LESLIE McKENZIE

We were worried about my father-in-law's house because it needed a lot of work, and we were anxious for a quick sale. We put the house up for sale mid-November and closed less than a month later! At the start, Leslie provided an excellent written analysis of similar rehab properties including asking and selling prices, and before and after pictures. With this information, she helped us correctly price the property, and we quickly had a buyer. Leslie provided excellent advice during the whole process, and she immediately updated us with any news. She is a true professional and made us comfortable at every step. Highly recommended!

We were worried about getting our house sold because we started after the beginning of September. 2 months later, we've closed on that house and a new one. Leslie was always available if we needed advice, and she called us right away with any updates! She is really kind and very knowledgeable!

Leslie went above and beyond as a death in the family required us to leave the area prior to the sale. Leslie and her husband did numerous small projects that I was unable to do. Before hiring her as our agent, we had never met...yet she performed like a close friend. I would highly recommend her.

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Leslie was great to work with! She was very helpful and had our house under contract in a little over three weeks at a time when the market was slow. Very knowledgeable and even was able to offer guidance with buying our new home in Atlanta. Thanks Leslie!

Leslie was very professional and she has a wonderful personality.  I asked her to sell my house in less than 2 months and she achieved this goal.We were very happy to work with her .I am from a foreign country and I knew nothing about real estate in Ilinois,Leslie taught me a lot!She was very helpful  even when i called her sundays with sometimes weird questions.

Leslie is fantastic to work with. She is professional, knowledgeable and personable. I used her previously to purchase my new home, and I highly recommend her! (I think she also must be good luck, 'cause I got the final offer one week after listing.)  

. My wife and I had an excellent sales experience with Leslie.  At our first meeting, she explained the home selling process to us.  She combined her years of selling real estate with what made our home special to us.  She invited input from us and used everything that was practical . For example, she and  my wife discussed the idea of getting a professional stager.  Leslie was able to provide a stager that showed our home to its best advantage  She was also an expert at  patiently steering us away from common seller mistakes. Additionally, we put our house on the market after the prime house selling season had ended.  Leslie was able to explain our options and help us decide what made sense for us.  There was no movement, so we took it off the market. We put it back on at the beginning of the selling season and sold our house quickly.  Leslie worked with us from beginning to end.
In many cases, all of the houses in a housing development are similar.  The situation was the same with my house even though it was built more than 50 years ago.  I shared with  Leslie  some of things that made my home special.  She got together with me, observed the differences, and then incorporated all of my thoughts in her sales process.  In short, rather than control a seller/agent process, Leslie made the sale of our home a joint collaboration.

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Leslie did a great job as our realtor.  As a first time seller, she did a great job coaching and holding our hands through the process.  She is very responsive to communication (email, text, phone) and always kept us in the loop.  Highly recommend Leslie for anyone looking to sell their place.

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Leslie is the best thing that could have happened to me. I needed to sell my larger house and downsize due to my workplace downsizing (so I was laid off). Leslie understood and put ALL of her talents to work immediately. My house sold in 10 days! She found a perfect new home for my family that was exactly what I could afford. I closed on both houses 8 weeks after the original listing! She was perfect advocate for me when dealing with the other Realtors and all of the Lawyers. Her advice was always sound and right on target. She staged the house I was selling beautifully, and yet kept it livable while it was on the market. She has an exceptional eye for detail.
I highly recommend Leslie and if I ever need to move again, she will be the first person I look for because I trust her.

Leslie was a pleasure to work with! When we were ready to sell our condo we met with her at the unit and discussed everything that needed to be done to get it ready for the market. Due to some interest in the unit from acquaintances we did not list the unit with Leslie right away. We were patient but a sale didn't pan out, so after a few months we contacted Leslie again. She remembered everything about the condo and got it listed within a couple of days of us meeting with her. Thanks to her beautiful pictures and excellent description of the condo, we had 2 offers that very first weekend. She gave us excellent advise for negotiating with the potential buyers and I believe got us the best price possible. The condo was sold within a month! I would absolutely recommend Leslie to anyone looking to buy or sell.

Leslie is absolutely awesome! She is everything one would expect and desire in a real estate professional. She is knowledgeable - about the market, the listings and the legal details. She is thorough - she listens, remembers and follows through. She is personable - she is friendly, patient and always upbeat.
I used online services to find properties that I was interested in. I would email these to Leslie, and she would then schedule the showings. As I intended to act quickly, we ended up looking at 16 different properties over the course of 2 weeks. Once I had made a decision, Leslie presented the offer. I know that she went above and beyond to make this deal happen.
And here's the mark of a true professional - she was still helping me out with "the little things" well after the closing!
I will definitely use her again when it's time to sell my old home, and would certainly recommend her to others.

