October 18 , 1999

Dear Louis,

Have I told you how much I love my new home? Well, I do. Most of my fears of buying a place have subsided and my new condo is really starting to feel like my home. It’s a great feeling.

I just wanted to take a second to put my many thanks to you on paper. I am quite grateful for all the time and energy you spent helping me prepare for home ownership and find the perfect place. As a fairly young first-time homebuyer, I was nervous and had a lot of questions. You made the process pleasant, simple and insightful.

What I most appreciate is the time you spent educating me on the ins-and-outs of home ownership when I was just starting to think about buying. You know that I had only a short time to make a decision to buy, find an appropriate property and close. But you also realized the value in making a fully educated decision. I had done a good bit of research – reading advice columns and talking to friends – but the conversations with you inregards to what I could afford, how to secure a manageable loan, and how the process of finding a home works were by far the most helpful. This early information, along with your helpfulness and concern throughout the entire process, made me feel very prepared and confident during the contract ratification process, the inspection process and the settlement.

I am also thankful for the way you really worked around my busy work schedule, meeting me on the weekends to house hunt and write my contract and welcoming me one evening into your family’s home to explore prospective properties in the database. You seemed to be just as excited about me buying a home as I was – and your enthusiasm gave me great comfort and assurance that I was doing the right thing.

In addition, I was impressed by the way you really took the time to get to know me. Sure – you were my landlord, but we really had not had much communication until all of this. But because you learned about my preferences, you were able to help me see the true value in the properties we visited. You gave me good advice on how I could fix up Condo A up or how Condo B had great potential. You also helped me to rank the places we visited – making my efforts to pick just the right place quite easy.

I still can’t believe I am 24 years old and own my home. I feel so incredibly accomplished that I’ve recommended buying to all of my friends. Thank you for all your help.

Sincerely,