My sister and I were experiencing emotional turmoil after the unexpected passing of our father in Maryland. We were suddenly trustee's of his estate, which included his house that he had lived in for 45 years. A friend, who knew that we had to sell the house because we both resided out of state, introduced us to Josette. I knew right away, during our first meeting at Dad's house, that Josette had the knowledge and experience necessary to prepare a 1960's home for sale in the present day.
She pointed out how inexpensive upgrades like new light fixtures, a fresh coat of paint, or new glass in the kitchen cabinates, etc. would help in the sale of the house. We were convinced and asked her to get started. She became our "general contractor", buying light fixtures, kitchen appliances, etc., and getting quotations for other work and repairs that needed to be done. Everything she recommended was first sent to us for approval or discussion before she bought anything or hired anyone to work.
She also did thorough homework on the housing market in the area which helped us establish a selling price (which was within $3,000.00 of an independent appraisal). After all the necessary upgrades and repairs were completed, we put the house on the market and it sold within a month. Josette is an honest, hard-working (I often received e-mails from her late in the evening) and dedicated realtor. She is also a great "diplomat" and negotiator who was willing to listen to us and be sensitive to our needs and situation. How great it was to know that, 600 miles away, we had a highly competent realtor in Josette working "on our side". David Young & Sue Vodola
Josette made my home buying experience great. She got to know my tastes quickly and found some great houses to look at. Once I found the house, Josette introduced me to online forms. It was so quick and easy. No waiting, no going to a lawyers office, it's very efficient. During the process, Josette sent me helpful emails so I knew what to expect next. She also has a great rolodex of people to fix any situation that may come up. I highly recommend Josette if you are buying a home! Steve Greehan
OUTSTANDING AGENT!!! Josette found us a rental property last year, so when our dream home unexpectedly came on the market, we called Josette. She had an offer ready within 24 hours. She persevered through some uniquely difficult circumstances, and got us our new house. If you want excellent, personal, and timely real estate service, have Josette on your speed dial. Keith Alfieri
I never had a chance to write a review about my experience working with a real estate agent before and I respect Josette's professionalism and dedication to her work too much to Google something like "a good review for a real estate agent" so I can cut and paste something bland and unassuming about "attention to detail" and "zero- stress experience" or "savvy, personable personality" etc., etc. In fact, all the above is very true about working with Josette, who indeed neither showed any signs of tiredness of me becoming a home-buying version of Bridezilla nor became less attentive to my somewhat irrational demands and budgeting expectations. My search is finally over and my closing date is set and I can't say anything more than "Thank you, Josette, that couldn't have been done without you. And I wouldn't try it without you in the future." Dimitri Kirin
Jon & I have searched daily online for homes. We have met numerous agents at open houses. A couple agents showed us a listing that was from their company but not their personal listing. Due to various factors such as personality, organization skills (lacking), fee structure/paperwork, experience, knowledge of the neighborhood – none of these agents were a good fit for us. Last week, the Soper Street listing popped up on Homesdatabase. I called the 800 number. I explained to you what I was looking for and you provided me with information that I could not get myself. When you showed the listing and then convinced me to take a look at the Chiswell property (even though I thought it was ½ of the size it was – due to tax records), you came armed with even more data. I was instantly impressed with all the research you had done on the area. Your paperwork was organized, informative, clear. You helped me visualize living in the house. You were personable, non pressuring and “with it”. I realized that before we even got to Chiswell Road. It was an automatic fit. When I called my husband to come over and see Chiswell, I told him we found our agent. Since our signing with you, you have continued to provide the same outstanding service. This is one of the most important transitions in my life and I had been praying for months to find the right person to guide us through it. You may think it hokey, but I believe God planted you on phone duty that day. You have been exactly who we were looking for. Thank you for making this process go so smoothly. 17 more days!! Many thanks, Joanna (and Jon) Borman
