Selling our Portland, Maine townhouse after 25 years was a daunting task. Reports of a changing…read morehousing market, coupled with a complicated & unfamiliar real estate process, made clear 'For Sale by Owner' was not an option for us. From the Vitalius Real Estate Group market reports & newsletters received in the mail, we determined Elise Loschiavo had the experience & knowledge to sell our condo. Elise didn't disappoint. Elise demonstrated the expertise on how to best market our townhouse and kept us abreast on each step, explaining the real estate process, terminology & contracts in terms we understood. Elise's resource network, including a stager & photographer, was critical in making our townhouse competitive with other condos listed for our area. Appreciation of Elise's services & resources grew when, after selling our condo, we relocated to Oregon switching to the role of Buyer. Exploring area listings on internet sites and onsite tours, we found several houses profiled the Sellers' life in residence, not a place my wife & I could make our new home: * Oversized/numerous pieces of furniture giving a room a cramped look; * Personal photos or knickknacks throughout the home; and * Spaces, especially closets, filled with clothing, toys, storages boxes, etc. Thanks to Elise & her network of resources, our listing avoided these shortcomings by presenting our condo in a manner a Buyer could picture themselves living in. The Result: Our condo was under contract within two days and $20k over the asking price. Our cross-country move from Maine to Oregon required making numerous & daily decisions. One of our best decisions was enlisting Elise as our real estate agent to sell our Portland, ME condo.

Elise was wonderful to work with selling our townhouse. She was patient especially since we had…read moresome tight timelines. Her estimate of what our unit would sell for was very accurate. Communication is also one of her strengths. I highly recommend Elise and Vitalius Real Estate!!!

Unfortunately one of their agents, Desiree, was not professional. Didn't return communications in a…read moretimely fashion and then stopped communicating for long periods of time and then didn't even have the integrity to apologize. Maybe she doesn't know how prioritize things well, but I would never trust her with or recommend her for a big transaction like real estate which requires good, consistent communication and ability to keep track of many details. Cannot recommend.

I never dealt with anyone here except Richard Murphy from the "Murphy Team." So my apologies if…read morethis review brings down anyone else, I never dealt with anyone else here. Richard is often a little slow on the uptake. He writes very poorly, often missing grammar cues and spelling, so his emails are hard to follow and disjointed. This is only an annoyance more than anything, but when it comes to actually writing up a contract, proper wording and grammar is very important. Small mistakes can be a serious liability. I would hope this has not gotten him into trouble in the past but I wouldn't doubt if it has. Further, when it comes to situations between buyer and seller, Richard tends to either get in the way or escalate situations rather than de-escalate. It is a mystery what his intentions are - I would often get the sense he just wants to be seen and heard. Overall, your best bet in any transaction he happens to be involved in, is leaving him by the wayside and getting the job done yourself. I don't think he has poor intentions, he is just kinda dumb. My recommendation: avoid, avoid, avoid. If you can't avoid and are stuck with him in a transaction, just be more alert and aware than you might be normally. There are a lot of other brokers in this part of Maine, so hopefully you never have to deal with him like I have.

First of all, we found Jeremy Lock on yelp ,he had really great reviews so we gave him a try .We…read morewere looking for a place in Portland coming from Arizona, we didn't know anyone who could recommend a realtor. He helped us find a place and was very patient , and I am pleased to say that we now have a place in Portland!! Definitely would recommend Jeremy He knows Portland very well. Thank you again for all your help!

Jeremy was fantastic to work with. He's professional but also really personable, and his…read morecommunication was always on point. If he missed a call, I'd have a response almost immediately. His knowledge of the Portland market and confidence in pricing strategy made a huge difference. I appreciated how he struck the right balance: he welcomed pushback but also stood firm when he knew what would get results. His fresh, modern approach to marketing (including premium video assets) helped our place stand out. Even in a lousy market, Jeremy persisted and got our condo sold above asking - something we'd honestly given up hope on. He was recommended to me by a friend, and now I'd happily recommend him to anyone. I've got another property in the Munjoy Hill neighborhood and look forward to working with him again.

