I would not use Picket Fence again, and I do not recommend them. Sue Duchek handled the listing on my house in Arlington Heights. She gave a pitch that was thorough, and set a price that was higher than other agents'. It took more than two months to get one offer, despite have many showings and getting positive feedback from people who toured the house. The price was lowered repeatedly. And this was when houses were selling super fast during the pandemic (spring-summer 2021). I eventually realized she "bought the listing", as several neighbors had suggested. When I asked her why there were no offers sooner, she mentioned two obstacles (being across from a park, and not having a big backyard); and said she didn't know they would pose problems. Seriously? My house finally sold for more than $60,000 below the original list price. Very dissatisfactory. read more

Sue Duchek, broker and owner of Pickett Fence Realty, turned the reluctance and anxiety I felt about having to use a realtor into gratitude and completely positive feelings about my first time doing so. I had unenthusiastically decided that I would need the help of a realtor to sell a condo I had lived in and owned for 30 years, because I was then living 140 miles away. I was unenthusiastic and reluctant because I am an independent and DIY kind of guy. Nevertheless, my wife and I interviewed several realtors in the Arlington Heights area. We knew in ten minutes we had a match when we met Sue. What impressed us was her calm, mature, friendly, thoughtful, humble and relatable demeanor and the fact that she did not push herself on us despite what we later learned were her manifest qualifications and experience. My point is, Sue is the real deal as a person and you will love working with her. She will tell it like it is and you'll want to hear it. For me, Sue has a great deal of personal credibility and earned my trust early with her nuanced thinking and analysis. She also has a lively sense of humor which, believe me, can serve anyone well in this sometimes fraught and emotional undertaking of real estate sales. Sue guided me through a minefield of difficult decisions in the worst months of the Covid-19 crisis in the spring and summer of 2020. Then she rationally and sympathetically helped me keep the faith through the disappointment of losing two early sales (for reasons beyond our control or influence) until we finally "got our plane on the ground and to the terminal", as our lawyer, Collin Gilbert of Palatine, put it. He was recommended by Sue and turned out to be a great choice. I recommend him as well for his hard work, communications skills and wise advice. I felt that Sue was in the game - my game - with both her head and her heart from the start. I would unconditionally recommend her to anyone seeking a delightful partner and an experienced guide in their real estate journey. If you call her, say "hey" from me. read more

These are the nicest and most genuine people you'll ever do business with. Clearly, Picket Fence Realty isn't a real estate mogul but if you're looking for a Boutique Realtor that will really focus on showing you the best customer service in the industry, this is your Realtor. There isn't a team of people that will treat you better than they do. They run their business off of their reputation for being the best and most caring Realty company in the area, and I can vouch for that after working with their team through a difficult situation. They have really proven their expertise after years of success and I would recommend them to any one looking for a quality Realtor. read more

Sue Duchek is fantastic! No stress, no drama. Super knowledgeable from how to prepare your house for sale, how to analyze market trends, to how to address buyers questions and how to deal with your movers. Sold my house in Arlington Heights in 3 days. Very insightful in terms of market pricing, timing, negotiations and all steps needed to prepare and get it done. I am a very busy professional and could not believe how smooth and easy Sue made the entire process for me. This was my first time ever using this agency, or working with Sue and her team, and could not be happier. Sue also made the experience positive for my buyers as well which I appreciated. Highly highly recommend read more

I don't think I would have enough room to truly express how great it was to work with Picker Fence on the sale of our house. Amy was fabulous, as was Sue and the entire team that worked on helping us sell. We did not live in a relatively hot market, but Amy and the team were able to market our home and get it done. They were extremely knowledgeable, friendly and easy to work with. They are all very detailed and very hands on. Super easy to communicate with and just plain awesome at making the sale process as painless as possible. We would have loved to work with them on our purchase, but we moved out of state. Highly, highly, highly recommend Amy and the entire Picket Fence team! read more

They do hard credit inquiries and lower your credit, then never get back to you regarding the home. Would not recommend, pretty unprofessional and the people working are not on the same page, far as when the homes will be ready. read more

After years of owning a rental property, my husband and I decided being landlords wasn't for us. We reached out to Amy Philpott and the PFR team, and requested advise on making this sale happen FAST. Amy took the time to investigate similar condos on the market, compared them to ours, and gave us her opinion on what we needed to do. We followed her directions, and soon listed the condo. It was on the market for 10 days before it went under contract. Amy's advise was spot on! We could not have asked for an easier transaction. Amy handled everything beautifully and made the entire process stress-free. She is personable, committed and professional. To work with the most knowledgable realtors in the area, I would highly recommend PFR! read more

Sue Duchek is fantastic! I honestly cannot say enough wonderful things about her. Sue listened to our needs and issues and really offered great advice. I felt like she always made herself available to us and made us feel like selling our house was her number one priority. I would recommend Sue to anyone looking in the Mount Prospect/Arlington Heights area. She is extremely knowledgeable and has a great network. read more

WOW. What can we say... Amy Philpott is a ROCK STAR!!! Always had our best interest in mind through this entire process. Trustworthy, caring, fun, very knowledgeable and always available. After a failed deal on another property with Redfin, a baby on the way, and trying to move out of Chicago and to the suburbs, we were on a tight timeline to find a new house and call it home. From the very first meeting Amy was a true professional, quickly got to know our likes and dislikes, and was determined to find us exactly what we were looking for. She is extremely knowledgeable about the Northwest Suburbs and is very well connected in the community, which gave us not only a unique perspective of the neighborhoods we were looking in, but also the opportunity to see some pocket listings as well. The house we ended up landing on was a bit of an usual deal, but exactly the project we were looking for. We went into contract with a builder who was flipping a house and were given the chance to make it everything we had been looking for. This amazing opportunity had some tense moments, as expected, but Amy made it stress-free for us. She was our eyes and ears on the project, made daily visits to update us on the progression, and was great advisor on any hard decisions that needed to be made. We highly recommend Amy Philpott from the Arlington Heights Picket Fence Realty Team to all of our friends and family and anyone who's looking to buy or sell a house. Not only did we find a top notch real estate agent, we also found a great life-long friend... THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts for an amazing job, Amy!!! read more