Response from Donna Bruno on 11/11/2024

This is in response to Bernadette M's review. A close friend and colleague recommended me to Bernadette. I have been doing business with that close friend and colleague for over 30 years. All of her referrals were and are treated with the utmost care. But Bernadette and I had such a small window of working together professionally, I listed the home on 4/17/24 and it was taken off the market 3 days later, 3 days later. I am surprised she is so angry. Perhaps there is something else going on in her life at this time fueling her anger. At the time we met and I toured the home, the home needed extensive repair and her elderly mother had been living there for many years alone. Bernadette informed me that she was prepared to accept a cash offer from a company in PA that was approx $50,000 below market value.I have been selling real estate in Aberdeen for decades and I have been the top agent in Aberdeen for decades, I know real estate values. I advised her that she could obtain significantly more on the open market. My only comments about companies offering cash to purchase homes was to make sure she was getting market value, that was all. After the home was listed, I was able to obtain offers that were at the level and higher that I mentioned above. As far as working as a dual agent, that was carefully explained to Bernadette, I did not bring in the offer, it was another agent and agency. After receiving, the offer, Bernadette decided not to sell. So the offer was communicated and emailed to her prior to her decision about not selling. I am not sure why her comment has a different time frame.I wished her all the best and never once made a 'nasty' comment, she said it was going to be for her son, again I wished her all the best then I promptly took the home off the market in April 2024, that is public record on Zillow by the way, which was promptly after her request. What Bernadette does not realize is that once a home is taken off the market, the term of the listing eventually expires. When a listing expires in MLS, every agent will try and contact the seller. So Bernadette saying that I just did the withdrawal is not the case, not the case at all. She just doesn't understand the MLS procedures but had she checked Zillow, the date would have been obvious. I am surprised she comments about lack of communication as it was just the opposite, I would call and not receive a call back for a couple days. She was always busy with her mother as they were planning on moving her mother to California and had many things to resolve before the move, Bernadette has lived in California for years, her mother in Aberdeen for decades. I have been selling real estate for 40 years and I have never once used the type of language that is suggested in her review. Never. If anything, it was the opposite. I pride myself on being the consummate professional and also pride myself with having ethics that are beyond reproach. I think Bernadette receiving so many calls from agents asking if she wants to sell the home prompted this review, I wish she would have looked at the history of the home on Zillow and she would have seen the withdrawal date. I also think she should have checked her email with the offer that was emailed to her, which was significantly over the cash offer she had received. In any case, I hope her mother has settled in California and enjoying her new home.