I was disappointed in DC Living Real Estate, even though I would say that the price we ultimately…read morereceived for the sale of our house was satisfactory, as were the number of days the house was on the market. In addition, the DC Living brokers worked hard. There were aspects, too, of our sale that would have tried the patience of any broker, and they remained cheerful and positive throughout. Some, and perhaps most, buyers would find the two principal brokers to be a good fit. Despite all of this, I found my relationship with one of the brokers to be among the most problematic I've had with a professional. I would urge anyone considering these brokers to make sure that they are equally comfortable with both, as their styles are quite different. My clear preference for dealing with the one with whom I felt I still had a good relationship was overridden at every turn. I particularly regret having agreed to dual agency. In effect, as soon as I had done so, I no longer felt I could receive reliable advice on the price negotiations, and later on the negotiations over the list of repairs. I'm pretty sure in retrospect that the buyers would have gone through with the purchase without the split-it-down-the-middle approach that dual agency invites. I don't know this for sure, and it is quite possible we would have made the same concessions had we been advised by a broker with no stake in serving the buyer, but with dual agency I couldn't be sure. I don't blame DC Living for having agreed to dual agency, although it wasn't clear until afterwards when I asked that they did not have a prior relationship to the buyers before meeting them at one of our open houses. Later, when the broker with whom I had a problematic relationship described a portion of the commission that they were kicking back to the buyer as having been granted to help make the deal work, it seemed curious. When I inquired, I was advised that the buyers had asked for it during the negotiations to bridge the gap between us, but it was not disclosed at the time it was asked for or granted, but rather later as a heads up in connection with a form that we would see at settlement. It didn't make any difference to the amount of commission we paid, but it dovetailed with the narrative I was developing in which I felt managed and not listened to or treated with genuine respect.

We have used DC Living - specifically Deb and Skip - for three purchases and two sales of houses…read moreacross the last decade. On the sell side, they got us record setting high prices for the block both times. On the sell side, they were incredibly patient with us, introducing us to various neighborhoods, faring stops and starts to our thinking about our readiness to move. In addition, they are real home experts - the best at recommending handymen/painters/floor guys and have excellent ideas on home improvement in general. They are pretty much our go-to house consultants. Couldn't recommend more highly.

When we were ready to sell our house, we offered the listing to Mark, and had a disappointing…read moreexperience. We had worked with his firm to buy the house and, in retrospect, I think we gave the benefit of the doubt a little too much the first time around. Both times, he was not straightforward with us about pretty fundamental stuff that we'd tried to establish from the beginning. He was also not especially positive to work with, and none of the contractors he recommended were positive either. On the selling end, what we were looking for was a realtor to work with us as teammates in selling our house, allowing us a little bit of input into how the house would be made over for the sale. We were selling a vintage colonial house in MD, so it made sense for it to be presented just a hair differently than a modern high-rise condo in downtown DC, for example. Of the realtors we interviewed, Mark had the most disagreements with us about how to make over the house, but we thought he would be the most straightforward person to work with. So before offering him the listing, we asked how differences of opinion would be settled, and he said he'd ultimately defer to us. After six weeks of waiting on his primary stager, Mark finally brought over another one, Bona Gjoni (who has iffy reviews on Yelp). We wanted to be open-minded, and we agreed to at least 80% of what she said. However, she was very hard to work with; she was cold, rarely spoke to us (she mainly just addressed Mark), and she frankly seemed put off that we were there at all. (Mark later explained that they usually just stage vacant homes.) We suggested that if she told us how strongly she felt about her suggestions on a scale of 1-10, we could use that to inform our decision -- but she rejected this idea out of hand and said she's "a 10 on everything." She wanted us to paint our kitchen a specific shade of light brown (!) because "all [her] clients do that". (Shouldn't design be tailored to the property, not the same for all?) Oddly enough, what was a dealbreaker for Mark was when we disagreed with Bona's directive to paint our whole fireplace a glossy jet black. This seemed way out of character for our parkside country-mouse colonial, and we emailed Mark to ask if we could take a breath before deciding whether to proceed with Bona -- while emphasizing how important it was to us to make sure *he* was comfortable with all the choices made. He said we should leave all these decisions to the professionals, and wrote a long message about how experienced he was. When we said we get it, we just want to be *a* part of the team to some extent, he abruptly emailed us to bow out of the listing because of the fact that we "have your own ideas of how you want to present and market your home." This was a real curveball a month and a half into working with him. We didn't have any particularly zany ideas for our house -- it seemed like the problem was that we wanted any input whatsoever. Then I realized that all 3 of the references I'd called from his recent sales were seniors who had already moved into assisted living and had him handle 100% of the preparation process -- maybe that is his jam. So it seems like Mark prefers to only work with sellers who do not want any input at all; that's fine if that's his choice -- the frustrating thing was that he was not straightforward with us from the beginning, even though we tried to be very straightforward with him. We had shared all our opinions/preferences on the house during the interview stage, so none of it was a surprise. We had even directly asked about how he'd handle differences of opinion. If he had been honest from the beginning about his "my way or the highway" approach, it would have saved us all a lot of wasted time. In the end, the realtor we ended up selling our house with was outstanding: very kind, smart, and straightforward; his stager and most other contractors were excellent (super nice, very responsive, and did quality work); and we were thrilled with the results. So all's well that ends well, but much like in our buying experience, Mark did a bait-and-switch. We told him exactly what we were looking for, he accepted enthusiastically, and then he changed things up on us later in a non-straightforward way. Our hope is that an honest review can be helpful to others trying to choose a realtor that will suit their needs.

