Testimonials

Beacause reputation is everything

“I’ve been a real estate professional for 30+ years and let me tell you, these people are an absolute dream to work with. We met while my client was selling a house and they were representing their buyers. Their knowledge of the profession, their dedication to their clients, their integrity and commitment to being not just agents but fiduciaries to their clients is something I thought the industry had lost. In fact, I can count the numbers of professional recommendations I’ve written for people on one hand so I don’t do this very often but I was pleased to write this one for them.

– Patricia Carmichael, Realtor

“If you want someone who’ll fight for you, Joyce is the one you want in your corner. When I was selling our home, an appraisal done by a buyer’s lender came in $10,000 below what we believed it should have. I asked Joyce about it and she told me the lender’s appraiser was indeed completely wrong; and when I asked her what we could do about it, she said she’d spent 20-years as a Level-4 General appraiser, that it was a bit complicated but she’d handle it for me. A week later, she’d done her own appraisal, filed an appeal and two weeks later, the bank admitted their mistake and gave me an increase in value of my home of almost $17,000. And her charge for this? Nothing! She said she was just happy to help. There just needs to be more people like Joyce in the world. Professional, educated, experienced and kind.”

-Patricia Kornwinkle

“We’ve been with the Ames Group for more than 16-years having first seen how they handled a problem with the [Los Angeles County] Planning Commission. The arguments they presented and the testimony their witnesses presented were so obviously well-crafted by their team of experts that the Commission really had no other choice but to vote in favor of their client. Three weeks later, we found ourselves in a similar situation and retained them. Within just 30-weeks they had presented our position to the County and were able to remedy the situation before it ever got to the Commission saving us hundreds of thousands of dollars and valuable time. Our business is building homes and every second counts. We have very skilled lawyers but only as a very last, very expensive, very time-consuming resort; and the Ames Group has, time and time again, been there before we’ve had to use them.”

– Lisa Cummings-Brendt, Kaufman and Broad

“After 31-years in the same house and our children gone, it was time to downsize. We found a house on the popular internet sites and when we contacted them, they said they could handle it all; the sale of our old home, the purchase of our new home, everything “in-house” with their agents and save us thousands of dollars. What a mistake that was! Between agents not keeping us informed and sending us low-ball offers and recommending that we accept them and their inability to explain contracts so that we could understand them, it was maddening. My husband knew Mr. Ames from a previous dealing and when I called him and explained what was going on, he said he’d heard that a lot from people and made time that very day to see me. We talked things through and he made a very sensible explanation as to why people shouldn’t trust “one-stop-shops”; he said, “If you were getting a divorce, would you trust your husband’s attorney to represent your interests, too?”. “Of course not”, I thought. “That’s stupid!” Well, the next day, I fired that internet company (and that was a nightmare), hired Mr. Ames’ company and never regretted that decision. He explained all the contracts so that I could understand what was happening, recommended three finance companies so that I could compare and choose, had my house sold in less than 30-days for $12,000 more than what my internet company was recommending and found us a house with another agent that we just love. Turns out the agents and lenders that internet companies use aren’t even theirs; they just farmed me out to a list of available real estate agents and then take a piece of the action. Bottom line; never, ever trust a “one-stop-shop”. Hire a specialist; a professional real estate agent or broker like Mr. Ames and save yourself some real money, time and frustration.”

–Candice Chartoff, Los Angeles

“All real estate agents should care this much for their clients. We were looking for a property that my husband could use as a weekend retreat for his clients of holistic healing and one that he could put a Yurt on for meditation. We found the “perfect”, 5-acre property in the hills, filled with peaceful nature that our agent was going to make an offer on the next day. Fortunately, we met the Ameses that evening and the first question Mr. Ames asked was, “Is it zoned for that?”. We had no idea. Come to find out that yes, a Yurt could be built on the property but a business, even a weekend retreat would be a violation of zoning laws making it anything but the “perfect”. When I asked our agent about that, all he said was, “That’s a good question. I don’t know what it’s zoned for. It’s none of my business what you’re doing with the property. I’m just the agent getting it for you.” Needless to say we fired our agent before he could make the offer and hired the Ameses that same day who found us what really was the “perfect” property and twice as large for just a bit over what the “wrong” property was costing us. So if you want the real “perfect property”, these are the people you need on your side.”

-Charles and Kelly Montrose

“It sure helps to have a retired lawyer as your agent. My wife and I were represented by another agent at a real estate .com company who said they’d handle everything. Trusting them, I signed an agreement with them that, had it not been for Mr. Ames’ review of the document, I’d have paid a lot more than what I thought I was paying. I’d used Mr. Ames before he retired and had no idea he’d “gotten bored playing golf” and “un-retired” but into sales with his wife. Anyway, he showed me how they’d figured the numbers, I wasn’t really saving the $10,000 my .com agent and the commercial said I’d get back at the close of escrow but that it was really just cleverly (but legally!) folded into the loan. And when I asked for his help, he forced the cancellation of the agreement AND found me another financial broker I could trust.”

– Doug Griffin