Your Real Estate Expert is Colleen Bennett, Estates Director/Realtor/SRES, Dilbeck Premier Properties.

(909) 374-4744

If you’ve reached my page on La Verne Online, you probably want to know a little more about real estate and how I can provide you with information and help you find a great first home, second home or investment property.

For the past dozen years, I’ve been actively helping people buy and sell real estate throughout the San Gabriel Valley, and, in particular, my hometown of La Verne. Earlier in my career, I worked in entertainment (”The Merv Griffin Show,” “Wheel of Fortune,” and “Dance Fever”), fashion (Calvin Klein) and financial services (Dean Witter), but I can honestly say that of all my career experiences, nothing compares with being a Realtor because no two days, deals, homes or clients are ever alike.

Like you, I have many interests. Mine all seem to gravitate around the home, especially my husband Peter and three sons, Ryan, Roger and Brett, architecture, interior design,culinary, anything Italian, my animals, and cooking. No one ever leaves my house hungry, if I can help it.

In this current market, patience and persistence, more than ever, are what it takes to put a deal together. With so much uncertainty in the market, you need to be patient for the right deal to come along. One couple I recently represented was keen to buy a property that was a short sale. As you know there has been no shortage of short sales, but the process can be agonizingly slow with some banks taking weeks or even months to respond to an offer. We didn’t let the process defeat us, however, and as a result, we found a fabulous home that had come back on the market for about $200,000 less than it had been listed for previously. I know because my offer on the same house for other clients had been rejected 15 months earlier because it was too low! Amazing!

Persistence is needed because rarely does anything in this market come easy. But again, the process does indeed move forward if you’re willing to do the work, spend the time and make the extra phone call … or two or three or 10. 

As a place to live and work, there’s no finer area than the La Verne-Claremont area. We’re blessed with great schools, businesses, parks, colleges and other wonderful resources and programs that speak to our high quality of life. Of course, we wouldn’t have these to enjoy without our residents and neighbors contributing in their own way to create something really special here.

If you have any question regarding real estate, I urge you to go to leave your query in the comment section below, and I’ll find an answer for you. Please feel free to click on any other questions and answers that also appear on the page. In this business, whether you’re a buyer, seller or Realtor, you have to be constantly learning and sharing to be successful.

Looking forward to hearing from you!