Laurie, Billie and the entire Simply Remarkable Team were phenomenal as a resource to me when I was…read morea first time home buyer a few years back. I was surrounded by agents whos opinions I could rely on to deliver results. I was totally alien to the process when we began and Billie was so incredibly patient in navigating a shifting market that was super competitive. I know Billie and Laurie both have listed homes of all price points in the past and continue to be leaders in the St Joe County, Indiana market.

Laurie LaDow is a warrior in the real estate market…read more Being my first foray into the world of home buying, I was relatively clueless on how the entire process works. I needed an experienced professional who could concisely explain the process of buying a home to me and guide me in the right direction every step of the way. I needed someone who, instead of trying to take advantage of my inexperience, would work for me with my own interests exclusively in mind. Laurie LaDow fits that bill perfectly! I'm confident that Laurie's #1 goal truly is the satisfaction of her clients. She will not try to sell you on the first house you see so that she can make a quick transaction and closing. With her great amount of experience in showing houses, she made many observations about some of the properties we looked at that we did not notice at first. Her observations often actually steered us AWAY from those particular homes in search of something more ideal. I cannot express enough how appreciative I am of a realtor who will give her honest opinion on a matter instead of put her own interests first. After we found our ideal home and began the complicated closing process, Laurie really came through and showed her value. She handled all of the fine details, such as arranging inspections per my request and communicating with the seller through the seller's agent regarding inspection results. The MOST impressive aspect of working with Laurie was certainly her tenacity to improve the deal for her customer. For example, there was one inspection result (leaky window seals) that I didn't feel confident in asking the seller to repair. However, with Laurie's insistence on the matter, I eventually decided to ask the seller to repair the defect and replace some window panes. At first, the seller initially refused to make any repairs at all, and said that I could back out of the closing altogether if this was unacceptable. But Laurie would not allow that to stand. With my approval and her insistence, Laurie managed to convince the seller to pay half of the costs to repair the windows. That saved me several hundreds of dollars! Laurie truly will go above and beyond the call of duty in order to ensure that her customers get the best deal possible, with no hidden surprises! Laurie LaDow is an experienced and extremely professional realtor who will not disappoint you! Highly recommended!

The absolute worst experience I've ever had buying anything was with MaryBeth HoopenGarnter. She…read morenever calls, only texts. talks to you like she knows everything and has ZERO customer service skills. For starters she lost my earnest money and told me I DID after the day I drove to the office I dropped it off at the day before she found it in the trash can at the front desk AFTER I called the bank and told them they gave me the wrong paperwork. Then she only wants to reach out when she has questions, not answer yours. She also told me that I was not to pay for the inspections after I paid for my home inspections. That part of my agreement was for them to pay that so we waited until after my close date for the sellers to pay for it. Now I'm being stuck with the bill and I'm just going ahead and eating the cost after her not wanting to really do much about it. The cherry on top was the lockbox with the combination she failed to remove and a third party came by without my consent and took it off and she had the nerve to blow me up about it. Even if she offered me a free house I'd rather pay a toddler with paper money versus ever dealing with her again, at least they'll be honest with me and talk to me with respect. 0 outta 10

