In addition, Ms. Witz not only suggested a price that was higher than what I thought the house would bring, but obtained multiple offers during the first open house, so that the final price for the house was even higher than that figure.

I would not hesitate to engage Ms. Witz again to handle any real estate transaction which I might have in the Los Angeles area. I recommend Ms. Witz most highly.

Very truly yours,

James G. Pattillo, Esq.

 Your help in preparing the property for sale was invaluable and your professionalism made the process effortless.

Diane,

I want to thank you for a job well done! Dealing with my brothers estate from 3,000 miles away has been difficult at times, but you made the real estate end of it smooth and easy. Your help in preparing the Cheviot Hills property for sale was invaluable and your professionalism made the process effortless. My lawyer said that I did very well on the sale.

The real estate business is very competitive and I highly recommend you to all of your prospective clients.

Good luck and best wishes,

Marge Toland

 Diane Witz is possibly the best-prepared professional I have ever known...I highly recommend working with her.

Do it!! If you want or need more explanation, please read on. And if you still aren't convinced, I urge you to give me a call.

How can I possibly summarize on paper the many, many ways Diane has had a positive impact on the real estate selling process and subsequently my life? I would normally not even try. But Diane is such an incredible agent, that I feel compelled to let as many people know as possible.

The significant aspects of my relationship with Diane are outlined below.

THE SCENARIO:

I met Diane March. The sale of my house closed in mid-May. I live in New York. The house I co-owned is in Los Angeles. The co-owner and I are not on great speaking terms. The house has been unoccupied for over six months. I was out of the country and out of touch for over a week as the selling process began. The house is bordered by an abandoned-looking shack. It was a short sale with unfriendly investors. The deal almost went to foreclosure at the last moment.

I cannot even imagine what other potential challenges there could have been to the sale. Diane never flinched.

THE RESULT:

A successful short sale, at a price I never dreamed possible, in just over two months with virtually no effort on my part. The deal almost came apart at the end, with one of the investors demanding a huge seller contribution. Diane somehow managed to unite all parties' interests to keep the buyer committed, to minimize the contribution, and, to help find ways to pay for it.

THE PROCESS (or how the heck did Diane make it happen?!):

Diane Witz is possible the best-prepared professional I have ever known. Below are just some of the ways she effected this sale efficiently, maximizing value in such a short amount of time:

• She brought an incredibly detailed and professional market analysis and competitive summary of the property to the first meeting
  
• At the second meeting, she had us sigh all future paperwork. This was especially critical since I live 3,000 miles away.
  
• She used a digital camera and the internet to maximize sales exposure for the property
  
• She hosted an open house within one week of the listing. It extended (and she STAYED) and extra three hours.
  
• She pulled in three offers for the house, each better than the previous one. The one that went through was the middle one. Diane leveraged the third offer as a backup in case the middle one failed. This leverage effort resulted in an increase in the middle offer price by almost 5.5%, after we were already in escrow. Shocking but true!
  
• She was business-like yet incredibly sensitive to the nature of the situation.

I am certain that Diane applies this level of professionalism to each of her clients. In my case, Diane was not only prepared in a general sense, but she tackled each and every one of the challenges mentioned in the scenario head on, negotiating, and in some cases, fighting, for the best possible outcome at every turn. Throughout the process, Diane demonstrated an incredibly ability to remain flexible, yet keep momentum going. She did a lot of work I'll never know about to ensure continued, positive movement. No, the road was not always smooth - some of the potholes were huge. And sometimes we had to backtrack and choose a new one. But Diane refused to settle for the easy path (unless it was also the best one). She often presented multiple paths for us to choose from and helped us select the one leading to the best possible outcome.

Although this is the first house I have ever sold, I shudder to imagine going through this process with any other realtor. Diane Witz is professional, personable, flexible, and effective. I highly recommend working with her.

Megan J. Hanawalt

Like many people, I rarely find time in my busy schedule to write formal thank you letters. The fact that I have done so in this case, is the clearest way I can tell you how sincerely I appreciate the great job you did selling our house near Century City. About 5 years ago we considered selling and relocating to another state. We decided to wait until we wanted to move for other reasons, but that meant we have talked to a number of agents over a period of time.

When we became serious we focused on one set of agents, the Elstons. We received some good advice about presenting our home, but I was less than happy about delays in returning phone calls and follow through on promsed actions. I'm a professional who wants my agent to do more than look professional - I want them to act professional and follow through. The deal breaker though was when we got the suggested list price. David Elston repeatedly said he had very good instincts as to list prices. His comps though were only the winter months and did not include the good previous spring/summer season. He had explained last year's cycle quite well. Why was he ignoring it on pricing? We were selling our home ahead of when we really wanted to move to capture the peak time this year. Why should I list for the winter slow season rates? I also found his understanding of the specific streets and individual houses to be superficial. We are dealing with 60-70 year old houses, which have a wide variety of conditions and quality of construction as well as locations, and this knowledge is important. I found other agents giving us the same type of superficial evaluation. We decided to list it ourselves. We didn't know what the house was worth, but felt the agents were evaluating it too low.

Then you contacted us and made a presentation. What I heard was a real knowledge of the individual houses. Instead of a computer printout of past sales, which I could have gotten off the web, I heard about individual homes and sales in my area. The sheet you prepared was exactly the selling price. We got $60,000 more than suggested by others and it sold in one week. Without your knowledge and confidence I got from your detailed analysis, we would have settled for less.

I knew it was possible to get a sale price, which fell through because the buyer was willing to pay too much and could not get financing. I felt confident that when the house was appraised by the mortgage company that you point them at the comps that would support the sale price. It proceeded without a hitch.

What else mattered to me? We were trying to sell a business at the same time as we plan to leave the area. Having you take care of a lot of the details of the house sale and smoothing the few problems that came up was wonderful. It was stressful enough and it was a pretty perfect sale. You explained and kepts me informed throughout the process.

Again I thank you. It's easy to say why pay a real estate commission since it's a lot of money. For me you were worth every penny. I know I would have ended up with less money and more stress, if we had sold on our own.

Linda & Carmen Martino

 I highly recommend Diane as a listing agent not only for her professionalism but for the wonderful results she produced.