Relocation — Minnesota Real-Estate Agents

1. Ben Ganje

9.5/10

$800K+ · 181 reviews

Ben Ganje leads one of Minnesota's top-producing teams — the Ben Ganje Group at Lakes Sotheby's International Realty in Edina — with more than $1.5B in career sales, 1,500-plus homes closed, and 181 reviews at a perfect 5.0. Across roughly 24 years he's ranked among the top three agents in the state by volume. He's the choice for luxury and new-construction buyers and sellers who want a proven, high-powered team.

2. Joe Houghton

9.4/10

$350K–$3M · 183 reviews

Joe Houghton runs Minnesota Property Group under RE/MAX Results out of Plymouth, and the numbers are the headline: 1,600-plus homes sold since 2002 and 183 Zillow reviews at a perfect 5.0. He's the high-volume, broad-coverage choice across the west metro — from Lake Minnetonka waterfront to first-time and move-up buyers — backed by a full team rather than a solo practice.

3. Chad Schwendeman

9.2/10

$11K–$3.2M · 1077 reviews

The highest-volume, most-reviewed real estate team in the Brainerd Lakes market — a safe default pick for exposure and track record, though you'll likely work with a team member rather than Chad personally.

4. Bryce Caldwell

9.1/10

$500K–$2.5M · 27 reviews

Bryce Caldwell is the most content-rich independent agent operating in the Lake Minnetonka west metro corridor. Four years focused on Wayzata, Orono, Minnetonka, Eden Prairie, and Deephaven has produced genuine hyperlocal expertise that shows up in how he talks about bays, school district boundaries, and dock rights — not just listing counts. The best fit for buyers and sellers in the $600K–$2.5M range who want a knowledgeable local specialist, not a large team machine.

5. Graham Smith

9.1/10

$150K–$2.8M · 100 reviews

Graham Smith has run The Graham Smith Team at Keller Williams Integrity Lakes since 2002, building $125M+ in career volume and 100 Zillow reviews at 5.0 (172 across platforms). He's the deeply-reviewed choice for Minneapolis city neighborhoods — from first-time buyers to investment — backed by a full team and two decades in the market.

6. Jim Dropps

9.1/10

$240K–$1.2M · 33 reviews

Jim Dropps has lived in the Sheridan neighborhood of Northeast Minneapolis since the mid-2000s and founded Northeast Real Estate Group, an independent two-agent brokerage, in 2012. His recorded sales cluster almost entirely in Northeast and North Minneapolis neighborhoods — Audubon Park, Waite Park, Windom Park, Holland, Sheridan, and Near North — and his firm markets itself specifically around neighborhood duplexes and starter homes. Public reviews are limited in number but uniformly five-star, and a construction-and-building background in the family gives him a practical angle on the area's older housing stock.

7. Brian Scates

9.0/10

$300K–$1.2M · 155 reviews

Brian Scates runs his own brokerage, Scates Real Estate, out of the Plymouth / northwest-metro area — a GRI-designated broker with 20-plus years, 800-plus career transactions, and 155 Redfin reviews at 4.9. He's the high-volume, independent-brokerage choice across the west and northwest metro, comfortable from first-time buyers to the upper-mid market.

8. Beth Nordaune

9.0/10

$200K–$900K · 1134 reviews

Beth Nordaune has led Rochester's Enclave Team, formerly the Nordaune Team, for roughly two decades, and recently moved the operation's brokerage affiliation from RE/MAX Results to Real Brokerage. Aggregator data citing Zillow attributes about 1,134 reviews at a 5.0 average to her and the team combined, the largest reviewed footprint found for any Rochester-based real estate operation in this research. The team now runs close to two dozen people out of offices in Rochester and Eagan, so a client who calls Beth Nordaune may end up working mainly with a teammate rather than her personally. That tradeoff between scale and personal attention is the central thing to weigh here.

9. Kim Ziton

9.0/10

$600K–$3.9M

Kim Ziton has worked the Woodbury and east-metro market since the mid-1990s and has been credited by Keller Williams as its top-producing agent in Woodbury every year from 2012 through 2025. She operates as a solo licensed agent supported by an assistant and a staging consultant rather than a multi-agent team, and her publicly listed transactions skew toward move-up and luxury price points above $600,000. Independently verifiable third-party review counts were not accessible at research time, so her public reputation rests more on brokerage production rankings and self-published testimonials than on an outside audit.

10. Wendy Carson

8.9/10

$150K–$2.5M · 155 reviews

Wendy Carson has worked out of RE/MAX Results' Apple Valley office since 1998, one of the longer continuous tenures among agents based in the south metro. Her practice spans first-time buyers through executive-level and relocation clients across a wide swath of the Twin Cities and western Wisconsin. Public review counts are unusually large for an individual agent -- well over a hundred logged ratings across Zillow and an independent aggregator, plus a separate Yelp page -- and are consistently close to perfect. She operates as a solo associate rather than under a named team brand.