Well, this was not a match made in heaven, for me any way…read more Our mother died, leaving her condo to us through a trust. A sibling was named executor in the will and so was the one to interview realtors and select one to list and sell the condo. Denise was selected to be our realtor. We signed a contract with Denise/Cressy and /Everett on May 24, 2022. Cressy and Everett, in my opinion, has had a great reputation in South Bend so I was happy with the choice. Things started going sideways the next day when Denise had the wrong asking price on the listing. After that, she had my email address wrong 5 times so I was missing out on critical information regarding the condo. A sibling kept forwarding the emails to me, and telling Denise she had wrong email addresses. I also mailed/texted Denise and told her she had wrong email addresses for me. She got one sibling's email address wrong as well. There was a number of different email addresses that were being used. Denise's reason each time was not having her glasses with her. Denise also had my phone number wrong 3 times (I thought it was 4 but I only find documentation of 3 times, so 3 times it is). It was the missing glasses reason again. Then I went to the title company a few days early to sign the closing paperwork. Denise emailed me the night before (the original date I was supposed to sign) that she would be showing up at the closing. I didn't check emails that night so I emailed her back that morning that I had already signed the paperwork. She called me and ripped me a new one, telling me that I should have told her I signed the paperwork early, that she had spent 30 minutes driving to the title company. I told her that was the title company's job, not mine. She mentioned that she knew a sibling and I were unhappy with her. I told her that was true and went through the list of issues (listed above). I told her I had never had so many problems with a title company and realtor before. Right before she hung up on me (who hangs up on a client, no matter how upset one is?), she told me I hadn't shown her "grace". I thought I had as I had put up with all the mistakes she had made. I decided to not rate Denise and to let it go, showing some "grace" towards Denise. But then she sent a thank you email to my siblings, and not to me. One third of her commission came from me! This rating would have been one star except for Lindsay. Denise went on vacation and Lindsay helped us out while Denise was gone. Our initial buyer backed out on his offer. Lindsay handled getting the condo back on the market quickly. In talking with Lindsay, she was professional, knowledgeable and personable. I'd like my 1/3 of Denise's fee back.

I highly recommend Janell Dickerson at Howard Hanna SB Real Estate. I'm in the process of buying a…read morehome right now, moving from California to Indiana and I don't know what I would do without having such a great partner on the ground in Indiana, taking care of everything for me. Janell is incredibly responsive and when she says she's going to do something, she does it without delay. Once I get there I will not hesitate to tell everyone I meet how awesome she has made the process.

Above and beyond. Out of state moving to Mishawaka from Phoenix Arizona. They all were…read moreprofessional and beyond willing to help this out of stater buy a house for his family!!

Julia is the best realtor I have ever worked with. I previously bought a house back in Boston many…read moreyears ago, and my realtor was fine, but never really seemed to get what I was looking for. I was expecting a similar situation here, but that was very far from the truth! My husband and I were a tricky move - we were moving from San Francisco to South Bend, and were only able to come look at houses for a few weekends! Julia was absolutely amazing. She was responsive to emails and phone calls (seriously, I have never met anyone so fast at email before), and was patient with how annoying I must have been (I was stalking zillow constantly for potential houses). More than that, Julia understood what we were looking for and what we wanted. Every single house she brought us to, she was honest about how it fit with what we were looking for, and she had the right instincts. When she said "you will love this house", we did! I wish there were more stars, because this was the best process I have ever had with a realtor. On the first house we made an offer on, we were beaten by a higher offer (sad). But, Julia was positive, and when she recommended we make an offer on another house, sight-unseen, we trusted her, and we did it! My husband was able to make it out for the inspection, and she was right - the house was perfect! Unfortunately, the house had some serious septic issues, and the sale fell through due to neither the sellers nor us being able to come to an agreement on who would cover the cost of the issues. But - again, Julia was upbeat, and we forged ahead! Finally, we found a house that was perfect, and Julia was wonderful. She closed the sale, was friendly and worked well with us, and was so understanding about our confusion during parts of the process! Indiana is very different than Massachusetts in terms of closings (I was quite nervous about the whole "wire the money to a title company" thing), and she was very patient with me. I recommend Julia with absolutely no hesitations, and will absolutely be working with her again when we sell this house!

As a first time homebuyer, I enjoyed having Marsha as my agent. She really knows her stuff and was…read morewilling to sit down and educate me on the home buying process. Thank you for your amazing service.

From the owner: I am a real estate professional and accredited Real Estate Negotiation Expert, servicing the…read moreMishawaka, South Bend, Elkhart, Osceola, Granger, Notre Dame and New Carlisle areas. As a negotiator, I utilize my negotiation skills to deliver all my clients the best deal. I offer complimentary home valuations and market analysis. Call me for more details!

