Here are the results of the bubbleinfo survey. These counts and graphs are from the first 239 people, and we’re now up to 276! (I thought we might have 50!)
Thank you everyone for participating – I will comment on some of the great suggestions later:
Are you looking for an experienced agent to help you buy or sell a home?
Contact Jim the Realtor!
CA DRE #01527365, CA DRE #00873197
Verified Donna and Jim provided exceptional support and professionalism throughout the entire process. We couldn't have been happier with their efforts. They made our house shine, and thanks to their expertise, it sold above the listing price in the very first weekend! Truly a fantastic experience from start to finish.Verified This year has been difficult on our family, mainly due to having to sell our home. Thankfully we knew God had a plan for us and working with the Klinge team was a key part of it. It was an obvious decision to work with them again after such an amazing experience when purchasing the same home we needed to sell. The challenge was, how will we do this in so little time with so much going on? Jim and Donna held our hand every step of the way. Whenever an unexpected issue arose they found and provided a solution. Never once did we feel pressured to make a decision and the Klinges were always reassuring after providing the information that the decision was ours to make. Despite the curve balls, they never panicked and exemplified the “can do” attitude, making us feel optimistic and taken care of. Their expertise and professionalism was superb. But of all the reasons to work with the Klinges, the most impactful and valuable is their compassion and genuine care for their clients. We pray that we can one day purchase our forever home and you better believe that Jim and Donna will be representing us - as long as they will have us of course. Thank you again Klinge team! Your execution, experience, and care are unmatched.Verified Jim and Donna were fantastic! Jim understanding my needs, recommending potential places, pointing out the pros and cons of each property was invaluable. Then when the offer was accepted Donna’s organized guidance through the inspections, paperwork etc made the whole process seem effortless. So grateful that I had them on my side!Verified I appreciate Jim & Donna's great teamwork, sound advice, and guidance that eased the stress of selling our Carlsbad home. Their professional input and assistance throughout the process was very helpful. Highly recommended!Verified The Good The Klinge Realty Group operates like a finely tuned machine, with a very personal touch. We contacted them on a Sunday and they were talking to us about our family and our needs on our living room couch the following day. They carefully listened to us and worked with us to identify the best and quickest path to listing within 2 weeks to take advantage of the low inventory conditions in our South Carlsbad neighborhood. They knew our tract specifically and had many previous sales there over the years - they came prepared with a thorough analysis of comparative sales and recommended a pricing strategy that they felt confident would yield offers the first weekend on the market. The Great Over the next two weeks Donna coordinated a range of vendors who she knew from experience could get the preparation to list work we needed done on time and with high quality. Our light tune-up involved excellent experiences with their stagers, landscapers, contractors, electricians, and plumbers. Throughout this period Donna's daily communication was clear, concise, and responsive. Any time we had questions Donna picked up the phone or texted immediately - but almost always, she answered our questions before we even knew we had them. The Outstanding We had a tricky situation with a shared fence that could have delayed our escrow. Donna used superb mediation skills to negotiate the terms of replacement and was personally on site with the fence contractor to make sure everything went smoothly. The fence looks great and escrow closed on time. The Truly Exceptional Our house came on the market on a Wednesday and between then and Monday morning Jim was personally at all three open houses. He was in constant communication explaining potential buyer reaction and strength. As he predicted offers began to come in on Saturday and each one was incrementally higher than the last. At the end we had 5 offers, 4 of which were over list, and the final accepted offer was $100,000 over list. In addition to being over list it included rent back terms that met our needs. The Recommendation For all of these reasons we would strongly recommend The Klinge Team to anyone wanting to sell in North County Coastal San Diego. I had been reading Jim's blog for 15 years and knew when the time came to sell that he would be our first call. Jim Klinge is not your standard realtor. He is keenly aware of market conditions and sales strategies. And, works his tail off - though not as hard as Donna . At this point he's gone from realtor to friend and I plan to have him over to grill and chill at our new place to talk real estate, but also just about life and raising kids in San Diego. He's more interested in relationships than his sales numbers - and that's why his sales numbers are so high. We have already recommended the Klinge's to some close friends and another successful sale is on deck right around the corner...Verified We recently had the pleasure of working with Jim and Donna from Klinge Realty Group to sell our house, and we couldn't be more satisfied with the experience. From the initial meeting, they listened attentively to our needs and provided invaluable guidance on specific improvements to get our home market ready. Their responsiveness throughout the entire process was truly impressive. Anytime we had questions or concerns, they were quick to address them, ensuring we felt comfortable and informed every step of the way. What stood out the most was their team and extensive network of tradespeople, which made addressing any necessary repairs or updates seamless and stress-free. Thanks to their expertise and dedication, our house sold quickly and at a great price. We highly recommend Jim and Donna to anyone looking to buy or sell a home. They are a fantastic team who truly care about their clients and deliver exceptional results.Verified We had a wonderful experience buying our home with Donna and Jim! In particular I was very impressed with their efficiency and support through the purchase process. As we were doing the walk through, Donna started contacting roofers, plumbers, aircon, electricians, etc for all the areas we needed potential repairs - by the time we were done with the walk through appointments were already set up to get estimates for