Reviews
This is a random sampling of our references…
May 20, 2018
“What a wonderful experience our church had working with Raphael Realty! Mary and Dave Raphael found us a qualified buyer for our church within days. The process flowed flawlessly! Everyone worked together due to Mary’s professional expertise, great communication, and sincere care for the needs of both buyer and seller. We couldn’t have asked for anyone more competent to handle our property and keep us informed each step of the way.
Many thanks to Mary and Dave Raphael for their support, guidance, and trust. You’re the best!”
Mary W.
Christian Science Church, Ontario, CA
May 25, 2018
Dear Dave & Mary,
I wanted to write this letter to express my sincere gratitude for the excellent and professional service you provided as the realtor representing us in the sale of our church. This was a very challenging sale, with two organizations behaving in an unscrupulous manner initially attempting to purchase our property. Your extraordinary diligence and expertise guided and protected us from serious delays in the sale of our church property. You also provided compassion and sound counsel to our long term tenant.
Your diligence, attention to detail and expertise were, in a word extraordinary! I would recommend your services to any church without qualification or hesitation!
Thank you!
Greg Armstrong
Vice Chairman of the Executive Board
First Church of Christ, Scientist, Ontario
May 8, 1986
"Selling a church is a bittersweet experience at its best. However, if you are fortunate in selecting the right persons to represent you, the bitter part is removed. Our church was well advertised in the newspapers, along with well written description sheets and energetic showings. Numerous phone calls and proposals were made to us on an almost daily basis. We know that Mary and Dave Raphael had other sales pending besides ours, but we felt as though we were family and getting undivided attention exclusively. We were a little slow in giving an exclusive on our church as we had heard so much negative about exclusives. It was the best thing we did to effect sale of the property in about two months followed by an 18 day escrow. All that was required on our part was to loan them a key and give simple cooperation along with quick dispatch of items needed for escrow. They (Raphael Realty) did all the rest with apparent ease and in an orderly business-like manner. Now we do not expect to sell a church again, but if we did we would certainly ask the Raphaels to do it. If you seriously wish to sell your church property, an exclusive with Raphael Realty is the place to start."
Earl and Grace Kreinbring
Villa Chapel
434 North Altadena Drive
Pasadena, CA 91107
February 15, 1988
"We at the Pomona Bible Chapel, Inc. are very happy with the results of the sale of the Chapel property.
We were impressed with how quickly you began advertising and with how effectively the direct mailings reached interested groups. We learned patience when several seemingly good prospects were not able to follow through. But we also learned that you were very persistent, diligent and full of energy. You really worked at selling the property and we were completely satisfied with how you handled everything. You were very good at taking care of all the small details which we would have never thought of. You were also most careful in working with the buyer's agent so that both the buyer and we the seller received a fair deal. We would also highly recommend you to any group who were attempting to either buy or sell church property. Even the buyer's agent agreed with us that you were good!
Thank you for everything; we appreciate all that you have done."
George H. Wells and Ruth W. Wells
Pomona Bible Chapel, Inc.
1041 Weber St.
Pomona, CA 91768
June 1990
"We are nothing but happy with Raphael Realty. You not only did what we expected but you went the extra mile. Thanks for all your help and your support in this purchase."
Richard Cox
The Door Christian Fellowship
PO Box 7786
Redlands, CA 92375
(909) 798-3184
April 1997
"Mary knew how to price our church to sell. Understood the uniqueness of working with a religious organization. Mary never became exasperated-even in with dealing with our cumbersome bureaucracy. I always felt she was working for us-to accommodate our best interests."
Gene Wood
Grace Baptists Church
1515 S Glendora Ave
Glendora, CA 91740
(626) 335-4067
June 1995
"More than anything I appreciate your honesty and integrity. You were also so easy and comfortable to work with in all situations. Thank you so much"
Yvonne Goodale
Metaphysical Fellowship
1317 Pembrooke Lane
Anaheim, CA 92804
(714) 535-5004
May 1995
"Your people were so nice to deal with and were especially kind to me concerning my husband's illness. Thank you so much"
Shirley King
Apostolic Church
1675 Londell
Las Vegas, NV 89102
(702) 878-8000
May 2006
“Please allow us to express our immeasurable gratitude for your superb professional performance related to the marking and the escrow process to successful closure on the Long Beach School property. Your assertive monitoring of every aspect of the transaction is greatly appreciated. Therefore, it is without hesitation that we recommend you highly to any group or individual that is desirous of purchasing or selling a church facility. Thank you again for TOP-NOTCH SERVICE!”