Tim was the partner we needed when we decided to sell our home in Mishawaka. He helped us in ways I…read moredidn't even expect but truly needed. For example, we had some work that we needed to do to make sure the landscaping and the exterior of the home was the best possible. His network of contacts and professionals helped get the work completed quickly and with incredible results. We actually accepted one of a couple offers on the house within 4 listing days, and I attribute this to his vision for how to market the home. We would work with Tim again and plan to as we take a year to decide where we want to live next in the area.

We have used Tim for two home purchases. Tim went above and beyond our expectations to much sire…read moreboth of those purchases went smooth and they did. I highly recommend Tim if you are in need of a realtor.

Leslee was so wonderful to work with! She treats you more like family opposed to just a client. She…read moreplayed a critical role in making my first-time home-buying process as simple as possible. Leslee goes above and beyond at answering your questions/concerns and is very diligent with her work. I had full trust in her to handle everything in a timely manner. I cannot say enough good things about Leslee and would not have been able to find and buy my home without her help!

From the owner: Working on a team of seasoned realtors for the past 9 years has molded me to be a driven agent!…read moreDriven to find you a house to make your home! Driven to help you get top dollar for your house and move to your forever home! Driven to help my buyers and sellers have the best experience possible! Finding an agent that is knowledgeable and communicative is important!

List your home then when she can't sell it, she buys the property under another name way under the…read morelist price. Horrible person, do not work with this person!

They say that first impressions are everything. I say, so are last ones. We were referred to Leah…read moreby friends who listed and sold their home through her with little trouble and a successful sale, so we opted to give her a chance. First impressions were great, lots of good advice and promise for a easy sale within no time. Last impressions...the house didn't sell. Not completely the realtors fault. We made house "turn-key" interior ready as instructed, but exterior was definitely in need of upgrades. Of the 4 months listed, the yard sign was repeatedly "stolen", of which we had visual confirmation of it being replaced only once. We even asked to have the sign placed inside the front window for security (the house is empty) but it never was. So for a 4 month listing, we had a sign for not more the a month if only for several weeks. That's not going to draw drive-by home shoppers. And finally, it's March (list ended last November) and after 3 emails over 3 months to remove the door lock box...it's still there. Honesty feel that if there is not a huge payout potential from your listing, Leah will easily forget about you.

