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Dear Jack,
I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you and your team
for the truly remarkable work done in marketing our family
home. As you are aware, selling our home in Oak bay was neccesitated
by our move back to Vancouver. It was a home that we had loved
and cared for during our stay in Victoria, which to me, makes
your innovative marketing strategy even more impressive.
 With
the very capable assistance of Barb McKinnon, you were
able to identify numerous enhancements to the manner in which
our home was presented to the marketplace. This was not a
cold process of merely doing what your team thought right,
but rather a thoughtful and sensitive agreement with my entire
family (including our two young daughters).
Each of the people you involved in the projects undertaken-
the paintings, repairs, gardening, decorating etc. - was professional,
respectful of our busy schedules, and willing to go the extra
distance to ensure the work was done to a very high standard
and in keeping with the character of our home and family.
In particular, I would like to thank Barb for her cheerful,
creative, and detailed decorating enhancements. She brought
out the best in our home and possesions. As I took a final
look through just prior to your one and only open house, I
felt such a complete pride of ownership.
 I
would be remiss if I did not also thank you personally
for giving us the opportunity to take advantage of this wonderful
and unique marketing approach. You were prepared to invest
not only your time, but your money to ensure our home reached
it's full potential. It was clear that you were totally commited
to our best interests. Once again, you attended to every
detail of the preparation, marketing, negotiation, and follow-up
with a complete professionalism and good cheer.
Selling a home one loves, and placing that home in "ready
to be viewed" condition, is a very stressful undertaking.
Through all of the work you and your team did, you generated
immediate and meaningful interest, such that we were able,
in a relatively slow market, to attract two offers in excess
of our asking price within three days of the sign being placed
on the lawn.
What more could we have asked for?
Thank You!
Sincerely,
Larry
Buttress
Manager, Industry Practice
Real Estate Council of British Columbia
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Re: Jack
Petrie and Barbara McKinnon
I am a lawyer who has carried on a general practice of law in
Victoria over the past twelve years.
In October of 1997, I owned a small cottage-style bungalow in
the south Oak Bay area which I needed to sell because I had
purchased another property. I listed the house with a reputable
realtor from a national realty firm who specialized in selling
homes in my area. Unfortunately, notwithstanding a number of
open houses and even television marketing, that realtor was
 unable
to secure a single offer.
I listed the house with another realtor who had been reccomended
to me, but despite more than one hundred showings, that realtor
was likewise unsuccesful in securing an offer to purchase the
house.
By the spring of 1998, I felt desparate because of the slowness
of the real estate market and financial burden of carrying two
mortgages.
I then attempted to sell the house myself for a few weeks, without
success, and during that time I learned of the sale of a property
which had recently occured in my neighborhood. I made some inquiries
and was advised that the house which had sold, one similar to
mine in vintage and size, had been listed with Jack Petrie and
had sold in only seven days.
Encouraged by this, I decided to contact Jack to discuss the
problems which I had been encountering in selling my own house.
From the outset, I was impressed with Jack's balance of professionalism
and relaxed demeanor and, although I was leery about listing
with yet a third agent, I was intrigued by a proposal which
Jack Petrie had sold in only seven days.
In short, Jack explained to me that the emotional connection
made by a prospective purchaser with a home during the first
showing was one of the most compelling factors in determining
whether or not that person would make an offer to purchase.
After inspecting my house, he recomended certain cosmetic improvements
to both the interior and exterior which he believed would best
exploit its unique qualities and enhance its marketability.
Providing the sincerity of his convictions, Jack agreed to absorb
the time and costs associated with effecting these changes.
 In
a matter of ten days, Jack, with the assistance of Barbara mcKinnon,
an architectural interior designer of some acclaim, transformed
my house from a somewhat bland and ordinary house into a quaint
and cozy home which I barely recognized. In addition to
such superficial modifications as painting and tiling, Jack
and Barbara decorated the interior with "props", including
antique furniture, paintings, and ornaments, and created an
ambience which conveyed a real sense of home.
Following this metamorphosis, Jack's efforts did not diminish.
He aggresively marketed the property, including holding open
houses on both days of consecutive weekends, and shortly thereafter
I began to recieve offers to purchase the house. Within one
month of first meeting Jack, I accepted a reasonable offer made
to me and brought to an end the eight-month ordeal of trying
to sell my house.
Over the years I have dealt with many realtors in my professional
practice, but there have been few that I would place within
the same class as Jack Petrie. In the short time that I have
had the pleasure to deal with him, Jack demonstrated a vision
for innovation which I believe would benefit anyone trying to
sell a house. Either in a buoyant market, or one as fickle as
that in which I found myself, and I would reccomend anyone anyone
considering listing a house for sale to consult with Jack and
Barbara first.
Yours
sincerely,
Donald D. MaKnight
Smith Hutchison
Barristers & Solicitors |
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Jack Petrie •
1286 Fairfield Road • Victoria, B.C. • V8V 4W3
Ph: (250) 385-2033 • Fax: (250) 385-6677 • Toll Free: 1-888-886-1286
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