“Friendly and always available.”
That’s how one of our Landed homebuyers described their Landed partner agents, Sam and Bindu Xavier, who work as a team to support homebuyers in the South Bay area of Los Angeles.
The Landed team works closely with partner real estate agents to provide wrap-around services to our homebuyers. To date, Landed customers have graded their partner agents with 96% satisfaction (an A grade!) based on a post-closing survey.
I had the pleasure of speaking with Sam Xavier to get to know more about him and Bindu, their approach to real estate, and their deep ties to the public education community in Redondo Beach, California.
Can you share a bit about your background?
I have been in real estate for 15 years. Prior to finding real estate, I spent 16 years in the computer IT world as a western regional manager. In 2003, I personally bought and sold real estate prior to getting my license in 2004. Three years later, my wife and I teamed up and created the Xavier and Xavier team with RE/MAX estate properties.
When you meet a client, what are the first steps you take?
We get to know the homebuyer and find out what’s really important to them about buying a home. We learn about their history – how long they’ve lived in the area and family background – as well as their current family situation. From there, we share with the homebuyer how we work and what the process looks like. We share with them our buyer guide, which outlines the entire homebuying process from beginning to end. Once the homebuyer decides they want to work with us, we set out on a journey together to find their dream home. We let our homebuyers know that the property that they are looking for may not be available on the current market, so we are involved in many networking groups that allow us to find homes that are not yet listed.
What are some common pitfalls that you see homebuyers make?
They assume that just because they have a job and earn income, they can get pre-approved for a mortgage. They want to get started, but they don’t have a pre-approval from a lender. We make sure that when we work with a homebuyer, they understand the buying process so they can get a property they want. Once homebuyers have a pre-approval, we know the price point the homebuyer is able to purchase, and we get to know what is important to them. Then we start to find what would be a great fit for them.
Buying in a less desirable school district. Sometimes they love the property and the location, but when it’s time to enroll their children in school, they realize that the school does not provide the educational opportunities that they want for their kids. Because we know how important education is, we make sure to emphasize to homebuyers that this is an important consideration when deciding on a home to purchase.
What does education mean to you?
Education means a lot to us. We have two kids who are 16 and 14. We actually made the mistake of buying a home in a less desirable school district 14 years ago, and we had to seek out other opportunities to ensure our children had a high-quality education. We found that Redondo Beach Unified School District (RBUSD) allowed permits, so we enrolled our son at the local elementary school in the district. We realized we wanted to be a part of the school district and community, so we moved to Redondo Beach.
We are now heavily involved with RBUSD. I volunteer at my children’s school and am an active PTA member. Every time that Bindu and I help a homebuyer sell or purchase a home, we donate $500 of our commission to the Redondo Beach Educational Foundation. We became sponsors back in 2013, and since then we have donated close to $10,000 to the foundation.
Why did you become a Landed partner agent?
Since we were sponsors of RBUSD and known in the community, when Dr. Steven Keller polled around the district asking school teachers and administrators who they would recommend as a partner agent, we were recommended and he appointed us. We started with Landed at the end of 2017.
We feel that the work we do with Landed is a true partnership. We love the way you educate people on homeownership versus selling them on buying a house. The program allows people who never dreamed of homeownership to have light at the end of the tunnel.
Interested in connecting with a Landed partner agent? Please sign up here to get started. If you're an educator at an eligible institution, we can help you through your homebuying journey (whether or not you use Landed's down payment program!). We provide free homebuying education and guidance, and we work with teachers and employees to connect them to experienced real estate agents like Bindu and Sam.
