Suburban Essex April 2021
Van Der Wende Properties— Your Partners in Real Estate
Your Partners in REAL ESTATE Trust the Award-Winning Agents at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Van Der Wende Properties for Your Buying and Selling Needs
By Jessica Modrow Photos by Dan Epstein
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n today’s competitive real estate climate, it’s crucial to have an outstanding agent. No matter if you’re a buyer or a seller, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Van Der Wende Properties is armed with a team of award-winning agents to fit your needs. Among those agents, Rob Van Der Wende, Alexa Benavente and Lindsay Milstein make up the Van Der Wende+ Benavente team. Their team is no stranger to accolades, with Van Der Wende being a Platinum recipient of the NJCAR Circle of Excellence award and Benavente a Gold recipient. In 2020, their team was awarded the highest level of achievement by Berkshire Hathaway-The Chairman’s Circle Diamond-which is awarded to fewer than 1 percent of agents worldwide. (continued on page 4)
Rob and Bob Van Der Wende
Alexa Benavente, Rob Van Der Wende and Lisa Tomasella
Your Partners in REAL ESTATE
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“Our job is to create excitement around the property, and in today’s market that’s twofold: we have to connect with local buyers and with the buyers coming in from places like the city, Hoboken, Jersey City, Queens, and make sure our properties pop when people see them,” said Van Der Wende. “We create high-end marketing for every single house—we treat every listing the same,” said Benavente. Their marketing strategy includes a ton of creative social media advertisingfor instance, one of their latest posts featured them jumping into a listing’s indoor pool in their work attire. “We try to get our properties as much attention as possible.” Agent Lisa Tomasella has been with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Van Der Wende Properties for 36 years, and in that time has been Top Agent of the Year over 15 times, and the number one home selling agent in Cedar Grove 14 times. “My secret to success is just staying with it-just keep pushing on. I have an assistant that runs the marketing and behind-thescenes extras that help our clients,” said Tomasella, adding that most of her business comes from referrals and consistent marketing. “I’ve been doing this forever. I have a lot of knowledge of building and homes-my dad was a builder, I come from a construction background and have dealt with building, real estate and investment properties my whole life,” said Tomasella. “It’s second nature to me.” She is thankful that she has worked with wonderful people throughout her career and is grateful for the loyalty from her clients that she accredits to always putting her client’s needs first.
Lisa Tomasella and Kaitlyn Casa
Alexa Benavente, Rob Van Der Wende and Lindsay Milstein
Van Der Wende Properties has been familyowned and operated since 1980, and joined with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices in 2018. Van Der Wende, Benavente and Tomasella all agree that the Berkshire Hathaway brand has been beneficial to all their clients. “Being affiliated with Berkshire Hathaway means we are not a stranger to anyone. We have offices all over the country and the world which gives our clients a tremendous advantage,” said Van Der Wende. Tomasella and the Van Der Wende+ Benavente team are just some of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Van Der Wende Properties’ superstar agents. With a team of over 50 agents, homeowners are sure to find their perfect match. Broker Bob Van Der Wende states” We are truly proud to recognize our award winning agents and teams and know that our affiliation with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices has made it possible for us to offer the very finest representation for our clients in the Suburban Essex Area”.
“We create high-end marketing for every single house—we treat every listing the same.” —Alexa Benavente