5 STARS! If you are looking for a realtor, you've found the…read moreright choice with the Elakatt Group! They made our house buying process so smooth and worry free that we are forever grateful to them! From answering all our questions at all points during the process to recommending resources to work with for all factors of the home buying process, this group is the way to go! We are so grateful to them and whole heartedly recommend them to anyone and everyone! Thank you to the Elakatt Group!

When Matt sold my house during a turbulent market a couple of months ago I called him a "successful…read morewarrior". Now, after recently closing on the purchase of a new home, I'd add the titles of "welcome advisor and friend". His keen knowledge of the market and his steadfast yet calming personality is reassuring during a rapidly changing market. Thanks to Matt and Team Elakatt!

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.

Angela Liegel made what could have been a stressful selling process feel organized and manageable…read morefrom start to finish. She was incredibly helpful with staging, offered thoughtful repair recommendations, and connected us with reliable contractors who delivered great work. Throughout it all, she maintained a positive, professional attitude and kept everything moving forward. Her pricing strategy was spot on and resulted in a swift, successful sale. We highly recommend Angela to any prospective sellers!

Angela is the best. She helped us buy our first home in 2019 and, five years later, guided us…read morethrough selling that same house when work took us to New York. As first-time buyers and then first-time sellers, we leaned on her heavily, and she was an incredible resource every step of the way. She was always available by phone or text to answer questions, explain the process, and connect us with great people--our real estate lawyer, contractors, photographer, and more. And when we say she went above and beyond, we mean it literally: she was out there weeding and mulching our yard herself to get the house ready for open houses. Angela is exactly the kind of person you want by your side for both the highs and the stresses of buying and selling a home. We've already recommended her to all our friends, but wanted to do it publicly as well.

Christen review…read more I found the Nicholas Ryan Team and was immediately in contact with Nicholas Ryan. He then set me up with Christen on a consult call. I live out of state, so I needed a trusted team to sell my tenant occupied condo on the North-side of Chicago. Not only did Christen sell my home in the off market and at list price but she went OVER and BEYOND to work with my tenant (who started out slightly disgruntled). By the end of it, the tenant, Christen and myself were working together! Christen brought us both peace in the middle of a pandemic! Since I was not able to be there in person, Christen and her team took care of *everything* making sure the new buyer has a freshly painted + cleaned home on closing day. I told Christen many times and will say it over and over. She is a true angel, not only as a realtor, but as an extraordinary human who wants nothing but the best for all involved. I felt deeply taken care of and honored in the entire roller coaster process. I am sure if I had any other agent I would not have sold my condo. She is special, and she will deliver!

As new home buyers, we were anxious about the home-buying process. However, it was immediately…read moreevident that Asia (& the NR team) is an exceptional real estate agent who put us at ease throughout the entire process. She is patient, kind, and highly professional. She worked extremely hard for us and we couldn't be happier with our experience. We would recommend her to anyone and look forward to working with her when selling/buying our future homes!

We just purchased our first home in Logan Square with Jen and couldn't recommend her enough! She…read moreguided us through the whole process that my husband and I knew nothing about. She was patient throughout our search and was always available to show us homes, answer emails/texts and give opinions on what makes a home valuable. She knows the market inside and out! She helped us buy a home that was on the market for 3 days and knew exactly what to do to give us a fighting chance to win the bid for the home. We ended up purchasing a 2-unit house where she promptly found us new tenants without any hiccups or vacancy! Jen is very professional and exceeded all of our expectations in finding a home. We hope to work with her again! Thank you, Jen!

Jeff needs to be more attentive. Not a good salesman when he can't respond to questions about a…read moreproperty from potential buyers.

Hands down, best realtor EVER. Not only did she help us find our home moving during covid,…read more(jeremy's review from 2020) But then helped us sell that same home as we are moving out of state soon. She was able to help us sell our home for the highest sale in neighborhood history. Everything from staging, cleaning, utilizing her own decor from her house if needed, letting our dog out, open house, negotiating. Effortless for her. You will not regret choosing Laura! She will be honest, set realistic expectations, and be your advocate all the way through.