Jeanne and I had listed our home with another broker and had no success in attracting a buyer. Josette was able to come in and identify the issues which were preventing us from selling and help us to very quickly turn our home into a very saleable product. She worked tirelessly on our behalf, even painting walls and packing boxes! She’s a tough taskmaster but it’s truly in your best interest to listen to her wisdom – she knows what buyers are looking for and how to make your home show up on their top 3 list.We truly feel Josette was the catalyst in getting our home successfully under contract in 34 days, at a time when the average days on market were over 70. And every detail along the way was taken care of for us all the way up to a very smooth and successful settlement. We are very thankful for Josette’s knowledge and integrity and her ability to help us make good decisions. We recommend her without reservation as the agent who will help you make good decisions and who will always act in your best interests” Sincerely, Ed and Jeanne Reedy
Josette made the process of buying this home so easy for us even though it was a very difficult transaction with the financing. We love our home and can’t wait to make the changes that will make it our own! We would recommend her to any of our friends…” Jen & Mathew
My wife and I recently moved from San Francisco and were very excited at the prospect of purchasing a home in Maryland. We chose to work with several agents in the Montgomery County area to ensure that we found an agent we could work well with and to ensure we had someone who had our interests in mind. We were referred to Josette Skilling by a close family friend; and after our initial meeting, we decided that she was the agent for us. During our home search, Josette’s ability to provide us with detailed information about homes in specific areas helped us narrow our choices. When we chose Clarksburg, Josette made sure we understood the building situation and permitting issues for new construction there. Josette helped to point out possible risks and areas of concern while we moved forward with the home buying process. Her negotiation skills helped us to structure an aggressive offer that was accepted by the seller. We were very pleased with Josette’s efforts during our home buying process. She was accessible, a pleasure to work with, and very professional. She treated our home buying process as if she was buying the home herself. We confidently felt that she was helping us find our perfect home instead of trying to sell us a house. We would highly recommend Josette Skilling to those searching for their dream home.” Bryan and Lisa Suit
Working with Josette was an outstanding experience. She was patient, thorough and knowledgeable. Most importantly Josette was genuinely interested in helping us find the right home. We drove away from all of our interactions with Josette thinking about how much we enjoyed working with her. Even other agents commented on what a pleasure she was to work with. To us that spoke volumes about her professionalism and integrity. We would recommend Josette to anyone.” Aaron & Maura Davis
Josette made the process of buying a home effortless and stress-free! As a first-time home buyer I was a little nervous but with Josette's guidance I was able to make an informed decision with no regrets. I appreciate that she was so knowledgeable about everything from finances to renovating your home. I can't thank Josette enough for her patience, honesty and determination in helping me get my dream home. I highly recommend Josette Skilling to anyone!" Nancy Bellegarde
Dear Josette, Thank you so much for all your help and hours of hard work for the last few months to assist us to find the perfect home! We finally found it with your help!! Thank you! Nate and Emily
Josette Skilling has a wealth of knowledge about the real estate business. While having impeccably high standards and an extremely professional approach to her work, she is also a warm and caring person who is willing to go the extra mile to achieve a successful outcome for her clients. She is extremely knowledgeable about the neighborhoods in the area which is particularly helpful to newcomers to Maryland. At all stages of our house search, Josette offered lots of practical assistance and much sound advice about the best way to proceed. Josette listened carefully to our hopes and expectations and showed us a number of attractive homes any one of which would have met our needs. Yet, she continued to offer us additional options until we found the home which we absolutely loved! This upcoming move to our new home will be our second move in nine months. It has been a trying time for our family to say the least, but Josette's expert opinion and helpful suggestions throughout the process have made the whole experience a lot less stressful. In fact, it was actually a lot of fun! Thanks a lot! Sincerely, Barbara Dunkley
What more can you ask for in a buyer's agent? Josette Skilling fulfills every expectation. I can't remember ever giving 5 stars for anything but this is a welcome exception. Josette's years of experience shone through in my dealings with her over the course of a year and a bit when we were searching for a home with some pretty specific criteria. She displayed utmost professionalism, untold patience and an acute understanding of our personal needs, our timing, our financing and general situation. She is not one of those agents who rushes you into signing anything. She takes the time to understand what you want and most of all she listens – a rare quality these days. Combine that with her in depth knowledge of the local market and we knew we had a very special agent working for us. We have been in our home now for almost 6 months and we love it. I have absolutely no hesitation in recommending Josette to any prospective buyer or seller. Matt Byrne
