House Whisperer
Managing Broker
Certified Negotiation Expert
Mobile : 360-298-5180
sandi@twilliamsrealty.com
Whether it’s hiking raw land to envision the perfect building site, researching existing homes to match a wish list, or ferreting out the hidden potential in a fixer-upper, I love evaluating properties and seeing buyers light up when we locate “the one.”
Born and raised in Florida, I spent a decade in marketing before turning my passion for homes and design into a career. In 1996 I earned my real estate license and began buying, upgrading and reselling homes. I found the renovation process so gratifying that I became a Certified Kitchen Designer (CKD) and joined an award-winning residential building contractor as its pre-construction manager, planning extensive remodels and seeing them through to completion. After falling for Orcas and moving here in 2006, I helped launch T Williams Realty and hit the ground running as a Washington real estate broker. I’ve never looked back!
In this business, finding the right property for a buyer or the right buyer for a seller is just the beginning. Every real estate deal is fraught with potential landmines. During the process, my “project manager” mode kicks in and my clients can relax knowing I’m on top of the details and keeping things on track. When challenging situations arise, my skills as a Certified Negotiation Expert help smooth the way to a positive outcome.
For me, being a Realtor goes well beyond writing contracts or overseeing transactions. It’s a lifestyle I’ve chosen because of the personal satisfaction I get by helping people navigate what’s likely one of their biggest decisions and transitions in life. Buying or selling a property is an emotional process, and even more so when you’re moving to or from your Orcas Island dream home. Creating a positive experience for my clients simply makes my heart sing.
Following our first contact we sent Sandi a detailed list of what we were looking for in a home. She did her homework, and showed us a number of potential fits for our needs, even though we were not ready to make a purchase immediately. The fact that we did not find anything that was “just right” did not deter her in the least. Properties like we sought are few and far between on Orcas Island, but Sandi never lost sight of our original goals list during our 3-year search. When we finally found the perfect place we knew it, and so did Sandi. She was like family, always keeping our desires in sight, and always watching out for us. During the pre-purchase inspection and evaluation period Sandi was a priceless resource for getting the very best people to help us in a critically timely way, and provided the much-needed voice of reason and calm. Incredibly detail-oriented and focused, she handled the inevitable surprises with skill and creativity, and made the process infinitely easier for us. Her negotiation skills are superb; she always seemed to know what would create success. Since our purchase, she has continued to connect us with creative, talented people to help us customize our dream home. Words truly fail us to describe the impact Sandi has had on our experience. She is one-of-a-kind, and truly a master at her craft. Potential clients should look no farther to find the ultimate professional and advocate in finding their island home
Sandi’s extensive knowledge of the local real estate market and of county rules, her willingness to do thorough research and thoughtful analysis before making recommendations, her experience and no fear in negotiating, her talent for finding the right words to express the rationale for your point of view and actions, her tact, her diligence and hard work ethic, her attention to detail, her background in home design … combined with her grace and kindness … make her a realtor you want representing you.
Focused, knowledgeable, thoroughly organized, great buyer’s advocate. Sandi was fantastic to work with throughout the property search and buying process. She guided us seamlessly through, at times, a challenging home purchase due to several “surprises” caused in large part by a lack of full disclosure on certain issues and poor legal contract management by the Seller’s agent (IMO). Through it all, Sandi maintained an even keel and was an absolute pleasure to work with. Great person and well respected in the Orcas and San Juan community at large based on feedback we received during our due diligence and our overall experience.
We took a full year to do all the homework required to ensure the island property we loved made sense as a purchase. We were not easy clients. Despite the back-and-forthing, Sandi was clear, professional, incredibly efficient at getting us the massive quantities of info we felt we needed, and persistent on our behalf when interacting with the seller/seller’s agent. Her skill set is vast. She could work at a high level in any of a number of professions. We feel grateful to have had her as our realtor.
“Sandi was instrumental in enabling us to identify, assess, and close on our property. As an out-of-state buyer, Sandi provided us with her local insight and referrals to assist us through negotiations, financing, and due diligence phases of our purchase. We would not have realized our Orcas dream without her support and coaching. Thank you Sandi!”
Our particular sale had some unexpected curves. Without Sandi’s skilled negotiation, level-headed thinking, and sense of humor, those curves would have led to a dead-end. She worked many hours developing creative solutions to new challenges and used her talents to show us possibilities where we saw problems. The result is that we are in a home beyond our dreams, still pinching ourselves at our good fortune.
We’ve been involved in nine real estate transactions. Some of the agents were above average, but none came close to matching Sandi’s skill, intelligence, diligence and insightful ways. We hope to live in our house for many years to come, but should we decide to sell, Sandi is unquestionably the Realtor® we will call.
Sandi is not only a great knowledgeable hardworking agent, but also a genuinely good person. From the beginning of showing us properties, through the ups and downs of negotiations with the sellers to the end at closing (and beyond), Sandi was there for us. Sandi knows the local market and the issues to be concerned about; and issues that really weren’t. During the due diligence phase, Sandi was a font of knowledge with a network of service providers that helped us assess geo tech conditions on the shoreline, the health of the trees, the water system, the house itself, and even the buoy out in the water. All in all I would recommend Sandi without hesitation.
“Sandi made the whole process painless; she explained everything to me in a way that I could understand. I’m almost tempted to buy another house just so I could have Sandi sell it for me. If I am ever in the market to buy a house in her area I will definitely be going through her.”
“Sandi is the most professional Realtor that I have worked with. She is extremely responsive and proactive. The whole process was smooth and the advice Sandi gave us was spot on at every stage of the sale. I would definitely choose Sandi as our Realtor again and can highly recommend her.”
Five stars on everything? Really? Yes, that’s how good Sandi Friel is at her job. I’ve used 6 real estate agents to buy or sell homes in the course of my lifetime, and Sandi Friel is by far the best one I’ve encountered. She was very skilled at helping me and my wife think about and describe what we most wanted in a special new home. She was great at helping us see possibilities in various homes we looked at that we hadn’t seen or considered. But at the same time, because of her incredibly thorough preparation she also was right on top of potential problems or concerns. And she didn’t leave it at that in the case of the home we were most attracted to. Instead, she worked diligently to find solutions and helped resolve those concerns using her own substantial creative and design skills and the skills of others she brought in. All that hard work wouldn’t have been enough to have us in our dream home. It took her superb negotiation skills to bring the purchase to closing at a price we could afford. Sandi Friel really is that good at matching people with the homes they want at a price they can afford because that’s what she cares about.
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