We made the mistake of hiring Katie Joyce to sell our home. This error cost us time and money as we found her judgment very poor and felt she failed to protect our interests. The company compounded our negative experience with a disrespectful response to our concerns. As a result we hope to save others similar experiences. read more

We worked with Katie Joyce and Anna Fadel in buying a home. Both were excellent. Katie calmly guided us through the house search process. She was particularly helpful in asking the questions that we wouldn't know to ask (e.g., when dealing with builders or details or the closing process). Anna helped us through the offer and closing process. She was extremely responsive for all of our random questions and made the process so smooth for us. I highly recommend Peak, Swirles and Cavallito. The collegiality, friendliness, professionalism, and expertise left us in excellent hands as we bought a house. read more

I recently received an email from Jarin Frederick at Peak, Swirles and Cavallito sending me a form to sign that said I would pay them 2.5 or 3% for them to handle the selling of a rental house of mine. The problem was that I had not hired them. I had made an agreement with the buyer to sell the house to them and they had hired Jarin. I said that I would not pay this commission. The contract that she sent me had a couple of errors in it that were quickly corrected. The buyer was to send me a due diligence check for the contract, which after a couple of days I had not received. I called Jarin and she said that the buyer was too busy to bring it over to my house and asked if I had Venmo. I told her I did not. She said she would take care of it and would call me when the check was in my mailbox. A day or two later it had not arrived. I emailed Jarin and said the check had not arrived and asked "Is there a problem?" A day later there was no response from Jarin. I sent a note to the buyer saying that this check was due and if not delivered in 24 hours I could void the contract. He arrived with the check a couple of hours later. Then I got repeated emails from Jarin asking me to acknowledge that I had received the check. The normal way for a Realtor to handle this is to email a DocuSign agreement that I sign to acknowledge the receipt of funds. She eventually did this. Today I received an email from Jarin which stated in part "we've scheduled to have a home inspection performed on Wednesday, March 26th starting at 9:30AM at 811 Wilkerson Ave. Would you please let your current tenants know about this appointment? The inspection should only take 4 hours, 1:30PM. Ideally, the tenants would not be home while the inspection is being performed." I voice mailed her immediately and asked her that I hoped she set up this appointment through our office. She texted me back "I received your voicemail. My clients home inspection was scheduled through a licensed home inspection company. As a courtesy to your tenants, I thought you or the property management company could reach out to your tenants to let them know about the appointment. Thanks for your assistance making sure the tenants are notified so they can plan accordingly." The tenants have an infant and I believe the mom works from home. As far as I know Jarin does not know the tenants contact information. Also it is pretty unprofessional to schedule an inspection of a house without asking the owner first. This is unbelievable! She does not say if she has talked to the tenants or our office, (she did not), and does not call me back. Just sends me a note I have dealt with PSC in the past. They were always professional and I had no complaints. But this behavior by Jarin Frederick is awful.. read more

Great experience in a difficult market for buyers. Susan came to us through multiple recommendations, and having worked with her it's easy to understand why she is so recommended. And, reputations matter! Susan knows the market, she knows her craft, and takes great pride in her profession and work. She listens intently, advises with a careful touch and oh by the way.... she enjoys what she does which makes the process that much better. Highly recommended. read more

Our agent, DJ Maniace, represented us/ seller in the sale of two investment properties in the City of Durham. One sale in particular presented with some unique challenges. However, DJ persevered. She was patient, knowledgeable, professional, and diligent throughout the entire process. We were always timely informed of all developments. I highly recommend DJ without reservation for all your real estate needs. She's the best!! read more

Anna was amazing to work with when buying our first home! She answered all of our questions and made sure we understood the entire process. I would highly recommend Anna for anyone looking to buy a home! read more

