This is a long review, so for the TL;DR crowd, my review of Hakan Karahan, of HomeSmart First Advantage Realty, in a nutshell is this-He is an absolute professional. He went above and beyond on countless occasions to help me sell my vacation property. I would recommend him and his team 100%. Imagine yourself trying to sell a vacation home while neither you nor your spouse can drive. I was able to take a bus from NY to LBI, but had very limited access to the property. I didn’t know that when I contracted with Hakan and Homesmart Realty that Hakan would play such a huge part in closing the sale of my home. When I contracted with HomeSmart, Hakan told me that my home was going to be “his” listing and that he would be handling all aspects of the sale. Now keep in mind that Hakan is the President and Broker of Record for this organization. He has numerous employees and team members that could assist him in selling my home. But I can honestly say Hakan kept his word and personally managed 95% of the sale from the beginning to the end. On the business end of the transaction, such as the contracting, showings, open houses, and administrative work, all was handled quickly, professionally and all went smoothly. But it was Hakan’s personal involvement and help which made this sale happen. Because I am unable to drive, getting to the property was time consuming and almost never possible on short notice. Hakan PERSONALLY stepped in on countless occasions to handle tasks that I should have been doing and to recommend people to help me prepare my home for the sale. Here is a list of how Hakan helped: I needed some sheetrock replaced and doors hung-Hakan knew a guy. I needed the entire home deep cleaned-Hakan got his people in immediately. I needed an additional smoke detector and fire extinguisher in preparation for the C of O. Hakan not only purchased the items for me, he also installed them! Afterwards we realized that we needed an additional smoke detector by the garage door-you guessed it-Hakan to the rescue. I needed someone present when the C of O inspection was being done-Hakan was there in my place. We were unable to attend the closing but still had some items in our home that needed to be removed. Hakan went to the property and removed some cameras and cable equipment and mailed them to our home. And last but certainly not least, I saved the best for the end. I really didn’t know Hakan other than by meeting with him to discuss the property and to sign the contract. Immediately after contracting with HomeSmart, I realized that I needed some new rugs, bedding, throw pillows, etc., to spruce up the place. I called Hakan to ask if he knew a nearby place on the island where I might purchase the items to help stage my home. Without hesitation, he offered to take me off the island, to Target, so I could purchase all the items that I needed. So on a rainy Sunday afternoon, we went to Target. Even though I didn’t know him very well at this point, I was super impressed that he would go out of his way to help me prepare my home for sale and I knew that I had chosen the right person and organization to help me sell my home. The bottom line is that Hakan and his organization are top notch. I would recommend them in a heartbeat.