Paulo and Charlotte knew they were outgrowing their space. With 8- and 11-year-old daughters and two dogs, they needed a larger home, but weren’t planning to buy or sell — instead, they’d just started talking about remodeling.

A friend suggested Charlotte visit an open house in their neighborhood that had been redone in a style she liked. That’s where she met Melissa and John Steele, the real estate agents behind Steele San Diego Homes. A few hours later, she came home and told Paolo that they’d hit it off — and she wanted the Steeles to list their house.

“She came back, and she said, ‘wow, I met this great couple, I feel really comfortable with what they have going on.’ I was like, ‘what? Now you’re thinking about selling the house?’” Paulo said. “Then I met (the Steeles), and I said, ‘all right, I see what’s going on here. I like what I hear.’”

The Steele team aggressively launched Paulo and Charlotte’s home. It hit the market on a Tuesday, and they pitched it at a brokers’ open two days later. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, they held open houses.

The Steeles know what a hassle showing your house can be, especially for families with kids, pets and busy schedules. That’s why they squeezed more than 80 guests into the house that weekend. Sure enough, the home received multiple offers that weekend and sold above asking price.

At the same time, Paulo and Charlotte needed to find a house to buy. The Steeles visited homes that Charlotte and Paulo found while surfacing suggestions of their own. Charlotte was even able to keep travel plans in place and get walkthroughs of prospective homes — including the one they ultimately bought — on FaceTime.

And when she started to get cold feet, Charlotte said, Melissa anticipated it — and took all of her calls, even those that were just for reassurance.

“She was incredibly patient. She knew how emotions run high when people are doing transactions like this,” Charlotte said. “It made me realize, not only do you have to be a great businessperson, but you have to have the emotional intelligence and the social skills... You have to deal with the highs and lows of emotions in these situations and steer (clients) through it.”

“That was huge. That made me feel very at peace,” Paulo added.

Buying and selling simultaneously can be incredibly stressful, especially when there are children and pets in the picture. With the Steele team’s expert preparation and targeted marketing, four showings was more than enough for Paulo and Charlotte. And within eight weeks, they’d made a down payment on their new home. The Steeles were waiting with champagne when the sale closed.

Working with proven agents like the Steeles can make your sale and purchase as easy as possible — the way they did for Paulo and Charlotte.

“From the moment I met them at the open house, the reason why I followed through with them… I got a sense of honesty from them, and they brought the sharpness and acuity and all that along with it,” Charlotte said. “I’m telling my friends, they’re crazy if they don’t use John and Melissa. They’re rockstars.”

“I feel truly blessed that they came into our home, and I would want that blessing to carry on to others, especially people we love,” Paulo added.