I don't often give service reviews, but I do write a lot of Goodreads reviews. My scale there: 1-2 stars skip it, 3 is ok for someone else, 4 means it rocked. 5 starts is only if the book changed my life for the better. I'll use that system here.
Could we have found a place somewhere in the Twin Cities burbs without Mary? Sure, probably, we'd have found something suitable. Would we have found a townhouse in our dream location? I'm pretty sure we would not have.
First, while we were still in another state, we watched Mary's videos on YouTube. They are outstanding! Go check them out. Through these we found lots of neighborhoods to consider that we did not know existed, including Hopkins, where we settled. Mary's videos provide a good overview for the different areas and she seemed to know what we cared about and what we wanted to know.
Second, she knows her stuff. She understands the market and the pulse of real estate at any given moment. Mary was able to talk us through each step and answered all our questions. She gets that buying a home is a big deal to her clients. We worry, we wonder and she was able to help us through each concern.
Third, she gives you her complete attention. I never once felt that she rushed us through to go to the next, more lucrative thing. When she's in, she's all in.
Fourth, she responds in a timely manner. No "let's wait until Monday" and then Monday turns out to be busy etc. etc. I've had this happen too often and I'm sure you have too. :)
Fifth, well ok, you get the point. If you're thinking at all of relocating to the Twin Cities area, do yourself a favor and contact Mary. You won't regret it.