Eunice E. Winston
Vice President, Director
Southern California Association of Seventh-Day Adventists
January 13, 1998
During the process of buying property for our congregation, God gave us the opportunity to meet 2 real estate agents, Mary and Dave Raphael. We were very pleased with them, all the advise that they provided us with. It was with their help and support that we were able to get through the purchase of our property. They are hard working, honest real estate people. I, as a Minister of God, recommend highly Mary and Dave Raphael for any real estate need that you might have.
Pastor Oscar Bulnes
Iglesia Cristiana Jesus Es La Respuesta
(714) 956-9235
May 2, 2006
I want to thank both of you for the superb job you did marketing this property and equally as much for the way you handled the escrow proceedings. Your advice and suggestions as we went along were most helpful. Happily, this was indeed an outstanding outcome for all parties involved.
Bob Peterson
Attorney Southern California Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
June 12, 2006
Please accept our immeasurable gratitude for your very generous charitable donation for Los Angeles Adventist Academy. Principal Nelson was very happy to receive this unexpected blessing. Your name will be engraved on a leaf on the Donor Tree in the lobby of the Academy.
The Association of Black Seventh-day Adventist Professionals
March 29, 2007
It was good to have you here to share with us as we dedicated our newly remodeled Church facility to the Lord. It is because of your love and concern for the Church that we have our new home. I know that it was with the Lord's help that you were able to bring this about, and for this our congregation owes you a debt of gratitude. I trust that you enjoyed the dedication service, even though you had to give up your chairs several times, plus you were drafted into duty as usher as well. Your servant hearts were shown again last Sunday.
Pastor Ward Rogers
Oak Park Community Church of God
616 S. Sycamore Ave.
Claremont, CA 91711
(909) 670-0130
April 4, 2008
You made a difficult task seem easy. Your professionalism and tenacity is certainly appreciated. May the Lord continue to bless your work in this field.
Charles McLuen
3650 Elm Street
Long Beach, CA 90807
June 27, 2008
We here so lucky to have you helping with this transaction. Thank you for all that you did. You are such nice people. This is from the seller of property at 4646 Eagle Rock Blvd. in Los Angeles, CA We represented the buyer in the transaction . The seller had their own agent. We always try to do all transactions so that they are fair to everyone and then everyone leaves happy and satisfied with the deal.
May 1, 2010
To whom it may concern,
This letter is to provide our point of reference for Mary and David Raphael Church Realty Group. I am the presiding pastor for a church in Irvine, CA and we used Mary and David to not only sell our existing building at the time, but also locate us a new facility.
Mary and David were extremely professional and knowledgeable of the church real estate market. Since we were novices at this, they guided us through the entire process of selling our property. They kept us informed every step of the way and helped us understand the more difficult and complicated issues of selling our building. Mary and David were also very honest, and easy to work with. They sold our building for a great price and allowed us to purchase another building with no mortgage.
When our building sold, we were in an anxious situation since we did not have another building. Mary and David found us the perfect facility within days of us selling our existing one. They listened to our needs, and located a property that not only was perfect for our group, but fit our budget. We are extremely happy in our new facility and we thanked and honored Mary and David at our dedication service in March.
I would not hesitate to use Mary and David again to sell our property again if the need arises, and certainly would not hesitate to refer them to any church group that is looking for a great company to help the sell and relocate. In a world where you never know if you are hiring the right person/people to assist you in a matter like this, Mary and David are the finest, most knowledgeable, easy to work with, and credible people we know.
I would use them again without a second thought.
Respectfully, Jim Huttenberger
Presiding Pastor
The Church of Jesus Christ
Irvine, CA.
HQ: Monongahela, Pennsylvania.
May 29, 2015
Awesome! Thank you so much. Working with you has been such a pleasure. I know that it was Divine intervention that brought us together. You are very professional, provide excellent service, and was always available to answer our inquiries. You are very thorough and detailed. I truly enjoy working with people that actually do what they say they are going to do. May you continue to be blessed.
By the way, I am really excited now!
Michael Wright, Ed.D.
Director, Workforce Preparation
Grants and Contracts
(951) 222-8968