We were in Brainerd today to shop for a new home. A great guy named Albie met our every need in…read morelooking for a house. No stress. He made the experience fun and is very knowledgeable. Full of good suggestions and we are happy to have him as our new real estate agent.

From the owner: Edina Realty's Brainerd/Baxter Real Estate Agency is part of the largest residential real estate…read morebrokerage in Minnesota and western Wisconsin. When it comes to buying or selling a home, you shouldn't do it alone. You need someone in your corner - a home pricing expert, a skilled negotiator and a networking powerhouse. Our Brainerd/Baxter office has expert local real estate agents and a skilled support staff backed by the market-leading visibility and networking capabilities of Edina Realty to help you achieve your real estate goals.

I don't like writing negative reviews but I think this is long overdue. We purchased our home in…read moreCrosslake, MN, through Mr Schwendeman in 2013. He was basically worthless in the buying and selling process, as he represented both parties. He knew nothing about the home; he was basically just present. His personality was very bland and relied exclusively on the seller showing us the home and answering our questions. During the closing, the sellers asked him to leave and remove himself from the process. Don't be fooled by radio adds or billboards. Find someone more reputable.

Warning. If you get a bid and don't use them, expect to get spammed by phone. Over and over and…read moreover (once a month until you die). Tell them to STOP and it won't help. ;) I've concluded this is their business model: They tout how they have a massive marketing arm and spend like no other RE company. That's true. But their sales process and marketing budget is about getting LISTINGS and a whole less about selling your home. ;) Those annoying follow-up calls are part of their marketing. You have some underling follow-up with you. Kind of like a "closer" in the world of buying a car that you decided not to go with. They also pay big dollars to Zillow. Not for YOUR benefit but theirs. So when you click on Zillow wanting to talk with an Agent (or Zillow puts a picture of a local agent, tada, that's them. SO if you are anywhere near their territory, expect Zillow to "recommend" them. Nothing wrong with that other than when they say they spend millions to sell YOUR home they are not telling the truth. T=IMO, they spend MILLION to get leads. Now comes the interesting part. We got a few random follow-up calls by their firm asking if you are still interested in the property that I looked on Zillow. HUH?? I NEVER asked a question. I never made a call. I never put my info in. This happened 3-4 times now. My theory is that it's another reason that they bug you. They want to reach you to see if you MIGHT be looking at trading to something else or??? But as sure as I am sitting here, I don't put my phone number in Zillow asking some random agent to call me. Plus, the voice was foreign (a call center). You know.. A 2-3 second delay why you say "hello, hello". Called ID shows Scam! Their final statement is "We won't list your property unless it is a realistic price." Of course! Why would I want to over price my home; it's terrible for resale. And "we have a 98% close ratio when we list". Think about it. That means they price the home lower than market. Just look at their listings. Sure, they lose 6-7% off the difference. But you lose 93-94%. AND they like to push the listing commission side of the ration and give the buying agent (the IMPORTANT one IMO) less. If you want to catch a deal on a hoem, buy one of their listings as often, they lowball the homeowners in selling too cheap. Anyways, NICE people. VERY knowledgeable, amazing office, but a PITA if you say no to them. Anyways, we decided not to list our cabin. But boy oh boy do the like to follow-up. I'm writing this because while it has been 18 months since they and gave us a market ($50K and $90K lower than the other two companies by the way), I just got a call tonight. So I wanted to share. Lastly, we had some friends on our lake use them this past (2019) Spring. While I thought OUR agent that we got a market from was a pitbull (that's a good thing as she was saavy), his sales person that he actually hired was a dud. Bad pix, didn't put a sign at the road, or the lake. No aerial pix (as promised). Worse yet, their agent recommend they take an offer. And they listened. Hey, they are the expert, right? One problem... It was contingent (which happens). But the kicker is NO WAY IN HECK was the potential buyer going to sell their property at their asking price (which tied theirs up in the KEY sales months). Guess what, no sale so they fired that agent for being too lazy to cross the T's. They pulled the house from them. They might list it with someone else next season. But it gets better. During one of my their robocall-like follow-ups I was discussing above ^^. I professionally told the guy on the phone I would NEVER use Chad's firm and why. I ALSO told him about my friends story. He was kind and professional too. :) I explained how my friend voiced his frustration to the owner (Chad) and the agent via email. He did it with class. He just wanted them to know they need to correct a problem so they can learn (he wanted to let the owner know). In the end, my neighbor was upset because no one responded. So I explained all of this to the guy who was was doing yet another follow-up (I know, that's his job). The compassionate employee said he was going to tell Chad and company. I said, deep down, my neighbor wants to hear from someone because he felt cheated and not valued. Nope! Crickets. I have no doubt there are a lot of delighted clients. Just realize they may have left a lot of money on the table AND they bought into their marketing spiel. While I am not in Real Estate, I have bought and sold a lot of homes. I'm also in Sales and can smell marketing B.S. I digress.... I also see a massive amount of positive feedback on another site. No, it's not google reviews. I strongly assume (do your own diligence) that site is part of that marketing budget that they tout. So use them if you want. But I felt compelled to share. I'm sure I will see caller ID with their next months follow-up call. Yicks! :(

I have used Trent twice for buying property in the Brainerd and Isle area. Both purchases went very…read morewell. On the first one my daughter had a pipe break in the house after being there a week. Trent rushed over to help her take care of things and made sure she was safe and secure. I will use Trent for my next purchase.

