If you are even considering buying a home in Salem/Keizer, I need to tell you a story about an amazing woman and realtor - Melina Tomson.  My Mom recently passed away from brain cancer.  It was my job to "handle her affairs", one of which was to sell her home.  We interviewed several people based on YELP reviews.  We chose Melina to sell Mom's home.  We had NO IDEA what a good choice we made.  She staged the house just beautifully.  Within days we got our first offer. But there were problems on the horizon.  Essentially, my Mom's home (which looked beautiful) had a fair amount of deferred maintenance.  Here's what we faced 1) sunken oil tank, 2) old roof, 3) heater air-conditioning needed to be replaced, 4) water main to the street needed to be replaced, 5) electrical panel needed to be replaced.  That, combined with clouds on the title and some other "issues" meant that we had two "failed sales". Through all of this Melina was "as cool as a cucumber".  She always had the answers.  More than that - she always knew exactly the right person to call in to help.  And, since she's worked with all these contractors before, she was able to get them to do the work with the expectation they would get paid at closing.  She did all this with a super positive attitude. The house sold in a fairly short period of time considering the challenges.  I don't live in the Salem/Keizer area so there is just no way we could have done this without Melina's finesse, knowledge, and hard work. If you are considering buying or selling a home in the Salem/Keizer market, your first move should be to pick up the phone and call Melina. I'm not a huge referral...