I have sold 3 homes and purchased 4 homes in the area. My most recent sale using Peak, Swirles & Cavallito (Sudi Swirles) has been the best experience that I've had with real estate agents. My agent Sudi Swirles is honest, knowledgeable, has common sense, and is very responsive. This has been a crazy market with prices and interest rates rising, as I tried to sell the property that I bought a mere two years ago. Through it all, I felt a lot more confident knowing that Sudi was advising me through the the large number of decisions that had to be made. Looking back, I can see now that those decisions were good decisions. Sudi gives a lot of her time. I know that Sudi works into the late hours because many of our correspondences have been late in the day. She has continued to answer my emails even after the closing date has passed which is something that I have not experienced from other realestsate agents. I am most grateful for her guidance through the many varied offers that I received. I remember having some hang ups about an offer, but I reconsidered after listening to Sudi's thorough analysis of the pros and cons of things, and, in hind sight, I am glad that I did. I also have had interactions with Susan Peak when I stoped by the office, and she seems to be also very knowledgeable and willing to help. read more

Not a good experience - The agent had a problem with either obtaining or sharing accurate information and was not a great communicator which was a source of frustration. Details were frequently forgotten or ignored. The level of service was well below what we expected. Our closing was botched and it didn't seem to bother them at all. In all, they're probably fine for routine transactions where there is not as much work involved. However, if you need someone to be your staunch advocate and help solve problems, I would recommend looking elsewhere. read more

We just moved into our very first home with the help of Jan Butta. If I had to do it over, I would not change a thing. This was one of the best and easiest experiences of our lives. Although we were warned that this would be a tricky and stressful process, Jan helped obliterate any struggle we encountered, so we ended up with a house we love and saved almost 7,000 USD in the process!!! The reason we will stick with Jan and PSC in the future is because they are professional, very knowledgable, and work diligently to meet your needs and requests. Jan always responded positively and quickly and was persistent in getting all of our questions answered. Moreover, she introduced us to Brian Kennedy (a mortgage broker) who saved us 2,000 in origination fees and landed us an amazing rate! I personally like Jan because she listens to your concerns and is always extremely forthright and candid. In this process, it is important that people are direct, and this is one of Jan's best qualities. We wanted someone who would be as honest with us as we were with them, and we found this with Jan. Most importantly, she navigates the realm of negotiation so well. She helped us secure the price we wanted and helped us negotiate every we wanted fixed based on the inspection report. Jan found us our home, helped us secure it, and saved us so much money!!!! We are so thankful to Jan and PSC, and will use them again when it comes time to sell and purchase a larger home. read more

Steed Rollins was my realtor when I was buying my first house 3 years ago. He came as a recommendation from my loan officer, and it could not have been a better fit. He's born and raised in Durham, so he knows the city very well. He took into consideration my ideas and requests, and brought many different options to the table. He would text me often and keep me updated throughout the process. I really enjoyed our many days hitting the pavement looking at houses, and he helped me find "the one." If I decide to sell my townhouse and buy a new home, I'm trusting the job to Steed. Great guy and a great real estate agent. read more

When approaching home buying for the first time, we went with Peak, Swirles & Cavallito. Our agent was Stuart Shefter and he was absolutely outstanding. We knew absolutely nothing when we started this process and Stuart gave us everything we needed to know. We had checklists and info packets that he went over with us to make sure we understood the whole home buying process. He walked through all of the steps and made sure we always knew what was going to happen next. He put us in touch with Brian Kennedy, a Mortgage Broker for PSC, who also was absolutely fantastic and walked us through the mortgage securing process. We were able to gain a complete understanding of the financial needs it would take to go after and purchase our first home. We were able to budget and save exactly what we needed. There were no surprises and that was huge for us as first time buyers. He also worked with us to secure us a great rate with a fantastic mortgage company. Brian was available by email at a moments notice to answer any and all questions we had along the way. Absolutely top notch service. I have to tip my hat to Stuart as an agent though. He went above and beyond for us. We started our search early this spring and then the COVID pandemic hit. We thought it would bring the process to a halt and we had a lot of concerns and questions. Stuart was a rock throughout the whole process. For weeks we had been going to showings and gaining walk-throughs of fantastic listings, but then Stuart was able to pivot on a dime. We were able to seemlessly transition our search to virtual visits which Stuart would personally arrange and even get some walk-throughs of listings which were safe and socially distanced in listings which were open. He followed protocol to the letter in order to help us continue our search for the perfect home and then we were able to submit and secure our offer during the height of social distancing. Stuart worked to secure us inspectors, surveyors and the lot and we closed within a month of our offer. Needless to say I was floored by how efficient and smooth the process was. I thought Stuart had put in so much time while we were searching for the right listing, but he showed me double that once our offer was accepted and did not relent until after we were getting settled into our new home. He still checks in with us on occasion to see how the home is and to make sure that everything is going smoothly and is up to our expectation. Any agency that has employees which go the extra mile the way Stuart and Brian did are not only worth your time, but are worth your while. Simply put, you could not ask for a better company to help you find your dream home. I absolutely love my new home, but when the time comes to look again. You better believe I know exactly where I will be going. read more