Mark Meyerdirk is a rock star, plain and simple. Super organized, on the ball, and extremely…read moreknowledgeable about the DC market. We saw a listing in pre-sale and loved it. Mark went to bat for us and within an hour he'd sent us spreadsheets of comparable homes, pricing trends, and his impressions on what we should offer. He also advised us to write a personal letter to the seller. He surmised correctly from the condition of the house that the owners would likely prefer an early offer so they don't have a parade of people coming in and out of their lovely home. He was so right! The offer price he suggested was higher than the asking but not astronomically high. After reviewing all the data he shared, we followed his advice for the offer price and also spent some time writing a personal letter to the seller. It worked! Even though the sellers had another pre-offer, they accepted ours. Mark was not done. Since we were first time home buyers, Mark walked us through all the steps to closing. He communicated by email and text and answered questions at all times of the day and night, be it 7AM or 11PM. His working style fits right in with the typical DC type-A crowd, who (like me) want things done yesterday. Finally, we closed and then went out for drinks with Mark. He even bought us a surprise house warming gift that was incredibly thoughtful and personal. Mark is such a personable and likable guy. He'll adapt to your working style and roll with the punches. His communication style is straightforward and (thankfully) completely lacking the typical real-estate patronizing tone. I cannot recommend him enough for the DC market! Apart from being our agent, he is now our friend and we look forward to that friendship. Kudos to Mark. Even my angry cat is happy!

Larry is awesome! He will follow up with the realtor to get answers to any questions you have and…read moregive you helpful advice - if you find a house on your own he'll write the contract for you and help with negotiations - and then give you some of the commission back! He is very responsive and kind and I would (and have) happily recommended him to others.

Contacted Larry about starting search for new purchase. Very easy to contact and super informative…read moreand knowledgeable. Looking foward for our future purchase and working with Larry

We came across Jeff through USAA when we started looking for a new home in the DC area in spring…read more2019. He was super responsive, putting together a list of potential properties to visit on less than 36 hours notice before we even met the first time. During our search, he was always available via email and text, and prompt in replies. He was also timely in all home visits. His background as a contractor, and military experience, were traits we appreciated and which gave him a different perspective than other realtors. He never tried to "sell" us on a home, but looked at every place with a keen eye for detail, possible/probable issues, and a real sense of what we were looking for. During the purchase process, he was 100% on top of the paperwork flow, ensuring timely provision of necessary info to us, and that we were prompt in our responses as necessary, all without being pushy. He also recommended a great lender, which gave us a rate almost half a point lower than the companies we were considering, saving us several hundred dollars per month. In all, our experience with Jeff was excellent. We plan to use him again when we decide to sell or rent our new home, whenever that may happen.

Working with Jeff to purchase our home was fantastic. My husband and I are fairly new to the area,…read moreso we really appreciated his honesty and his knowledge of the home-buying process in the DC area. His expertise was invaluable during price negotiations and the home inspection. We definitely felt like we were in good hands with Jeff as our agent. Our buying process occurred over the holidays, and Jeff remained in close contact throughout our hectic holiday schedules. We never felt rushed or pressured. Overall, we could not have been happier with Jeff as our agent. I will be recommending him to co-workers/friends in the future.

Dave is really helpful, knowledgeable, reliable and always willing to go the extra mile for his…read morecustomers. If you are looking for a realtor who cares choose Dave Boker at Pearson Smith Realty.

Dave did a fantastic job of selling my home. It's a hot market, but Dave was very thorough about…read morefollowing up and making sure we got multiple offers. We listed at a strategic price point to help drive activity. Dave was able to successfully negotiate to make sure we got the best price possible. He also stayed on top of the deal all the way to settlement to make sure there were no unpleasant surprises. I highly recommend you contact Dave if you're looking to sell your home.