11. Fritz Kroll

8.9/10

$140K–$2.9M · 145 reviews

The downtown Minneapolis condo specialist: 27 years in the business, lives in the North Loop neighborhood he sells, and holds Edina Realty's top Chairman's Circle distinction.

12. Denel Ihde-Sparks

8.9/10

$230K–$2.1M · 100 reviews

Rochester's highest-review-volume team leader, nationally recognized, with 25+ years and a genuine relocation specialty.

13. Jeffrey Dewing

8.8/10

$500K+ · 5 reviews

Jeffrey Dewing is a 28-plus-year Coldwell Banker Realty veteran working luxury across Edina, Wayzata, Lake Minnetonka and Minneapolis. With a range that runs from the mid-$300Ks past $22M, he pairs a long track record with big-brand marketing reach — a credible choice for luxury sellers who want an experienced hand and a recognizable name.

14. Kristi Weinstock

8.8/10

$475K–$3.9M

Kristi Weinstock leads The Weinstock Group at Coldwell Banker Realty out of Excelsior, on the south shore of Lake Minnetonka. A 20-plus-year veteran and long-running Twin Cities Super Agent, she covers the south-lake and southwest metro across a wide range, from mid-market homes to $3.9M-plus lakefront. A strong choice for buyers and sellers centered on the Excelsior–Shorewood–Chanhassen side of the lake.

15. Jen Kyllonen

8.8/10

$180K–$3M · 23 reviews

A 20-plus-year Chairman's Circle veteran specializing in luxury and historic homes around Minneapolis's Chain of Lakes -- the agent to call for an older or architecturally significant house.

16. Alex Mayer

8.8/10

$116K–$693K · 44 reviews

eXp Realty's #1 Rochester producer in 2025, working solo with a sharply defined focus on first-time buyers and Mayo Clinic relocations.

17. 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.

18. Karissa White

8.7/10

$250K–$890K · 5 reviews

Karissa White has sold real estate in the Bloomington market for close to two decades, working as an associate with RE/MAX Advantage Plus. Her production is heavily concentrated in Bloomington itself, and trailing five-year transaction data shows a roughly even split between buyer- and seller-side closings. Public reviews are uniformly five stars, but the verified count is small — five on RateMyAgent — thin for a career this long.

19. Brandon Doyle

8.7/10

$220K–$750K · 139 reviews

A second-generation, tech-forward Maple Grove team pairing an outstanding review record with genuine new-construction expertise.

20. Jay Fletch

8.7/10

$200K–$1.2M · 113 reviews

A 30-year veteran team lead with an unusually deep bench of designations and a genuinely five-star, 100-plus-review track record across the Woodbury/St. Croix Valley corridor.

21. Hyounsoo Lathrop

8.7/10

$275K+ · 53 reviews

A Woodbury-office Coldwell Banker luxury specialist with a genuinely perfect review record (53 reviews, 5.0 stars) and a top-1% local production ranking.

22. 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.

23. Robert Elliott

8.7/10

$16K–$690K · 6 reviews

A two-decade Bemidji broker/owner with a perfect 5-star Zillow record and deep lake, land, and investment-property expertise.

24. Regan Englund

8.6/10

$300K–$900K · 56 reviews

Regan Englund founded the Regan Englund Real Estate Group, a small team working out of Keller Williams Classic Realty NW in Maple Grove. She holds Minnesota real estate license #40370982 and has been active in the market for roughly a decade. Combined Zillow and Google reviews put her near a 4.9 average across 56 ratings, and third-party agent-ranking data credits her group with about 93 closed transactions in the trailing 12 months. She covers a wide range of transaction types rather than a single niche.

25. Tyler Miller

8.6/10

$49K–$3.2M · 292 reviews

Tyler Miller is CEO and co-founder of Obvious Real Estate, an eXp Realty-affiliated team headquartered at 9100 Baltimore Street NE in Blaine. He has worked in the Twin Cities market since the mid-2000s and has co-run the team with Kaela Kullman since 2016. The team's Birdeye business profile lists 292 reviews at a 5.0 average, and its own marketing claims the top-producing team title in Blaine for five straight years. Buyers and sellers should ask upfront which team member will actually handle their file rather than assume it will be Miller personally.

26. 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.

27. Sonja Zoet

8.5/10

$160K–$620K

Sonja Zoet has worked the Mankato-area market since 2013, a hometown return after starting her license in Florida and South Carolina. She spent seven years at True Real Estate, Mankato's largest local brokerage by sales volume, before moving her license to Real Broker, LLC in late 2024 while continuing to run her own team, The Zoet Group. Every review platform checked shows a perfect star rating, though aggregator sites disagree sharply on the exact review count, so no single figure here is treated as authoritative.

