Featured Properties

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 under contract, seeing it through to close. We're very happy with our new place and I would highly recommend Brenda for your home search!

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. She was very responsive and was available to work through a variety of topics during the search and during the transaction. I would highly recommend Brenda, and hope, if a chance arises, to work with her again.

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 provided us with a thorough list of comparables to make sure our offer is competitive but reasonable. When there was a minor issue with the purchase process she acted on it proactively to get it resolved. We are completely happy with the new home that she helped us find for now, but if we are to move in the future, we would definitely work with her again.

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 is very professional, kind, knowledgeable and always had time to answer our calls and questions, also during weekends and late hours. Brenda was active and involved during the buying process and tried to negotiate on our behalf when issues arose. After we bought the house she also directed us to many great professionals. We highly recommend Brenda as an exceptional real estate agent and would love to work with her again in the...

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 very good at helping us navigate the competitive process, get inspections with quick turnarounds, and make the right offer. Not only that, but she helped us navigate some of the complicated aspects of our first purchase that were beyond the natural scope of her job, like securing loans, hiring attorneys, and finding contractors, and every person she pointed us to was excellent. Overall, we could not recommend Brenda highly enough...

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 listened to our priorities and responded accordingly with the properties she showed us. Brenda goes the "extra mile" to make it all happen. We are very grateful and would use her services again without a doubt!

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/services as needed. Brenda guided our search for a new home in Newton. We were targeting a small geographic area with tight reigns on the budget and some strong opinions on what we like and don’t like. With low inventory to choose from, our search was neither easy nor quick! Brenda was patient throughout, though, offering pragmatic advice as we navigated the market. Importantly, she probably knew what we wanted even before we ...

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, example listings of recently sold or on-market homes), she also helped us understand things like sellers' tendencies and preferences, and work styles of people involved in the Newton real estate market. She also recommended quality people to work with for home inspection and financing. She's also incredibly responsive, agree 100% with other reviewers that Brenda has almost inhuman speeds of responsiveness. Every question we sent w...

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 we have rarely seen before. She is not only knowledgeable about real estate and everything related to it, but relentless in her objectives of promoting our property the right way, and properly managing the closing process communicating with lawyers, inspectors, town authorities, etc. Can you think of an agent that you will text or email and you will get a responses within minutes (day or night Monday through Sunday)?. Does how ...

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 the best. In fact, On the surface she was responsive and informative. She got herself very familiar with the house and the area she's doing business with, from evaluating the property value, renting and parking situations nearby, to taking care of all the utility bill transfer. A lot of these are either overwhelming or easy to skip our mind for first time homeowners. She is always on time for appointments. She answers or return...

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.

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. Brenda was able to answer all of our questions. She was extremely responsive and easy to work with. I would definitely recommend her.

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 the buyer and seller agents so I could proceed in the next step of the process without hold-ups. She is generous with her time and her expertise was invaluable. I highly recommend her, for selling AND buying!

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 were multiple delays and at times, this was challenging, but she persisted and stayed on top of every detail and continued to push the process forward. She's incredibly knowledgeable of the local real estate market as well as the process and paperwork. From inspections, permits to city hall Brenda has it covered. I'd highly recommend her to any seller or buyer.

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 limited availability to view homes and were immediately impressed by her efficiency (we saw 6 homes in one morning) and how responsive she was to our needs. She is exceptionally knowledgeable and pays attention to important details of a home. During the whole home search, we really felt that she was advocating for us and our needs. She helped us strategize to put down exactly enough to win our first offer, and we couldn't be ...

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 concerns. Brenda's orchestration of the entire process of preparing and selling our house was very impressive, including outdoor and indoor fix-ups, recommendations to make the house shine, drone video/photos of the house and yard, lovely staging, etc. We took advantage of Brenda's connections with excellent tradespeople to do the work. Anytime there was an issue she was there in person to make sure it was resolved. Brenda's ...

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 we had with plenty of detail. Brenda kept in mind that this was our first time buying so was very thoughtful in explaining the process. With her help, we went from offer to close in about a month! We honestly could not be happier and happy to have had Brenda as part of this experience.

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 Brenda was always there for me during this journey Thank you for everything! I have and will continue to recommend Brenda to anyone looking to buy or sell

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 for the sale with care and precision. It was the same with the purchase. She was tenacious when necessary and reassuring as needed. She was extremely responsive to all our requests and anticipated in advance questions and issues that might arise. She followed up quickly on all queries and worked well to coordinate with all those involved in the purchase, including the local town authorities. She did not let anything slip and ke...

My partner & I worked with Brenda to purchase our first home (2-bed, 1 bath condo in Jamaica Plain), and we are so grateful that we connected with Brenda. Brenda was incredibly responsive and available throughout the process, and made the search incredibly easy. She led us through a challenging Covid environment (summer 2020) and persevered through rain, sleet, and hail (literally) during one of our several touring sessions. In addition, we are incredibly thankful for Brenda's cool-headed advice on buying / bidding strategy. We were eager to win on our current apartment after losing a bidding war on our first offer, and were prepared to go well abov...

