About

Let’s Work Together

 

At 1st Rate Real Estate, we are a team. Every agent in our office will take exceptional care of you and your needs. We are a full-service real estate team with years of expertise and knowledge. Our mission is to make your home buying and selling experience remarkable. We love selling houses! Sometimes it’s easy, but a lot of times it’s not. It’s the details that happen along the way that sets us apart. We are focused on always doing the right thing for our clients, regardless of our compensation. We only care about you.

Selling your home? We will make sure that your home is seen by as many potential buyers as possible. You deserve more than just a sign in your yard! Buying a home? We are the community experts. We have tons of combined experience, local knowledge, and community leaders on our team that give us a big advantage in this market. We strategize over how to win multiple offer situations, how to give our clients the best experience possible, and everything in between. We cannot wait to work with you!

Our Team

Get to know the 1st Rate Real Estate agents

Samantha Vance

Broker/Owner, REALTOR®
641-751-2873
I was born and raised in Marshalltown and have a vast understanding and love of our community and the communities that surround us. I dedicate myself to each and every client, putting their needs first. It's extremely important for me to educate my clients and provide them with full transparency and open communication. I take pride in my focus on doing the right thing for my clients. My mission is always to make your experience the BEST. Results you want. Full transparency. Communication always.

Kiley Smoldt

Buyer Specialist, Vance Real Estate Team, REALTOR®
810-956-3483
Being a wife and mother of three, I understand just how important it is to find the perfect house that fits all of your needs, and I would love to be the one to help you along the way! I pride myself in always listening to my clients needs, and doing everything I can while putting my clients first to find their dream home. Along with real estate, I also find joy in other activities such as being the basketball cheer coach, school PTO, and being a softball mom. My sole purpose is to serve the community to the best of my ability while giving the ultimate buying or selling experience!

Valerie Bellile

CRS, GRI, REALTOR®
641-751-1873
As a Realtor®, I have over 35 years in the business, giving me the opportunity to work with many great people, building lasting working relationships. As a native of Marshalltown, I have a passion for helping out in my community and serving the people who live here. In my years as a Realtor®, I have experienced many different market conditions. The market is ever changing and it takes a true professional to provide the best possible service to the public. Experience and education have helped me become one of those realtors. I strive to provide exceptional service and communication to YOU, my client!

Jonell Wittkop

CRS, GRI, REALTOR®
641-750-7064
As a top agent in the Marshalltown area for the past decade, I have thoroughly enjoyed helping my clients. I am dedicated to providing the very best service by putting my client first. This “clients first” philosophy requires me to continually improve my skills and ways of doing business. You can always trust my open, honest, and fully transparent communication. I not only have a passion for serving my clients but in my free time I serve our community as a member of the planning & zoning committee, co-chair of the Night of the Stars event to benefit American Cancer Society and Iowa River Hospice, Fisher Elementary PTO Committee lead, and I am a member of Assistance League. As your agent, you can count on my dedication and experience in your next home sale or purchase.

Kayleen Wills

REALTOR®
641-750-0536
I've spent some time trying to find the career that I'm passionate about. I have experience in healthcare, banking (including mortgage loans) and manufacturing. I'm happy to say I've found my fit in real estate! I was born and raised in Marshalltown and I'm proud to be a part of this community. I truly enjoy working with clients to find them a home that fits their needs. Effective communication is a top priority for me with my clients. It's important to me to give my clients the very best experience when purchasing or selling their home.
From Our Clients

She [Magali Marquez] is amazing at helping find the perfect home for me. She is very prompt at showing homes. She is very friendly and great to work with! Highly recommend and will use her in the future!

Sarah Bruski

We moved to Marshalltown from Eastern Iowa and had no idea what to expect or where to find things in our new community. Sam helped us through our transition seamlessly. She was easy to talk to, answered all of our questions, and her response time was super fast. I trusted her opinion as she grew up here.

Brianna Newberry

Samantha is a very down to earth and positive person. She has a love for Marshalltown and was great to work with. Samantha was easy to talk to, was very flexible and was able to work with our schedule, and she contacted us via text, phone, or email promptly. She was willing to go back to the same houses we had seen multiple times. Samantha has a skill of making people at ease and is a great listener. She was even available when we had questions for her months after closing. We would definitely recommend to anyone searching for a home they love to enlist Samantha as a realtor.

Lindsay Stanton

Samantha was amazing throughout the entire home buying process! Answered all of our questions and was there for us every step of the way! This was my first time buying a house, and I wouldn’t have wanted to do it with any other agent!

Kyle Brown

Paula helped us sell my mother’s house after she passed away. From the moment I met her, I knew we were in good hands. She went above and beyond to help us get the house ready to list, including helping us find cleaners and people to do repairs. She set the right price and expertly advised us on the timing of the listing. Paula is a great communicator, motivating and reassuring in equal measure. The sale went off exactly as she said it would. We closed yesterday. I can’t recommend Paula highly enough.

Happy seller

I have had a great experience working with Valerie. A couple months ago I put my home on the market with her. She was very good at listening to my questions and my suggestions. She got back quickly when I left messages on her phone. And we sold my home within a couple weeks. She also help me find my new home! I highly recommend working with Valerie! She has been in the real estate business a long time and she knows the market!

Jeri Splittgerber

Kayleen was our Realtor and she did an Awesome job!! We highly recommend!!

Kara Kennedy

Val has been so helpful in all of our transactions, buying and selling! She is patient and very well informed. Always giving us her time and knowledge!

Suzanne Berkey

I had a wonderful experience with Jonell. I was a first-time home buyer and had no idea what my first step was in order to purchase a house. She walked me through each of the steps helping me every bit of the way. She was very knowledgeable and helped me find a variety of houses within my price range. I am in love with my house and couldn’t have asked for a better house hunting experience. I will always return to Jonell with any of my home buying or selling needs!

Jess Wallace

Val has been our go-to Realtor for our homes in the Marshalltown area. We would highly recommend Val when searching for your new home. She is so easy to work with and professional. Val answers all your questions so that you can understand all the legalities of buying or selling your home. She is so knowledgeable and so easy to work with throughout the entire process! Val made buying our new home so painless. Would highly recommend her if you are looking for that perfect home!

Becky Shiek

Jonell offered a variety of houses based on what I asked her to look for. After a few she began to know what I wanted and didn’t want for a house. She steered me toward a really nice house that fits me well. When I actually went for it, she handled all the paperwork other than the couple times I had to contribute my own signature. Even the mortgage part she communicated with the loan officer for everything that needed to be done there. I felt like I was priority number one with Jonell running everything smoothly behind the scenes. I recommend going to her to look for houses in the Marshalltown area. She knows her stuff.

Chris Wersinger

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