28. Lisa Endersbe

8.5/10

$250K–$900K · 24 reviews

A Coldwell Banker team with a verified 5.0-star, 24-review track record on Birdeye, praised for round-the-clock responsiveness and specialist certifications spanning new construction to distressed property.

29. Matt Wieber

8.5/10

$150K+

A top-1% Central Minnesota producer who left the corporate-brokerage track to build his own shop, working everything from starter homes to seven-figure listings.

30. Jessica Tietema

8.5/10

$69K–$390K · 18 reviews

A consistently 5-star-rated RE/MAX agent who has guided a steady stream of Mankato-area first-time buyers and sellers over 8 years, with zero negative reviews on record.

31. Jenny Cisewski

8.5/10

$110K–$450K

A 34-year Winona-native broker with strong credentials and a loyal local following.

32. Celeste Liesch

8.4/10

$100K–$475K · 18 reviews

An Edina Realty top-3%-companywide producer with the best verified review score in this Winona lineup.

33. Brian Wagner

8.3/10

$180K–$650K

Brian Wagner is a Coldwell Banker Realty agent working out of the Crocus Hill office on Grand Avenue, licensed in Minnesota since 2007 after an earlier career in higher education administration. His stated practice centers on Saint Paul's Macalester-Groveland, Summit Hill, and Crocus Hill neighborhoods, with first-time buyers and foreclosure transactions named as specialties. No aggregated review count or sales-volume figure is publicly posted for him, so his standing rests more on neighborhood ties than on documented numbers.

34. Debbie Niemeyer

8.3/10

$100K–$600K

A three-decade St. Cloud native with Coldwell Banker's top-2%-nationally recognition, sold as one half of an established two-agent team rather than solo.

35. Michael Jordan

8.3/10

$220K–$913K · 1 reviews

A lifelong Northfield resident since 1983 with the highest sales volume of this group and a genuine new-construction/relocation specialty, though his public review count is thin.

36. 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.

37. Ryan Haagenson

8.2/10

$244K–$1.6M

A RE/MAX Hall-of-Famer with 16-plus years and a broad Twin Cities book of business, best for clients who want an experienced generalist rather than one narrow specialty.

38. Lana Kalinowski

8.2/10

$350K–$2.4M

A relocation and move-up/downsize specialist ranked in Edina Realty's top 10% company-wide, best suited to luxury and life-transition clients in the $350K-$2.4M range.

39. Katie Fears

8.1/10

$180K–$1.2M · 6 reviews

Katie Fears is an active Edina Realty agent in Eden Prairie (part of the Leicht Fears Group) with a fast-growing practice — 61 homes sold and 21 in the last year, at a perfect 5.0 across her reviews. She's a strong, responsive choice for mid-market buyers and sellers across Eden Prairie and the west metro, from first purchases up to about $1.2M.

40. 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.

41. Melissa Welsh

8.1/10

$120K–$550K

A Sartell-based Coldwell Banker branch VP with 13 years in the business and dual credentials in military relocation and probate sales, covering an unusually wide swath of Central Minnesota.

42. Cherie Burke

8.1/10

$130K–$450K · 10 reviews

A relocation-focused Keller Williams generalist with a perfect, if modest, verified review record.

43. 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.

44. 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.

45. Nate Thompson

7.9/10

$250K–$650K · 5 reviews

Nate Thompson is a long-tenured Edina Realty agent in Eden Prairie — licensed since 1993 — who focuses on first-time buyers and relocation across the southwest metro. He's the patient, experienced choice for a first purchase or a move into Chanhassen, Chaska or Eden Prairie, with three decades of local experience behind a modest, steady practice.

46. Kerri DeBaere

7.9/10

$300K+

A Stillwater-based Lakes Sotheby's advisor with a clear, well-documented niche in Woodbury-area luxury sales and senior downsizing — but no public review count to independently verify her volume.

47. Eda Rivers

7.8/10

$60K–$1.6M

Eda Rivers is an individual Realtor with Compass Minnesota, based out of the brokerage's office in Edina. Zillow attributes roughly 70 career sales to her, about 14 in the past year, across a price range from around $60,000 to $1.6 million and an average near $409,000. Client accounts on Zillow and her brokerage bio consistently describe her as responsive and patient, particularly with first-time buyers. She works as a solo agent rather than leading a team, so the person a client hires is the person handling the transaction.

48. Jonathan Brenny

7.8/10

$200K–$700K

A relocation-focused Edina Realty agent embedded in one of Maple Grove's longest-running, highest-volume local teams — strong institutional backing, thinner individual public track record.

49. Marsha Haugen

7.6/10

$125K–$525K · 1 reviews

A broker/owner who switched into real estate after a 22-year medical-field career, offering direct owner-level access across a wide five-county footprint.