I didn't grow up wanting to be a real estate agent – in fact I always wanted to be a fireman. Turns out, I discovered I don't really like the medical field and I'm afraid of fire. I fell into real estate by chance in 2003 and feel that I have discovered my true calling – helping buyers and sellers navigate through the real estate transaction process. Not only do I get to do what I love but I have the privilege of educating my clients and helping them through a very complex and stressful time. My goal is to always make them feel like my only client and to help them achieve their real estate goals at the same time.
I grew up in Spokane, WA and graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Business from the University of Washington. I worked as a valet attendant for 3 years to help pay for school, so you can be assured of my parallel parking skills during home tours. Immediately after college I worked in the Title and Escrow Industry for 7 years, giving me experience which helps me daily as a real estate agent. From there I made the leap to findwell and never looked back. I believe we are changing the industry for the better.
My greatest enjoyments in life include time with my wife, family, and friends, warm weather, funny movies, music, sushi and thai food, all sports that include a ball, and travelling. Most importantly I try to apply humor in every aspect of my life where it's appropriate and not take myself too seriously.
From marketing and selling our condo to putting together a successful offer in a competetive situation with our new house, I can't think of any task along the way that could've been done more effectively. Michael Schafer worked with us consistently, patiently and - when called for - aggressively, to bring us to an ideal outcome. He always answered our questions and concerns and listened to what we had to say. He is one Super Nice Guy.
It was also clear that Findwell is truly a team effort. As much expertise and knowledge as Michael demonstrated, he was also able to call on others at Findwell of equal caliber as strategies and approaches, offers and counter-offers were prepared.
Buying and selling properties are definitely processes, and I can't imagine more highly recommending anyone to help you anywhere along the way than Michael Schafer and the folks at Findwell.
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Tom F.
We have bought and sold 5 homes in 3 different states. And have never recommended a real estate agent that we have worked with until NOW!!! Michael Schafer is the most professional real estate agent we have ever worked with. He has morals, very professional and saved us a ton of money. What more could you ask for!!! We highly recommend Michael Schafer and would use him again when we are ready to sell. - Susan B.
Words cannot express how highly we think of Michael Schafer. We interviewed other realtors to list our condo -- but none nearly as bright, energetic, and understanding as Michael. He was never pushy and was considerate towards our particular situation and never asked us to settle for a price or a term we were not comfortable with. His market knowledge is positively astounding -- and his passion for his work is infectious. He knew exactly the price to list our condo to get it sold, but also make us happy with the sell price.
During the month we worked with him, it always seemed like we were his only clients - he always focused on us. No curve ball the buyer threw could stop Michael from hitting a homer and closing our condo on time. Michael is *light years* ahead of other agents in terms of professionalism, integrity, and dedication to clients' needs. He also has a network of affiliated specialists - title companies, mortgage brokers, etc. -- who we found to be comparably excellent and responsive.
If you are looking to buy or sell a home, we highly recommend Michael at Findwell. You will not be disappointed with the level of real estate knowledge and personal dedication!
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Stacey T.
I just purchased my first home the beginning of 2012 via Michael Schafer with Findwell Real Estate. I found Michael to be very communicative and knowledgeable with the area and price range I was interested in during the search. Once my home was found and the purchase process began, his knowledge and guidance helped make my first real estate transaction easy and painless. - Georgia G.
When we decided on selling our town home in Redmond, we were already late in the year (around July). We were very apprehensive about whether the home will sell or not.
We contacted Findwell because of great reviews of their agents on Yelp and we couldn't be more happy with the results. Michael is the best seller agent that you can have.
If I were to summarize it in points then - 1. Michael was very patient, eager to listen throughout the process and always approachable. 2. Michael tried to understand and worked around our constraints 3. Michael never recommended us unnecessary upgrades or staging that would have cost us more money (unlike some other agents from Windermere and Colwell Banker). 4. Michael was very good about setting expectations for the price, time and what needed to be done. 5. Michael was throughout with us after we accepted the offer, through the inspection and closing. He handled some tricky situations during home inspection with such a great attitude. 6. Michael followed up with our Home owner's association diligently and was on top of everything. 7. Michael never ever pushed us to accept an offer that we were not comfortable with. I really appreciate this one deeply because when you are a seller and you are tired of showing your home for multiple visits, you just want to get done with it. At that time, it is very easy to give in for a bad offer to regret later. Michael not only asked us to counter offer for a higher price, he even said that if we do not get what we are asking for, we can take the listing out and re-list next year because he thought that the listed price was very reasonable based on his research and comparable properties.
If we have to buy another house, we would only work with Michael.
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ShMishra
Michael Schafer spent his days and nights helping us find our first house, we asked him to show us around 50 houses in a period of 3-4 months. He showed us the kindness and patience from start to the end even when we (for a period) told him we weren't going to buy.
He was very honest and experienced about sharing his opinion even when it meant for us not to buy that specific house.
I can tell we weren't easy clients; constantly changing our requirements/price range/ house style and even the decision to buy in a daily basis. I thank Michael for putting up with us and helping us to find and buy our home.
He will be the person that I will work for my next real estate transaction and would recommend him to my friends.
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O. Bilal O.
I started my real estate search with Redfin, and at first really liked them but then realized they pretty much won't do anything "outside the box" -meaning work with you on short sales, certain bank owned properties, etc. They are clearly focused on a very specific type of very uniform, routine transaction.
I then went to a full service agent, well two actually. And they were like out of control bull dogs just trying to get us to buy a house, any house, despite it not meeting any of our criteria.
Then we found Findwell! They rebate the transaction like Redfin, have a website that has fantastic technology for finding homes that emails with updates and homes matching specific criteria, etc. etc., and they are willing to work with you on out of the box type of transactions.
Our agent, Michael was personable, honest, and a true pleasure to work with. He listened well and facilitated our home finding process in a way that worked really well for our family. He never missed a detail, communicated often and clearly (even on his anniversary vacation), and helped us navigate the Seattle market. The rest of the findwell team stood behind him so we were fully supported in the event Michael couldn't make an inspection.
Michael helped set our expectations to reasonable levels, coached us down on some offers and up on others. We wound up with a house that we really really love and can't recommend Findwell highly enough.
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John S.
Another GREAT experience with Findwell! Our agent Mike Schafer helped us again this time and he was truly amazing. We are moving out of the country so needed to sell the house we purchased (also with Mike's help) just a year ago. Mike walked us through the whole process with his knowledge and gave us lots of good suggestions on pricing etc. We ended up getting an offer the first day our house came on market!
We just closed last weekend and we can't thank him enough. We definitely recommend Findwell to people out there who're currently buying or selling - satisfaction guaranteed!
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Carol S.
Michael Shaefer is fantastic. We are first time home buyers and knew very little about the purchasing process. Michael spent a great deal of time with us, running down home data, searching for possible homes, working with selling agents and finally our lender. Michael made a confusing and occasionally frustrating process mostly enjoyable. - Douglas24
Michael did a fantastic job helping us with our recent home purchase. During the search he was flexible about tour times, did valuable research on the properties we were looking at before we visited, and clearly had a ton of local knowledge, helping us to understand how the homes we were seeing compared against what was typically available in the neighborhood. When we did found the right home, he was invaluable first in helping us work through some of the extra complexities of buying in a short sale, and then in organizing all the inspections we needed to feel comfortable about our purchase. Throughout the escrow period and beyond he was both responsive and effective in chasing down all issues that came up. - beateruel
