Top Waterfront & Lake-Home Agents in Minnesota (2026)

1. Joe Houghton

9.4/10

$127K–$1.9M

Joe Houghton operates Minnesota Property Group under RE/MAX Results in Plymouth. Minnesota Commerce showed resident-broker license 40503429 Active through June 30, 2028 when checked August 2, 2026. His biography claims 1,600-plus career sales since 2002, while Zillow separately displayed 1,597 team sales, 20 in the prior 12 months and 183 team reviews at a displayed 5.0.

2. Ellen DeHaven

9.2/10

$185K–$8.8M · 2 reviews

Ellen DeHaven leads a Coldwell Banker Global Luxury team in Wayzata and held an Active Minnesota resident-salesperson record when checked August 2, 2026. RealTrends reports 9 individual sides and $22.01M for 2025, while Homes.com displayed 82 closed sales and $170.9M over five years. Her $800M career-sales and 300-plus lakeshore-sales figures remain first-party claims, not independently reconciled career totals.

3. Chad Schwendeman

9.2/10

$11K–$3.2M · 1077 reviews

A high-volume, heavily reviewed Brainerd Lakes team: Zillow displayed 1,077 team reviews at a 5.0 average and 434 team sales in the trailing 12 months when this profile was reviewed. The scale is well documented, though clients should expect a team model rather than assuming Chad personally handles every step.

4. Valerie Berg

9.2/10

$170K–$800K · 11 reviews

A 28-year Cloquet-based veteran whose small team appears in the 2026 RealTrends Verified rankings with 49 sides and $15.17M in 2025 production, backed by a strong public review record.

5. Bryce Caldwell

9.1/10

$126K–$891K · 27 reviews

Bryce Caldwell is a Minnetonka-based RE/MAX Advantage Plus agent whose strongest public differentiator is a library of sourced west-metro and Lake Minnetonka due-diligence guides. Zillow displayed 27 reviews at 5.0, 17 sales in the prior 12 months, 62 total sales and a $126K–$891K range when reviewed. His own About page claimed 64 career sales, so the two totals remain separate rather than being blended.

6. Molly Tulek

9.0/10

$20K–$2M · 73 reviews

A locally rooted Grand Rapids agent with a 5.0 Zillow snapshot across 73 reviews, 41 platform-reported sales in the trailing year and a service range that includes lake, relocation and commercial property.

7. Paul Ryan

9.0/10

$42K–$1.2M · 14 reviews

The most established name on this list — a 31-year broker-owner with a perfect 5.0 rating across 14 Zillow reviews and RE/MAX Hall of Fame recognition.

8. Leslie Prischmann Flugstad

9.0/10

$133K–$1.3M · 7 reviews

A Fergus Falls native with 212 closed sales in Homes.com's displayed five-year window, including 142 in Fergus Falls, plus a clearly published niche in lake, luxury and estate-related transactions.

9. Candee Deichman

8.9/10

$68K–$2M · 16 reviews

A documented Mankato Century 21 agent with Minnesota license 40383097, a 16-review Zillow snapshot at 5.0 and 62 trailing-year platform sales across a broad $68K-to-$2M range.

10. James Kutschat

8.9/10

$22K–$630K · 4 reviews

A Grand Rapids broker-owner with lake, land and commercial focus, but conflicting public review displays: Homes.com shows 4 at 5.0, Realtor.com shows 69, and Zillow shows none. This profile uses the clearly individual Homes.com aggregate.

11. Kristi Weinstock

8.8/10

$475K–$3.9M · 9 reviews

Kristi Weinstock is a Coldwell Banker Realty agent in Excelsior with a first-party Lake Minnetonka and west-metro focus. Zillow displayed nine reviews at a 5.0 average, 53 sales in the trailing 12 months, 814 total recorded sales and a $130,000-to-$4.5 million sold-price range when this profile was reviewed. Coldwell Banker's experience and award statements remain attributed brokerage claims.

12. Randa Haug

8.8/10

$15K–$2.3M · 177 reviews

A heavily reviewed Brainerd Lakes agent: Zillow displayed 177 reviews at 5.0, 57 trailing-year sales and a $15K-to-$2.3M range. Reviews frequently mention collaborator Wes, so consumers should clarify working roles.