It was around February 2020 when me and my wife decided on buying our own dream home. We were…read moreapprehensive and had absolutely no idea of how to go about doing it but we needed to start somewhere.I believe home buying could be very stressful process especially for a first time home buyer. I thought Google would be a nice place to start to look for a realtor who could help us find our next dwelling. I did my search online to look for a firm with a proven track record, good ratings & testimonials and who could understand what we exactly were looking within the location of our choosing and of course, keeping it under our budget!! And then the pandemic struck the US to make the whole process a lot harder. We weren't sure if any realtor would be willing in person in these troubled times to go around the city, to show us properties in reality. Obviously, Market standing , credibility turnaround time and knowledge played a significant role in our realtor choosing process. While googling, I looked up best realtors in Chicagoland area and that's where I came across McPherson Westhoff realty. Emailed them the next day and got a call back within hours from them asking about our selected areas/ expectations for our new home. They took down all the information and customized our property search results based on the criteria we set. Here is where Laura Duckett with Compass Realty was introduced to us for the first time to help us see some properties in which we were interested and we are glad we were. Laura struck me as an incredibly knowledgeable, patient, honest,helpful punctual ,diligent, passionate realtor who loves her job and who was one step ahead in her game of finding us the right property as per our requirements with a pleasing personality. She's serious about her work and humorous when the moment calls for it .She was reachable whenever needed and always inboxed newly listed or upcoming properties depending on the frequency we asked for. She scheduled showings of the properties , even from a third party website in a timely, meticulous manner with a proper printed travel map at a short notice. She totally respects her clients considerations, be it price, neighborhood, budget or you name it. We were always comfortable discussing anything and everything with her. To be honest, we became friends with her ,talking and looking over multiple properties and it gave us a sense of personal connection with her within a short span of time . We never felt rushed in, forced into buying anything or any unsolicited advice by her. She would drive with us to multiple properties in a single day all around Chicago and would give suggestions of what needed attention in a potential property, looked closely at the mechanicals, foundation, walls, flooring, ceiling appliances and materials. She was on top of answering any questions we had, and if she wouldn't know the answer right away she would make an extra effort to find them out by the end of the day to text later. I remember her sending texts even during the late night hours about a ghost query I had.It wouldn't be an exaggeration if I could say she not only won our trust, she won our hearts!! Well, after we decided on buying our current home, Laura made the whole process of negotiating, comparing the comps, putting in the offer, inspection, hiring a real estate attorney, getting a lender at a cheaper rate super quick and super smooth. She kept everyone in the loop while we went through closing with a 100% transparency. Unfortunately, Laura couldn't be present because of social distancing restrictions during our closing during the pandemic so she asked us to have our picture taken outside the title company with her head shot and that's exactly what we did.lol. She, in turn, framed that same picture and gifted it to us at the time of handing over the keys to our new house. That was hilarious! Later when we became new homeowners she suggested a firm to help us with our moving, setting up internet and other utilities transferred into our names all of which went through like a breeze and for free!! Our home buying process couldn't be any easier than what Laura made it. I highly recommend Laura as one of the topmost real estate agent one can find for the Northwest/ western suburbs. Please call her for all your real estate needs, see her in action and I'm sure you'll be delighted you did because she's exceptional in what she does. We kinda sat back and relaxed while Laura did all the work for us .We appreciate it a lot all of what you did including the leaf blower which you gifted us with is in use every single weekend reminding us of you being by our side;) . Thank you Laura.

I moved to Chicago from Toronto in 2014 and Charese David was the selling agent for the condo I…read morebought. I was immediately impressed with Charese's detailed knowledge of the building and she was able to answer any and all questions I had. Because I was moving from Canada, the purchase process was more difficult than originally anticipated. Charese was in constant communication with myself and my agent, and I often found it was easier to go straight to her to ensure she had the latest information. The day I came to get the keys, Charese was at the property in person and gave me a Starbucks gift card to thank me for being so great during the process - I kept thinking that I should have been giving HER a gift for putting up with all of the issues I had! When it came time to sell my condo, there was no question - I wanted Charese to be my buying and selling agent. She has a deep knowledge of the Chicago market, asks tough questions during walkthroughs, is always available to talk (or vent) and truly gets to know her clients and what they are looking for. She is very honest about her thoughts on specific properties and wants to ensure her clients get the very best this city has to offer. I would highly recommend Charese to anyone buying or selling a property in Chicago - she will work tirelessly to make sure you get exactly what you want!

Charese David should be your ONLY choice if you're buying or selling in Roscoe Village. She had my…read moreplace sold in 2 to 3 weeks, at 96.3% of asking price. Charese recommended a terrific real estate attorney, who was integral to keeping the deal together. She worked with my buyers, their lender, and their realtor, to keep everything moving. Charese even recommended, and coordinated, her handyman, her tile guy, and her painter, to make the needed beautifications & repairs. I'm very busy, so this was extremely helpful. I had a couple windows that ended-up needing repair, so Charese worked with the window company, and really knocked my socks off with how affordable those repairs ended-up. She also recommended a local moving company that did an outstanding job. Charese David is a Top Producer for a reason. If you want a real Pro, she's the ONLY person you should ever use.

Worked with Tammy and her team. Smooth and fast process. Everyone communicated promptly, provided…read moreinfo as needed. As a first time home buyer, we couldn't have imagined such a smooth process. Highly recommend

First I worked with Cesar Restrepo while he was with another company, doing my very first mortgage…read more He was very patient answering all my questions and leaded on a very postiive way. Comparing to a couple other friends doing the same at the same time, I got a great deal. So it was natural that when rates went down I looked for Cesar and once again I got a deal better than banks were offering. I highly recommend him.