We went into the sale of our home with a process in mind. That process was borne out of observation watching the market and our personal experience selling things for a living. Ian helped us understand that the perceived process and the process that would work were overlapping but that the digitization of the real estate market had brought about notable changes in approach and if we followed him, our probability of success would increase. We believe you hire experts for a reason. Ian is an expert in what he does, so we followed his lead. He was very patient, well organized, communicated consistently and clearly, and had very good attention to detail. He managed our expectations appropriately and then sought to exceed them. And he did! We were very pleased with the outcome and can't say enough good things about our experience working with him and his team on the sale of our property. read more

We live in Hawaii but wanted to buy a condo in Seattle. Ian MacMillan was referred to us by a friend and he turned out to be the best Realtor/Managing Broker we have ever worked with from start to finish. His knowledge about the Seattle market and his advice and guidance was second to none. He was our eyes and ears in Seattle because we were not there most of the time. We placed total trust in him during our search, when negotiating, handling the inspection for us, and throughout the closing. We could tell that Ian was very well respected in the community and with other brokers. The end result...we could not be happier with our new Seattle condo! If you are searching for a broker, we highly recommend Ian MacMillan! You will not find anyone better to represent you. read more

We are incredibly grateful that we chose Ian MacMillan to be our realtor. Ian is the kind of professional that anyone would be fortunate to have on their side. He knows Seattle neighborhoods intimately, and for us, as buyers from out-of-state, this was critical. Ian earned our admiration and trust by always identifying important issues that we needed to understand in order to make good decisions at every step. After we decided on a property, we did most of our transactions regarding the purchase remotely, so we really had to rely on Ian be there to stand in for us at times and to connect us to other professionals who were important to consult with before we made our offer. He remained available for us every step of the way, including during the critical period of closing. Once the deal was completed, Ian remained on-call for us so that nothing slipped through the cracks until every phase of the buying process was complete, and we opened the door to our new home! You would be very wise to choose Ian to be your real estate partner. read more

Ian represented my wife and me for the sale of our condo. He provided everything we wanted and needed in an agent. Throughout the process, there were things we failed to consider or miscalculated, and Ian kindly nudged us in the right direction. He made the technical aspects easy to understand and was in constant communication with us each step of the way. He helped us methodically price the condo, and we ended up getting significantly more than we anticipated. We are thrilled to have had him on our side and will be recommending him to our friends and family! read more

Ian recently helped my husband and me purchase our first place in Seattle and now we'd like to offer our endorsement of Ian MacMillan for President of the United States. But seriously, he was a dream to work with and guided us with a calm, professional, and genuine demeanor from start to finish. The level of integrity he operates with was evident and working with someone with such extensive experience assuaged many of our uncertainties. We knew we could trust him from the get go. Ian was always on the ball - super communicative and game for a 'quick strategy call' on a moment's notice. He also ended up teaching us a ton about all things houses, renovations, and real estate. He went above and beyond and were just so grateful to work with him. read more

Nearly 10 years after we purchased our first home in Seattle with Ian, we were delighted to work with him again in 2021 to both purchase our new home and sell our existing one. Ian was a delight to work with - clear communicator, patient (we never felt rushed), and always responsive. Importantly, he was realistic and practical which helped us make quick and confident choices in the fast-moving market. He had a good read on the market we were in, came with clear evidence and lots of experience, and provided spot-on advice around managing multiple offers when the time came. We'd definitely recommend (and have for many years) Ian to others. read more

We recently used Ian to sell our house and found his representation to be phenomenal. We felt well supported each step of the process as he guided us to the best possible outcome through his careful attention to detail and thoughtful suggestions. He provided spot-on recommendations for ways we could increase our value, helped us choose the best timing for listing, found an excellent stager and photographer, and made sure hurdles were cleared out of the way before we listed. Ian went the extra mile for us for many months all while being kind, easy to communicate with, thoughtful and trustworthy. I recommend him highly. read more

