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! :(

We met the owner Tim, via our real estate agent when we were scouting for cabin properties in the…read moreGarrison area. We appreciated Tim's perspective right off the bat, and signed his crew on immediately after closing on our Mille Lacs property. We've had Elite Construction Services do a variety of work at our property including excavation, mold/mildew repair, painting, wallpaper removal, kitchen remodeling, flooring replacement (including carpeting as well as ceramic and porcelain tiles), reroofing, deck repairs, etc. We honestly can't comment on how pricing compares to other contractors. We didn't shop around. However, we have been impressed with Tim's integrity, honesty, and workmanship. We highly recommend Tim and his crew. February 2016 Update - wanted to add onto our previous review to indicate that we are still as happy as ever. We had Elite Construction Services do another large project for us this past summer... Finishing off the loft over our separate garage. Tim spent extra time working with our daughter on the look that she was going for... And the loft turned out beautifully. We continue to be impressed with Tim's willingness to spend ample time with us to ensure he understood our expectations, and he was willing to make changes on the fly as we came up with new ideas. He definitely exceeded our expectations.

I had the window cleaning co clean the windows on my moms house. I was a bit nervous was my mom is…read morepretty particular. After I called to see how it went she was extremely happy and extremely excited about how good our windows looked. I've had a few friends use these guys and they had a similar experience.

If I could have given zero stars I would....or even negative stars…read more If you want your screens to be destroyed and end up with holes then I highly recommend this company to do that for you. They are totally careless and either scraped or holed half of my screens. They also don't put windows back where they came from and put them anywhere they will fit. I had my windows distributed perfectly before they came around. These folks are absolutely to stay away from.

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!