all the major services. When we had to change an appointment, or couldn't make one, Donna was there to arrange things to fit our schedule. Even after we closed on our home, Donna helped set up the repairs we needed before move in day. They truly went above and beyond to deliver exceptional service. I'll be calling them for our next home!Verified The sale of our home exceeded our expectations - Jim and Donna Klinge are the best! We’ve followed Jim’s Bubbleinfo blog since the 2006 housing bubble. After he helped us buy in 2017 we stayed in touch and Team Klinge were the obvious choice when it came time to move. They guided us through the preparation of the house, including a kitchen refresh - Donna and Lisa skillfully managed the various contractors for us after we had moved out of state. Donna’s excellent attention to detail and regular communication made the whole process run smoothly from a distance. Jim’s market knowledge, expert negotiating skills and candid opinions, together with Donna’s responsive communications and problem solving, set them in a league of their own. Highly recommended!Verified Jim and Donna have exceeded my expectations with sale of my house. It was best experience with house sale. Professional, responsive, superior negotiating skills. I would recommend them with 5 star (I would give them even more than max) rating. Sale of my house was closed for really good price in 10 days. Jim and Donna perfectly handled house preparation for sale. Thanks a lot!!!Verified Jim and Donna have exceeded my expectations and made my most recent move back to California go so much more smoothly than I expected. Jim’s Bubbleinfo blog was full of useful information about the current market conditions. His experience helped us make a successful offer for the home we wanted in a desirable neighborhood. After the purchase Donna organized the work we needed done in the house without us having to make an additional trip. We were pretty worried when we started searching for real estate that not being in the area was going to makes things really difficult but Jim and Donna made the process so much easier. I enthusiastically recommend them.Load moreVerified by TrustindexTrustindex verified badge is the Universal Symbol of Trust. Only the greatest companies can get the verified badge who has a review score above 4.5, based on customer reviews over the past 12 months. Read more
Jim, I’m a 12 hour drive north with no traffic and I follow you. You probably have a few groupies but are too much of a gentleman to talk about it.
Jim
With all due respect most of your readers or cheerleaders or groupies will never do business with you as 32% are buying in 3 years and only 50 % are in San Diego. That is Net 16%
Too bad you are so rude to your intelligent thoughtful commenters and readers. I would consider buying my RSF house with you if you did not shoot down everyone who believes many realtors are highly paid tour guides. You know most in the profession are under qualified, so say it. Taking the high road as you will say will not educate the masses with the arsenal to find an agent who understands the definition value. The real estate team at Scary estates in RSF will differentiate and tell you that fact and that may be why she does so very well (although she is not for me) . . I need representation but over the last five years you shot down the best comments and deleted those that disagreed with you. . IMHO
I just missed the $3.6 ranchito del rio by 4%. Have an opinion wth the fact s that markets are over valued and you might get a 2.5% of $4mm net
According to my math, 2.5 % of nothing equals nothing.
Well, I might’ve answered the survey that I wasn’t in the market currently…but that could change. If I were, I’d use Jim again in a heartbeat – like the last two times. And I’ll continue to recommend him to friends and family (two of them have used Jim as well).
Everyone is entititled to their opinion, but personally, if I’m buying or selling, I want Jim on my team.
I actually think having a 16% potential client rate on a blog is quite good. Plus of the 50% that’s not in the area, who knows how many have relatives or friends in the area. And you know who they will recommend if the topic of needing a realtor comes up.
I don’t think Jim has been shy at all about the quality of realtors in general. Another reason to hang on to quality realtors like Jim and not burn bridges like you are doing.
Maltipoo,
I am a frequent visitor and really enjoy this blog. I rarely comment but had to jump in on this. I totally agree that agents are highly paid tour guides and don’t do much to justify their commissions. Why should the agents take 2.5% from the equity from my home? They don’t write the contracts, as the Purchase Agreements are all standard forms and a 7th grader can fill it out.
Having said that, the system is what it is. We as buyers/sellers have no other choice but to use them until maybe online company such as Google comes into play or there are improvement with Redfin. Jim sold one of my house and I can’t say enough good things about him. He knows the market but most of all he knows the game and how to play it. The sale would have fallen apart but he was able to close it on time but most of all save me some $$$$$. His wife, Donna is just great to work with.
You really have to meet Jim and appreciate that he tells the truth and is candid. He is a very humble person compared to other agents out there. Please don’t judge a person for just deleting your comments.
I subscribe to the rss feed, and I just watch the videos when they come up/ when they’re posted. good stuff, when I get time I’ll like to go through the videos I missed in the beginning on the youtube site
Jim,
It’s a cruel, cruel world out there, Jim–even among your readers. My favorite survey result when asked how to improve videos: “Jim in front of the camera. 1%”
Perhaps you need to get some talent in front of the camera like those agents from Australia whose commercials you post now and again.
Good on ya,
L
That was tough – Mama always said that I have a great face for radio!
Surveys can be deceiving as I checked the “looking to buy in 5 years” box because we just moved and Jim sold our last home and helped us buy our current home. I have a couple friends that have used Jim and do not read the blog. Go figure…Real estate is not like the car business where every 36 months the lease comes due and people get a new ride. Oh, actually it was at one point therefor bubbleinfo.com lives!
Maltipoo – Your post(s) remind me of the definition of “tact” that I once read:
Making a point without making an enemy.
Perhaps expressing your disagreement in a more tactful manner would help your case a bit.
I disagree w/ Jim occasionally and he hasn’t nuked any of my posts.