I've bought two houses with Sudi Swirles, and sold one with her, and I wouldn't use any other realtor! I've met and worked with others, so I do know the alternatives. She's a good person to have on your side, a good negotiator (both of the houses we bought for less than she or we expected!), and the ins-and-outs make sense to me when she explains them. Buying a house is an excruciating process, but I don't mind it nearly as much when Sudi's there. Oh, and everyone I've met in her office seems to be of the same caliber. Good group of people! read more

Sudi is definitely the BEST realtor I've used yet. She helped me purchase my first home when I was young and had no idea the trials and tribulations of real estate! About a year ago my family planned on moving and decided to go with another realtor not to be named. What a mistake! We spend thousands of dollars and over six months trying to close on a house that we never ended up purchasing. I went back to Sudi and asked for help purchasing our non traditional woods home and it was seamless. Even through a pre planned vacation Sudi was easy to contact and drove the bus on everything! We were charged with very little to do except make the difficult and stressful decision of what place we could build a home in, and for that I am eternally grateful. I wouldn't recommend another realtor in the area before Sudi. Do yourself a favor and start working with her before you cold call anyone else. read more

Peak, Swirles & Cavallito Properties has assisted us over the years with property transactions and have done an exceptional job. Recently we decided to buy another home and rent our existing home. They helped locate and purchase our new home in Southern Village (we wanted to downsize). Our home in the Historic District of Chapel Hill is rented and we are very satisfied. What has marked all of our transactions with their folks is the great communication and caring nature of the agents. What more can you say to deserve 5 stars? Great folks to work with. read more

I used Katie Joyce from PS&C Properties in the purchase of my condo in December 2011. Last week a prospective buyer in the neighborhood asked my opinion of the neighborhood and the unit I purchased. I replied that if I were making the decision anew I not alter it in any way. The same analogy applies to Katie. I found her to be professional, knowledgeable and informed. I recommend her without hesitation. read more

Most definitely NOT a good experience. The realtor made it known to us in no uncertain terms that returning our call was not a priority. She was late to her appointment with us, didn't apologize and came dressed like she had just finished doing yard work--unprofessional. Her overall attitude left a lot to be desired. If this is representative of the company as a whole, I am not impressed. read more

We worked with Susan Peak to buy our home and she was AMAZING!!! My in-laws used her and loved her so we were happy to try her. We had worked with another realtor prior to transferring to Susan and the experiences were like night and day. First of all, Susan knows EVERYONE in Durham - the realtors, the appraisers, the closing attorneys...so she knows when things are going to hit the market sometimes before they officially get listed and she can make a ton of recommendations for all the additional folks who need to be involved to get a house to closing. She was great at pointing out things about houses that we might not have realized on our own. For example, she noted how a particular layout of a house was not as conducive to our lifestyle as we may want - we are about to have our first child, and she helped us see that picking a house where the nursery was not right next to the living room was going to save us a lot of nap time headaches in the months to come. She is also always available - she emails, texts, and calls any time you need something. We found her to be extremely responsive. She made us feel like we were her only clients (totally the opposite of the realtor we'd had before her!). She's very patient and ONLY shows you properties in your budgetary allowance. In fact, the house we bought was almost 100k LESS than what we set as our high end. I never felt like she was in this for her commission - she could have easily steered us toward a more expensive property for her own benefit. She also went above and beyond to make sure our move went well - she opened up the property so our families could see it when they were in town for our wedding; she hooked us up with the right home warranty firms, lawn people, maintenance men, etc; and she even showed up with pastries and champagne after we had moved in. We just loved her! Can't say enough good things about her. read more