We had the pleasure of working with Joanna at Michael Saunders the last 6 months. We lived far away from Florida and Joanna gathered our needs and mapped out areas for us to see in Sarasota. We looked at 16 communities and within one week, we targeted four communities. We can honestly say that the level of dedication she provided to us is unmatched. We couldn’t be happier with our purchase! We love our neighborhood and community. Joanna truly listened to our needs, provided expert advice, and made the entire process smooth and stress-free. She also goes beyond helping us purchase our new home, she helped us find contractors for some minor renovations and add-ons. We plan to use Joanna again if we buy another property and we will definitely refer her to as families and friends.

I am writing to express my sincere appreciation for the outstanding service provided by Joanna Benante. She helped us find our dream home which was a two year process, followed by the sale of our existing home we had previously lived in for 22 years. During this whole process Joanna demonstrated exceptional professionalism, knowledge, responsiveness, and determination. We were not always the best stewards of our existing home. It ultimately took 50 showings to get it sold, yet throughout the process Joanna remained positive, and proactive. She never wavered in her commitment to us and shouldered the majority of the stress. We had moved on and were enjoying our new home and placed the sale of our previous home entirely in Joanna’s hands. We never doubted her expertise and were always impressed with her attention to detail and dedication to her profession. Not only did Joanna work with my husband and I, but she also helped my daughter and son-in-law find their starter home which went above and beyond what they were expecting to find. She helped them course correct and avoid mistakes along the way which was greatly appreciated. In conclusion, Joanna Benante is the best realtor in Sarasota and we are deeply grateful for all the ways in which she has helped our family.

It is my pleasure to provide glowing feedback for Joanna Benante in Sarasota, Florida. Though I initially reached out to Joanna @ 3/2023 to have her assist with the sale of our fully renovated home on Siesta Key, the extreme health issues of a family member prevented me from preparing the home for listing. Joanna was extremely professional in sharing her recommendations and following up to see if I was ready to sell. Regrettably, I waited too long and the home was flooded due to Hurricane Helene on 9/26/2024. Right after Hurricane Milton, Joanna invited me to meet to discuss the sale of our home. She knew how apprehensive I had become about the storms after Hurricane Ian in 2022. Additionally, I had already experienced the discouraging process of dealing with the insurance industry as I continued to navigate service providers & figure out the ridiculous way they all decided that our coverages were not applicable. The thought of selling continued to become more appealing as price gauging by a mold remediation company led to despondency. Joanna’s prompt attention to our situation and success in listing the house before Thanksgiving was ultimately the reason that it sold well over the value of the land in March 2025. The buyers had looked at the property in the fall and it was 2nd on their list. Buyers’ agents had commented to Joanna that ours was their first choice based upon the clean demo, among other favorable features such as the size of the lot. When the 1st option being pursued by the buyers fell through in January, Joanna received a call that the couple was coming back to make an offer. We had finally secured a GC which could put the estimate in the NFIP-required Exactimate and were ready to apply for a permit. It did not look as though an offer was going to occur. Throughout all of this Joanna provided advice around managing service providers as requested. Her responsiveness is incredibly notable. Of course we were excited to receive an offer in early February and, after countering and being countered, a price and a date were agreed upon in a contract. While land value was estimated @ $699,000 in 10/2024, I wanted to be aggressive and the house was listed at $850,000. We ultimately sold for $780,000. We are so fortunate! Our former neighbors are saying that no homes are even showing on Siesta Key. This includes home which have been renovated, listed as-is, or those with no damage because they had been built on higher ground. For all of this we have Joanna Benante to thank. And I have not even mentioned that Joanna has sped up the plans of one of my best friends from Virginia to purchase a home in Lakewood Ranch. I have only met 1 other person in 24 years in Southwest Florida who comes close to this friend & the impact on having her close will be life-changing! More importantly, my friend is so thankful to be working with Joanna. She will be emailing to tell you that story and all of the ways Joanna went out of her way to adjust to their schedule and ensure they considered all of their options leading to a perfect fit. In conclusion, I cannot say enough to express my gratitude to have met Joanna at St Martha years ago and to have had the pleasure of working with her over the past 7 months. Her courteous professional demeanor provided me with the strength I needed to get through a very unfortunate time.

I can’t say enough good things about Joanna! My husband Omar and I just purchased our first home and we love it. Joanna is the best realtor because she is patient and trustworthy. She never pushes you to buy something, she actually will counsel you against buying rashly! I think a lot of realtors would be eager to sell you any house you show interest in but Joanna is calm and helps you think things through. We looked at several house and when this house in Bent Tree came on the market Joanna helped us act quickly as she knew it was exactly what we wanted. She made the process easy to understand and was helpful the entire way through. Even after we moved in she is quick to answer any questions! Joanna went above and beyond for us!

