Darren Winston – John Aaroe Group

**This review is only for the leasing services**
I was very unimpressed with Darren and his team. I reached out to him to help me in the process from moving to London to LA. Finding an apartment is hard enough, but its even harder when your not in the country. I am very familiar with LA, so I told him my price range, requirements, and many areas in the city that I was looking in. He assured me that he could help find the perfect place.
I started receiving frequent email listings that had nothing to do with what I was asking for, were completely out of my price range, and did not have my basic main requirement (large dog friendly). I really am not interesting in pouring through 20 or 30 apartments that all look great but are not pet friendly and are $ 350 — $ 500 per month out of my price range.
I found 4 properties from his listings that I liked, so I emailed him back asking some questions. No response… The week after I emailed again the exact same text… No response again. It took him almost 4 weeks to get back to me. Now, the LA housing market is quick, I’m sure none of the houses would be available still.
When he did reply, he stated that my price range was too little (although previously stating it was fine) and that he was unable to search for my pet requirement and that I would be best looking on Craigslist. Which to be honest I found quite offensive, as my budget for monthly rent is comparable to what I’m paying to live in Chelsea, London. Not cheap.
The bottom line with this company is that unless its worth their time in commission (your buying a home and he gets a huge cut) then he is not interested. I fully understand this economic logic, but don’t lie and waste my time if you have nothing to offer me. There are plenty of other real estate agents that will help in finding a good lease in LA. I found him very rude and not helpful.

Darren is awesome! He was so kind and friendly. He didn’t feel like just my realtor. He’s honest and straight up with everything. He cares about his clients, not once did I feel like he was in it for the money. I was super picky and changed my mind multiple times and he was never impatient. He understood how important the whole process was for me. One of the most important things for me was that he was always available– email, text, phone calls AND in person. He has crazy knowledge of LA. You won’t regret using him as your realtor and you’ll make a new friend!

Darren Winston is, by far, the best real-​estate agent I’ve ever had in my life. And I have had a few over the years.
I just closed an escrow on a triplex property. It was a short-​sale which implies a long, tedious and complicated process. Darren navigated all the difficulties associated with a short-​sale with remarkable due diligence. He had to deal with highly uncooperative seller, a flaky seller-​agent and unresponsive banks (there were multiple lien-​holders). He exchanged hundreds of e-​mails and numerous phone calls with all of the individuals involved in this transaction including me with daily updates. In addition, he addressed all my concerns in a timely fashion. Given that it is a multi-​unit property under a short-​sale there were numerous concerns and issues to deal with.
Besides his outstanding professional skills, his outgoing personality was equally valuable. He was always cheerful and encouraging which was very helpful while dealing with such a stressful transaction. Toward the end of the process he even went by himself to fix a few issues in the property that were pointed out by the inspection. I’m very fortunate to had Darren by my side throughout this transaction.
I would recommend Darren with all my heart.

Darren just found a tenant for my wife and I quickly and painlessly. Many agents do not like to take rental cases because of less commission. He took our case with no hesitation.
Before him, we have used two agents to purchase and rent. Both of them left us scarred and angered. One over promised and under deliver. One focused on personal pet peeves and made things more complicated. These transactions were unnecessary, painful and complicated.
After reading on-​line reviews, we contacted a couple of agents. Darren is the first one who showed up in front of our building. I was very impressed that he was very knowledgeable about the neighbors and market.
I am an accountant in a real estate company. I myself have a real estate license and received the same training as sales teams. Through interacting with Darren, I confirmed he has completed his training and skill sets better than my sales colleagues. From the first showing, we had multiple offers and we rented more than the posted amount. I have never experienced a rental bidding war. He just achieved that. I highly recommend him and we will keep using him in real estate needs. Thank you, Darren!

Darren came highly recommended from my favorite co-​worker. For two gun-​shy first-​time homebuyers who had just walked away from a harrowing experience that involved a wet-​behind-​the-​ears agent, a shady flipper and LADBS, he was a godsend.
Of course, that’s not to say our road for the next 6 months was smooth, but Darren’s professionalism, knowledge and care guided us through the bumps to our perfect home. He was always there with a calm word when the sky seemed to be falling, and maintained great communication even for this self-​admitted email junkie.
We can’t imagine leaving this house, but know that if we do, we’ll be calling Darren.

We bought our first home with Darren, and could not be happier. After a very scary experience with our first real estate agent, we interviewed several replacements. Darren stood out as a consummate professional. Very attentive and truly driven to work with us to find the perfect home.
He never pressured us to work outside of our comfort zone, always showing us homes that were in our budget. Darren also could not have been more patient with us. We probably dragged him to 75 homes. Our picky-​ness and stubbornness never seemed to get on his nerves. Even when we found our current home, and it turned out to be a challenging short sale, he did not flinch. After a 4 month escrow, we now have the perfect first home.
There would be no reason to ever use anyone else for a real estate transaction in the future. We are completely happy with how smoothly Darren handled everything for us. We’ve been recommending him to all of our friends as well.

