A First-time Home Buying Experience That ‘Blew Our Minds’

Five hours. Five houses. One Saturday. Mark Cipolletti came prepared.

“I was impressed, because when we met him that day, he had a cooler filled with water and snacks,” recalls client Beth Clingenpeel, who with husband Tim met their REALTOR® at the first walk-thru home in Ashland on a hot Saturday in June. “He said, ‘I know we have a crazy day ahead, so I want to make sure we have time to eat as we can’t stop for lunch.’” Mark had also not only mapped the route they’d take that day, but drove it himself the day prior to make sure he knew the roads. “Those little touches were amazing,” Beth says. “He blew our minds.”

“I didn’t know the home buying process could be so easy.”

It was house three of five, on a sun-kissed cul-de-sac in Mechanicsville’s AshCreek neighborhood, that was love-at-first-sight for the parents of soon-to-be-three. “As we drove in, I loved the entryway, the trees, the young families everywhere,” Beth recalls. The house was “right within” the couple’s price-point, and more importantly, met the list of all their “must-haves” and most all their “nice-to-haves.” Mark, by the way, had created a checklist for each home listing the musts, nices, and absolutely-nots (no busy street out front, as they’d had in Fredericksburg).

With their home under contract, Mark didn’t disappear. He managed the inspection and repairs process. He also helped the first-time homebuyers run the financing gauntlet, working directly with the mortgage lender, First Community Bank, and keeping Beth and Tim appraised of the progress so they could handle packing and work (all during a pandemic). 

At closing – done in just 45 days — Mark presented the pair with a custom drawing of their home, made by a local artist, as a gift. “That picture now has a central space in our new home,” she says. Overall, Beth says, Mark was flexible and accessible anytime the couple had a question. “And I had a lot of questions,” she jokes. “He provided us with a wonderful experience. I didn’t know the home buying process could be so easy.”