19 agents share how tooting their own horns is bringing in business

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Agents all have those thank-you notes, reviews and testimonials that make them feel all warm and fuzzy inside. However, sharing your testimonials is about more than personal validation. They’re a great way to show your expertise and build your brand authority online.

We sent out a call online for real estate agents to share top testimonials, and wow, did you deliver. We received submissions from agents throughout North America who included a range of testimonials from short to long, from deeply personal experiences to those that are focused on return on investment (ROI) and days on market (DOM). In addition, we’ve included videos, Instagram and Facebook posts, online portal reviews and even a stand-alone case study. 

How real estate agents are using client testimonials in 2022

Besides showing how great these agents and brokers are, these testimonials show the wide variety of ways you can use testimonials to inform your marketing strategy and boost your name recognition. From your website to an online portal to social media, they can be endlessly repurposed and renewed.

Rob and Joy Aumann, real estate agents, Compass, La Jolla, California

Both Tina and myself wanted to let you both know how invaluable your advice and guidance has been with both the purchase of [address redacted] and the sale of our home at [address redacted] in La Jolla. 

Your negotiating skills are spectacular, particularly with the unusual way in which we structured the purchase contract. Your people skills allowed us to work with the listing agent at [redacted] and ultimately convince the sellers to accept our terms of an extended settlement which allowed us time to sell and settle [redacted]. 

With regard to the sale of [redacted], your marketing skills were literally the most impressive I have ever seen. Not only did you arrange for various contractors to come into [redacted] over a 48 hour period to get the home into mint show condition, but you also brought in one of the top videographers to put together a stunningly beautiful photographic representation of the home on the internet listing. The photographer also put together a sixty photo slide show that created total buzz and excitement for the home that brought us a first day contract for $90K over the listing price as well as over 100 people at the open house the following day. 

When the first contract fell out of escrow for a financing technicality that the buyers (who were pre-qualified) had no control over, you very quickly produced a full cash buyer that was willing to close in five days with no contingencies whatsoever. You also kept the buyers believing that the property was “hot” and would sell quickly if they faltered in any way. 

There is no doubt in my mind that you are both going to be the top producers in California in the future. Your dogged persistence, superb people skills and phenomenal work ethic ensure a very successful future for both of you. I will refer you to as many individuals as possible. Many thanks to both of you for your incredible advice, skill and ultimate successful results on both [redacted].

Amber Tkaczuk, Nebraska Realty, Omaha 

A wise friend recommended Amber Tkaczuk to me when we needed to quickly sell my late sister’s home. Amber did exactly that — within two days!

For top dollar, cash sale, quick closing. And expert advice from her team all along! Her warmth and kindness combined with objective professionalism made this transaction flow…and my family is so grateful.

Paige Schulte, Windermere Professional Partners, Gig Harbor, Washington

Buying or selling your home is quite likely the most financially significant transaction in your life. We’ve done it many times and we always thoroughly research the best agents to help us. No agent in over a dozen of our real estate transactions has even come close to the professionalism demonstrated by Paige Schulte. This is her (more than) full-time job and passion, and it shows in every bit of her work. If you insist on smart, hard-working, no-nonsense, well-connected and detail-oriented representation for your real estate transaction … look no further. Paige is it!

Video testimonial: Giovanna Cavarra, eXp Realty, Toronto 

Instagram testimonials: Spears Group, Scenic Sotheby’s International Realty, Destin, Florida

Jonathan Spears, founder and Leda Broxson

Brandon Zellers

Google Maps: Jim Doolittle Atlas Real Estate, Denver

Instagram testimonial: Jay Friesen, Jennifer Gale real estate team, RE/MAX a-b Realty Ltd., Brokerage, Woodstock, Ontario

Jimmy Hughes, broker, JMR Realty Oklahoma, Oklahoma City and Edmond, Oklahoma 

Jimmy was so easy to work with in the process of selling my mom’s house. He was always available from the 1st point of contact to the end at closing. Transparent with what he was doing and always looked out for our best interest and desires. 