Ms McKenzie provided very sound advice on what updates our rental property needed before we listed it on the market for renting.
She provided relevant comparables so we could price it correctly.  She arranged showings that were well coordinated and provided prompt updates about feedback.  When we found a tenant she helped us mediate the terms of the contract and the handing over the keys.

Leslie is why you signed up for Angie's List. Seriously - if you're buying or selling a house in the southwestern suburbs, you will find no one better.
She is an absolute gem - limitless patience, thorough research, extraordinary help and constant communication. When we first saw the listing for what would become our house, she set up the showing right away - we were walking through it an hour later (this was the day it went on the market). After loving what we saw, she took the time to thoroughly explain and write up the offer - even though it was as late as 10pm by the time we were done. Over the following weekend she called a couple times a day to keep us in the loop with how it was progressing, making counter-offers, and finally reaching a signed contract. Every step thereafter - the home inspection, working with our attorney, finding a replacement mortgage officer when the one we selected (without Angie's List) fell through - she helped us with everything. Due to our unique financing needs, this was a long process - 9 weeks - and she was always there for advice, reassurance, and keeping everything on track. At closing she even brought a lovely gift for our baby boy.
We'd recommend Leslie in a heartbeat to anyone - we'd use her again, except she found us a wonderful home for the next few decades. :-)

Leslie had the most thorough analysis of comparable homes that had sold or were listed in my area and was very thorough in her presentation. She is a very warm and caring person and a seasoned professional. There was no question in my mind that she was my best choice. Once I had selected her, Leslie walked me through each room in my house before I listed.  She pointed out the inexpensive improvements I could make that would make my house more attractive (this is not my forte). She also brought a colleague who provided more feedback.  I also asked Leslie if she could recommend a landscaper and  floor/carpet cleaner.  They were both incredible and very reasonable.  Leslie did work the magic.  I had many showings the first few weeks.  Leslie was always prompt in letting me know about showings.  If I didn't answer her call right away she emailed and texted me.  She always called me afterward with feedback from the other broker.  The repeated comment was that the house was in great condition and showed beautifully (all due to Leslie), but the kitchen and bathrooms were outdated...nothing I could do about that. We were about to lower the price (my choice) when we received an offer that was about 3% or $10,000 less than what our reduced price would be.  It was a cash offer, no inspection, and the buyer was open on close dates.  Leslie was honest about my options.  She felt that I could get the additional $10,000 or even $15,000 if I waited it out. She also said that the "no inspection" clause could save a lot of headaches. She said that some buyers want every little thing fixed. Also it was a cash offer so there was no uncertainty related to a possible clause that the buyer would have to sell his/her house. In the end it was my decision, of course.  I decided that the extra $10,000 or $15,000 didn't mean that much in the grand scheme of my life and accepted the cash offer. Frankly I was what one might call a motivated seller.  I was thrilled to not have to have my house in "showing" condition 24/7 and was relieved of the inspection headache.  Close was 7 weeks off, but Leslie stayed in close contact, checking in to ask if I needed anything and even asked how I was doing.  From an honesty standpoint, Leslie could have pushed me toward accepting the cash offer (less work for her, no more showings), but she didn't.  In her judgment I would be able to get a higher offer if I waited it out. I really appreciated her honesty and integrity.  So we closed on April 30.  I'll miss my regular contact with Leslie but consider her a good friend. I would encourage anyone to use her.  You'll love her.

Leslie was very professional.  She listed, shows, and had a contract on the house in three weeks.  She was very responsive to our questions.  She was always on time and did everything she said she was going to do.  We would definitely use her again.

Leslie went above and beyond. I was a first time home buyer and she walked me through the steps. Gave advice when needed, and almost held my hand the entire way. She made me feel very comfortable. Her Knowledge of the business really shines. She knew what to ask and helped this be a real learning experience.

