9 days after listing, Jessica told us she had negotiated an offer which was $40,000 in excess of her guaranteed range.

“I first met Jessica Chea when she knocked at my front door a few years ago. Explaining who she was and whom she worked for, she asked whether we were contemplating selling our home. We were not, and upon hearing this she asked whether I would accept a copy of a book entitled “Real Estate Mistakes” by Neil Jenman, which she hoped might be useful to us when the time came to sell. I put the book in my shelves and thought no more about it. In the intervening years Jessica knocked on the door perhaps twice more. The answer remained the same, but I liked her approach, resolved that when the time came to sell we would certainly include her among two or three agents we would choose to make a presentation to us, and told her so.

Late in 2014 we felt the time had come to consider moving to a retirement village which would provide a safer and more supportive environment, and by the end of that year had selected a unit under construction with a planned moving date of October 2015. The retirement village provided a briefing on selling our property from a real estate firm of a traditional type - advocating an auction, open inspections and an advertising budget of $4000-$6000 to be paid by the vendor. Wondering “Is that all there is?” turned to Mr Jenman’s book for inspiration.

What a revelation! There is another way. I became convinced that we didn’t have to go to auction for the best result; that it was possible to allow genuine buyers to inspect the house by appointment rather than opening it to all and sundry for an hour a week of the agent’s choosing; and rather than our providing an advertising budget, the right agent might pay for targeted advertising that would be aimed at our needs rather than theirs. For me these were the central points in a real estate philosophy that impressed me as logical, ethical and most of all worked for the seller, who after all is the agent’s employer. I might say I was converted to this approach despite arguments to the contrary from family, friends and even the independent valuer whom I retained to value the property (another Jenman recommendation).

The valuation provided coincided more or less with my own estimate of the worth of our house, and with that in mind I decided to interview two or three agents. My plan was to include an agent advocating auction despite my instinct that private sale was the way to go. Jessica was the first agent invited to present. She painted a convincing picture of her ability to achieve our price objectives and indeed said she could guarantee a price within a range as much as 10% higher than our valuer’s upper limit. She clearly outlined the process by which this would be achieved and left me in no doubt that her promises would be kept. Despite this it was still my intention to interview at least one other agent. I abandoned this intention once I spoke to three former clients who were unanimous in their praise of Jessica and adamant that what I saw was absolutely what I would get.

The process described swung into action - inspection by the First National team, sale boards photographs, advertising and marketing initiatives, and so on. Buyer inspections followed, and 9 days after listing, Jessica told us she had negotiated an offer which was $40,000 in excess of her guaranteed range. Delighted, we signed the sale contract.

With the support of her colleagues at First National Jessica has more than honoured every promise she made to us. We could not be happier with the service received, and feel confident that future clients will have the same experience.”

— Kim H., 53 Regent Street, Mount Waverley