We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jody Dimitruk & Johanna Loke a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jody Dimitruk &, thanks for joining us today. What were some of the most unexpected problems you’ve faced in your career and how did you resolve those issues?

We sold a very high end condominium and the night before settlement, we were notified by the management company that there was going to be a special assessment in excess of $700,000 for this small building. Neither the buyer nor the seller wanted to pay the unit portion of this amount. On the morning of settlement, the buyers hired an attorney and the situation got resolved with the seller paying a flat amount in excess of $40,000 which the buyers accepted and which was one of the largest credits a seller has every given in our careers. To add insult to injury, the buyers ordered a home warranty and prior to settlement, confirmed that their HVAC unit would be covered. Shortly after settlement and in the heat of the summer, their air conditioning stopped functioning correctly. The home warranty company denied responsibility for the repair although they had the complete home inspection report prior to issuing the warranty. This was a huge second hurdle that the buyers had to resolve with the home warranty company. Needless to say, this transaction was extremely stressful for our buyers and for us and we hope we never run into these situations again.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

We have been specializing in the sale of condominiums in Center City Philadelphia for over 40 years. To some people we are known as the “condo queens.” We have sold to not only our initial clients, but to their children as well. and if we hang around long enough, we will soon be getting to the grandchildren! Although one of us is extremely detail oriented and the other is more laid back, when it comes to the treatment of our clients we 100% agree. We never put the money first. We always tell our clients what we truly believe to be best or them, even if it means no sale for us. That way we can always sleep at night.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

We both worked for someone for over 25 years who is the epitome of a Type A personality. We learned so much from this person, but making the decision to leave on our own and become independent was one of the most difficult decisions we have ever made. It turned out to be one of the best decisions we have ever made. Even though many people have asked us if we were sorry that we hadn’t left earlier. we believe that we made the decision when we were ready and the timing was right for us. We have never looked back.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

Although we do continue to market ourselves constantly, our primary source of new business is from referrals. This is not unusual in our business after the amount of time we have been selling real estate, we are proud nonetheless to have maintained business/friend relationships with so many of our wonderful clients over the years. We cannot walk down the street without getting into conversations with someone that we have sold to and they are flattered that we remember so much about them and their families. This is no surprise because of the way that we feel about them. They are more than clients to us.

Contact Info:

• Website: jodyandjohanna
• Instagram: jodyandjohanna
• Facebook: jodyandjohanna
• Twitter: jodyandjohanna
• Youtube: jodyandjohanna

Image Credits

Cristina Coltro, photographer