Andrea Straub, PA, Charles Rutenberg Realty

Andrea Straub and her transaction coordinator, London Fajkus, are an excellent tag-team for handling even complicated home sales, and I would readily recommend them to anyone. On the strength of positive online reviews, I called and left a message for Ms. Straub on Monday, May 2nd, to ask whether she would be willing to help me sell my mother’s home. Our situation was unusual: the homeowner, my mother, was too ill to be involved at all, and had moved out of Florida to be cared for by family. I also live outside of Florida. This means that neither the homeowner nor any of her family would be in Florida throughout most of the process. Not a problem, said Ms. Straub, when she returned my call on the same day: she and Ms. Fajkus were accustomed to working with remote homeowners even before the pandemic. They like complicated situations because they self-identify as problem-solvers, she told me, and this proved to be true. By Tuesday (one day after I called) Ms. Straub had done her research, called to discuss comps with me, and outlined a reasonable price range. On Wednesday, she drove out to the property to meet my sister, who was temporarily in town to clean everything out, and to get a first-hand look. To be clear: she had not yet even been hired! From the moment we hired her, Ms. Straub was a tireless participant and advocate. She assisted in cleaning out heavy items. She personally hauled garbage from the garage. She arranged for unneeded furniture to be donated or hauled, even fronting the hauling costs with the understanding that I would reimburse her, in order to keep the process in motion. She dropped off a pressure washer so that my sister could use it to clean the sidewalks. She and Ms. Fajkus recommended reputable local cleaners and a carpet steamer. After the cleanings, they returned to the property to verify that it looked ready. Ms. Straub personally disconnected the cable modem and wifi router and drove them to the UPS store to be returned to Spectrum (I gather this is not the first time she has done this). Despite her experience, Ms. Straub welcomed my ideas. Most importantly, she was absolutely game when I asked to raise the list price by $10k above her initial suggestion. The property was listed on May 13th, only eleven days after I had first contacted Ms. Straub. Within one day, we had received two cash offers, and we went under contract. Over the next two weeks, Ms. Straub and Ms. Fajkus and I were in constant communication as the sale proceeded through its usual stages. They helped me figure out what utilities to turn off, when, and whom to contact. They interfaced with the homeowner’s association on my behalf. They answered all my questions and were patient with me when I needed time to consult with my family. They were happy to send and re-send all of the documentation until we got everything right. We closed on June third, just over a month after I had first called Ms. Straub. I wrote to her and told her that I would never have thought that it could be so easy. It wouldn’t have been with just anyone.

I have been acquainted with, and doing business with Andrea for quite a number of years now. Andrea has never given me any reason to look elsewhere for help. I have really enjoyed working with both Andrea and Mike over the years. Andrea is a very knowledgeable and professional Realtor who provides first class service and has always achieved the exact results I am looking for. I really consider them both as friends at this point, and would not think of switching to someone else. So, I am a client for as long as they will have me! Andrea provides excellent service, and with Mike's help, they also make the experience fun. Please give them a chance, I really believe you won't be disappointed. Thank you, Brad Fisher

Andrea assisted me with the sale of a house across the country and she made the experience very smooth and anxiety free. Her experience and knowledge was evident upon our first few phone conversations. She always followed through and kept me informed of where we were in the process. I appreciate her always returning my calls promptly and going the extra mile to ultimately realize the final closing. I highly recommend Andrea as either a seller or buyers agent.

Andrea is smart and professional. We’ve been working with her for our real estate needs for many years. We are very happy with her work, and would highly recommend her. We look forward to working with her for many years to come.

Andrea was there with us every step of the way. I would definitely recommend her to all my friends.

The wife and I had a great real estate agent. Andrea sold our house in one day and kept us informed the whole time when we bought a new house..I highly recommend HER.

Andrea was terrific throughout the home-buying process. We came across a lot of agents going to various open houses, but asked Andrea to help us because it was clear she was different. Honest, forthcoming and not pushy. That held up. She worked with us on making a couple of aggressive offers before we were able to land our new home, and was a real asset throughout the search.

Andrea is a pleasure to do business with, would not buy another house in FL without talking to her first!

Andrea was an excellent partner in helping us find our home and organize tenants and a lease agreement. Her follow up is excellent!

Andrea was positively outstanding! She was professional, very knowledgeable and provided superb advice and she was very reliable as well.

I have to say Andrea is AWESOME. I am a single women trying to get my house together to get it on the market and Andrea and her associate Mike Have been very very helpful. They are helping me clean and pack to get my house staged. After getting my house staged beautifully---Andrea sold it in 3 days with a cash offer. The closing is scheduled 24 days after the sale. I would recommend Andrea and MIke in a minute. They were absolutely AWESOME. I give her 5 stars.

Phenomenal experiences EVerything was handled and done very professionally/ I would gladly refer to my family and friends. Just very happy with the experience.

She is outstanding and even helped me find contractors. She helped me through any problems. I would highly recommend her and I would definitely use her again.

Her service is outstanding. She is courteous and responsive.

Andrea was very efficient and effective in both transactions. She is detailed and communicates for client well. Even for complicated situations Andrea gets the transaction to completion. I trust Andrea and would certainly use again and I am very grateful for her commitment in helping me sell my home which was a complicated deal. I also was one of three offers on the home I bought and again Andrea was able to help me by getting my offer accepted.

I needed to relocate on very short notice and Andrea helped me find available property. I was under a lot of stress and pressure and Andrea was patient, kind and compassionate. She was so knowledgeable about the area and surrounding real estate and it was as if she had an uncanny intuition of knowing exactly where to lead me. She assisted with the contracts and was a master negotiator. She even went above and beyond to provide me with information and access to resources that were necessary for my move. I would also like to mention that all of this was done in the midst of the Christmas holiday. Andrea's professionalism and work dedication is nothing short of remarkable. I highly recommend Andrea. She is a diamond in the rough of realtors!

We've lived in Safety Harbor for 16+ years, and have noticed that the real estate market (here) is almost impossible. Rarely do homes go up for sale, and when they do - they sell FAST. Andrea was quick to respond to us, highly knowledgeable and worked aggressively to get us into our dream house. We then used her to sell our old house, and were even more impressed. Her pricing strategy and staging tips sold it in 3 days for far more than the asking price. I can't say enough good things about her. She's truly a top notch agent.

Andrea came highly recommended and I found her to be even better than what people said. I felt like I had a top professional partner to help me find my dream house at the best price. Andrea is very diligent in her searches and took away all the hassles of the Realty process. Very responsive, very persistent, high negotiating competence, and just a really nice person. A++ Highly recommend!!