“I think it ultimately boils down to trust. I already knew that I trusted Paul in whatever career he was in. And it just happened to be real estate.”
Jacob and Becca Capra are friends of The Zachos Team who recently sold their second home to buy their third. We talked to them to learn more about their process and what they’ve learned through multiple transactions.
“We were looking casually, but this is the third home that we've bought. And in our experience with the first two, sometimes you just know, either A, you're getting a good deal, or B, this is the home that you have to have, this is the one you want,” Jacob says. “So we kind of stumbled upon that earlier than expected, and we felt like this one was a really good deal.
“Our moderate knowledge of the market just kind of made us feel that way, and Paul kind of backed us up on that and it all ended up being true.”
We try our best to treat our clients as people first. There’s nothing worse than knowing your agent is just trying to make a sale, so we make sure to bring a friendly demeanor to all of our work. We want our clients to be equipped with knowledge that helps them, even if we don’t end up working together.
“I was running into Paul at the gym. I think it may have come up in passing, just chatting, that we were starting to casually look for a home,” Jacob explains. “So he basically offered to help out with that. And that was also very casual, too, just, you know, if you guys find something and you're interested, we can help you look.
“And it was kind of lowkey support for a while because we were not really trying to buy so imminently. And then like we said before, it kind of snowballed quickly.”
“I appreciated how low pressure all of it felt,” Becca adds. “We weren't pressured to make any decisions or do anything unless we were ready for it. I don't know how other realtors are, but I imagine that some of them could be kind of pushy and aggressive, and I definitely didn't get that vibe at all from them.”
The real estate market can be a rollercoaster, and Jacob and Becca’s journey into their third home kicked off sooner than they expected. When you’re operating in a competitive market, it’s crucial to have a person on your side who’s knowledgeable on key issues and can ensure an orderly process regardless of outside sources. Luckily, The Zachos Team has two of those.
“I think [Paul and Dee Dee are] honestly great communicators,” Becca says. “And so they were really quick to keep us in the loop on stuff. And if we had any questions, they were really responsive. You know, time is of the essence when you're buying and selling a house and everything. So I appreciated that about them.”
“Paul was really good about just being able to support all sorts of stuff,” Jacob adds. “He was always a call away, and it didn't really matter that much what it was, he was pretty able and willing to help out. Letting people in, getting garage codes, I borrowed his ladder. He’s really a good guy that's trying to help you out and it just so happens that he's doing it while doing his job.”
And that client-focused approach led the Capras right into their new home.
“This new house I feel like is perfect for our family. The schools are really great here, and the amenities. And the house is right next to the neighborhood pool, so that's great for our kids,” Becca says.
“There's a lot of space for all of my hobbies and activities,” Jacob adds. “That's something we were kind of missing at the old house. It was 2000 square feet and we're a family of five. So I work from home. I like to play music. And I had all these endeavors to do things as hobbies at home, but no space to do them, so now I have that.”
But even though The Zachos Team was able to assist with the purchasing process, Jacob and Becca learned a lot on their own through their first few purchases. Carrying over that knowledge helped them tremendously in finding what they were looking for this time around.
“It's easy to get kind of enchanted by, let's say, a flashy kitchen. If that's really important to you, you find a kitchen that has everything you want and it's what you've been looking for, it can be easy to zero in on that and kind of ignore other aspects of the home and the property and the community and things like that,” Jacob says.
“That's something we didn't do so well when we bought our last house and we tried to do it a little bit better this time around, to look a little more holistically… now we look at everything and that served us pretty well.”
“I think it's helpful to have a one, three, five, ten year plan to help guide your decisions,” says Becca. “It was helpful to know a year from now we wanted to move, so let's go ahead and start preparing for that now. And while that quickly led us to buy a house when we weren't fully expecting it, it set us up for now when we wanted to hit that year mark and that goal because now we're already ready for that and where we think we want to be in five years.”
If you’re ready to buy or sell your home, or even if you’re just casually looking and need some advice, reach out to The Zachos Team. Our top priority is helping those in our community learn more about their journey and giving any assistance we can along the way.
“I would definitely recommend working with Paul and Dee Dee if that's not clear,” Becca says.
Written by Paul Zachos III