From the owner: Realistic Realtor, selling and buying real estate for clients for the Brainerd Lakes Area.read more

Where to begin? Everything started off just fine at first. Everything worked, no complaints, etc…read more Then one day I come home to find a letter on my door giving me a day notice that they are tearing out and installing a new bathroom!! I Didn't have a bathroom for 3 days, so I stayed elsewhere. They wouldn't prorate rent for the 3 unlivable days I had no bathroom. Next came the bugs... Boxelders to be exact. Tons and tons of them. My apartment was on the first floor and I had boxelders crawling all through my windows. Called to get the weather stripping fixed: no luck. I ended up making posterboard coverings that I sealed over my windows so the bugs would stop coming in. Now comes the hot part, literally. Record heat and my old, POS window wall A/C unit goes belly up. They told my it would take THREE WEEKS!!! to get it fixed. It was constantly around 97 degrees. Again, I left and stayed at work. This happened probably 10 nights until these incompetent baboons finally installed a new one. Once again I asked for rent to be pro-rated and got blown off. The final straw came when they BROKE THE LAW. I joined the military and brought in a set of my orders for training. I had about 3 months to go. Now, I have my orders because by law they must release you from your lease. The secretary there filled out the paperwork, copied my orders, etc. Told me everything was taken care of and they even cut me a check for the last month pro-rated. OK, thinking everything is cool and next thing you know I'm down at Fort Knox, Kentucky playing Army. Now, knowing i would be gone from 5-7 months, I left my parents in charge of my legal and financial crap. I get home about 7 months later back from basic and AIT and I'm going through my paperwork. When I was gone, they starting sending letters saying that I owed everything until the lease ran out and they were going to hold me security deposit. My mother, not knowing what's what in the rental market thought I screwed up and she payed them!! They scammed over a GRAND from us. The worst part about this is that when I went in to their office to cancel my lease, Kevin Goedker is the one I talked with. I noticed he has his Marine Corps platoon photo from probably Paris Island when he went through boot. Thanks for the great service to a fellow service member jackhole!!!

If there was a minus category, I'd use it. Travis Banks from Weichert /Tower Realtors was on my…read moreproperty without my consent... more than once. I called him and explained I'm not selling and he was hostile with me. I sent him an email following up with our conversation asking him to stay off my property and please leave me alone. Then two days later, he sent me a request to sign and list my property?! I wonder what part of "please stay off my property he doesn't understand"? Travis Banks is borderline harassing. I have video footage of him walking around my property, in my pump and doing something in the bushes? My neighbors saw him too and thought it was strange that he would wave to them and say "hi". Perhaps he has mental health issues, regardless, he shouldn't be on my property. I contacted Tim, the manager at Tower property, and asked him to keep his employees off my property and he became belligerent. These guys are desperate for a sale. There are so many good realtors in Nisswa, don't use this group. I called the sheriffs department and asked them to please keep an eye out on my property. Hopefully, I won't have to file criminal trespass charges, I'd rather they just leave me alone and go away. Please don't use these people, something is really wrong with them. Happy house hunting.

Tim Bosch Did a great at selling our lake lot. He convinced us to list the property at more then we…read morethought we could get and we got close to asking. This was accomplished in less than 2 weeks on the market. Would hire him again in a heart beat

Literally the best realtor in Minnesota, she is so considerate in the search and very open and…read morehonest about the realities of what to expect and how the process goes. We are so glad we had the luck of landing with her! A fortunate find for anyone looking for a home!

Highly Recommend Missy Karels and the MC Elite Team!!…read more We started our journey with Missy looking for a second home in the Brainerd Lakes area. She showed us several great options within our price range, and as our search evolved, she adapted right along with us. Even when we couldn't quite find the perfect fit, Missy came through--introducing us to a local builder, Erik Westin. That connection led us to a beautiful wooded lot, and our dream home is now being built! We move in this fall and couldn't be more excited. Missy didn't stop there--she also became our listing agent for our townhouse. Thanks to her expertise, smart pricing strategy, and fantastic marketing, we received an offer over asking in just about a week! We close later this month, and the process has been incredibly smooth. Missy is professional, knowledgeable, and always quick to respond. What could have been a stressful time--buying and selling simultaneously--has been virtually stress-free thanks to her. She truly knows her stuff and is just a genuinely kind and wonderful person to work with. We're so glad we found her--and we absolutely recommend her to anyone buying or selling in the area!

From the owner: MC Elite Team is a dedicated real estate team serving the Brainerd Lakes Area, specializing in…read morehelping buyers and sellers navigate the market with confidence. Known for strong local knowledge, strategic marketing, and personalized service, the team works hard to make every transaction smooth and successful for their clients.