“We have bought or rented in excess of 15 properties across four different geographies in the last 25 years, and there has never been an experience that comes anywhere close to dealing with Eric.”
We started to seriously consider a home in Phuket as part of our retirement planning in July 2025 and reached out to a number of agents at the time. Plenty of good websites with lots of potentially interesting properties, and good responsiveness to our online interest. However, there was one individual that we connected with from the outset as he had a very different style. That was Eric, who is now the person behind Real Assist.
We engaged with many agents at the time, so why did we feel confident in proceeding with Eric? One key element at the outset was that Eric was keen that we spoke directly so that he could best understand our requirements and also so that he could explain more about himself and the market. That initial engagement gave us confidence that we were dealing with somebody of genuine integrity, who understood the market well, and who had our interests at heart. As an expat buyer you need somebody who really knows the market well, who is prepared to share all of his knowledge, and who from the outset is prepared to guide you on the potential pros and cons of the various properties and areas that you may have an interest in. We felt comfortable from the very outset that Eric was somebody who was there to support us in the fullest sense, and was not just there to conclude a real estate sale, and that was massively reassuring. As a consequence, we decided to only work with Eric and this has proven to be one of the best decisions we made.
Eric is very far beyond a pure real estate agent. He is an encyclopaedia of everything that you need to know about the market and he shares everything with you that you need to know. What became obvious quickly was that there is a lot to learn. Eric shared every element of information that he felt might be helpful for us. He was also amazingly responsive on what have felt like the never-ending list of questions that we had. Every question answered, and the speed and detail of response surpasses anything we have experienced before. And it was not just responses to questions. He would take time to drive to areas to see what certain properties looked like and feedback with his views. And all of this was done with no sales pressure at all. We took up a lot of Eric’s time through July to September 2025 and then decided to hold for a while as we were not yet decided on whether or not to proceed. Eric was fully understanding of this and said he would be there for us if and when we decided to look at the market again.
Our next visit was to be in May 2026 and we started looking closely again before visiting and re-engaging with Eric. By this time we had built up so much knowledge from him that we were able to get down to a short list of properties. Eric then arranged everything for us, picked us up from the hotel, took us to all the visits, and never with any sense of sales pressure. At the end of the trip we felt we were close to a decision but then moved in a different direction, something that we felt comfortable to do because of how much knowledge we had built up from Eric. This resulted in a further couple of weekend trips, with Eric always on hand to accompany us, and we then eventually decided to purchase something in June 2026. At that point Eric does not step back. He is still very much part of the process. He has connected us with solicitors and remains part of the discussion with the developer, and we have no doubt that he will be there until the moment we walk through the door and take possession, and beyond if we need some further guidance.
It is not a straightforward decision to buy in a market far from home with different laws and regulations, but we have never experienced such support and knowledge sharing in any previous property purchase. It goes above and beyond what anybody should reasonably expect, and there is no sense of pressure at any stage. It is genuine and honest support, and it is at an unparalleled level of detail and willingness to go the extra mile.
Eric is the most transparent, open and trustworthy person that we have come across in the real estate business. It is impossible to describe in words the level of support that he has provided to us. At times we have seriously wondered whether we are simply asking too much or taking up too much of Eric’s time, but he has unbounded patience and seems to understand well the concerns that people might have when making this sort of overseas purchase. There is nothing that feels too much for Eric to deal with and he really does know the market incredibly well. He has guided us and shared information on everything — the developers, the laws, the areas, the pros and the cons — and it is simply a great experience, and one where at the end you feel very comfortable to make clear and well-informed decisions. At the end of it all, we feel we come out of this with a friendship rather than just a real estate engagement, and that probably says it all.
We have bought or rented in excess of 15 properties across four different geographies in the last 25 years, and there has never been an experience that comes anywhere close to dealing with Eric. It is a level of personal and professional support that is incomparable. There is nothing that he cannot respond to or deal with, and the investment of his own personal time to support you is amazing. A genuinely great experience.