my real estate agent in the sale of my house this past autumn. Having just moved to a nearby senior community, and aware that I needed expert guidance in selling my house, I followed a-long-time neighbor’s advice to find a firm that would provide me with a Comparative Marketing Analysis (CMA). Reading Greet Del Ray Magazine and an online search took me to Homes of Alexandria and Daniela Spigai.
Daniela contacted me within minutes of my having emailed a CMA request. We met at my house soon afterward. Daniela won my confidence because she first listened to “my story.” When she had heard me out, she got my permission to tour the house and the property, taking pictures of both the satisfactory and the likely improvable spots.
The day after our initial meeting, Daniela sent me a CMA showing—on a map of my neighborhood and neighborhoods nearby, on a property description list, and listing photographs--3 houses comparable to my house,with the selling and settlement prices of each house. Along with the CMA, she included photographs she’d taken the day before of the places in my house needing improvement, together with cost estimates. In effect Daniela gave me all the information required for me to choose between listing the house as-improved or listing it as-is. I informed her the following day that I’d chosen to list the house with her and to go with the as-is option.
The next steps found Daniela leading me gently but firmly through the signing of the listing agreement; working with her customary decluttering and professional cleaning experts to ready the house for showing; and listing the property, showing the house, and receiving bids. After 6 days of having listed the property, Daniela prepared a summary of the bids. I reviewed the bids, broke into a smile at the sight of them, chose a bidder, and signed the residential sales contract as the seller. The process of selling my house, from my first meeting with Daniela to my signing of the residential sales contract, took just 14 days.
As if that weren’t enough, Daniela continued to amaze me with her determination to walk alongside of me all the way to settlement. She personally delivered to me two bins of items that I’d left at my house because I’d been too exhausted to pack them. When I called on her later for help in filling out the many fields of the settlement forms that were baffling me, she drove to my apartment in the senior community and sat next to me at my computer, patiently explaining what was being asked for, and watching closely as I filled out the field. When settlement day arrived, Daniela drove me to the venue and happily watched as I signed the settlement document. She even treated me to a celebratory lunch.
I’m able now to reflect upon that crucial time in my life, when I moved from a house in aneighborhood that I’d lived in for 40 years to an apartment in a new neighborhood consisting of mostly likeable seniors in various states of elderliness. I see Daniela as the individual whom I most depended upon for reaching decisions and taking actions that enabled me to transition from one phase of my life to another with the least regret and the most hope that I could imagine. Thank you, Daniela Spigai
Judith Koucky
Del Ray resident for 40 years
