Melinda Elmer – Century 21 Masters

We bought out second home with Melinda and it was a great experience. With the market as it is today it was really helpful to have a team that would work to get us into showings as soon as things hit the market. She isn’t a pushy relator that just wants to make a commission. We spent a few months searching and never had opinions pushed on us. That was especially important to us in choosing our relator.
Melinda has been working in the Long Beach area for some time and her knowledge of the neighborhoods as well as the rolodex of tradespeople she has from mortgage to inspectors to gardeners has been invaluable. We love our house and can’t imagine moving but if the time comes we’ll certainly call Melinda to help us.

Melinda goes out of her way to make the bumpy ride of buying a home as smooth as possible. Everything she tells you is right on. She never blows smoke to make it sound better. She tells the truth. We love our new home, new neighborhood and new city thanks to her

We were first time home buyers and I got Melinda’s info from a friend who highly recommended her.
Throughout the entire process she was easy to contact and always took our calls even when she was away for one of the weekends.
The best thing about Melinda is her knowledge and her speed. She is super fast and efficient and that is what you want in a realtor. She makes sure you want the place but as soon as it’s go time, she’s quick and helps you get the house you’re looking for.
I would recommend her to my friends as well.
We definitely will be using her in the future!

This was my first experience selling and I must say I got really lucky with a random property inquiry on Redfin.
In no time at all Melinda called me and a couple days later stopped by to assess my home. I went ahead and signed on the dotted line that same day.
She is super organized, friendly and very knowledgeable. Everyone knows buying or selling a home can be an emotional roller coaster. Melinda made the entire process as smooth as possible.
I really appreciate her commitment to communication as well. No email or phone call went unanswered and was always returned in a timely manner.
Now that I’ve closed on my sale, I’ll be looking to buy. Most definitely look forward to working with Melinda for this next phase as well.
Thanks, Melinda and Team. You guys ROCK!

Melinda and her assistant Kerry were always nice whenever I met with them, but ultimately Melinda stopped communicating with me during my search for a condo in the downtown LB area. I’m not sure if she was too busy with other clients or if I was low priority for some other reason — I was looking for a condo in the $ 150,000 — $ 200,000 range, so maybe it wasn’t worth her time? — but I found myself contacting her much more often regarding places I was finding on my own online than she was contacting me.
After seeing one condo with Melinda, and two condos with her assistant Kerry, the communication stopped, even when I would reach out.
I see lots of good reviews on Unilocal for Melinda (it’s what made me contact her in the first place), but my experience wasn’t much help at all and I’ll be on the lookout for a new real estate agent in the near future.

We bought our first home back in late 2010 early 2011. I honestly cannot remember how we found Melinda but my husband and I were really fortunate to have crossed paths with her.
Melinda was pretty honest and straight forward during our first meeting. She explained what we should expect from working with her and the process of buying a home which was greatly appreciated as first time buyers.
Melinda found several homes for us and went with us to check them out. We decided on a house and she got it for us. She kept in close communication with us and guided us until the final step. She also followed up with us a couple of months after.
We are very thankful to Melinda and her team for the great work and professionalism. We highly recommend her!

My wife and I feel very fortunate to have found Melinda, as we were first time home buyers. She was actually our second realtor, and while this was our first-​time buying, it was not our first time going through the entire process.
Instead of providing the long, drawn-​out account of what happened, I will just say that our first realtor turned out to be such a problem that, after spending hundreds of dollars on an appraisal and home inspections, as well as lots of time, including personal time off from work, my wife and I backed out of closing after getting very close. As I mentioned there are a lot of details that would cause this review to be the length of a novel if I elaborated, but the root cause of most of the issues was that our first realtor would not address any of our concerns. He would repeatedly tell us things like «believe me, the seller won’t do that» or «you won’t get that. I’ve been in the business for long enough to know better than you». He was condescending and treated us like we were lucky to have him for a realtor. He talked a big game, and how he had sold so many properties in Redondo and Manhattan Beach, but when it came to doing anything of value for us, as buyers, he would treat my wife and I like we were asking for too much and naïve. That all happened in early 2010.
The first experience was so negative that my wife and I wanted to just try to buy on our own. We began doing a lot of personal research, going on tours with Redfin tours and learning as much as we could. Unfortunately, like so many others at the same stage of life as my wife and I work full time and go to school, so we really didn’t have enough time and it was very exhausting. Finding Melinda was not only a huge help, it was refreshing breath of fresh air. Working with her was 180 degrees opposite of our experience with the first realtor. We are so glad we found her, and plan to use her services again if we ever buy in Southern California. More importantly, we give our whole-​hearted endorsement of her professionalism and expertise.

