Buying a house is a complicated piece of business, especially when you live 3,000 miles away, as my wife and I do. Marika made it all happen. Of course, she brought her deep knowledge and experience to bear in helping us every step of the way, both when we were in town to look at places and back home in Boston when we wondering how we could make such a long-distance purchase happen. But beyond realtor experience, she brought a warm, friendly, emotionally intelligent touch to our business relationship as she learned not just what kind of place or neighborhood we wanted but also who we are as people. This allowed her to shape our search and fit it into our limited schedule. She was patient, helpful, practical in her advice, and always available to us from the start and continuing beyond the closing date and moving in. None of these positives surprised us, though, because Marika was also the realtor who walked my son a few years ago through all of the steps of first-time home buying in Portland. We wouldn’t hesitate to recommend her to anyone in the housing market.