About

THROUGHOUT THE YEARS

$350,000,000

Total Sales as A Broker

19+

Years of Experience

Top 1.5%

RealTrend's America's Best Real Estate Professional 2019-2023

main

GET TO KNOW ME

Brenda van der Merwe

Brenda has been an active real estate broker in the Boston area for the past twenty years, and in that time has won numerous awards and has developed lasting relationships and extensive experience with her clients, listing and selling homes not only in the existing single-family and condominium markets, but also in the fields of luxury homes and new construction. She has worked intensively with clients on condominium conversion projects with multi-family homes, investment and income properties of all types, she has been instrumental in assisting many investors and new developers build their portfolios, and in helping many first-time home buyers enter the market.

Brenda has also assisted members of the Boston Red Sox to buy and sell homes in the greater Boston area. She has worked with attorneys, doctors and chiefs of surgery at various hospitals in the Boston area, Google executives, CEOs of major national and global multi-national companies, and many professors and educators tenured at local area universities. While Brenda’s primary focus is Newton, Brookline and Chestnut Hill, she has also sold a tremendous number of properties in the surrounding communities of Boston, Cambridge, Belmont, Arlington, Lexington, Somerville, Needham, Wellesley and Watertown, helping her clients in the communities where they wish to sell and buy. In addition, Brenda has over twenty years' experience as a landlord in the Boston area.

Real Estate Professional

TOP PRODUCER IN BOSTON

As a seasoned broker with twenty years’ experience and over $375,000,000 in sold properties, she has managed successful transactions for both buyers and sellers in many communities around the Boston area. With her multi-faceted and cutting-edge marketing strategies, analytical approach to both buying and selling, ambitious production levels, and engaging personality, she has a proven track record as a top producer in the Boston area, with an average sales volume in the top 1% of agents. For 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024, she achieved the company-wide distinction of International President’s Premier, an award featuring the Top 1% of 100,000 NRT Agents Internationally. For 2021, she received the Coldwell Banker International Society of Excellence Award, a distinctive honor awarded to the top 53 elite sales professionals of all NRT Coldwell Banker affiliated sales associates nationwide. In 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024, she was named “Top Real Estate Producer” by Boston Magazine. In 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 she was ranked in the top 1.5% of individual real estate professionals by RealTrends America, from among more than 1.6 million licensed Realtors nationwide. Brenda is also a Cartus Certified Corporate Relocation Specialist.

main

AWARD-WINNING BROKER

KNOWLEDGE. PROFESSIONALISM.

Brenda's strengths lie in her ability to appropriately price properties, using an analytical approach that provides the consumer with local area data, property absorption levels, comparable sales, and investment calculations to determine the value of a property. She is honest, an experienced and strong negotiator, and provides her clients with a level of service that includes constant communication via email, phone, and text messaging. She has immediate access to contractors, inspectors, attorneys, and service providers of all types for recommendations, should a client need this during the transaction process. She is at the forefront of digital advertising using Facebook, Instagram, television ads, 3D videos and floor plans, aerial (drone) photography, and featured listings on websites like  zillow.com, trulia.com, newyorktimes.com, wallstreetjournal.com, mansionglobal.com, luxuryrealestate.com, realtor.com and brendasellsboston.com.

Brenda has won several top producer awards documenting her levels of success as a real estate agent at her previous company, including the Chairman's Club Award (2013, 2009 and 2007), the President's Club Award (2011 and 2008), and the Internet Response Team Award (2013 and 2009). She is a member of the Greater Boston Association of REALTORS®, a member of the National Association of REALTORS®, and has achieved over $375,000,000 in sales in her career as a broker.

PROFESSIONAL MUSICIAN

VIOLIN VIRTUOSO

Brenda is also a professional violinist who performs in the Boston area, and has concertized in such venues as Carnegie Hall, Boston's Symphony Hall, and at the Tanglewood Music Center. She was the founding violinist/violist for the Xanthos Ensemble, and has regularly performed chamber and solo works by visiting composers, faculty and graduate fellows at Brandeis University, Boston University, Wellesley College, New England Conservatory, Dartmouth College, with the Harvard Group for New Music, and the Fromm Players at Harvard.  She has appeared in chamber music concerts with former members of the Mendelssohn and Brentano String Quartets, and has appeared in concert with the Boston Ballet Orchestra, Opera Boston, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, ALEA III, the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Boston, Arizona Opera, and the Tucson Symphony. 
main

THE VIOLIN VIRTUOSO

EXPERIENCED PERFORMER

She has performed with MidAmerica Productions' Chamber and Solo Music Series in Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, at the Warebrook Contemporary Music Festival, with the Walden Chamber Players, AUROS Group for New Music, at the Gaudeamus International Interpreter’s Competition, with Guerilla Opera, and has appeared twice as a soloist in the Boston Cyber Arts Festival program for the Electronic Music Marathon at Brandeis University. She has also been a concerto soloist with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra. As a member of the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, she has recorded for Naxos, Chandos, Oxingale, and New World Records. Brenda was also featured on a CD of contemporary chamber music works recorded in Carnegie Hall and released on Clear Note Publications.