Ian was great. We used him to sell our townhome in Greenwood and we were very pleased with the entire experience. We bought out house in 2007 at the peak of the housing market and we outgrew it quickly after having our first son. We knew we had to sell our home and find something bigger, so we called Ian after hearing lots of good things from neighbors who had bought and sold through Ian. Our main message to Ian was that we wanted to get as much as we could (since we were going to take a loss and wanted to minimize that) and also since we had already bought our new place we wanted to sell as soon as we could to avoid overlapping mortgage payments. Ian was great, he told us exactly what we needed to do to make our place look great and advised us of preventative maintenance we should do to avoid problems during closing/inspection. He recommended some good and reasonably priced professionals to get all of the work done that we needed. Our house was on the market for less than 1 week, and the staging that Ian arranged made our house look better than it did when we lived there! Ian gave us good advice on how to price our home to accomplish our goals. Closing went very smoothly and he was a good advocate for us not to be bullied by our buyers and to look out for our best interest. Also since we had bought our new place (in Auburn) far away from Greenwood Ian was very helpful in being there to let in workers and check on things while we were away. Overall I would highly recommend doing business with Ian. He is very professional and understands the area extremely well. As a seller he knows exactly what to do to make your home look great while balancing the fact that you don't want to put a ton of money into a house you are about to sell. I couldn't recommend him enough. read more

The length of this glowing review is a testament to how much we appreciate Ian MacMillan's work during our home buying journey. We were referred to Ian by friends, who highly recommended him. From the start, he was proactive in providing critical information very quickly. Ian gets results. EXPERIENCE: Ian's 17+ years of Seattle/WA real estate experience helped provide insight into the current, competitive Seattle market. His wealth of knowledge, throughout our months working with him, is a key factor in our success with closing on the home we love. Ian established a sense of comfort in a tough market - by helping to make sure we understood the multi-step process. Bottom line, we found that Ian knows Seattle's housing market, and has an invaluable foundation of knowledge formed from his years of experience. SKILL: Ian demonstrated a strong ability to build trusted relationships with listing agents. And he worked really well with our lender and title company. Ian understands the partnerships and teamwork needed to make the process run smoothly. APPROACH ON MAKING AN OFFER: Something outstanding that we found most helpful is Ian's sound advice and consistent help wrt strategy when we were ready to make an offer. Ian helped to empower us to make decisions that fit us. Making an offer on a home (esp. in Seattle's hyper competitive multiple-offer scenarios) is simply uncomfortable, tense and complex. Ian helped to outline facts to make the process understandable and clear. He provided recommendations that we were comfortable with. THE LIST GOES ON: You can keep on reading here because we have even more highlights from our experience having Ian as our trusted realtor: -We always felt we were on the same page. This is work on Ian's part to make sure he was serving us in the best possible way. Oftentimes he anticipated the questions and inquiries we would have, and proactively offered answers and information. -Ian listens; On our home tours, he didn't fill up the time with incessant chatter. He observes, makes deductions and tries hard to understand his clients. -He was always very communicative and readily available via phone, text and email. -Ian is patient. Can you imagine the patience needed to keep repeating yourself if you get asked the same question? He was always open to reiterating details, and clarifying the home buying process during the many, many stages/steps. -Ian did not ever try to aggressively push us or try to sell us on anything. In fact, he helped to make important comments on structural issues that any buyer would like to know. From flagging money pits to making sure to give his honest opinion or share details on repairs needed that would impact value, Ian was proactive in pointing out key things to consider. No other realtor we'd met had done that. Ian MacMillan is an excellent realtor. If you are serious about buying a home and if any of these above-mentioned comments resonate with you, you owe it to yourself to give him a call. read more

Ian was referred to me by a close friend of the family. He helped me sell my family home after the passing of my father so it was a trying time for me and we encountered many bumps in the road after listing my house. Ian went above and beyond for me! Not to mention doing most of the work because I was out of state almost the entire time. He is resourceful and has a large network of contractors and other people who were able to help with getting work done on my house, that was so helpful! I would highly recommend Ian to anyone! He's the best realtor, not to mention his warm and caring plus professional personality makes him a great pleasure to work with. read more