We were so fortunate to have found Brenda van der Merwe when we moved to Newton .As our Realtor®, she helped us find the right house in the right neighborhood for the right price. The best part about working with Brenda was that she was always giving us good advice, and finding homes that met our needs .We would highly recommend her to anyone.

Our experience with Brenda was the best possible. From the very beginning she was very helpful in every step of the process, including helping us connect with the right people to understand the process of buying a house in Massachusetts. From understanding the pros and cons of every town, to the differences between one house to the other, she helped us look for things we didn't even know about and that were crucial in our search. As foreigners to the U.S., the whole process was very new for us, but she understood from the very beginning our needs, and adapt to what we were discovering on the way that could be the best match for us. She wasn't only a...

We had a positive experience with Brenda. This was our first time buying a home, and Brenda patiently guided us through the entire process! Brenda was extremely responsive - even on holidays and in the evenings - and was patient with all of our questions. We felt confident that Brenda had everything under control as we moved from the offer to closing. Thank you, Brenda!

We are first time home buyers and Brenda was incredibly thorough, informative and most importantly patient throughout the whole process! Brenda is very responsive and always provided answers in a timely manner. We toured multiple condos with her in Boston and finally settled on a place we love! We will definitely recommend to friends.

It was fantastic working with Brenda. She was very knowledgeable about the area and gave options and objective recommendations which were very sound-making the process of buying a home in a competitive market very smooth. She was quick to respond to questions and accommodating with our schedules.

This is my second time working with Brenda as she had initially helped with finding a rental. We enjoyed working with her so much we engaged with her to purchase a house in the same area. It was a pleasure to work through this process with Brenda and she made it much easier than it otherwise would have been. Her knowledge, not only from a Realtor® perspective but also from a Massachusetts law and working with mortgage a broker was immeasurably helpful. Brenda proactively managed the relationship with the seller and helped us with the mortgage broker. She caught things that we would have glanced over and pointed out items that would have missed by al...

Brenda is a consummate professional. She rightly prides herself on basing her approach to evaluating property on data. She remained calm when we were stressed out - and helped us navigate through to a positive conclusion. We wouldn’t have made it with out her!

We recently purchased our first condo in Newton, and it was a wonderful experience thanks to Brenda. She understood our needs perfectly and showed us selected properties. Furthermore, she was kind and prompt to answer our questions. If we have a chance to sell or buy a property in the future, we would like to ask her to support us again.

Brenda is a superstar! I used her as a buyer's agent. The seller's agent was unprofessional (tried to contact me directly, etc.). The sellers had some odd requests (wanted to postpone the closing date so that a relative could visit, etc.). She handled it all flawlessly. She was on the ball in regards to making sure that everything stayed on track such as the fire department smoke detector inspection, etc.

Brenda, her support team, and infrastructure were instrumental in the complex sale of 2 condo units simultaneously as one transaction. She has a tremendous knowledge of the market & industry and is extremely responsive to all matters. We highly recommend her for anyone who is looking to buy or sell a home.

I really hit the jackpot when Zillow paired me up with Brenda. She is smart, savvy, patient, efficient, and honest. As a long-time renter, I went into this process knowing nothing and unaware if buying was even feasible. Brenda guided me through everything and recommended a great lawyer and mortgage broker. She spent the time necessary to understand what I wanted and how that aligned with my budget and the market. Brenda was very direct in telling me why properties were priced a certain way and whether they were worthwhile for my particular needs. It's easy for first-time buyers like me with modest income to feel crowded out by the investors and...

Brenda helped us buy our first house, so we were confident in her professionalism and knowledge of purchasing our second house. She is very responsive and reliable, and she was able to get us the best offer. At the time, we were only casually looking at homes, but once we found one we fell in love with, we contacted Brenda last minute. She responded within minutes and was able to help us during the entire process while working with our difficult schedules. Brenda is amazing to work with, and not only did we recommend her to our other friends, we would definitely recommend Brenda to anyone else looking for an agent.

Brenda was highly effective in helping us complete an out-of-state move on a compressed timeline. She was extremely responsive from the start, and her local knowledge combined with thoughtfulness about our particular circumstance (work locations, commute timing, kids' needs, etc) resulted in an efficient and successful weekend of showings. Once we were ready to make an offer, it was especially helpful that Brenda is well-connected within the Newton market: we had the information we needed to make a reasonable offer to win the deal. I will recommend her to others, and I'll be thrilled to work with her again down the road!

Brenda went above and beyond to find me the perfect home. I never expected such professional, attentive and efficient service. Even AFTER the successful purchase Brenda went out of her way to help with finishing details. She is assertive, compassionate and puts her clients first! Highly recommend. Thank you, Brenda!

We found out about Brenda reading reviews online like this one as we started the house search on our own through Zillow. We decided to work with her based on all of the prior stellar reviews, and looking back, this is probably one of the best decisions we could have made in this housing search process. Having an amazing Realtor® to work with makes a huge difference. She guided us all the way through a season of exploring different houses, finding the ones we liked, ultimately making an offer, inspection, and finally closing (and also beyond closing). We were always impressed with her fund of knowledge, her communication skills, professionalism, ...

