I am by no means a realty expert, but I have bought and sold three different homes in three different states. I have worked with at least 5 different realtors and I have had good and bad experiences.

I loved working with Sara. Sara is friendly, personable, professional, courteous. She is hardworking and patient. We were moving to the area from out of state and didn't know what neighborhood, what school district, what kind of home we wanted to be in. We don't have our own contacts for things like painting, contracting, cleaning, etc. We knew almost nothing at all about the area, but that didnt' stop me from having a very particular set of wish lists. One of my most important items was a house that had its own mailbox (I know, its weird. Its like a white picket fence for me. My very own version of the American dream). There is no way to search for a neighborhood that has its own mailboxes (and not mailbox centers or whatever they are called in the newer neighborhoods), but Sara called friends and other realtors, trying to get first dibs on anything that might come up that fit this particular need. I also wanted a house built between 1986 and 2005. It seemed like a large date range to me, but apparently not so much. I wanted the house to have daylight windows or a walkout basement. At one point, my search yielded only 2 homes in the entire metro area. That didn't stop Sara.

Sara showed us probably 30 different homes, at least, and we'd talked about countless others through online searches. Since we were from out of town, we could only meet on the weekends, and Sara would take a huge chunk of her weekend to help us look. She would send us a list early in the week, I'd star the ones I liked, and Sara would drive through the neighborhood to see if they had their own mailboxes, if the development was settled, if there were mature trees. Sara learned exactly what we were looking for and went out of her way to help us find it. We were at the tail end of our search and I was tired, ready to be moved and ready to concede on a lot of my wishes. I was talking myself into a house that really just wouldn't have worked for my family, and rather than pressure me (which I have had other realtors do) and just try to make the commission, Sara reminded me that you shouldn't have to talk yourself into buying a home. It shouldn't be such a terribly difficult decision. You like it and it works for you, or it doesn't. I really appreciated that.

The house we ultimately found didn't fulfill my entire wish list (obviously, no house ever does), but we love it and it really fits my family and the stage of life that we are currently in. Since we were new to the area, Sara recommended to us mortgage brokers, painters, movers, cleaners, appraisers, even a preschool for my son! When there was an issue with the sellers and the closing date, Sara practically moved mountains to ensure that the sellers would be out of the house and we'd be able to move in as planned, without making anything more stressful for us. Buying or selling is necessarily a stressful process, but when you have the right agent, it goes a LOT smoother. I highly recommend Sara.