I am a first time home buyer and am very happy to give Ian a reference here on yelp. In fact, I found him on yelp - I was moving from Boston and didn't have any friends in the neighborhoods to which I wanted to move, so I tried the internet. I called him, and after speaking over the phone I decided to meet with him first when I came to Seattle. My mom also joined for the meeting and he made a great impression. He explained how there is a lot of shared trust in the relationship, and that was a common thread through our whole experience. Ian was always available when I needed to get ahold of him. Our buying plans were put on hold for a bit as I transitioned, and during that period I never felt pressured by Ian. He has already invested a goodly amount of time (driving us to and from the airport, around the neighborhoods, and speaking over the phone), yet he was patient and let us dictate the pace. When the pace picked up, he was actively there. Compared to other agents, my mom says, "Ian is a Seattle native, making him uniquely qualified to understand the local market. He is honest, responsible and thorough in terms of follow-through, recommendations of other professionals ( ie lendors, trades people for improvements etc) . Ian ranks with the best in terms of comparing with other agents." I'll finish on the most positive part of our interaction. I'm part of a technology community, and generation, that believes that information and the internet can open up markets and make them more efficient and sustainable... redfin goes a long way towards this and I used it religiously to find houses. That said, I didn't find the house I bought, Ian did. He learned what I was looking for after touring me around during weekends, and after a while, he was finding places that 1. weren't listed well online or 2. that I had missed. In the end, you can really benefit from an agent like Ian in the current housing market. read more

Ian was INCREDIBLE to work with, and helped immensely during an extremely challenging transition that involved selling my home in Boston (via another agency), multiple moves across the country, selling a condo locally, and an extremely drawn-out purchase of a new construction home here in Snohomish County. Through it all, Ian offered excellent, timely advice, he was always available for help (and questions), responsive, and the utmost professional - even when I wanted to strangle my builder reps. I very much hope he is still working in the area when I need to sell my house (hopefully not soon!), and I wholeheartedly recommend him to anyone looking for a superb agent. He is intelligent, kind, professional, and an all-around great guy. read more

Ian is the best of the best! He has been a Working with my family for several years and will continue to be our agent for years to come. He has been there for the the purchase and sale of our first condo, and again this year for the purchase of our first home. Ian is always readily available and very tentative to his clients making you feel in the know about every detail during the process of buying and selling. I can guarantee that we would not be in our dream home if it wasn't for him. I not only have an amazing agent but now a friend. Thanks again Ian! read more

This is the first time I've written a Yelp review, but I believe its well worth it for Ian. I am a first time home buyer and really didn't know what to expect when buying a home. To make things even more complicated, I'm new to Seattle, and I hadn't even moved to the Seattle area yet. Ian was introduced to me through some friends whom Ian had helped find their first home as well (they found Ian through Yelp!). We chatted via email for a bit and finally found some time when we could both meet. Ian took us to see at least 10 houses all in different neighborhoods just to make sure we got a feel for the different types of homes out there and the different neighborhoods within Seattle. Ian, being a native of Seattle, had great insight about future neighborhood infrastructure projects, crime, possible density, etc. and really helped us get a better understanding of the market during the tour. The process was repeated once again a second time, again just to get a feel and there was absolutely no pressure at all during any of this process to settle on any particular home. When the time came to finally make an offer, Ian gave great feedback on what to expect in the home we were interested in, what items to look out for, and even did a ton of market research for comparable homes in the area that were for sale or recently sold. With all this data and a couple chats, he worked with us to come up with a strategy to give the most competitive, educated offer. Once the offer was accepted, he walked us through the closing process, gave us great referrals for home inspections to make sure everything checked out, and ultimately made it his goal to make sure we got the house we wanted at the best price. Did I mention that throughout this whole process there was absolutely no pressure whatsoever? Ian spent a ton of time on us, showed great patience, trust, and respect, and clearly made sure that we were both well educated and comfortable with any decisions we made regarding the process. He's also a great negotiator :) I would like to finish with mentioning that I work in the tech Industry and to be honest I wasn't quite sold (or really didn't understand) on why I needed a realtor when I first started this journey. My belief was that all the information could be found through portals like Zillow and Redfin, but Ian really proved me wrong, and I'm really glad for that. Having Ian made the whole process much more efficient and he provided us with amazing insight that can't be found on the internet. I highly recommend Ian if you are looking for your new home. read more

