Complaint Review: Sash Program Rebecca Bomann

While perusing real estate listings (something that becomes one's life when one is seriously looking for a home), I found a particularly nice place in a good area of Lakewood, Washington (Tacoma-area).  The house, for sale by SASH Reality, currently lists for $194,500.

Before sending this information to my realtor, I dug a little (it's good to know whether something is pending, has already been sold or is simply four walls of crap tacked together before getting one's hopes up and one's agent involved).  Using the Pierce County Assessor-Treasurer's website (google it), I was able to find that the home was sold to SASH for $72,000 on 08 November, 2012.

$194,500 asking price - $72,000 in initial acquisition = $122,500 profit for SASH.  If we wish to use the county's assessed value of $158,400 (for the 2013 tax year), that profit shrinks a bit to $86,400.

According to the listing, the property, "...has new kitchen and baths, with many other tasteful upgrades throughout." along with, "New paint inside and out, flooring, and roof too." Using a Remodeling Magazine cost value report for Seattle (2010-2011), a kitchen remodel was between 24K & 66K, roof replacement about 27K and a bathroom remodel about $19,500.  Keep in mind these are Seattle numbers (prices drop noticeably as one heads south toward Tacoma) and 2-3 years old.  Even if this property were a "fixer-upper", Fannie Mae's listings in that department are considerably higher than $72,000.  We should also keep in mind that "remodeled" is a very subjective term and we have no way of knowing if such "tasteful upgrades" were even necessary in the first place. 

Unless, of course, we wish to ask the woman who sold her home to SASH for well below market value.  Again, using the Assessor-Treasurer's website, I found 22 records of similar properties.  The lowest a comparable home in this area went for was $167,000 (sold 18 May, 2011).  They topped out at $279,000 (sold 14 July, 2010).

The most recent sale of a similar property in this area was 15 October, 2012.  The sale price? $200,000.

Caveat venditor.

I am exceptionally skeptical about this report.  I know the people who operate the Sash Program and they are good people, involved in their community. This smells more like a competitor or spammer who is just out for being malicious. You have to be skeptical of anyone who claims they could have gotten $150,000 more for their home in SeaTac where the average home price is only $220,000 (Yahoo Real Estate) . This does not make sense.

My recommendation is to check out Sash's customers. Ask for a list of with who they have done business and contact them. Using an anonymous sources such as this report is not prudent.

I have known of SASH for over four year now and have nothing but but amazing things to say about Rebecca Bomann. She often times has taken a financial loss in order to do the right thing by her clients. She has a heart to serve, integrity and honesty in her business dealings. For anyone to falsely accuse her of such an act as de-frauding a client for personal profit or gain is just plain mean-spirited and a personal attack on her good character. I am truly saddened to see that someone would stoop to such a level in an feeble attempt to ruin her good name.

Readers, Consumers, and Those Concerned;

My name is Rebecca Bomann and I am the Founder and CEO of The SASH Program. I encourage you to consider all of the facts before you make a decision about whether to believe this report. Our company has always been and will always be transparent and ethical in the way that we do business.

This report was written by an anonymous person who has chosen to slander our company with a fabricated story. As an Accredited Member of the Better Business Bureau, we have always been accountable for our actions and we are more than willing to enter into arbitration or mediation to resolve any concerns about our service.

The person who posted this complaint never gave us the opportunity to address their concern through appropriate channels. Instead they chose to post lies about SASH on-line in an attempt to smear our reputation. Their name, city, and situation do not match any client we have ever served.

Many years ago, I helped my own grandfather through his home sale and saw that it was a stressful and difficult process for seniors. I founded SASH with the intention to provide seniors with an alternative that would allow them an easy, custom-designed sale that was centered around their needs.

Since then, we have gone the extra mile over and over again for our senior clients -treating them with the same respect that we would give to our own grandparents. I encourage you to visit our website at www.sashprogram.com and click on the Testimonials page to see what folks say about us. We also have two pages of professional references who will attest to our ethical business practices.

Here are a number of other ways that we maintain standards of integrity in our company.

- We maintain strict accountability to the elder care provider community, a network of 800+ professionals that we have networked with for over 3 years.

- We have a special SASH Addendum drawn up by an elder law attorney to give our senior clients additional protections and disclosures in the sale of their home

- We allow our clients to have a long Recission Period - in which they can change their mind about selling their home to us with no consequence to them. Our Recission Period is the longest in the real estate industry.

- We encourage a written evaluation of our service by each senior client and family member who uses us, and this can be submitted anonymously to allow clients to address specific complaints or concerns.

- We have a strict no-pressure policy in which we allow senior clients to think over our service as long as they want, and we provide resources and assistance even if they have chosen not to go with our service.

- We do no advertising - all of our clients come to us by referral from professionals and former clients. This is a testimony to our outstanding reputation.

- We stay in touch with all of our former clients, and return calls promptly to those who need to communicate with us. We address concerns immediately and are open to discussion about how we can improve what we do.

As SASH's CEO and founder, I encourage anyone to call me directly for the truth about our company and our outstanding service. We have nothing to hide about the way we do business and we will continue to do serve our senior clients with integrity and respect for years to come.

Thank you for your time,

Rebecca Bomann
SASH, Inc.
rebecca@sashprogram.com
www.sashprogram.com
206-412-7432
888-400-SASH (7274)