From the moment I first spoke to Mike Weisman, he gained my trust and confidence. A bit of context:…read moreA recent widower at the time, my mother wanted to relocate from her farmhouse in Maine to a +55 community in Massachusetts so that she could be near my two sisters and their families. She had a unique home and an adjacent parcel of land, each surrounded on three sides by a state park. I was facilitating the process of selling both properties virtually from San Francisco. I had called and spoken to a few local realtors. The valuations for the home deviated substantially from our expectations. One agent even acknowledged that she did not know how to price the property. What??? Mike, on the other hand, understands the market and the value proposition these properties offered to the right buyer. He was knowledgeable of the area and pursued a pricing strategy that yielded quick results. Had we pursued relationships with any of the other realtors, our asking price for the farmhouse would have started at least $80,000 below Mike's valuation. After selecting Mike, he didn't disappear. He took on a hands-on approach and kindly held our hands through the entire process. He is a super marketer; from the description, he crafted to the 3-D, immersive walk-through he created and to the professional-grade photography, he understands the value of showmanship. His work made me want to buy the property. Mike is the best communicator. On our initial call, he spent as much time as I required to understand his philosophy and approach, what differentiates his reality from his competitors, and to ask questions. He was thorough, clear, and concise. Even when I was overtaken by other, more pressing events, Mike was patient. When we started receiving offers, he was on the phone with us ready to talk strategy. Mike negotiated up the price, and we got the asking price. Mike was also adept at finding prospective buyers (outside of his marketing leads) for the property. He approached the State of Maine and others whom he thought might be interested. Again, we sold the parcel of land above the asking price. We were delighted that we sold both properties quickly and all without sacrificing price. It would simply have been impossible for my mother to have withstood the enormity of this transition had it not been for Mike's expertise, knowledge, patience, and understanding. Mike made selling the properties hassle-free (I mean literally) and fun. Even after both properties were sold, Mike cared enough to follow up with my mother and me to see how she was doing. You can't get better, more personable service from a realtor. He is the best. If I lived in Maine, he would be a good friend. Jim Allen

From the owner: Need to know how much your house is worth? Call now for your free home evaluation!…read more The home of the Real Property Team at EXP Realty, your local experts on everything real estate related in Maine.

Liz Berg is a fraud! Do NOT use! As a property owner of numerous homes other than Portland, moving…read moreto Portland we had no clue when we met her. . she comes off very professional at first but we had nothing but terrible experience with her. She preys on new property owners and renters that don't know any better. I had to go to the Portland police twice about her one time she assaulted me (pushing me out of the way) plus harassing me and my boyfriend and still owes us $1475 which is now in small claims court! She doesn't check references properly, she was a complete disaster to work with. Never did the statement of conditions, did proper background checks, just made calls but didn't follow up with tenants background, and lied about everything she did. Towards the end, she almost knocked me over getting to my front door, as she was trying to get into my apartment after I told her she was not welcome. Which this resulted from me calling the police on her the first time.

I was a tenant of Liz. Very rude, and nosey. Would text me asking me where I was and what I was…read moredoing. Strange experience.

Mandy helped me sell a house during a difficult divorce and worked so patiently with me to find and…read morepurchase a new one - during a global pandemic and a severe lack of inventory! She took the time to understand my personality and requirements and worked hard to make sure I got exactly what I wanted. Mandy is kind and friendly and a professional who knows her stuff. I cannot recommend her high enough.

We found Mandy purely by accident when a mutual friend shared a listing of hers with us, knowing…read morethat we were looking to buy our first home. We immediately knew upon meeting Mandy that she was a perfect fit for us. She understood our unique housing needs as musicians and creative types, never tried to push a property on us that was out of our price range, and steered us away from listings that either looked sketchy/were a bad value or were simply not a good fit for our needs/wants. She tirelessly fought for the best deal for us, drove all over Maine to show us houses, tracked down elusive sellers/agents for appointments, and didn't miss a detail when viewing homes. We can't recommend her enough!!

