Lynchburg, Virginia Realtors Review: Is There Anyone You Can Trust?

The last realtor that I worked with was Will Easter of John Stewart Walker. He showed us a property that he was the listed agent for. After seeing it, we decided we weren't interested. After all the previous bad experiences, we were amazed when he didn't go into a high-pressured sales mode. Since going it alone prior to this hadn't worked, we asked him to be our realtor.

Will Easter is friendly, intelligent, and professional. He was always on time for appointments, returned phone calls and e-mails promptly, and clearly knew what he was doing. He helped us through the entire home-buying experience. Will Easter isn't just another agent; he is someone you can trust.

I didn't have much contact with anyone else at John Stewart Walker. However, since someone as upstanding as Will Easter works for them, John Stewart Walker is probably a class act themselves.

Century 21 All Service - Timberlake Rd, Lynchburg, VA

The secretary at this office is a bit unfriendly. Once transferred to a female realtor whose name escapes me, I told her the property listing and my question. She stated that she didn't have all the listings memorized and demanded my phone number to call back. If they are going to transfer calls to just any agent, they should have property records that any realtor can pull. Since she sounded as if I was a bother, I hung up.

I called the Century 21 Timberlake Road office again about the same property. I told this different agent that my mom wanted a viewing after work. He replied that I could not make an appointment for another person. Then, he asked for my phone number. Since he refused to show her the property, I hung up.

On my third attempt, I finally reached the property's listed agent, Jim Dolan. He turned out to be very helpful and friendly. He admitted that I shouldn't have had any problem making an appointment for my mother. This agent seemed pretty good until I returned his call a few days later. His wife answered his cell phone and demanded to know what I wanted. After explaining who I was at length and how I was returning his call, she said that he would return my call tomorrow. I could hear him standing right there beside her, but she would not give him the phone. When it turned out that the realtor was wrong regarding the property's access to cable, we were no longer interested.

This same Century 21 location handled the second property that we were interested in. However, I hadn't had any previous contact with the listing agent, Mike Osei. The listing boasted about how nice the place was. I was not told the place had ants inside until they were crawling up my legs at the viewing. Hiding underneath the carpet and padding were loose boards. The plumbing problems were numerous. The new heating system had working vents in only one room. The yard had both ants and ticks.

According to Mike Osei, he can only disclose any issues that the sellers tell him (as opposed to what he notices on his own). Mike is a wonderfully friendly agent who tries hard to fairly represent both the buyer and the seller. However, I was a bit put off by his tirade on the phone with the sellers where he threatened to quit. It was a bit unprofessional how aggravated he became. Overall, I would recommend him as a realtor.

Monument Real Estate - Lynchburg, VA

I had a simple question about a listing by Bruce Johnson of Monument Real Estate. He said that sometimes he lists properties for his assistant and that this was one of them. That didn't quite make sense, but I took the phone number for his assistant.

The assistant admitted that he had not actually viewed the house, but said that he would view it soon. A couple weeks later, I sent my same question by e-mail, which never received a reply. I received a few phone calls after that from the assistant's phone number. But when I called the number back, whoever answered claimed it had been a wrong number.

I would highly recommend buyers and sellers avoid Monument Real Estate since they do not answer questions nor view the properties.

Dawson Ford Garbee - Wards Rd., Lynchburg, VA

The first time I contacted Deborah Douglas of Dawson Ford Garbee on Wards Rd was by e-mail. She never replied.

My second attempt to reach Deborah Douglas was by phone. After calling her cell phone and the main office number multiple times over a couple hours, and getting no answer, I called another Dawson Ford Garbee office. They gave me the cell number of another agent for the office that I was trying to reach, but who could not help me since he was not the listed agent for the property. In the end, I drove past the property and found the answer myself. We were no longer interested.

When I contacted Deborah Douglas about a third property, she did answer my one question in the e-mail, but then ended the e-mail saying to call if I had any further questions. Since I prefer e-mail due to my work hours, I e-mailed her one last question. It was over a week later before I received a reply.

I would recommend sellers take their business elsewhere since Dawson Ford Garbee on Wards Road is near impossible to reach. I imagine most buyers wouldn't try as hard as I did to reach them.

Prudential Realty Services - Lynchburg, VA

I contacted Scott Bernard of Prudential Realty Services. I told him upfront that I did not like it when realtors evaded answering a question by repeatedly reading the listing even if it did not contain the answer. He seemed to understand my aggravation at the way other realtors had behaved. But then when I asked him a question, he started reading the listing.

I interrupted, reminding him that I did not wish to be talked in circles and that I was fully aware of the information in the listing. He seemed to finally realize that I would not tolerate this and answered my question. Since Scott Bernard kept on about how nice the home was, I decided to see it.

Upon arrival we saw that the storage buildings were deplorable. Scott Bernard even recommended tearing one down. The listing didn't mention that they were unusable. Another unmentioned problem was the pungent cigarette smoke smell that had overtaken the house. Furthermore, the upstairs had been made into a separate apartment. There was a kitchen sink with cabinets that was completely out of place in that bedroom. There was absolutely no mention of this until the viewing.

When we had enough and decided to leave, he kept trying to talk us into getting the house. I cut him off, saying I was going and walked off. Then he remembered he was supposed to drive us back to our car and called out to us. We literally ran up the street to avoid his high-pressured sales tactics.