Elizabeth Guenard

Picking a real estate agent is a total black hole. Maybe you are friends with one. Maybe your friends implore you that you just must use this different agent. But let's be clear: you have no idea if they are any good, especially in the moments you need them to be really good.

My wife and I didn't have any idea about Elizabeth either when we first came to her 9 years ago. At the time her office was around the corner from the place we were renting. She was convenient.

Now we swear by her.

She helped us buy our first home. It was in Boston and a highly competitive market. What we bought was an entirely different place than we were initially thinking. Elizabeth found that place. It turned out to be the best financial decision of our life.

In the years of owning that home, she was always there for our questions about the market and home improvement ROI. Then when it came time to move to the burbs we wanted Elizabeth to sell our place, but followed friends' advice on the agent we "must" use in our desired burb. That is when we fully saw how lucky we were to know Elizabeth. It wasn't that the other agent was bad. She had a good reputation and was very experienced.

But Elizabeth will tell you things you may not want to hear (and things you do!) She will give you her take versus most agents who will never say an opinion worried they will lose the business. (Given how much money you pay for an agent, the one thing that should be offered always is their experience and expertise! They deal with hundreds of transactions and you only do them a few times.)

So we dropped the other agent in the burb and asked Elizabeth to help us in a place she didn't work in much. Yes, A LOT, of initial house hunting is you on zillow, but Elizabeth cold-called basically every house on our desired streets to see if they were interested in selling. Does your friend's agent do that?

In three major life financial/emotional decisions (buying, selling, buying) Elizabeth told us the number to bid (lower than asking both times btw), when to submit and how. I do believe the real estate competitive bidding war stories in the area, especially during covid weirdness. But truthfully I never really experienced that stress. I credit Elizabeth for that.

If you want someone in the trenches with you, go with Elizabeth.