Karen Wantuck

As an overseas investor I needed to quickly understand the local market. Prior to my arrival, Karen explained the specifics, helped me define criteria, conducted in depth research, and online, sent properties within my budget. Upon my arrival in the US, Karen dedicated herself to me and by the end of the first day we had selected a shortlist of potential buys. That night she worked on valuation comparisons. The next day, we viewed more properties, re-visited some, and by the third day I'd found a property that exceeded my expectations...and I flew back home with an executed contract. I was able to do the closing by mail from the UK. Karen generously agreed to assist me again: she took possession of the keys from the seller, was kind enough to show my home to prospective tenants, and in a month's time I had my investment property occupied by fulltime renters.From beginning to end, Karen made my purchase a success as an investment an inevitability.

I've worked with many realtors over the years and this one's got it all going on -- knowledge, wisdom, personable, ethical, professional. From start to finish we felt confident in her advice and business acumen. My husband and I were very impressed with her and will definitely use her again.

Karen helped us in search of specific homes on and off the water. Our preference was for waterfront on Sarasota Bay or the Gulf. We live out of state, and continually looked for 18 months. We found a lot on Casey Key. Karen successfully negotiated an acceptable price for us and we are currently designing a home to be built in the future. Karen was diligent about sending us prospective listings. Through the process she came to understand our very specific criteria which led us to our purchase decision. Karen was careful not to push us towards any particular property, but to let us evaluate each listing on its own merits. Karen has become a friend through this process.

We got lucky when we meet Karen at St Armands Circle and picked her as our real estate agent. She found us a mortgage company, tirelessly drove us around until we settled on our dream house, helped us find a rental home until it was built, and continues to this day to be a fountain of needed information. Always available, understanding, a positive influence.

We were pressed to sell, because we had to return to England permanently. And Karen did everything in her power to make that happen: She paid for exception photography, and for advertising in the Herald above and beyond what her company provides. She kept us informed via phone calls, and sent us emails weekly with the results from showings. We couldn't have asked for anything more. AND we sold in perfect time to just pack our suitcases and lock the door.

I interviewed 3 agents from 3 different nationally owned real estates companies. I felt Karen gave the best advice of what we needed to do, and not to do, in the house to make it marketable. She priced it much higher than the other 2 companies had suggested. Together we staged the house, used her professional photographer, and the house sold in 2 days, full asking price. She had to field a lot of issues created by the buyer's agent and she was always on my side. I would highly recommend Karen to anyone.