Without Josette, we wouldn't have been able to get through the whole process of a short sale. She was very responsive, thorough, and very patient in explaining everything to us, a first time home buyer. It took over 4 months for us to finally close on the condo, though seemed like forever, it could have been much worse as we had 2 impossible banks to deal with. But Josette worked diligently with the seller's agent, with her expertise in short sale, she got us our first home probably in the shortest possible time. Thank you so much, Josette!! CC and Daniel
Congratulations, Josette! They are definitely lucky to have you. We have never, ever worked with an agent that did more for us than you. You really know your stuff, you aren't afraid to get your hands dirty getting a house ready, and you are a whiz at technology and comparison shopping. Cheers to your new company, Catherine
I exchanged emails with Josette for a couple of months before I was ready to start seriously looking for a home. Josette is very knowledgeable about the area and provided me with information and tools that I would not have thought to even ask for. She always answered my emails right away. When I met with Josette to look at homes I was very impressed. She knew so much about the homes we were looking at and was able to gauge what houses would have to eventually reduce the listing price. She is also super nice and friendly. It was a great experience and I highly recommend her to anyone looking to purchase a home in the area.
Definitely a five star Realtor. Very experienced, knowledgeable, and tenacious in her dealings. A true professional in every sense of the word. Jim Luensman
Josette quite simply delivers what she promises. She was systematic and deliberate in her processes which translated to the stepwise sale of my home with minimal stress on myself or my family. Mark Carmichael
Josette helped us act quickly to sell our home at a very good price and to buy a new home in parallel transactions. Her advice on preparing our home to show was absolutely correct and useful–the house showed once and the offers poured in. Josette stayed in touch in person, by phone and by email so that she knew what we were doing and what we needed and she advised us as to all aspects of the sale…she sat in with us at the closings just to be sure that no loose ends remained. We recommend her as strongly as possible. Ray Donnelly
Josette got us through another impossible real estate nightmare with a positive outcome. She dealt with everything with professionalism and integrity, and in our case, these were the key factors of getting this deal done. She is patient and responsive, and she treated us as if we were her only client. We highly recommend Josette to anyone! CC Choi
I cannot say enough positive things about Josette Skilling. She made the process of selling our home and purchasing a new home so manageable. With her expertise and by following her advice, our home was under contract in less than 2 days. And we are so happy in our new home which is in the location we hoped for and has everything we need. Josette made herself available to us at all times and was a resource for all of our questions. I would recommend working with her to anyone who wants to find and buy, or sell their home with as little headache as possible! Erika Schwartz
Josette was wonderful to deal with. She worked with us and our bizarre schedules – with one person local and one person out of state, it was a struggle to see all that we wanted in our small windows of availability. She went above and beyond to make sure that we saw everything.
She was helpful in explanations of the market at the time – the slow response for short sales etc.
She helped get us a tremendous deal on the house we ended up purchasing. Even though it was a foreclosure, it was pretty painless in the end.
We would definitely work with her again! Steve & Kara Springer
Josette was an ideal partner in searching for a house we loved and could afford. She was accessible and upbeat every step of the way
Josette’s knowledge of all aspects, and lack of pressure to decide until we were ready, made for a great process. JBM
Josette helped us sell our condo and buy our home. I don’t think I could say enough about how wonderful she is to work with. On the seller side, Josette gave us realistic and concrete goals to get the condo ready. By following her suggestions, the place looked amazing and sold quickly.
On the buyer side, Josette is very patient and provides helpful guidance. She seemed to never tire of showing us homes, sending us listings, or acting as a sounding board as we figured out what was best for our family.
One thing that struck me when we were selling our condo was a comment the buyer’s agent made. She complimented us on what a professional and honest agent we were working with. Although I don’t know what led her to say that, I was not surprised. Josette has a lot of integrity and she clearly cares about her clients.
