Diana Dahlberg, owner of 1 Month Realty was our agent for selling our condo. I felt an instant…read moreconnection to her.at our first meeting. She was very thorough with all the information we needed to put our home on the market. We felt very comfortable letting her handle all the details of our listing. She was always available to answer any questions we had. She took beautiful photos of our home. She had an open house early on and we got a buyer fairly quickly. We have recommended her whenever we get a chance. She is someone you can trust. We would use her again.

Jamie and team are fantastic! Responsive, knowledgeable, experienced, and always willing to go the…read moreextra mile. Would recommend them to anyone looking for a good realtor.

Jamie is one in a million. Knowledgeable, caring, responsive, trustworthy, highly responsible and…read moreshe knows her stuff. She doesn't just sell homes, she takes care of people. Highly recommend!

We had a fantastic experience working with Susan. She brought so much expertise, professionalism,…read moreand positive energy to the table. She listened, answered every question, gave great advice, guided us through every step of the transaction, and made sure everything went smoothly. We couldn't be happier with the outcome and highly recommend her to anyone looking to buy or sell!

With how crazy the real estate market is, especially in the North Shore, it really goes a long way…read moreto have an excellent realtor. Susan was beyond exceptional. We were so fortunate to have first met her while wandering through one of her warmly staged open houses. While most seller's agents we met at open houses tended to stay disengaged, Susan was welcoming and clearly was there to advocate for her client. Even though we didn't go with her open house listing, the true reward was getting connected to her for the rest of our new home search. While some realtors are just there to open the door and send you automated listings, Susan blew us away with her vigilant and thoughtful procurement of potential homes. When seemingly perfect listings popped up, we'd quickly hop onto our email to ask Susan for a showing only to find an email already in our inbox from her asking if we'd be free later that afternoon to see that exact listing. With each potential home, we were greeted by her kind smile and thorough data on not only the home but also the neighborhood and market. Her local roots and connections to the North Shore gave us the confidence in understanding and making the decisions needed to submit offers in an area where homes were receiving 10+ offers, tens of thousands over listing price. Susan provided constant communication and support. We never felt pressured, uncomfortable, or alone while working with her. I honestly have no idea how she has so little reviews online and feel like we really lucked out to have gotten her as our agent before more people catch onto the exceptional quality and service she delivers. If you're in the market for a home in the North Shore, you need to at least give her a call to experience what an exceptional realtor truly looks like. Oh... and she helped us close on our new home at the price point we had hoped for. Exceptional quality, service, and results - yes, she's that good.

I would not use Picket Fence again, and I do not recommend them. Sue Duchek handled the listing on…read moremy 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.

Sue Duchek, broker and owner of Pickett Fence Realty, turned the reluctance and anxiety I felt…read moreabout 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.

I hired Lynn Briskin to market and sell my home. This review is specifically about deceptive…read moremarketing practices by @properties more than it is about Lynn Briskin, although she too is culpable for this behavior. Frankly, I am upset and feel deceived by the whole process and can only hope future homeowners will not be put in the same position as me. TL;DR: If you are listing your home with @properties, INSIST that the commission split between the buyer's and seller's agents be written into your listing agreement. Buried in the very fine print of the @properties standard listing agreement it says that @properties can decide the commission split between the agents. Even I missed it, and it was only at the closing table that I even caught wind of the consequences of this. My property sat on the market for 10 weeks accruing market time with a below average number of showings and Lynn assured me she had done absolutely everything in her power to help me garner a buyer. For those who may not be aware: When a property is listed on the MLS, the listing agent inputs what the commission to the buyer's agent will be. This information is absolutely secret to the general public and not viewable to anyone without MLS access, so you are completely putting your faith in the listing agent and trusting they are holding your best interests. As we all know, agent commissions drive showings and ultimately sales. Whether it would be considered ethical or not, a property listed with a lower commission to a buyer's agent (e.g., 1%) will result in fewer showings. (Please tell any agent who disagrees with this statement to switch to a flat fee structure instead). As I found out the hard way, Lynn listed my property with a full 1% commission in her favor (i.e., not an equal commission split). In other words, a lower commission to the buyer's agent, and plausibly responsible for the longer market time and lower sale price. While the "net" commission to me as the seller was the same, had this been *disclosed* upfront, I would never have hired Lynn to represent me. To my dismay, this is a widespread practice with @properties. After speaking with Don Shea the @properties managing broker, he encourages "all of his agents" to list properties in this manner with this type of split commission in a 1% favor to his agents. While this practice puts more money in the @properties pockets (and may be even justifiable in some instances), the homeowner has zero visibility or knowledge of this practice. The commission split should be disclosed upfront because it is both the ethical thing to do as well as consequential to the homeowner with their sale.