We really appreciated her insights in the neighborhoods we were looking at and her grasp of what we were looking for (pretty unusual condo with no stairs but not in a large complex). She helped us look at things that were close-but-no-cigar but never tried to push us to buy, and eventually helped negotiate a price drop on the perfect place to get it just into our price range. She's an expert and easy to talk to talk to.

My husband and I were buying a small house for our daughter. Brenda showed us the perfect home for our daughter one morning: ,we went for lunch and put it an offer that day! Sadly we were overbid on that one but within 3 weeks we found another perfect fit for Courtney and her dog and we were successful. Brenda responded Immediately to every call we made, guided us through the P&S and Tended to the closing with a recommendation of a reputable lawyer. Very professional and efficient plus knowledge of locales.

Brenda is an exceptionally professional broker. She has a tremendous knowledge of the market and the industry. She has a network of tradesmen--such as plumbers, contractors and moving/downsizing experts--that helped us. She has a very calm demeanor, she never exerts undue pressure, and is highly honest and ethical. Working with her was a pleasure.

This is the second time we worked with Brenda to buy a property. This time, we were simultaneously selling a property. There’s no way we could have done this without her. She arranged and prepared for us meetings with inspectors, attorneys and handymen. She asked the questions that needed to be asked and advocated for us at every stop of the way. On top of professionalism, her warmth and friendly nature endears her to us. She’s the best.

Brenda was fantastic to work with. She was extremely knowledgeable about the Boston neighborhoods down to the zip code. We were first time home buyers and Brenda was extremely helpful in answering all questions and walking us through the complicated and sometimes overwhelming steps of purchasing our first home.

My husband and I live in England and were looking for a property in a specific area of Boston. We had never bought property in USA prior to this so felt nervous about the process and speed at which the market moves. I had been in contact with other agents but did not feel confident in the feedback I was getting. I stumbled across Brenda by replying to a property on line. From the first communication I could tell Brenda was professional and knowledgeable. She patiently and professionally answered my many questions before we committed to flying to Boston to view properties. Our time was limited but with Brenda's dedication and excellent organisa...

It was a real pleasure working with Brenda. She knows the market very well. It's pretty incredible how good she is with digging into the details while also being very responsive. If you are thinking about buying a place in the Greater Boston area, trust us, you want to work with Brenda.

My husband and I worked with Brenda on our first home purchase. From the start, Brenda was extremely responsive, knowledgeable and professional. She knows so much about the neighborhoods, which was invaluable to us as we were moving from another state. We could not be happier that we chose Brenda as our real estate agent -- She truly went above and beyond to make sure not only that all of our questions and concerns were addressed but also pointed out considerations that would never have occurred to us. We definitely highly recommend her!

We had a great experience with Brenda. She was hardworking and extremely responsive. It was enjoyable to work with her. We are happy with our condo. Thanks!

Brenda was a consummate professional in every aspect of our home-buying experience. Brenda's responsiveness, in particular, was much appreciated and assisted us greatly, as my wife and I needed to move very quickly. When we identified the home we really wanted, Brenda provided expert guidance as to the offer price and various closing contingencies. Further, Brenda's recommendations for counsel, home inspector, etc. were spot-on. We could not be happier with how everything turned out, and highly recommend Brenda!

Brenda is THE best real estate agent I know. With her great knowledge and patience, Brenda helped me find my ideal condo and guided me through the whole process of buying. She knows exactly what is going on in the market and always meets my needs responsively, many times even without me saying it. I have pretty high standard and I can safely say she totally exceeds my expectation. She is also my agent for finding tenants. I trust her in all aspect of real estate transactions and I will not hesitate to have her as my agent in the future. I highly recommend Brenda to anyone who wants to know what a Five-Star real estate professional should be like.

Brenda is an excellent Realtor®. Her professionalism and hard work along the entire process highly contributed to the success closing. We hired her after a thorough research. We surveyed the local market and had interviews with several agents. Right from the first interaction, Brenda surpassed all her rivals. Her marketing presentation was impressive, both depth and width, she put a lot of work on getting all her facts straight. I remember our first conversation. It strucked me how accurated her prediction of the trends for the market had turned out to be. She had invested her time, money and effort with enormous generosity. She is an extremely plea...

Our first move in 47 years was further complicated by my heart attack on the eve of moving date , and my wife had a stent. After open heart bypass I was in rehab. Brenda Van Der Werwe then assumed seller’s tasks and guided us along the process with professional expertise and personal sensitivity. She always apprised us of problems and solutions. She allayed our fears by keeping us informed all along the process. We are grateful to our son who recommended Brenda after assisting them in purchase of their condominium.

We used Brenda to both purchase and sell our first house in Arlington. She displayed intimate knowledge of the process and educated us on what the necessary steps were to have a successful transaction. Especially since we sold our house living in NYC and had to rely on her for quite a bit. She didn't disappoint as she was effective at pricing the house right so that it went quite a bit above asking, putting it on the market at the right time and the whole strategy surrounding it. We would definitely use her again. Plus, she has a PHD in music.