For Mary and her husband Reed, moving across country to Virginia wasn’t about relocating for a job. It was about being closer to family.

 

The couple moved to Seattle after meeting at Christopher Newport University in Newport News. But with many of their family members still back here in Virginia, vacation time often entailed long trips from the West Coast to come back to see them.

 

“We settled on the Richmond area because it's very central to both my husband’s parents and my parents. My sister lives in the area. My cousin lives in the area, and a lot of our friends from college also live here,” Mary says. “We just have a lot of connections here.”

 

Mary started searching on Zillow for just the right home for the couple and their three small children. Her sister highly recommended that Mary work with Mark Cipolletti, the realtor who just a couple years earlier helped her sister find her own home.

 

Mary and Reed met up with Mark after flying to Richmond for a month-long trip to scope out neighborhoods. They weren’t planning to tour specific homes. Nonetheless, Mark was able to get them in the door of several houses even before they went on the market.

 

“I would absolutely recommend him to anybody. He is a patient, kind person,” Mary says. “Having someone who is patient and compassionate to your situation and how you want the process to play out is really important. And he was all of those things.”

 

“He’s very personable, a great listener.” Mary says. “He he was hearing the things that we were saying about the first house. I could see that he was applying it to the other homes that he referred us to later.”

 

The couple’s Richmond trip ended, but their search for a home here continued even after they returned to the West Coast. 

 

Mark set up a private Facebook Live tour to virtually walk the couple through another Richmond area home. He live-streamed as he went through the house, opening cabinets and drawers and flagging details like a stuck door, Mary says. They put in an offer, but they didn’t get that home. 

 

But Mark did another Facebook Live tour for the couple, this time on a Chesterfield County home within walking distance of a playground and trail system along the James River. 

 

“Mark again was meticulous while going through every inch of this house and answering all of our questions,” Mary says.

 

And since it was recorded on Facebook Live, the couple could replay the tour again and again. They put in another offer, and this time they got the house. But they didn’t see it in person until moving in a few months later.

 

“It was exactly as Mark showed it to us,” Mary says. “Pulling up to the house, we were like ‘we can't even believe that this is our home.’ It’s just beautiful. It’s everything we were hoping for. Going into the house, the kids were just wild.”  

 

In addition to getting their own bedrooms, the couple’s children (ages 3, 5, and 7) now live much closer to their many cousins here in Virginia. The couple kept the news about their impending move within a tight group of family members with only Mary’s sister and cousin aware they were thinking of relocating. Mary’s mother, who lives in Southwest Virginia, was overcome with emotion upon hearing the news.

 

“My mom cried because she’s been asking us to move for 10 years,” Mary says.

 

And just like her sister, Mary suggests homebuyers work with Mark to help guide their search.

 

“I would absolutely recommend him to anybody. He is a patient, kind person,” Mary says. “Having someone who is patient and compassionate to your situation and how you want the process to play out is really important. And he was all of those things.”

 

---------------------

Start your home search off on the right foot by contacting Mark today.