Terrible! Leslie tries to be accommodating in scheduling tours and taking you to see the homes, but she complains about having to schedule the homes and how many she has to schedule.  We knew what we were looking for and had sent her all the details for the search, including a snapshot of the exact mapped area that she would have to recreate for the search.  She failed to duplicate that map.  She does a good job in giving you some information on the homes you are seeing.
When it comes time to get information from the seller's agent, Leslie does not want to ask the questions a buyer needs asked. For example, are there any pending offers? Were there any offers rejected? Was there anything based on the previous showings for which sellers are willing to give a credit? What items are sellers excluding from the sale?  And she really is opposed to asking for any justification on the seller's price when comps are lower.
When it comes to negotiating with the seller's agent, Leslie has said many many times, "I'm just the messenger."  She is supposed to be your agent, advocating on your behalf.  But she doesn't advocate for you at all.  I was trying get an offer together on a day where I had a great many things come up at work. I was at work until late in the evening, and then when done, stayed even longer to make sure I had the offer done. I sent it to her just before I left.  Here is the email she sent to the seller's agent submitting our offer (names are X'd out):
Hi, XXXXX.........I guess buyer has had QUITE a day at work!  I finally received their offer and am attaching it here.....Please review it and DO feel free to call me if you have any questions.
Leslie
This is how she presented the offer!  In my opinion this was very poor service and professionalism.  Leslie did not care to correct the seller's agent when she misread our letter and claimed we were not complying with what we had written. Leslie did not care to explain why our offer was what it was in relation to the comps.  She did not try to "sell" our offer at all, and she pushed back against us on every question or "selling point" we wanted her to convey.  In this case, the price the seller's were fixed at was exactly the price on our pre-approval letter. (you will see that this is a recurring theme with Leslie)
The first day we went to see showings with Leslie, we found one property we really liked. We ended up putting in an offer. Now on this one, Leslie did take the time on an evening when she already had plans to review comps and talk about the offer.  But she did not try to "sell" our offer. She negotiated verbally with the seller's agent and the seller's counteroffer came within $3000 of our preapproval letter.  I had a number of concerns about the property, but Leslie was not interested in addressing them.  She initially tried to dissuade us from seeing the property because it backs to a street. I get it, but from my estimation, the house was pretty far from the street and would be fine. Turned out I was right.  Then, when it came to the offer, the huge negative factor in location suddenly wasn't a factor in considering the price we should pay for the home.  
It is difficult to get a read on whether Leslie is really working against you, in collusion with the seller's agent, or whether she is honest, but extremely passive. I tend to think its the latter, but in the real estate market, where you as a buyer are not permitted to communicate with the seller's agent (when you have a buyer's agent), you need someone who will advocate for you, who will "sell" your offer, and talk about how good a buyer you are for that seller.  Leslie does not do that. She's extremely nice, and a pleasure to go to showings with, but she is not a buyer's agent when it comes to getting the property. For someone with so many years in the business, it is odd that she said she did not know about the following: did not know what to put in a letter to the sellers, did not know whether she should ask for justification of the asking price, did not know about the comps in the area (even though she ran the CMA??).
 Use her at your own risk, but don't say you weren't warned.  I strongly do NOT recommend her.

We found Leslie on Angie's List and were very pleased!  Being new to the home buying and selling market she really walked us through everything and made us feel comfortable from our first meeting.  She was very informative and gave us good suggestions on what we needed to do to sell our house.  She was very flexible with her schedule and always organized and prepared when we met.  She was quick with following up with people after showings and would give us quick feedback.  You can tell that she is invested in what she does and truly cares that her clients are happy.  She went above and beyond to help us reach our goals and we are finally in our new home!  I would defiantly recommend family and friends to work with Leslie!

I had worked with another agent for marketing my rental property for a lease. It didn't work for various reasons. 
I found Leslie McKenzie through Angie's List. 
Her response was prompt, she set up an appointment quickly, came well prepared with comparables on nearby properties in the last few months. 
She gave me good feedback on the property, kept me informed of the number of viewings and interested parties, rent ranges, and we moved fast to close on the right tenants. 
Her paperwork was spot-on, timely and comprehensive. 
I strongly recommend her for lease marketing or for a sale - you will not be disappointed.

Leslie and her partner Charlotte were absolutely fantastic to work with! I found her originally through Angie's List and I had a very pleasant experience. The way they presented themselves on our first meeting, all the way until the end was top notch. Leslie and Charlotte were ALWAYS there for me when I needed them, and were always available for questions. Leslie also gave plenty of advice for me throughout the entire process. I would highly recommend Leslie and would use her and her team any day of the week!

We felt fortunate to have had Leslie help us in selling our home. It was a unique house and we had tried to sell it in the past with another agent but didn't get even one offer. With Leslie we received three in the first month of listing. She was very attentive to our needs and responded quickly to any issue that came up. She didn't sugar coat us or try to tell us what we wanted to hear but told us what we needed to hear. She also helped us locate and buy the property we moved to and was very instrumental in that purchase as well. We would, and have, recommend Leslie to our friends and family.

I found Leslie through a real estate agent search online.  As a single, first-time buyer, I was excited but also very nervous about buying a house.  I was skeptical to start but, from my first interaction with Leslie through email, she made me feel comfortable.  She was always interested in me, making sure I was happy and that all of my questions were answered.  She found properties for me that were exactly what I was looking for, or so I thought.  After seeing what was out there, what I was looking for started to change; Leslie picked up on that before I did.  She took the time to talk with me about what I wanted and why, she tweaked our search criteria and the results were amazing!
Leslie always made me feel like her highest priority - she was always responsive and timely, she provided excellent insight from her past experience, and made sure I had the necessary details to make informed decisions.  She was professional, friendly, patient (never pushy) and thorough.  I had a fantastic experience working with Leslie and will definitely use her again.  I would be proud to recommend her to friends and family.