Quick little note about one of your realtors, Joanna Benante, we have used Joanna on 2 investment properties in the last 18 months and we cannot tell you enough on how professional and skilled she is. She takes customer service to the next level.  Looking forward to working with her in the future!! Sincerely, Scott and Stacey H.

It was our pleasure to have worked with Joanna Benante on the purchase of property in Sarasota.  Her professionalism and willingness to share her knowledge made our investment home buying experience a pleasure.  As our desire to build upon our real estate investments continue, we will happily use Joanna as our representative again. 

We had the distinct pleasure of working with Joanna Benante for both the sale of our family home and the purchase of our new property.   During the sale of our house, Joanna continuously exhibited a clear ‘can do’ attitude.  She did such an outstanding marketing job on our property, that we had a record amount of showings.  Joanna also navigated a difficult buyer with finesse and strength.  We ended up packing our home of 18 years over a quick window of time.  We were feverishly working to complete the inspection items and simultaneously packing with a child sick with the flu.  The movers accidentally removed a Murphy bed in such a way that a wall was left exposed with old paint lines.  Joanna immediately jumped in, picked up the paint for the room from the store and painted the wall herself for us.   It’s this kind of dedication and support that sets an exceptional real estate agent, like Joanna Benante, apart from all the rest! Our buying transaction was unique in two ways.  Firstly, the buyers included four people: my parents, my husband and myself.  Because my parents are declining in health, we wanted to live on the same property together to be able to assist them.  Thus, we were looking for a multi-generational property that had a main home for our family of six, and a separate home for my parents.  We originally assumed that Sarasota, with its large retirement & senior population, would be replete with multi-generational options.  We were surprised to learn just how difficult it was to find such a rare property.   From the beginning, Joanna worked diligently scouring the area for possible solutions.  I can assure you that dealing concurrently with 4 buyers with varying desires & living requirements was not easy.  Yet Joanna took it all in stride and repeatedly came up with interesting property choices.  Joanna worked tirelessly & showed us countless properties.  It was tough to satisfy all four buyers’ wish lists.  We were ready to conclude that the timing simply wasn’t right; a multi-generational property like we envisioned just wasn’t available on the market at that time.  Joanna, however, was undaunted.   Joanna knew about a property that would be perfect for our unique situation.  The only problem was that it was not on the market at that time.  No bother, Joanna reached out and convinced the owners and their agent, who had taken the property off the market months prior, to let us see it.   Thanks to Joanna’s unwavering resolve & determination, we were able to purchase the property that suited our special needs!   We were impressed with Joanna’s ceaseless drive and commitment to find her clients’ ‘dream property’ no matter the challenges.  Joanna’s work ethic, professional and firm demeanor make her a true force to reckon with. After completing two back to back real estate transactions with Joanna, we can confidently state that she represented our interests with outstanding service and expertise. We highly recommend Joanna to anyone that is serious about successfully buying and/or selling their home in a competitive market. 

My husband and I were unfamiliar with Sarasota when we first started to look for a home. Joanna was highly recommended to us by a friend and she was more than happy to devote two full days to not only show us homes in Sarasota but to familiarize us with the different neighborhoods. Joanna was able to make some excellent recommendations based upon our wish list. Over the next two years, we made a few trips to the area and finally found the house that was right for us. Joanna listened to our needs and did not waste our time on houses that did not meet our minimum requirements. At times we were ready to give up but Joanna continued to share the latest listings and make suggestions.  While in the area, Joanna was always willing to offer suggestions for restaurants and recreational activities. I don't think this was part of her job description but it shows how nice a person she is and how passionate she is about this very special place. It was Joanna's introduction and never ending energy and commitment that we were able to make a decision to live in Sarasota and make a solid financial investment. For anyone looking in the Sarasota area, Joanna is devoted to delivering excellent service.

Joanna was wonderful to work with during the recent sale of my long-time residence. She made a very stressful process much more manageable and handled everything efficiently. I definitely would recommend her for any real estate transactions!

Joanna was absolutely wonderful to work with! She was patient and is truly an expert on her market area! She took the time helping us to understand the market so we would know the best area to fit our needs. Searching for a home while living out of state is not easy but Joanna made every step of the purchase process easy! I would highly recommend Joanna for purchasing or selling a home and we will definitely be calling Joanna again when we are ready for our next purchase!