Mary Ellen is simply outstanding. Like many out there I often wondered what value a real estate agent brought to the table when I could do so much research myself. As a military family we have moved multiple times and have had to work with many real estate agents to buy and sell our homes and never have we felt the partnership and support that comes from a real estate agent as we did with Mary Ellen. Our journey to find the right home was a long one as we found ourselves looking in 2021 at the height of a crazy housing market here in Halifax/Dartmouth, many bidding wars and outrageous selling prices left us feeling quite defeated but Mary Ellen always remained optimistic and never gave up the hunt on our behalf even when we had given up. It took 10months of looking at many houses and losing offers in bidding wars but never once did we feel any pressure to settle for something that wasn’t quite right and never once did Mary Ellen tell us not to bother with a house that likely would end up selling for way over the listed price. She talked us thru some rough times, gave us the best guidance and encouraged us when we needed it the most. Being the kindest and most honest real estate agent we have ever worked with is not even all of it, she has so much experience in buying/renovating homes that she can walk thru a house and point out all those things we, being not so handy, would normally need a property inspector to point out. In many cases she was able to point things out that were deal breakers for us (very active sump pumps and wet basements!!) or get us quick rough estimates on what the cost would be for things like fixing a deck or properly cleaning mold from an attic - and she has a contact for everything!! If you need help finding a lawyer, property inspector, contractor, specialist of any kind – you name it and Mary Ellen knows someone and can help you out. Being an analytical geek myself, she was even able to pull me some great data going back to pre-pandemic so I could compare pre and post pandemic trends and try to forecast or strategize our position, although forecasting this market is really just a best guess and with so many factors impacting the housing market it is really hard to predict what the future holds, but Mary Ellen was supportive of my need to understand the market and was more than happy to provide any data I asked for and talk thru it with me so we could compare observations. If you are looking for simply the best real estate agent that is incredibly knowledgeable, kind and honest and is well connected in the market, there is no doubt that Mary Ellen will become the best addition to your home buying team and you will not regret working with this gem. - Wendy Landry