The Fred Smith Group - Realty South

What is the criteria for selecting a realtor? To me, it’s only a few. Selling the property ASAP, highest price possible, and the least amount of involvement by the seller. I want to sell fast and for as much money as possible and after the initial preparation, I just want updates. I don’t want to do the realtors job. The Fred Smith group met all that criteria. If you’re putting your house on the market, Fred Smith is a must. Super smooth experience.

If there was a 5star plus rating, that is what I would rate Fred Smith! Working with Fred was an absolute pleasure from start to finish. Fred’s wisdom and years of experience was invaluable to us in both the decision to sell our house and to purchase a new home. He was so patient with us as we looked for the next great home for our family. He helped us imagine and consider how we could make each home ours but we never felt pressured to settle for something less. Once we found the right home for us, Fred helped us to be creative in making an offer that was considered over other offers. What Fred did to make the buying experience easy and fun was far outweighed by his help in selling our home of 28 years for the highest and best price. Fred and his team came to meet with us and suggested some inexpensive updates and ways to make our home more appealing to more buyers. Fred and his team helped us to formulate the best list price and helped us to set responsible expectations. The Fred Smith Groups marketing plan was second to none!! They use the best photographers who provide beautiful photos, videos and drone tools to help highlight the best parts of our home. Communication was seamless—I always felt like a priority, with my questions answered promptly and thoroughly. Thanks to Fred Smith, our home sold quickly and at a price that was beyond our hopes and expectations. I couldn’t have asked for a better experience and would wholeheartedly recommend Fred to anyone looking to buy or sell a home.

Fred Smith has been our realtor three times now, and all three times have been seamless. I would recommend him to everyone! He is very knowledgeable and knows exactly what to do to get you the house you want. Fred has made the buying and selling of our houses seamless. I trust Fred.

I was referred to the Fred Smith Group by a friend. Probably the most impactful referral I've ever been given. Fred and his team are the best in the business. Cindy Hodges, our agent, has become a family friend, along with being our trusted advisor and partner, having sold two homes for us. She spent so much time and energy concerning herself with helping us in every detail. It paid off in a bigger way than we could have dreamed. Cindy is the kindest, smartest, hardest-working and most experienced agent we have ever worked with. We listened to everything she suggested to maximize our offer amounts, even when we weren't sure about it. Glad we did. She spent time in our home, absorbing what it was and what we could tweak to make it better. She brought swatches. She thoughtfully staged our home. Sent links to vanities, light fixtures and all sorts of things that proved to contribute towards making this sale highly successful. In the end, we had multiple offers way, way over asking price with incredibly advantageous terms, when we were told by others it would never happen. Having closed last week, we already miss Cindy like you miss a friend you haven't seen in a while. If you need an agent and a team to guide you through the process in a way that produces the best results, look at Fred and Cindy's track record and make your life easier and work with them. Such good people. Such fantastic results.

Buyer Beware – that’s what our realtor told us after costing us tens of thousands of dollars. We moved to Birmingham from out of town for a job relocation and did not know any people here. We trusted our realtor, Liza Roitman of Realty South, to act in our best interest but we were disappointed. Liza recommended an inspector, who missed extensive water damage that cost tens of thousands to repair. A simple water detector would have found this. The inspector did suggest we should have rot on the fascia examined by a licensed contractor. I specifically asked him if he thought this could be indicative of a larger problem and he said no. It ultimately turned out that the entire north wall of the house had to be replaced due to rot and there was significant damage (clearly visible) on many other portions of the house. Beyond this large item, many other smaller items were missed (leaking or inoperable faucets, inoperable windows, inoperable outlets, etc.) Liza arranged a contractor to inspect the rot that was noted in the report. He quoted $1,500, which Liza negotiated as a concession. Clearly this contractor did not closely examine the rot or he would have found the magnitude of the problem. We suspect he may not have even gone to the house and simply provided Liza a number that would get her deal closed. After closing on the home the contractor would not return our calls. A search for licensed contractors did not indicate this person was licensed. For all we know this person does not exist and never actually examined the rot. In a subsequent discussion of the problem with the inspector, he told me that in the Birmingham real estate community, references to "fascia rot are code for a $1,500 concession". In other words, it seems the inspectors, realtors and contractors have an informal arrangement that protects their collective interests over their clients. It is well known that realtors will often avoid inspectors they call “deal breakers”, but this is a whole new level of irresponsibility. It is our opinion that Realty South and Liza Roitman demonstrated a pattern of recommending and arranging substandard contractors and inspectors who minimized risks to their commission. We believe they put their commissions ahead of their clients' needs. After the transaction I asked Liza to arrange a meeting with the sellers, inspectors and realtors to resolve this issue. Liza responded that Alabama is a "buyer beware" state. She has subsequently ignored our emails and declined an opportunity to resolve this through discussion. It is our opinion that Realty South and Liza Roitman do not meet their fiduciary duties to their clients. We are in the process of pursuing legal actions against them, including filing complaints with regulators. If you are moving to Birmingham, we suggest that you avoid Realty South and Liza Roitman. In our opinion they will put their interests ahead of yours and this may cost you significant headache and money. We intend to be very vocal about this and will be warning as many people as we can about what we perceive as a highly unethical group of people exploiting newcomers to Birmingham. In Realty South's own words - buyer beware.