We were simultaneously surprised and relieved to find that our father had designated someone in his will to handle the sale of his home after he passed. Over the years we had met Mr. Kander on a couple of occasions while visiting but had no knowledge of his reputation and skills as a real estate agent, or that of his company. But my father had lived on the island for many decades and certainly knew many people in the RE industry that could have chosen to do the job, so I am sure he had given this subject a great deal of thought. We trusted the wisdom of our father as well as feeling an obligation to carry out his wishes. We knew he must have believed strongly that Michael and his team at Lifestyles would do the best job for our family, or he would not have put them in his will.

Because of some legal entanglements, the sale of the house was delayed a year. By this time, we were all anxious to expedite the sale and so we contacted Michael, who knew nothing about my father’s instructions, and arranged to fly into town to meet and develop a plan. To our surprise, Mr. Kander asked that we trust him to postpone the sale even further until he could make needed improvements and stage the house. He felt that he could increase the sales price substantially. Although we had already received offers during the year in the $2.6 million range, and were anxious to sell the house quickly, we took a big gulp and put our faith in his expertise…because our dad wanted it that way. Over a period of several months Michael and his team worked on cleaning, making repairs and improvements. Unbeknownst to us, and to our surprise, Michael re-landscaped the front courtyard and built a beautiful water fountain as its center piece in honor of our father. Michael had the house staged and even used his own funds to purchase decorator items to put the final touches on the house. Once the house was ready, the sale proceeded very quickly. We learned from Michael that when it came to selling homes, Lifestyles has pioneered a different approach which streamlines the process with tight controls. In no time we had offers coming in left and right, and to our amazement, we sold the house for $600K more than what we were expecting all in under 30 days. The process was amazing. To say he did a great job would be a gross understatement. Before closing, everyone flew into town for a final family reunion and goodbye to our family home. We were not only pleased with the results but touched by Michael’s dedication to our father and our family. We know Dad would be smiling.

--The W Family