From researching comps and listing the house, which had many offers the first 2 days and a contract accepted on day 2, to being available with any question I had and helping me understand each step of the way to make the best decision. 

I would highly recommend Jimmy, he not only saved us money by only charging 1%, but he also provided 100% service for that fee. Thanks, Jimmy, look forward to working with you when we sell our house!

Dana Cruz, TTR Sotheby’s International Realty, Bethesda, Maryland

My husband and I met Dana randomly at an open house last fall. At that point, we were very early in the process and still looking for the perfect real estate agent. We loved Dana right away. She was kind and knowledgeable but not pushy at all.

As first-time home buyers who were considering homes in many different neighborhoods, we had a lot of questions along the way. Dana answered them all showed us countless properties, and ultimately helped us find the perfect home. After closing, Dana has remained a resource for us and regularly checks in to see how everything is going.  We would highly recommend Dana!

Tyler Gibson, Gibson Property Group, Orlando, Florida

Attentive and Knowledgable — Helped us buy a second home/future investment property in Orlando

I found Tyler via a couple of online reviews when I was researching about purchasing investment properties in Orlando, Florida. My husband and I were looking to buy a place that we would live in for about a year and then ultimately rent out and we were doing everything remotely from our home in New Jersey. 

I reached out to Tyler and he ended up guiding us through this process. First off, I really appreciated Tyler’s attentiveness and responsiveness. I rarely ever had to wait more than 5 minutes for him to get back to me on any question, which was really helpful when we were in time-sensitive situations. 

Tyler has his own investment properties in Orlando and so was able to provide his own take on what renters in the area might be looking for and how we might assess different neighborhoods. He provided us with free access for several months (via a special discount code) to Bigger Pockets, an extremely valuable resource for real estate investing. 

Since we were not in Florida during the process, Tyler did everything he could to help us make our necessary assessments remotely, such as going to different homes and taking video of their interiors, coordinating an electrician to come during our inspection period, checking the house prior to closing to make sure the seller honored their commitments, etc. 

In all of this, he really went above and beyond. Not to mention, he’s professional and generally nice to work with. I would definitely recommend Tyler for anyone looking to buy property in the Orlando area.

Jonathan de Araujo, Vantage Point Team, William Raveis Real Estate, Mortgage & Insurance, Lexington, Massachusetts

We worked with Jonathan when we were looking for a home when we first moved to the area. He has extensive experience and understands the market very well. He knows what strategies work in one town and what doesn’t. 

Also, looking for a house in this market was stressful and it helped so much having a professional on your side during this process. I know that he truly looked out for our best interest and we are so happy to have found our home. 

Since then Jonathan worked with many of our friends and every single one was happy we recommended Jonathan to them. One instance particularly stood out — our friends were dealing with competing offers on a house and the sellers went with their offer because Jonathan was incredibly professional, responsive and great to deal with from the seller’s perspective. 

I know we will ask Jonathan to work with us next time we need a real estate agent.

Chad Brown, broker-owner, Home Waters Real Estate, Northern Michigan

Chad has worked with me in multiple recreational Real Estate transactions in Northern Michigan. He has proven to be extremely focused, both in obtaining the properties I desire, and in assessing them as potential resale properties. 

Chad knows his market and positions his listings well. He reaches his target clients by circulating in spheres of influence that place his properties in front of the specific qualified buyer needed. He works hard to satisfy his clients, he delivers the results discussed and does so promptly. 

In the 36 years I have designed and built award-winning properties I can recommend Chad highly.

Facebook post: Klaus Sinn, broker-associate, eXp Realty, West Palm Beach, Florida

Jim Armstrong, JG Real Estate, Philadelphia

We had a phenomenal experience with Jim. You will love working with him, and be so, so grateful to have his help through this all-important and complex consumer process. 

Thanks to Jim, we stayed even-keeled, were well-advised, and saw the process through. We are SO glad we did — we came in under market and have more than $50,000 in equity just a few months after buying. 