13. Ryan Hanson

8.8/10

$84K–$1.3M

Ryan Hanson leads a Fergus Falls-based Keller Williams team with an Active Minnesota resident-broker record. Homes.com displayed 572 closed sales and $156.4 million over the prior five years, including 310 sales tagged to Fergus Falls; those are platform snapshots, not career totals or a standardized MLS ranking.

14. Daniel Gustafson

8.7/10

$150K–$3M · 1 reviews

Daniel Gustafson is a Coldwell Banker Realty agent in Wayzata. Minnesota Commerce showed salesperson license 40402029 Active through June 30, 2028 when checked August 2, 2026. A separate 2016 Commerce consent order imposed a $5,000 civil penalty, a 30-day suspension, ethics education and mortgage-satisfaction terms; that historical order is not a claim of current suspension.

15. Scott Lynch

8.7/10

$180K–$750K · 100 reviews

Scott Lynch has worked full-time in Central Minnesota real estate since 2001 and is currently with Agency North Real Estate in Sartell, just across the river from St. Cloud. Public sources credit him with more than 500 career transactions and roughly $100 million in sales volume, along with a GRI designation. Independent review platforms show consistently high marks, though the exact count varies by source. He works across a broad range of clients rather than one narrow price tier or property type.

16. Beverly J. Van Alstine

8.7/10

$100K–$750K · 31 reviews

Nearly two decades in the Duluth market with genuine rural/lake-home expertise and a strong, independently verified review record.

17. Corrine Hobbs

8.7/10

$58K–$1.1M · 4 reviews

Duluth's most explicit waterfront/lake specialist, backed by a two-decade track record and a former career as a licensed appraiser.

18. Amanda Lumley

8.7/10

$11K–$2.9M · 47 reviews

Amanda Lumley is a Crosslake-based Northland Sotheby's agent with current individual evidence: RealTrends reports 36 sides and $20.89M from 2025 sales data, while Zillow separately displayed 47 reviews at 5.0 and an $11K–$2.9M platform range. Current Minnesota license status still needs an official Commerce lookup before signing.

19. Dan Hennen

8.7/10

$110K–$1.3M · 9 reviews

RE/MAX Advantage Plus presents Dan Hennen as a full-time agent since 1994 in its Shakopee office. Zillow labels the profile as team-led and displayed 9 team reviews at 4.89, while Realtor.com displayed no review aggregate. Those platform records should not be merged or treated as an individual MLS production history.

20. Tom Nicklow

8.6/10

$250K–$1.5M

Tom Nicklow has run Minnetonka Realty, a brokerage carrying the city's name, as broker/owner for the past 14 years, inside a firm with more than three decades of history there. He has sold Twin Cities residential real estate since 1984, holds the NAR's GRI designation, and was named a Mpls/St Paul Magazine "Super Agent" in 2023 and 2024. He works alone rather than leading a team, and covers a broad mix of property types — lakeshore, distressed, land — rather than one narrow niche.

21. Skip Halverson

8.6/10

$150K–$700K · 7 reviews

A 23-year, Hall-of-Fame RE/MAX producer with a perfect (if thin) review record, built around first-time buyers, lake/recreational property, and round-the-clock availability.

22. Michael Boege

8.6/10

$225K–$2.9M · 10 reviews

A 21-year Coldwell Banker veteran whose Boege | Dean team focuses on the St. Croix Valley's higher end -- lake homes, legacy estates and acreage -- backed by a perfect but numerically thin Yelp record.

23. Becky O'Brien

8.5/10

$175K–$660K · 66 reviews

A 25+-year Maple Grove veteran whose electrician/housing-inspector background gives real technical edge on rural, acreage, and lakeshore deals.

24. Kathy Madore

8.5/10

$161K–$3.2M

An Edina Realty broker running the highest average sale price of this Stillwater group on the strength of a genuine St. Croix/Mississippi River and Lake Minnetonka waterfront specialty.

25. Monica Kaiser

8.5/10

$173K–$4.8M

A 26-year, born-and-raised lakes specialist whose documented sales record ($57.2M over 69 sales in five years, up to $4.8M) makes her the clearest waterfront/luxury pick of the group.

26. Scott Rodman

8.4/10

$77K–$680K · 28 reviews

A Blaine-office luxury and lakefront specialist with the strongest independently-verified review record in this batch — 4.9 stars across 28 reviews.