My wife and I contacted Ian a few months before moving to Seattle from the East Coast. My brother had worked with him before and had a great experience. We knew that we wanted to buy soon after we arrived, but didn't know the city well and were first-time homebuyers. From the outset, Ian was thoughtful and patient. He asked lots of good questions and took great notes during our initial conversation. He was very focused on hearing from us what we wanted, but also wasn't afraid to tell us some of the pros and cons of our preferences on neighborhoods and types of homes (condo, townhouse, single-family, etc.). Ultimately, our search was relatively short. We looked at a lot of places online on Zillow, Redfin and the MLS before coming out to Seattle for a house-hunting trip in August. Once we were on the ground, we probably visited about 20-25 homes over a few days. Ian was great at helping us focus during this process by listing out the things we needed and what we wanted in a home. It turned out to be a really helpful way for my wife and I to talk through such a big financial decision. One house stood out in this process, and we decided to make an offer. This is when Ian really shined. He guessed correctly that it would be a competitive process and helped us line up a pre-inspection of the house and sewer system. He also was great at helping us craft a bidding strategy and polishing our offer so it stood out. In a tight market, having this kind of advice is invaluable. Since we closed, Ian has gone above and beyond to make sure we're settled. You can really tell that he wants to build long-term relationships with his clients. I would highly recommend working with him. read more

Over the last year, we went on house hunting tours with a couple of other agents and companies, including Redfin, but we were always disappointed that the representatives we worked with didn't know much about the houses, the neighborhoods, or the Seattle market in general. They also didn't have that special real estate agent sixth sense about what houses would fit our needs. So we asked around to find a good buying agent. My wife and I were referred to Ian by a friend who bought her house with Ian and who was referred to Ian by her brother-in-law. Once we started working with him, the difference was night and day. We got into a weekly routine of emailing him listings we liked, and he'd go through the list before the weekend, prioritizing it based on our stated preferences and, just as importantly (or more), his experience and judgement. He'd do advance research into the houses, sellers, and listing agents, and he was always able to tell us more about the houses than the listings revealed. We quickly got to the point where we'd trust him if a house we said we might be interested in wasn't worth visiting, and for the ones on the fence, he'd scout them out first during the week without us. In a market where one has to move fast on a new listing, having Ian at our side was invaluable. We ended up putting in three offers before getting our house. (If you haven't been house hunting in Seattle this year, expect to make multiple offers in this sellers' market--we consider ourselves lucky it only took us three offers to land a house!) Ian helped us navigate the complicated, competitive bidding situations we found ourselves in. He taught us about all the different options we had in crafting our offer, and was very careful to make sure we balanced the need to build a strong offer package with the need to protect against the risks of a bidding war (for example, helping us make sure our offers wouldn't leave us with buyer's remorse, or leave us over-exposed to appraisal risk). Ian also had a great intuition about what might make the offer better. (For example, on our third offer, Ian had a hunch that by increasing our offer by $5,000 we'd increase the chance that we'd win over other bids that were anchoring closely to a round number. We ended up beating the next best offer by only $2,250. And when the VA appraisal came in below our offer price, Ian helped us work out a deal with the sellers that got them to include some of their furniture in the sale!) Because he prepared us so well and is such a calming personality, we always felt like we put in the best offer we could possibly put in. When you know you've put your best foot forward and can't be any better prepared, that takes a *lot* of stress out of the process. After we bought the house, we were sad we didn't have weekly house hunting trips with Ian anymore! My wife and I highly recommend him and if we ever sell our house in the distant future, we'll definitely ask him to be our listing agent! read more

After our previous experience with another realtor we were looking for someone new that had specific knowledge about Ballard townhouses and that would give us the attention we deserved even in our smaller-market townhome. Ian was recommended to us thru his business partner who had helped one of our friends find her house. She had a great experience with him, so we took a chance and gave Ian a call. We met with Ian in mid-March of 2012 with only preliminary questions about potentially selling our townhouse that we bought in April 2009. Ian was very straight forward; he explained whatwas happening in the market and his thoughts on when we should consider putting it on the market. His advice was logical and clear so we decided to go with Ian's instincts and put our house on the market ASAP! We took a little over two weeks to paint, meet with a stager and get our house photographed. The stager we hired on Ian's recommendation. I was skeptical initially, but so happy we followed his advice. Just 3 days later we had 3 offers on our house, one of which was for above our asking price! Ian did all the little extras to make our time on the market as short as possible. He was smart about what day to go on the market and hosted a broker's open that very day. He had an open house planned which we ended up not needing! Ian hired a professional photographer for our listing which ended up looking modern, clean, and interesting! Ian was very responsive to all of our questions and since this was our first time selling a house we had a lot! He was easily reachable by phone, text, and email at any reasonable hour and we really enjoyed working with him on a personal level. Ian was always on time to any meetings we set up and was willing to come to our house to make it easier for us. I would recommend Ian to anyone I know in a heartbeat! Moral of the story: If you want an attentive, knowledgeable, honest Realtor, Ian is the one to choose! read more