Darren helped me and my wife buy our current home in West LA. I was very pleased with the process. We met him at an open house a while back. We chatted with him about that property, and although we didn’t end up buying it, his professionalism and demeanor made an impression on us. So when it came time for us to purchase our house, we called him. He was very easy to work with, very personable, and very attentive.
As with many real estate transactions, there were a few bumps in the road. He guided us through the process and led us to the closing, and we got the house we wanted. We think very highly of him as an agent — so much so that we have referred our friends to him, and they have referred him to their friends, etc. An all around great guy and a great agent.

We bought and sold our house with Darren, All I can say is he is the most caring wonderful Realtor I have ever met. Even when times were bad he stuck with us and went that extra mile… When I ever need a Realtor I will always go to him.

Buying your first home is like navigating a labyrinth where taking a wrong turn can cost you dearly. Having someone on your side who you have complete faith in makes ALL the difference.
Darren knows his business inside and out, and just as importantly, he cares deeply about his integrity and about his clients. You can tell when someone takes pride in their work — Darren will never hesitate to go above and beyond to make sure YOU are happy at the end of the day. I have both bought and sold a property with Darren — there has never been a moment that I doubted he was 100% on my side.

Darren helped me buy my first house! He is incredible trustworthy and attune to his clients. I felt like he really wanted what was best for me and I ended up with a great property that has already risen in value.

I never thought that I’d be able to afford an architectural house on a great piece of land but thanks to Darren Winston, I now live in my dream home. Buying a new house is stressful and complicated and Darren is like an expert chess player who knows the many surprises that come up during the process of selling and buying a house (he did both for my wife and I). The end result is that in his hands, you end up exceeding your expectations all whilst receiving great care and attention.
Firstly, Darren listens. I cannot stress how important this is– Darren does not take you to view a house telling you what is great about it, he takes you to a house to hear what YOU think about it. He listens carefully and starts to get an idea of what things are important for you. After getting to know my wife and I, he’d take us to view a house that looked great in pictures but before even telling him, he’d start to say why it was not right for us. He was ALWAYS spot on.
When selling our house, Darren found an excellent photographer, brought flowers and was on site to make sure the composition of each photograph was perfect. He sold our house within 3 days of being on the market– above our asking price. Going through escrow had its challenges but Darren was always on top of each curve ball from banks, inspectors or the buyer and what could have ended in tears was handled with aplomb by Darren. He’s one cool negotiator.
When we found our new house, my heart began to soar because I could hardly believe that my wife and I could possibly live in our dream house. But finding your dream house and owning your dream house are a world apart. Suffice to say that Darren remained calm throughout the whole process and always guided us in the right direction. The chances of us getting that house under normal circumstance were small but Darren bridged that gap and became the captain of our team and through team work, we bought our dream house.
It should be said that during the months we spent together, Darren would show up to morning meetings with coffee, croissants and a smile. He learned we liked wine and came to an evening meeting with a lovely bottle. When he found out that my wife was pregnant, he bought us great gifts (which we still use). If I’m painting an overly adoring picture of Darren, I apologize for coming on so strong but I honestly loved having him as our real estate agent and in fact would recommend him to ANYONE… no matter what budget, architectural taste, temperament, etc. Darren is that good.

I have had the privilege and pleasure to work with Darren over the last 8 years on several properties. That alone should reflect the confidence and trust I have in his ability as a realtor. With every property I have bought and sold through Darren, his dedication and professionalism have always been outstanding. He truly cares for his clients and goes above and beyond to ensure you are happy. He is very knowledgeable, has an incredible work ethic and is very integrity driven. This why I will always use Darren time and again to help me with either a sale or purchase of a property. They really don’t get better than Darren. He is a pleasure to work with and I highly recommend him as a realtor. Do yourself a favor and choose Darren for your real estate needs!

I picked Darren to be our real estate agent because he was the only one to promptly returned my phone call AND set up a face-​to-​face coffee meeting, not just a «Ok, I’ll send some listings your way». That pretty much sums up who he is as a person and a real estate agent– straight-​forward, efficient, diligent, a great communicator and very importantly, easy-​going.
Our working relationship has been stress-​free and I never felt like I was being pushed into anything — Darren not only accompanied me to but offered his dead honest opinion on every property we saw (and we saw pretty much every 2 bedroom in West LA and surrounding areas). I really appreciated his patience, timeliness, respectfulness and knowledge about real estate. The fact that he really loves what he does shows every time I talk to him. We’ve successfully purchased a home — thank you, Darren =)

Darren helped me buy my first home! We looked through quite a few properties in several neighborhoods — from downtown to Santa Monica and he was very patient and knowledgeable about each neighborhood. He was also able to help me negotiate a much better deal on my home. I’ve already referred him to at least five other friends and they’ve all been very happy with his real estate services!