After my husband and I's experience with Andy Kern, and the rest of the Weichert team, we will…read morenever be using them again, nor will we ever recommend them to anyone else. We are first time home buyers, so everything was brand new to us. We had to have a lot of trust in Andy to be our advocate and guide us every step of the way. It was only after closing that it was brought to our attention that he in fact did NOT have our best interest in mind: The agreement we signed with the sellers stated that the sellers would take care of ALL the repairs listed in inspections. A week after moving in we were having our internet installed. In the process the internet guy found some wires in the walls that should not be there (looked like extension cords). We immediately call Andy since our thought was this was something that should have been found in the inspections. Andy agreed, told us he would take care of it. The next day (was a Friday) all we hear is "we should have a report from electric company on Monday". Monday comes and the only communication we have is "we should have resolution by Wednesday". Thursday arrives and we still heard nothing. My husband and I take it upon ourselves to contact the electric company. His words to us were "Looking at the items on the inspections list, if I would have been told to fix all these items, I would have found this issue. However, I have emails from sellers agent, and Andy specifically stating to not fix certain items". WHAT?? I thank him for the information, and start to find the contact for Weichert. Before I can call them, Annett with Weichert calls me. She tells me she is the inspections coordinator, then explains that Andy did NOT follow their standard process. She said to me "What SHOULD have happened was after the agreement was made between buyers and sellers about repairs, I receive that agreement then order the repairs to be made before closing. In this case, Andy did NOT do this. I never received the seller's response. I did not even know that you closed until this electrical issue arose". She then explains that she will be calling all the contractors to find out what still needed to be completed, and order the repairs. We are very appreciative of her for cleaning up the mess Andy made. We then speak to Beau Dunfee to fill him in on what has happened, and discuss compensation for being lied to, information not being disclosed to us, etc. He says he will speak to Andy, make sure the rest of repairs get done, then we will talk again to come to an agreement for compensation. Three weeks later we receive a card in the mail from Andy. It was a housewarming card with a note saying "it was fun helping you find your new home. I hope things are better now. Please take this gift for anything you may need." Enclosed was a personal check from Andy (not Weichert) for $650. Not all the repairs were done so we waited a week before contacting Beau again. At this point, it was over a month and a half past our closing date and we were still waiting for items to be repaired. I contact Beau and tell him that our patience is wearing thin. I also let him know about the card Andy sent to be sure that was not the compensation (since we never discussed a compensation amount). His response was "how much are you seeking in addition to $650?". My husband calls to speak to him, to remind him how a specific amount was never discussed prior to that check being mailed to us, so as far as we are concerned, this check from Andy (since it was written out of his personal account) was an "I'm sorry" gift. Beau proceeds to tell my husband that he does not understand why we are upset, nor does he understand why we want compensation. Neither my husband nor I have heard the words "I'm sorry" or "I apologize, we will make this right" out of ANY of their mouths. Anette told us straight forward that Andy did not follow the process that he should have. He did not have our best interest in mind. It is only fitting for us to assume that the only thing Andy cared about was his own paycheck. He took advantage of the fact that we are a young couple, with a very young baby (4 months old at the time of closing), first time home buyers, and he knew we would trust his advisement. And as far as Beau goes, it seems as though he will just try to downplay the situation, so he does not have to deal with any of the issues, especially if it means more money coming out their pockets. So if you are looking for a realtor, I would say to stay FAR away from Weichert, especially Andy and Beau. It is extremely unfortunate that our first time home buying experience has turned out this way. What should have been a very exciting and joyful experience, quickly turned into nothing but stressful and disheartening.

I'm so thankful for Hannah Deputy and the entire team at Weichert. My fiancée and I are closing on…read moreour home today, and throughout the process, Hannah's responsiveness, proactivity, insight, patience, and negotiation skills made everything a lot less stressful. We'll definitely be working with her on all of our future real estate transactions. Thank you Hannah!

Jen Schmitt is indeed an exceptional agent! I met Jen when I, myself, was a real estate agent. I…read morewas impressed with her level of knowledge and the amount of data she always had about the market. So it was a no-brainer for me to work with her after I retired from the business since I was determined to work with someone I thought was one of the best in the area. Jen Schmitt is ALWAYS available for questions and local insight. Her responsiveness was incredible--if she didn't pick up immediately, she always called back in short order. Seriously. I purchased an older home with a reticent seller for my daughter, which I would later resell to her once we had made the necessary renovations--so it wasn't a straightforward deal. However, Jen worked with me to ensure all parties were on the same page, so we were ready to close in a brief period. Jen gathered an incredible amount of information about the process and the status of inspections. The data delivery was straightforward: present the info and talk about pros/cons/strategy for moving forward. Jen treated the situation like she was my daughter (who would eventually be purchasing the property). She looked out for both my family and me. She always had our best interests in mind. Jen will work with you to make your desires a reality. She is very well versed in dealing with other real estate agents. Her relaxed, calm mindset kept my anxiety low and gave me the confidence that she would get the job done - and she did! Jen Schmitt's promptness, knowledge of the market, strategic mindset, kindness, and good energy made a potentially chaotic purchase process simple. I recommended her to both friends and family. When I am looking to buy (or sell) again, I will not hesitate to call Jen Schmitt.

I am so grateful that I worked with Jen while buying my house. She walked me through every step of…read morethe process with professional insight and thoughtfulness. Anyone who has bought a house before will tell you how complicated and cumbersome the process can be, but Jen really made everything simple and straightforward. It was so helpful to have someone breakdown the jargon and give me simple action steps at each phase of the purchase. She even went a step further and has been a great resource even after the purchase was complete. I can't say enough about how helpful she was and continues to be.