Brent Councill – Long & Foster Real Estate

We’ve retained Brent Councill twice — once as seller of my elderly mother-in-law’s condo in a Silver Spring high rise and once as buyer of a single-​family home on Capitol Hill. He works every bit as hard, and as effectively, on a $ 260K property as on a $ 1.25M property. We would readily ask him to handle any transaction at any price point in any area of DC or the Maryland suburbs. Brent is experienced, savvy, and indefatigable. He understands the real estate market very well and has performed exceptionally well representing our family as sellers in a buyer’s market and as buyers in a seller’s market. His people skills are first-​rate, which enables him to work effectively across the whole spectrum of buyers & sellers, both in working directly with them and in the negotiations with his counterparts that lead to closing transactions successfully. Brent represented our interests superbly in bidding on our home in a multiple bidder situation, and his representation and his ability to communicate the strengths of our offer may well have been what made the difference in ours being the winning bid. In addition, Brent has a terrific design sense, which enabled him to provide superb guidance to my mother-​in-​law regarding how best to prepare her condo for sale at reasonable cost (removing carpeting, refinishing hardwood floors, upgrading outdated light fixtures). He took charge of getting that done for her through his contacts with reputable service providers. When we were buyers, he quickly understood exactly what we were looking for as purchasers and helped us weed out unsuitable properties, focus on sensible areas, and find a unique home that met our needs. Brent’s tag line is «It’s all about lifestyle.» He’s been perfectly attuned to the (very different) objectives and anxieties of my mother-​in-​law in the first transaction and ours in the second transaction. Brent treats everyone with utmost dignity and respect. He’s upbeat and energetic but there’s no pressure at all. Brent is also a first class human being (which I can’t say about all realtors), and it’s easy to understand why much of his business is from very satisfied repeat clients and their enthusiastic references.