"Walloon Lake is truly a special place.  There are few places as serene and beautiful yet so close to modern amenities and fine dining.   We had been renting homes on Walloon in various areas for several years and had several deals fall through for one reason or another. One fine summer day on July we had Brad show us two lovely lots on Walloon and we ended up a month thereafter owning one of them.  We closed during the week of the Wall Street financial meltdown and banking crisis and government bailout.  Brad is an optimist, calm yet persistent under pressure.   Even at this time - without for Brad - I doubt we could have got this deal done.  He put it together bit by bit.  All I can say is we got a wonderful lot at a fair price....which is so much better than a mediocre lot at a wonderful price.   He understood the need for quality.  He has a long family history on the lake and knows the ins and outs of the area.  I found it surprising that the premium lots (Southern exposure, hard packed sandy bottom, Petoskey city services, etc.) were not declining in price as I thought they would have.  The best lots were more in demand than I ever expected and would be gone quickly.  It is important to look around and learn the lake, maybe rent for a summer or two and then when you are really done looking around and know what you want - Brad will close the deal and get the job done."

 

Beverly Hubers - Dec. 2008




To whom it may concern,

We would like to highly recommend Brad Rellinger who acted as our real estate agent for two transactions in the last year. He diligently worked to show us every available home and lot on Walloon Lake during July, 2007. He wisely educated us about each property. After several offers on two homes, he finally negotiated a contract on a lot. There were many aspects of the purchase which involved the local Township, and Brad spent countless hours pursuing each inspector, etc., to ensure our purchase could go through. He then acted as our agent in selling a lot, and did so with great skill and tenacity. Without Brad's expertise and advice in all aspects of this process, I doubt we would have been successful in completing the purchase and sale.

Rich & Kitty Lange
San Antonio, TX 

 


In the Spring of 2004 my family needed to make a very unpleasant decision to sell our beloved cottage at Walloon Lake.  We interviewed a total of six (6) realtors to determine with whom we would list our cottage.  Rellinger & Associates (Brad Rellinger and his father, Larry) was one of the six.  We were very impressed with several of the realtors, but finally elected to use Brad.  We had several reasons, many of which I will try to list.

 
1.  Brad Rellinger & Larry live on and at Walloon year round.
2.  They had what we believed to be a very practical approximation of the value (we had two private appraisals, already).
3.  They had a plan to market the cottage and its land.
4.  They were quite professional in all their dealings with us.
5.  They were highly recommended (prior to our final selection of a realtor) by the local Title Attorney we used.  The Title Attorney, in turn had been quite highly recommended by at least three of the realtors we interviewed.
6.  Prior to signing a listing agreement with them, they came to us with an informal offer from a client (builder) who planned to tear down our cottage and build a contemporary house.  We said "Yeh sure, every realtor has a buyer in his 'back pocket'".  Eventually, this builder was the buyer of our cottage.
7.  We had several owners who needed to be informed of the progress of the showings and offers.  Brad phoned the two contact owners every time a situation changed so that all parties could be completely informed.
8.   Brad, and his father Larry, can tell you the characteristics of the water bottoms and the land at any location on the lake.  They know the relative good properties and those that are more marginal.
9.  Rellinger & Associates sell far more Walloon properties than any other realtor, so we felt they had a better network of contacts to whom to market the property.
10. Brad is extremely conscientious and honest.  He is very straight forward with all dealings.
11. We sold for more than we expected to sell for.
 
We are not happy that we have sold our cottage at Walloon; our family had been there for 85 years.  However, Brad Rellinger was able to handle our very emotional situation very professionally.  We were quite pleased and will recommend him to anyone who asks.
 
Edward N. Goodwin,  engoodwin@yahoo.com