Brenda van der Merwe holds the Doctor of Musical Arts Degree from Boston University, where she studied with Bayla Keyes and was String Department Assistant. Her teachers and coaches have included Bayla Keyes, Peter Zazofsky, Yuri Mazurkevich, Nicholas Mann, Lukas Foss, Mark Rush, and members of the Peabody Trio and the Muir and Lydian String Quartets. She has been a member of the faculties of Music on the Hill Chamber Music Festival and Powers Music School, where she was named Chair of the String Department. She has also coached for the New England Conservatory Preparatory Division and adjudicated for their annual Concerto Competition. At the University of Arizona, she received a Master of Music as well as a Bachelor of Music, graduating summa cum laude with Honors.

Our Testimonials

See why our clients love working with us

C

Cynthia S.

Brenda worked with me to purchase a new construction house. While there were challenges dealing with the seller's agent and the developer, Brenda was always professional and courteous. She was always quick to answer my texts , ...
Read More

J

Julia C.

Brenda was our agent for our relocation from Atlanta to Boston. Brenda's local knowledge was instrumental in narrowing down our search area and in evaluating each property. We were very happy with the process and, once we went ...
Read More

M

M. Rutman

Brenda helped us purchase our new home in Newton MA. She is knowledgeable, professional, clear yet diplomatic, and she is easy to work with. She possesses extensive and nuanced knowledge of the Greater Boston real estate market...
Read More

T

Toru S.

We can't recommend Brenda enough! She worked with us when we recently bought a single-family house in Waltham. The word I'd use to describe her is "effective". Her work is professional and thorough. When we made an offer, she p...
Read More

K

Karin G.

Brenda helped us to buy our first home in the US. She accompanied us to many open houses and was very patient. She never pushed us to make a deal and always gave us the time to find a house that we love and suit our needs. She ...
Read More

J

Jetson L.

Brenda was a fantastic broker for us. She was very responsive to our needs, easy to work with, and helped us secure a place we really love. We saw a few different places in Back Bay, the South End and Brookline, and she was ver...
Read More

Y

Yasmin D.

Brenda was a great asset to us as we moved from Chicago to Boston. We needed to decide quickly where we would settle our family in the greater Boston area. Brenda was most knowledgeable, resourceful, and patient. She truly list...
Read More

J

John B.

Brenda is fantastic and highly recommended. She knows the market exceptionally well, is extremely knowledgeable of the housing stock, local trends and quirks, and has a great network of resources to draw upon for expert advice/...
Read More

K

Kevin H.

Brenda was an excellent real estate agent and helped us find a house in Newton. From the start, she shared her deep knowledge of Newton with us. Beyond the "findable" information (like neighborhood history, selling trends, exam...
Read More

J

Jorge R.

Words are not enough to express our admiration for the professional services Brenda van der Merwe provided to us and how satisfied we were with her being our agent. An outstanding professional service from begging to end that w...
Read More

Z

Zhenyu Q.

We recently worked with Brenda from submitting an offer all the way to close a house and we cannot be happier with her. Even though we are first time home buyers, we have worked with many real estate agents. Brenda was by far t...
Read More

S

Susan W.

She had a lot of knowledge of the area and of home construction so was able to advise us on possible improvements to the homes we considered purchasing. She responded quickly and thoroughly when we had questions.
Read More

B

Buyer

Brenda was fantastic! She has a ton of knowledge of the local area that helped us find a home that met our needs. Also, as first-time buyers, we are ignorant of many details of the process or even homeownership in general. Bre...
Read More

A

Alisa C.

I recently sold one condo and bought another in a better community for me, and Brenda made the whole process as smooth as I could have hoped for. She was super responsive to me, and always on the ball about communicating with ...
Read More

T

Tricia C.

We recently bought a condo in Newtonville that we stumbled upon, so we didn't have our own Realtor®. Brenda was the listing agent for the property, but went above and beyond to advise and guide us through the process. There wer...
Read More

T

Ted G.

Meeting Brenda was the best thing that happened to us during the search for our new home. As first time buyers, we required a lot of guidance during the process, and Brenda walked us through every step of the way. We had very l...
Read More

S

Sue C.

We can't say enough about Brenda. We wanted to buy a new house and then sell our old house which seemed like a risky endeavor. Brenda was confident our house would sell and had a calming influence when we brought up our various...
Read More

V

Victoria B.

Brenda helped us with buying our first home. We found our dream home right away, and Brenda helped us keep our offer competitive in the Boston-area market. She was very responsive by email and text, and answered any questions w...
Read More

A

Aza R.

Brenda was extremely competent, knowledgeable and very helpful during the process- from P&S , inspection and getting information about the mortgage and having the right attorney! Buying a property is a major transaction and Br...
Read More

A

Anthony S.

We would absolutely recommend Brenda to anyone thinking of buying or selling a property. Throughout the whole process she instilled a sense of confidence. She priced the place we were selling correctly and arranged everything f...
Read More

FIND YOUR NEXT DREAM HOME

Home Search

Work With Me

Experience excellence in real estate with Brenda, a top-producing broker in Boston. Benefit from her 19 years of expertise, strong negotiation skills, and cutting-edge marketing strategies. Trust Brenda for a successful and satisfying real estate journey.

Follow Me on Instagram