We used Maine Home Connection and Jarrod Mallon, their buyer's specialist to purchase our first…read morehome in Maine. Jarrod set us up on email searches and notifications and once we were ready to look at homes he was available. He was flexible (during lunch, after work, weekends-Sat morning or Sunday open houses) and patient. He provided great info on things to look for, answered tons of our questions and made for a seamless buying process. We had a great experience with Maine Home Connection and Jarrod Mallon!

Laura and Mike actually helped us to buy and sell our home, and they did a great job both times…read more When we sold, we were relocating to Colorado so we wanted to be able to sell the house relatively quickly and with Laura and Mike's help and expertise, we had a purchase & sales agreement in just 7 days! Because we had to leave the area before the closing, Laura even stood in for us at the closing...now that's service. We would recommend Maine Home Connection to anyone looking to buy or sell a home...great folks, great service and knowledgeable about their business.

This is our recent experience with a Sotheby's seller's agent representing a single-family home in…read morecentral Maine. Sotheby agent listed a property during the week and we attempted to schedule an apt to view on Saturday morning. Were informed no appointments would be offered over the long weekend, only Friday evening (on very short notice) or Monday. We scheduled and confirmed a Monday morning viewing. We shuffled around some other appts to avoid multiple trips as we were travel several hundred miles from out of state to tour these homes. Our agent received notification Sunday that the house was already under contract. As it turns out, the delay cost us a chance to view, and bid on, other properties we postponed to accommodate this particular seller. This was very inconsiderate and unprofessional of the selling agent. It's a tough market, we understand, but honor your appointments and provide timely feedback on property status so buyers can quickly make alternative arrangements to avoid missing out on other available homes.

My colleague, Eileen Phelan, immediately demonstrated her strong commitment to a listing referral…read morewhen she jumped in to stage the house, devise a strategic entry date for marketing the property, and became hands on for helping the owner close down her family home of 25 years. This pro serves as a great example of how real estate commissions are truly earned.

Best of the best!! We couldn't have dreamed of a better experience with Sarah. She is supportive,…read morepatient, honest and incredible at her craft. Not to mention all that she + Courtney do for our community!! Because we lived out of state at the time, we greatly appreciated Sarah's insight into the Portland real estate market. We were on a tight time crunch and she found us our dream house in just a few weeks. We will without a doubt use Sarah to sell our house one day!

Sarah and Courtney are gifted, engaged and extremely helpful partners in real estate ventures. It…read morewas a mere 15 days from our first meeting to a signed purchase and sale agreement! Sarah and Courtney are highly professional realtors who are enthusiastic and energetic, knowledgeable about market trends, always ready to help with anything and they know the right people for quick turnaround painting/contracting, etc. They are excellent at communication, most often responding immediately to text, email and calls. Additionally, they have a wonderful sense of aesthetics, made to good use in staging my house while I lived there, and even brought decorative items from their own collection. Sarah and Courtney know how to destress the sale of your home..

Lee Goldberg is the best! I worked with Lee when I bought my home in OOB years ago. I was living in…read moreCalifornia at the time and needed to get into a place back East quickly. He and I worked to find places that would suit me and then he would tour them while FaceTiming me. I bought my home without having stepped foot in the door until after I passed papers. That's how much I trust Lee Goldberg. This year I moved back to California and, of course, Lee sold my home in Old Orchard Beach for me. He visited me on Thursday and I accepted a full price offer that Sunday. I closed on that property within three weeks.

We cannot speak highly enough about April and Duston Leddy Real Estate. We recently purchased our…read morefirst home through April, and we're so impressed by her knowledge of the market, the key players, and her dedication to finding us our dream house. April got us into properties before they hit the open market, knew the builders of developments we were looking at and was able to point us in the right direction, and stuck with us through months of searching. If you're either buying or selling the house, do yourself a favor and work with April! Not only was she the best real estate agent we could have asked for, but also a lovely person and a delight to work with. We hope to have you over for a barbecue at the new house soon April! Two very happy new homeowners here.