Josette is a pleasure to work with and we are confident she has our family’s best intentions in mind. We look forward to working with her in the future! Maura Davis
Working with Josette was a joy, and she made our transition to our dream-come-true condo happen much faster and more manageably than we ever would have thought. Her knowledge of our community and the real estate market here is deep and thorough. She knew how to handle every detail. She explained the steps and strategy thoroughly, so we understood what was happening.
She linked us up with other extraordinary professionals, e.g. a mortgage broker who was a gem. Her high energy and positive attitude were infectious, and swept us along through parts of the process that might otherwise have been tedious. And, wow, did her strategy ever pay off! When our house went on the market, it was like the Oklahoma Land Rush! The open houses were packed, we had multiple offers within just a few days, and the house sold well above listing price.We give her our highest recommendation, and thanks. Sue Carroll & Ray Donnelly
It was an enjoyable experience working with Josette Skilling when selling our home in Montgomery County, Maryland. She was pleasant to work with and always responded to our communications in a timely manner. Her knowledge and experience were invaluable in helping us make our decisions.
Josette explained the real estate “game” so that we understood it from both the sellers and buyers perspectives. She recognized a mistake by the buyer’s agent that saved us time and money in completing the process of selling our home. James Luensman
Josette is able to move mountains! She did an excellent marketing presentation and followed through beyond any expectations. She held my hand throughout the process. She gave smart recommendations. She helped make the entire selling/moving process much less stressful. We had three offers at the first open house and sold for $100,000 above asking price. I am happy! Dr. Stuart Sibel
Thank you for help finding me a home in Bethesda near my son and his family. Establishing a target area with updates of all houses available was a great idea. You worked hard and responded immediately when I called or emailed you during our hunt for the right house. You were very professional in our dealings and very knowledgeable about the real estate market in Bethesda and all the legal procedures involved in buying a house in Maryland. I was glad that you were with me for each house showing and gave me a running commentary of conditions as we made our tours. I appreciate especially your idea of mailing the record owners of all the houses in my target area that were rented or for rent or unoccupied by the owners and soliciting the opportunity to discuss sale of their properties. I appreciated your guidance in choosing a good home inspector and walking through as he made his examination. I would highly recommend you to anyone looking for an expert broker to buy a home in Bethesda. Harley Branson
Josette is extremely personable. She has a total grasp of what needs to be done to sell a house. We had lived in our house for 46 years and had never sold a house before. She guided us through the process gently. We thought she had priced the house too low but in the end we received what we wanted for the house, showing again her knowledge and expertise. Fred and Nancy May
Josette’s results speak for themselves. Josette patiently walked us through the extremely complex home-selling process—from arranging for a pre-inspection to determine how to improve our home’s salability, to arranging for (and obtaining discounts from) an array of skilled home-improvement contractors, to helping us set an asking price that both reflected the home’s increased value and made it “priced to sell.” And sell it did: We received a full-price offer less than 72 hours after the house went on the market and completed Settlement just three weeks later! Throughout the process, Josette provided the hand-holding and counsel that made the home-selling process as painless — and as fast — as humanly possible. We literally couldn’t have done it without her. Theodore Fisher
Josette was wonderufl to work with. Fom our first encounter I felt preparing and selling my home was her top priority. She was able to manage many of the contractors and little details which can easily overwhelming. Having bought and sold many homes I sincerely recomend her as the best! Deirdre Cronin
We recently purchased our first home. While this can be a nerve-wrecking process our agent, Josette Skilling, was there to guide us every step of the way. We searched for nearly a year to find the perfect home. Josette patiently reviewed each home, answering our questions and sharing her wisdom and opinions. She was always available and met with us on our schedule. We ultimately found a home that was a short-sale. The process can be a frustrating one but shee made sure we made each milestone. She also put us in contact with a mortgage broker who could assist in the purchase as well as finance our renovations. We have nothing but good things to say about Josette and would have been lost without her. We love our home, too! Carib and Gabi
I cannot say enough good things about my experience buying my new home and selling my previous home with Josette Skilling. It felt like she was always available to answer all our questions. Her advice throughout proved to be extremely valuable. As our sellers agent, our home was under contract at asking price in less than 2 days. As our buyers agent, we now have a home in the location we desired and feel good about the process of getting there. As the mother of 2 very young children, it was hard to imagine going through this at this stage in my life. It is impossible to describe how much easier it was with Josette by our side.