Ian helped my husband and I find our first home here in Seattle. We were new to the area, so Ian's knowledge of Seattle neighborhoods and expertise was invaluable to us. He made the process seem simple and once we found a home we wanted to put an offer on, Ian moved quickly. I was thoroughly impressed how professional and smooth the process was, and I attribute this to Ian's experience and dedication to helping us secure a home. We successfully closed on our home and a couple of months later, welcomed our newborn daughter to the world! It has been amazing to start our life as a family in our own home. We wouldn't have been able to do it without Ian and if we need a realtor in the future, Ian is our guy! We can recommend him enough. read more

Ian helped me with the purchase of my first house. He is very thorough, knowledgeable, skilled, and puts the needs of his clients above all else. I decided to work with Ian after interviewing 5 other realtors and found him to be very trustworthy with his advice and opinions. Every house that I put a proposal for we got under contract and he even recommended to walk away from one after looking for 5 months. Even when I went through my divorce and the sell of my house he gave me a very informed advice even with nothing for him to gain from it. I highly recommend Ian for his services and if I end up back in the Seattle area I will seek his advice. Thank you for all your help Ian!!! read more

I recently hired Ian to sell my home in West Seattle -- I live in the UK and needed someone I could trust to go the extra mile if necessary, communicate well, and had the expertise to handle any snafus along the way. I haven't had the best experience with realtors, but Ian surpassed all of my expectations -- he was simply amazing throughout the entire process!! He was patient, responsive, flexible, informed, a great listener, super trustworthy, and worked really, REALLY hard on my behalf, which resulted in a sale that went well and above asking price in just six days. I feel like I absolutely got my money's worth with Ian and he singlehandedly restored my faith in realtors. I wouldn't hesitate to hire Ian again and I highly recommend him without hesitation for both buyers and sellers. Thank you, Ian! read more

We met Ian days before the deadline to get offers in for a condo in Ballard, and he did everything he could to coach us through the experience of writing our first offer -- which was accepted despite stiff competition. I couldn't recommend him more highly for his knowledge and navigation of the market and his good advice, which really seems to come from a place of wanting to see the best for all involved, not just a commission. read more

We were referred by some friends to work with Ian. Thank goodness. Buying a home for the first time, moving from New York, with this crazy Seattle market - Ian was so helpful and great at explaining every detail of home buying. He really "got" us and it was fun to go and see houses with him. When it came time to make an offer - he was incredibly savvy and smart. We ended up getting a great house in a super competitive market, and it was all because of Ian. He is a great guy! read more

Ian was instrumental in getting us our dream home! Our search started out with a bang, and we thought we found our house on the first day. But what seemed like a great find turned out to be a disappointing money pit. After that the limited choices made for slim pickings, and we were tough clients by having a lot of criteria but a huge search area. Ian searched relentlessly, keeping up on the inventory throughout the entire city, from the south end all the way up north. Ian called us the day our house went on the market and said we needed to see this place. We ended up putting an offer in the next day, but so did two other buyers. Thanks to Ian's great negotiating, we came out on top and found a house that is so amazing I can't even believe it's ours! It was hands down the best house we saw in months, and if it weren't for Ian, we would have lost it. Ian was so professional every step of the way, and he always answered our calls or called us right back. We are so grateful to all his very hard work. We are very satisfied customers, and I would recommend Ian to anyone looking for an agent. read more

Ian was fantastic to work with and we would recommend him without reservation. We contacted him for the sale of a Capitol Hill condo, and at our first meeting he was warm, professional, and prepared, having already reviewed comps in our building and in the neighborhood. Throughout the entire process, we felt incredibly confident in Ian's guidance, ranging from the photographer he used to the recommendation of a stager to the price we agreed upon for sale. Our apartment sold within 4 days of being on the market, and we credit Ian's good judgment, extensive background and confident expertise with getting us through the process comfortably, easily and quickly. Beyond being an incredibly competent and experienced realtor, Ian is a fantastic guy- he wrote a letter on our behalf for the co-op board of our new building, and bought a gift for the baby we are expecting- certainly above and beyond what we expected in our realtor. We could not have asked for a better realtor with whom to work and would (and already have....) recommend him to anyone in Seattle! read more