We found creative ways to both reduce the cash we needed to buy AND make an offer that could compete with a last-minute bid to buy our house. Jim was very savvy about how the process would play out from the start, correctly flagging and guiding us through several key decision points and wrinkles. It is absolutely no exaggeration to say we wouldn’t have gotten the house without Jim. 

He also saved us thousands — maybe tens of thousands — between getting us a very good home warranty, and deftly negotiating key seller compromises and fixes. In addition, he connected us with a lender who was fantastic — with a better rate and lower closing costs than we found on our own. 

Really, I can’t say enough about Jim. He was always available, honest, kind, calm, and savvy. I will never go through a real estate transaction in the Philly area without Jim.

Case study: Justin Mynier New Western General Manager, Austin South, Austin, Texas

Excerpt: At their friends’ recommendation, the team connected with New Western agent Justin Mynier and went out into the streets of Austin to look at inventory. “We went to 20 or 30 properties with Justin before we bought something. He probably didn’t think we were going to get serious at any point,” chuckles Frank.

Elizabeth Leanza, Realty One Group, Franklin, Tennessee

My husband and I would like to thank Elizabeth Leanza for her tireless work in helping us get our new home in Columbia, Tennessee. This review of her services covers the following areas that we felt were important factors. 

Initial Meeting: Elizabeth was very enthusiastic about our move right away. She went over how she works. Her honesty in not sugar-coating how tough the market was gave us confidence that we were working with someone that would be looking out for our best interests. We were sold at that moment to work with her. 

Location, location, location: Although we had done research online and drove through many areas looking at houses that we saw on Zillow, this did not give us any insight into how these areas were as far as community and amenities. Elizabeth gave us some valuable feedback in this area. Her knowledge of what was going on in these various communities as well as planned improvements that would be occurring was very helpful. 

Finding and showing prospective properties: Elizabeth showed us five properties in total during our search. Each time she was punctual and thorough. Went through every home with us via FaceTime which was an adventure. While not optimal, she was very descriptive of what she saw so it was almost like being there. 

Offer Strategies: Our first offer was a house in South Spring Hill. We were crushed by a cash offer that was a solid amount more than us. Elizabeth worked with us on figuring out other angles in our offers. On the next house, we were very close. We really only missed out by a hair. 

The third house was a charm. We were neck and neck with another offer money-wise but our terms were better. That part of the strategy that Elizabeth worked with us on put us over the top! In my opinion, hearing about the horror stories of people making upwards of 20 offers before landing a house in this market illustrates how effective Elizabeth was in not only advising us on strategy but negotiating with the Seller Agent to get us over the finish line. 

Escrow period: As many of you may know, this part of buying a house is really where the rubber meets the road. A number of things can make the deal come off the rails. Elizabeth was actually able to locate a contractor in the wacky market when it was impossible to get one on any kind of notice let alone short notice. She also hooked us up with the termite inspector, inspector for radon and a building inspector to do the main inspection. 

I can’t say enough about the high level of professionalism and service that Elizabeth provided here. We were still in California and had no way to make it out there to take care of all this. Unfortunately, there were a few large items that would have added a lot of money to the cost of the house. The sellers were very unreceptive to the counter. We were going to hold firm so this was a point where the deal may have fallen through. 

Elizabeth negotiated with the seller’s Realtor and found a way to make the seller see the light. Her negotiating abilities are very strong and she seems to know everyone! We can’t think of any way this period of our house purchasing experience could have been handled any better. Post-closing Elizabeth set us up with a grass cutting service and sent us house cleaning references since we would not be able to make it to our new home for a couple of months. She put a lockbox on it and gave us the code for when we need to let someone in or perhaps when we have to let ourselves in? Someday? Ha! So strange. 

In conclusion, I would have to say that this was a very odd set of circumstances in buying a home — trying to buy during the hottest housing market in history and doing it all remotely. We ended up getting a house that is in such a great location and we think is fantastic! Finding success after only making three offers in such a historically difficult market is a testament to how well Elizabeth guided us through the process. She is absolutely top-notch in our book in every way!

Testimonials were minimally edited for grammar and style and to redact client information.