Josette is a wonderful person and an accomplished Realtor. Very professional and willing to go the extra mile to help you find a home. Thanks Josette!!! Miles and Nancy Quist
Josette made my home buying experience great. She got to know my tastes quickly and found some great houses to look at. Once I found the house, Josette introduced me to online forms. It was so quick and easy. No waiting, no going to a lawyers office, it's very efficient. During the process, Josette sent me helpful emails so I knew what to expect next. She also has a great rolodex of people to fix any situation that may come up. I highly recommend Josette if you are buying a home! Steve Greehan
My husband and I worked with Josette for five months, conversing almost every day with regards to looking for a house. In those conversations, she was always incredibly professional, knowledgable, and encouraging as we tackled the emotional journey of finding a home in a new area. I would highly recommend Josette for her expertise and making sure that we explored and understood all angles of the housing market. We had a superior experience with Josette! Kelly Garverick
We moved from Indianapolis (lower priced area) to DC area (much higher) and Josette was fabulous at helping us understand what neighborhoods would met our criteria and preferences. We knew nothing about the area and really wanted a similiar feel to what we had in Indy. Her knowledge of every neighborhood was very valuable in our search and ultimately finding the right house and right neighborhood for us.
She also was very patient and helpful to us as we tried to understand the housing market and what type of house we should get for the money we were looking to spend. She was always available and proactive in finding houses that fit our criteria. She pushed ideas to us as much as we pushed ideas to her. She was also extremely patient as we are very picky and it took 5 months for us to find the right house and neighborhood. She is also very technologically savvy which was helpful in quickly getting comps, analyzing right price, and being able to put contracts on houses quickly which is essential in this market.
I can't not say enough positive, kind words about Josette. Not only was she a great realator, but also became a great friend and was able to find us the right house at the right price. I would strongly recommend her to anyone looking to buy a house in the DC/Montgomery County area. Beau Garverick
Working with Josette was great! There is no way we would have been able to buy our house without her help – ours was the lowest of three offers that came in within 24 hours of the house going on the market, and it was only because of her negotiation skills that we walked away with the contract. Besides saving us at least $15k, she also found us the perfect house for our family. I would definitely recommend Josette to anyone looking for a buyers agent in Bethesda (or anywhere else, really). Highly recommended! Jacob Vogelstein
Josette has helped us twice now with buying a house and she is so detailed and patient. She does so much preparation work that she ends up knowing the market better than agents to who work there all the time. We appreciate her help and can't imagine trying to do this without her guidance. Jen Brooking
Josette has helped us twice now with buying a house and she is so detailed and patient. She does so much preparation work that she ends up knowing the market better than agents to who work there all the time. We appreciate her help and can't imagine trying to do this without her guidance. Amanda Schoch
Josette is an attentive and knowledgeable realtor. We appreciated her expertise as our real estate purchase became difficult; she navigated tricky waters with ease, getting us to close when it didn't seem like we would finalize our deal. Annette Gatten
Josette was invaluable in helping us through the process of finding and buying a home. She is energetic, knowledgable, and a true professional. She has a thorough understanding of the market, and how that worked with our very specific criteria. Personally, we found that she listened carefully to our needs; she was patient in explaining concepts and procedures; and she was fun company on the journey to finding our home. I cannot recommend Josette highly enough – she was simply wonderful. Eloise Keary
Josette was exceptional in helping us sell a single family residential home in the Silver Spring, Maryland, area (20902). She was thoroughly professional at every stage of the process and in every aspect of the transaction. She effectively managed the preparation of the house for sale, which involved the recommendation and management of a number of different vendors, and she did so with a bare minimum of bother or disruption to us. Her judgment was impeccable. Finally, she found for us a solid offer at an attractive price before the house even formally went on the market. What more could one possibly hope for in a real estate agent? We are delighted in our choice of Josette and in the outcome of the transaction. Marin and Paula Scordato