The best agent in the world is a partner at Horizon Real Estate Group. If you ever get the chance…read moreto buy, sell, rent from, or just meet Ms. Toni Blount (sounds like OWWnt); she is just amazing on all fronts. I had big needs (not just wants) and a little (it was pretty small) budget. At the time I purchased my home, the housing market bubble had JUST burst, so not everyone one was aware (I knew, most sellers didn't) and the homes were really overpriced. I for one like a good deal, and would put an offer in to prove it. It took 8 months to find (after looking physically at 70 houses and countless virtually) a house that fit my needs (and wants). Then another month to actually close on a house that fit my little budget. But Toni was SOOOO patient and would continually explain every little detail to my husband and I, and had a team of really great people working with her - contractors, home inspector. She (and they) really did a phenomenal job. I highly recommend Ms. Blount for your real estate needs. Warning: You will become highly addicted to Starbucks. She knows where two are in any 5 mile radius.

I recently became employed by the school district and wanted to learn more about housing through…read morethe Good Neighbor Next Door Program. I saw an ad with the realtor, Cedric Stewart's, name on it. I reached out to him and, he set up a date to come to my school to speak with a group of teachers. He brought along a banker friend to give a presentation on some valuable and interesting information. I gave them some info on me. I got my pre-approval letter from the bank based on the information I gave. From there I told Cedric what type of place I was looking for. He sent me listings and kept in contact almost everyday to see if I was satisfied with the choices I was receiving and to see if I had any questions or concerns. I was very busy for it was the end of the school year. The places I had interest in, he volunteered to look at them at a time that was available for me and my hectic schedule (this was usually very early on Saturday mornings). Sorry Cedric. He was so patient and involved with this home buying process for me. This is my first home, so he answered questions, he gave me plenty of options and explained each one to me. So if I said I was going with something, he would remind me of my other choices and give me three days to research it and think about it and get back to him with an answer. Cedric was with me through the whole process. Anything I needed to get to the banker, he was willing to help with that, all paperwork he made sure I met my deadlines. I started nonchalantly looking for a house at the end of May. I closed on my house in July (45 days)! I was very satisfied with my purchase. The service I received was professional yet on a relating level. Cedric is ethical, non pressuring, honest, timely,loyal, and very trustworthy. I know he was sent by God to help me. Even when one of my grants fell through at the last minute, Cedric, went to work finding options for me because that was the house I wanted. I have recommended and will still be recommending my agent Cedric Stewart to everyone I come in contact with.

Libby Bish and Michael Ubertini are consummate professionals and were a joy to work with in the…read moreselling of our house in Arlington, Virginia. Libby and Michael were very informative in walking us through the selling process and guided my wife and I throughout. They were always accessible and totally responsive to questions and thoughts we had. They were very skillful with marketing our house, and that led to a sale within the first few days of going on market, and at a price that exceeded our expectations. Libby and Michael clearly are knowledgeable of the DC and Northern Virginia markets and brought that knowledge to bear on the sales process for our house. My wife and I enjoyed working with them and would do so again in a heartbeat! We unequivocally recommend them.

We can't say enough great things about Libby Bish and Michael Ubertini of Bish Properties, who…read morehelped us buy our first home in Arlington, VA! As first-time buyers, we had tons of questions, but they made the whole process feel straightforward and low-stress. The craziest part? We got the very first house we put an offer on and UNDER asking, even with 4 other offers on the table. In Northern Arlington! Truly unheard of. Libby knew exactly how to position our offer, and their experience and guidance are 100% the reason we landed our home. On top of that, they're simply the nicest people. Can't recommend them enough!

I an a REALTOR and have brokered 3 separate companies and use FGTE Lake Ridge as my go to…read moresettlement company. There is no other processor that holds a candle to Sharon Gray and the rest of the staff is top notch. Sharon and her staff have saved 3 clients the pain of settling on homes where deficiencies were missed by other companies during prior sales. Additionally, Johanne Mullarkey has conducted more settlements for me than I can count and has been professional and very plain spoken and clear for all of my clients. I have used other companies and been very pleased, but in a world of hamburgers and steaks, FGTE Lake Ridge is a filet mignon!

I buy and close houses frequently since I am an investor. This is the worst settlement company I've…read moreever used. They had very little communication with me (buyer) before closing. I was able to get closing estimates before hand when I insisted. When I arrived in their office, the front desk lady was unpleasant and was rushing to close the office. They had mistakes in the paperwork. The closing lady rushed through the paperwork very fast. They did not give me the keys for the house I bought. Just before leaving, I realized that and went back to the front desk - the front desk lady was annoyed. The closing lady handled the situation rudely. Overall, it was a very awful experience.