As first time home buyers, we felt very secure that she is on top of everything. She assisted us every step of the way. And she always makes herself available to us during the whole process, from house hunting even after closing, as well as answering all our questions even when she is on vacation. We are happy we finally found our home, but we will surely miss seeing her every week. If there is a rating above 10, I will definitely give her that. Melinda is trust-​worthy!

We spoke with several agents before listing with Melinda. I was fortunate to know her personally, and now feel fortunate financially as well! The other agents we spoke with advised us to list our home at about 25k less than what we ended up getting for it. That felt wrong to me, and Melinda agreed. Under her advisement, we had multiple offers within 4 days of listing at a highter asking price. She made excellent suggestions for sprucing up the property and helped us choose the most cost-​effective improvements. For full review purposes I would have to say that my only issue with Melinda was not actually her fault. The company she had place our front yard sale sign listed the incorrect phone number on the sign, possibly costing us more offers. Not Melinda’s fault, and I believe she fired them after that. That was the single fly in the ointment, so a pretty tiny drawback when all is said and done. Because how can you say no to $ 25K more than the others promised!!! Thanks Melinda!

Very helpful and responsive. Always follow up with customers and will run the numbers to see whether purchase of investment propert will provide a decent return of investment. Definitely will use her service again!

It’s not often that you stay in touch with a Realtor for a decade before you purchase your first home, but Melinda is one of those dedicated (while not being pushy) people that definitely earned the business and always kept my best interests in mind.
Melinda and I didn’t talk every day or even every month, but when the market was better for me or an opportunity she knew would work for me opened she’d always be there in my email Inbox, or on the phone. 1 part inspiration, and 2 parts perspiration, Mel not only kept me motivated toward my goal, but when I was ready she worked with my loan officer and the seller to help us close in about 3 weeks!!!
I’ll definitely keep in touch for years to come and work with Melinda again for any of my future real estate needs. Highly recommended!

We were first time home buyers and we were so lucky to find Melinda. She is incredibly honest and straightforward. Everything she said she meant and could follow through on, she never made promises or led us on in any way. She really knows her stuff and has connections that make the process go by without all those crazy surprises you hear about. She found us an amazing place that wasn’t even on the market yet and we couldn’t be happier.
She truly wanted us to find a place we would love. She could have sold us on a number of options early in the game that truly weren’t in our best interest, but we weren’t just a commission to her, we were valued lifetime customers.
I recommend her to everyone of my friends that is looking for a real estate agent. We won’t hesitate to use her again when the time comes.
Thanks again, Melinda!

Melinda was recommended to us from a well known and respected national business… as first time buyers in the midst of the biggest recession — she was the ‘guiding light’ we needed. We were determined to purchase then… at that exact moment in time — NO MORE RENT.
After a thoughtful initial interview — Melinda got to work sending and showing us possibilities. Taking the time to explain the process all along the way assuring us of the next steps ahead. At first it’s overwhelming but Melinda and her team moved quickly with the momentum of a solid stream of information.
Melinda found our dream house within a few weeks… I had actually passed on it and she gently mentioned, «you passed on a house you might find special — let’s go take a quick look, I really think you should see it».
The wide solid oak front door swung open — and even though the house needed restorations, my heart started racing. Once that happened it didn’t stop until we closed. And each time things started to feel overwhelming — Melinda was there at any hour to answer yet another question or request.
Nobody will work harder for you or make it simpler. At the end when everything falls in place — she’ll hand you a set of keys and say, «Welcome home!»

Melinda has been outstanding in her expertise and support.
We were looking for the almost impossible and she made it happen.
We came under distress due to the banking crisis and wanted to sell our condo.
We hoped to find a single-​family home, but thought it would be impossible with the resources we had.
Melinda is not only a very capable realtor with lots of experience, but she seems to know all the right people necessary to assist with additional information, may it be the termite company, handymen, etc. However, her knowledge in these bordering areas that have to do with caring about a property are so extraordinary that she often can answer many additional questions buyers and sellers might have. She also has a good understanding of the fiscal issues involved in the selling and buying process and can help clients figure out what might be possible that I have seen other realtors fall silent over and act desperate. She has been awesome and I will never work with anyone else again. Trust me, even if this might sound to be slightly too good to be true; it is my genuine experience and I can only recommend her wholeheartedly. Sellers and buyers will agree with me.