Lynn is the best! We worked with her for the purchase of our condo 6 years ago and also this past…read moremonth for the sale of our condo and both times she was a joy to work with. She makes the process incredibly easy and straightforward and truly takes care of you. We would highly recommend her to anyone buying or selling!

I recently utilized Urb & Burb Realty to purchase my new home…read more Fuschia Win-Ro was my agent. I was looking for someone who was knowledgeable, communicative and genuinely invested in helping me find the right home for myself and my children. Fuschia took the time to know exactly what I was looking for in a home and was always one step ahead -- whether it was scheduling showings quickly in a competitive market, explaining the nuances of the process or offering honest feedback about properties. During the entire process I felt Fuschia consistently advocated for my best interests. When it came time to make an offer Fuschia provided invaluable guidance on pricing strategy and negotiations, which ultimately helped me secure a great deal. Communication was easy and often. Fuschia was available by phone, text, or email and kept me updated every step of the way. Fuschia also worked seamlessly with my attorney, lender, and other parties to ensure a smooth closing. I'm incredibly grateful to have had Fuschia on my side during this process.

After three months of tries and crazy fails on three condos (for various reasons and none Karla's…read morefault), I finally own the condo I'd been staring at all along. Even when I went inside, it felt like deja vu because I'd been examining the photos so long that I felt like I'd been there before. I wholeheartedly appreciate Karla's expertise in real estate development, home maintenance tips, patience during the times I was testing her patience the MOST, and for being an all-around funny person. There was never too much silence around Karla, and she always had a colorful story to tell. Even the three-hour wait on closing and three-week wait on the condo association (notice how "three" seems to be the magic number here?), she was always on her game, working in the background even when I honestly didn't know she was, and trying her best to make sure I got the condo I wanted. I appreciate her and would recommend her to anyone. (My wine candle is coming.)

The whole experience I had with Dawn was straight horrible. She's a liar & just unprofessional…read more I called her out on being rude and she told me. "I don't know, if you knew what's going on in McHenry but my nerves is short". We all have personal things going on in our life that doesn't give you the right to be rude. As soon as I told her I want to cancel the contract she started being really shady telling me I had to pay for things that wasn't in our contract. Just for the sake of it, I said I will pay anything because I do not want anything to do with her. She continuously harassed me! If she is doing this to me, I know she is going to do it with someone else so please be aware!!

This is a continuation of my review from a month ago. Dawn has been in contact with me from the…read morestart. I'm due to close on the 13th and all the processes are working smoothly with no hiccups. Since I've left the area Dawn has scheduled a weekly visit to my home just to make sure all is ok within my property. They have a company that takes care of all the utility change over. The Bremer Team also recommended a moving company to move me to New Jersey Drieske a local moving company came thru and loaded in McHenry and unloaded in New Jersey. Thank you to Dawn and her team to provide these contacts. Selling a home is harder than it looks. With the professionals in the real estate industry they make it as easy on their clients as possible. A big hug and thank you to The Bremer team of Keller Williams

Donna Johnson at Key Realty Group is a terrific professional and has been a great help to us. She…read moreis helping us with some property management that we never expected we would have to deal with. We are not familiar with the area, but she is an expert. The team at Key Realty Group have all been very friendly and helpful. We will probably end up using them for the sale of the property too. We highly recommend them.