“I can't thank Shimma and Esraa Anwar from Compass enough for helping me close on my dream apartment in Harlem, NY! From start to finish, it was an uphill battle, but their unwavering support, tenacity, and wealth of resources truly made all the difference. They pushed with me every step of the way and never gave up—even when the process got tough. I’m beyond grateful for their professionalism, patience, and determination. I look forward to working with them again when it's time to find my vacation home. Highly recommend!”
“Shimaa and Evelina were an amazing experienced team. They truly understand client services--which was helpful as a first time home buyer who didn't how stressful and complex the process can be. They were always communicative, understanding, and proactive from the first call to even after closing. In addition, they have a large network of ancillary services who were superb. I am excited to refer them to any family/friends looking to buy in the city regardless of budget.”
“Shimaa and Anna were extremely helpful, creative, professional and easy to work with. I am convinced that we wouldn't have received such a good offer for our house without them. What is even more remarkable is that they did this without publicly listing our property in NYC. Whenever we ran into potential roadblocks, they had a quick and easy solution and held my hand every step of the way. I can't imagine how much harder it would have been to go through this process with a different broker. I have been wholeheartedly recommending The Anwar team to everyone who asks and will continue to do so. THANKYOU! I also want to make special mention of the fact that we put various constraints around the marketing of our property as we weren't sure initially that we wanted to sell and hoped to keep it as private as possible. I'm sure this made Shimaa and Anna's job much harder than it needed to be but they respected our wishes at every turn and never pushed us to get in line. I will always be grateful for that!”
“Shimaa, Esraa and their whole team were absolutely exceptional in aiding and leading our search to find our perfect home, while we were mostly remote in another city. They were able to clearly dilute out what we were looking for and arrange showings quickly and efficiently. When we found exactly what we were looking for they advocated for us every step of the way. They gave great advice and guidance -- I can't recommend them enough!”
“We first met the Compass Anwar Team through Esraa who we found by random luck. Esraa initially showed us a few places that fit what we thought we wanted. She quickly tuned in to what we were actually looking for in our permanent home and showed us only places that fit our new (actual) criteria with neighborhood, budget, and style preferences. Esraa was early for every showing and was knowledgeable about every apartment we viewed. Shimaa and Esraa gave us advice when making offers and set our expectations. With the Anwar Team there are no bad surprises. Shimaa and her team are knowledgeable about both their clients and the market in which they work. They are very proactive and strongly advocated on our behalf to the sellers we made offers to. Shimaa was always available to us when we had questions about the application process. Honestly it rarely got to that point as Shimaa would reach out to proactively answer questions we (first time home buyers) didn't even know to have throughout the process. Shimaa stayed on top of our applications and kept us informed every step of the way. Her professional connections help to streamline the process by way of inspections....whatever else. Its so many things it is still all a blur. And then finally the most important part: We closed on the best apt!!! Thank you both so much!!!”
“Shimaa and her amazing colleagues in the Anwar Team have been a pleasure to work with throughout our 3 1/2 year search for a family home in New York City. As newcomers to the area, we didn’t know what neighborhood we wanted, but she showed us properties all over Manhattan and Brooklyn, orienting us to various neighborhoods and giving us a crash course in New York real estate. We must’ve looked at nearly 100 properties as we debated where we wanted to live. Through it all, Shimaa had infinite patience and showed us everything we requested to see plus many fabulous off-market properties we never would have known about without her help. When we finally narrowed down to Brooklyn, her associate Evelina took over showing us properties, but Shimaa was there at every step, checking in with us after every viewing. She put us in great hands, as Evelina was a cheerful, perceptive, and tireless advocate for us. I really appreciate that Evelina gave us her honest opinion when we needed it and very quickly honed in on what we responded to (positively and negatively) when viewing houses, so she was able to efficiently guide us towards properties we loved. Once we entered into purchase negotiations, for a property that was more expensive than anything else we looked at, Shimaa was able to craft an attractive offer that was $200k under the seller’s asking price, bringing this gorgeous house into our range. All her auxiliary connections were also fantastic – the home inspector, the real estate lawyer, and the mortgage broker Shimaa recommended were all wonderful to work with. Thanks to this fantastic team, we have just closed on our family’s dream house. I can’t recommend working with Shimaa and her team highly enough!”