Robert Elliott is a Grimes Realty broker/owner whose Minnesota broker license 40369970 was Active when checked August 25, 2026. Zillow displayed 29 sales in the trailing 12 months, 683 total sales and six reviews at 5.0 on his individual profile, with a profile-stated Bemidji-area lake, land and investment focus.

28. Robin Cicmil

8.4/10

$90K–$650K

An 18-year Iron Range Realtor with a genuine lakeshore/waterfront specialization and active regional-association leadership.

29. Gregg Larsen

8.3/10

$275K+

A 30-year Lake Minnetonka waterfront specialist — strong for lakefront or luxury business, less suited to a budget starter-home search.

30. Stu Wood

8.3/10

$185K–$2.3M

An Alexandria native and Edina Realty's top local producer, with the largest tracked sales volume of any agent we reviewed in this market.

31. Bob Willmus

8.3/10

$200K–$850K

A Roseville native with 35+ years in the business, best suited to first-time buyers, downsizers, and anyone eyeing rural or lake-country property outside the metro.

32. Michael Hall

8.3/10

$350K+ · 58 reviews

A Chanhassen-office broker-owner with a genuine lake-property niche and real, verifiable reviews behind him.

33. Richard McDonough

8.2/10

$370K–$2.4M

Richard McDonough is a fourth-generation Stillwater resident who has worked as a real estate broker in the city for roughly three decades and holds dual licensure in Minnesota and Wisconsin. He practices as an associate broker with Lakes Sotheby's International Realty out of its downtown Stillwater office, with current and recent listings concentrated in the historic Main Street corridor. Third-party transaction data (homes.com) shows 84 closed sales over the past five years worth about $41.9 million; that figure, and the 238 sold listings shown on his own brokerage profile, are both well below the '450+ career transactions' cited in his marketing, a gap that is not explained anywhere public.

34. Amy Mattfield

8.2/10

$175K–$900K

An 18-year-experienced Edina Realty agent whose renovation background and multiple named client testimonials set her apart on lakeshore property.

35. Cathy Beddoe Carlson

8.2/10

$69K–$390K

A long-tenured, community-connected local agent well suited to residential, land and lakeshore transactions in and around Grand Rapids, working within an established team rather than solo.

36. Mark Reiland

8.1/10

$275K–$850K · 15 reviews

Mark Reiland has worked the south metro out of RE/MAX Advantage Plus's Savage office since 2000 and leads the small Reiland Team there. His public review record is real but thin — 15 Google reviews at 4.2 stars — and his brokerage profile lists a wide, generalist range of specialties rather than a narrow focus. Recorded sales cluster in Shakopee, Prior Lake, and Savage, consistent with a Scott County-centered practice. He holds a Certified Distressed Property Expert designation, relevant to short-sale and foreclosure work.

37. Sean Drury

8.1/10

$220K–$850K

A veteran Associate Broker and partner at Counselor Realty's Coon Rapids office who stacks four NAR designations behind a practice spanning starter homes, lakeshore, land, and new construction.

38. Chad Piepho

8.0/10

$200K–$1.5M · 6 reviews

Chad Piepho has worked in Minnesota real estate since 2003 and has been based in the Brainerd Lakes area since 2008, now serving as broker/owner of Counselor Realty's Brainerd office. His public review footprint is thin for that tenure — six ratings on one aggregator site, all five stars — so there is limited independent volume to judge consistency against. His stated coverage is concentrated on specific lake chains (Gull Lake, Whitefish Chain) and nearby towns rather than the broader Brainerd market as a whole.

39. Wendy Giles

8.0/10

$100K–$800K

A 27-year Bemidji-area veteran at RE/MAX Results with an unusually broad specialty list, from rentals to lakefront lifestyle to development land.

40. Mitch Ashburn

8.0/10

$150K+

A lifelong Kandiyohi County local who traded a 17-year HVAC/construction career for real estate, with reviewers consistently praising his patience and communication.

41. Mary Ettl

7.9/10

$130K–$3.2M

A 17-year Edina Realty veteran based directly in the White Bear Lake office, with an active book of business spanning starter condos to multimillion-dollar St. Croix River-area estates.

42. Troy Scott

7.7/10

$278K–$600K

An independent, Burnsville-based agent with RES Realty's low-overhead model — a fit for straightforward residential deals rather than luxury or highly specialized transactions.