“Shima was lovely to work with. Efficient, friendly, detailed oriented. Made the process simple for me.”
“Shimaa Anwar and her team are truly remarkable real estate agents. Shimaa has helped us buy two apartments in Brooklyn and I wanted to write about an especially unique and trying time with the purchase of our second apartment. In the fall of 2024, we were competing with scores of other buyers for one of the nicest apartments in Prospect Park South. More than 80 parties had rsvp'd to the first open house. When we arrived with Evelina, Shimaa's incredibly kind and responsible colleague, the apartment was packed to the gills with people. It was clear that the place was going to sell for way over asking, and we were beyond thrilled when our offer was accepted on the evening of that first open house. Yet the very next day, the sellers backed out of their deal with us for a higher offer with someone else, leaving us heartbroken about losing our dream home. However, this story has a happy ending: although we had given up all hope, Shimaa had been keeping an eye on our apartment for us all along. She had been counting the days for the apartment to go into contract and in ten days' time, when no contracts had been announced, she called the seller's broker. It turned out that the other buyers had just backed out, so Shimaa asked if the sellers would honor their original deal with us. This time around, the sellers accepted us for good. When Shimaa told us the news, we were stunned and disbelieving. Later on, the seller's broker told us that Shimaa had negotiated our deal before she(the seller's broker) even had a chance to reach out to other potential buyers. In so doing, Shimaa demonstrates what distinguishes the best brokers from merely great ones: great brokers are responsive and proactive; they know the right lawyers and lenders; they can get people through co-op boards. The best brokers do all that, but they also possess the intelligence and acumen necessary for emerging victorious in even the most difficult deals. In our case, Shimaa waited and waited and then she pounced before anyone else even had a clue. Shimaa's motto is "We don't just sell homes; we change lives" - that is absolutely true. If Shimaa had not been keeping tabs on our dream apartment, we would not be living in it today. Our quality of life has sky-rocketed and we couldn't be happier. Shimaa and Evelina also assisted us in renting out our old place and in the end, given special circumstances, they did so free of charge because Shimaa understands that her clients are more than just numbers - they are people for whom she genuinely cares. Finally, I think it's worth mentioning that a few weeks ago, Shimaa dropped by our new apartment with a huge bag of housewarming gifts. To our amazement, she had commissioned artisans to create specialized ceramics and a blanket in the exact image of our dogs. Not even our friends and relatives have given us such personalized gifts, yet Shimaa took the effort to delight us in such an unexpected and generous way. In Shimaa and her team, we have found our NYC brokers for life!”
“Shimaa and the Anwar team are amazing. They are warm, professional, knowledgeable and go the extra mile in both the buying and selling of property. They whole Anwar team are experienced real estate pros who know every aspect of the complicated New York Market. Shimaa was able to help my family find a dream home and beat out another buyer. On the sales end, she walked us through the entire process, from listing to staging and through a difficult closing. Shimaa always made herself available through texts, emails, and phone calls. She was always responsive and patient and she gave excellent advice. Her entire team is just what you need if you're looking to buy or sell a home in NYC! I can't recommend them highly enough!”
“Our experiences working with Shimaa have been exceptional. Initially, she helped us get a dream home that had already had an offer placed for it. Because she was able to guide us through the process quickly, our offer--even coming in after the first one--was accepted. Throughout the buying process, she was always available to answer questions and to guide us as we made our way through the process. She has both remarkable patience and wide knowledge of resources. We have now put our old place on the market. Shimaa's idea that we have it staged was incredibly helpful, even though we were initially reluctant to do that. It had only been listed a few weeks when we had an offer for the full asking price from potential buyers who said it was the first place they had seen that they could imagine themselves living in. Shimaa is all I could want in a realtor: warm, understanding, extremely knowledgeable, and seemingly always available. I can wholeheartedly recommend her to anyone looking to navigate the real estate market.”