Meet The Team
Our Adventure
Our Adventure...Just like everyone else looking for a change, we began watching International House Hunters which started our journey of traveling to the beautiful city of Merida, Mexico. We were eager to learn as much as we could about the area and researched the cost of living, health care, safety and absolutely everything else we could think of. After receiving positive results for all of our potential concerns and several trips later, we decided to purchase a ruin that literally needed everything. It came with no roof, several oversized iguanas and a gigantic tree growing through the side of the exterior wall and into our house.
We successfully chose an architect that not only provided architectural drawings but also assisted us with obtaining INHA approval and hands on supervision throughout the entire process. The architect and his team of him were of the utmost importance to us because we did not live in Mexico for most of the time during construction. We are very pleased with the results and are very happy with our new home in Merida.
We know that there are many concerns and questions that people have regarding a move to Mexico. We are familiar with purchasing, building and living in this beautiful country.
Please feel free to contact us with any questions you may have.
Robert Rhett
Email: robrhett62@gmail.com Phone: MX cell & WhatsApp: 999.381.6321
In 2003, after 8 years in the luxury car business, Rob Rhett left Mercedes Benz for a new challenge and greater opportunity in the Real Estate sector. After getting his broker's license, Rob brought his relationship building experience and superior customer service skills and joined ranks with one of Chicago's Real Estate Industry leaders-The Linda O'Donnell Team. The Chicago Real Estate market is a highly competitive industry where only the most driven brokers truly succeed. As a testament to his work ethic, the Rob and Linda team closed over 2,200 properties since he started in 2003.
An avid sports fan, Rob is a former high school track runner and was team captain of the University of Kansas track team. He believes being focused and working hard will take you a long way in achieving your goals.
Linda and I instantly fell in love with Mexico, the pueblos, the culture, the diversity, the people and the colonial architecture. Linda and I are very grateful that we live in the beautiful city of Merida. We look forward to assisting you in accomplishing your real estate goals and to smoothly navigate through the process of buying and selling real estate in Mexico.
Linda O'Donnell
Email: lodonnellteam@gmail.com
Phone: MX cell & WhatsApp: 999.380.8031
As a top producing agent for over 35 years, Linda O’Donnell was historically ranked in the upper 1% of the Chicago Association of Realtors. Linda has consistently achieved top sales and listings and has been awarded the RE/MAX Chairman Award from 2001 to 2014 and the RE/MAX Circle of Legends Award in 2013. She is a member of the Institute of Luxury Home Marketing. Her professionalism and dedication to service has given Linda a reputation of being one of the top brokers. Always attentive to their unique needs, Linda’s clients know they are working with a skilled negotiator. While achieving her own success, Linda’s passion for real estate led her to open RE/MAX Signature, where she inspired her brokers to fully realize their own potential. Under her leadership, 11 brokers at RE/MAX Signature’s 48 member office achieved membership in the RE/MAX 100% Club. RE/MAX Signature achieved the #1 Chicago Office Award for 2008, 2009,2010, 2011 and 2012. Linda’s ardent dedication to her brokers is evident in her verifiable track record for increasing performance and sales through dynamic, unparalleled direction and leadership.
Linda received awards for Broker Owner of the Year in 2006 and 2013 by RE/MAX Northern Illinois. Linda O’Donnell is a motivational presence in the world of real estate-spirited, energetic and industrious, inspiring all who knew her to achieve their personal best. Linda’s success comes from her sense of fulfillment in serving others.
Rob and I instantly fell in love with the city, the culture, the diversity, the people and the fabulous colonial architecture here in Merida and Izamal. We look forward to assisting you in accomplishing your real estate goals and to smoothly navigate through the process of buying and selling real estate here in Mexico.
Victoria and Armando Martinez
Email: VAM97540@gmail.com
Phone: MX cell & WhatsApp: 999.802.1150
Fluent in Spanish and English
Izamal and Yucatan are great places to live, which is why Armando and Victoria chose to call it home. Being Yucateco on his father’s side, Armando decided he wanted to move from Portland Oregon to Yucatan, Mexico to get back to his roots, and in 2021 he did just that. Victoria supported that decision and never looked back. Their Yucatan adventure began in Merida where they bought a lovely colonial in Centro enjoying all that city life offers…walkability, a large variety of restaurants and entertainment galore.
As Geocachers , Armando and Victoria enjoy hiking to little known places and discovering those places can be some of the biggest in beauty. Discovering that there are not many Geocaches placed here in the area, they will be placing some of their own in hopes of growing the Geocaching community. Yucatan has so many wonderful places to discover with its ruins, cenotes and many smaller towns with their own specialties such as shoe making, Guayabera shirts, ceramics, etc. While adventuring to many of these small towns they discovered the magical town of Izamal, known for its yellow painted buildings. The relaxed and mellow vibe called to them and now they are in the process of building their new home there.
In the states Victoria co-owned a construction business specializing in remodels. Besides running the office, she enjoyed getting her hands dirty in the actual work of demolition and the building process. When she met Armando, he was in the middle of flipping a home so she jumped right in to help. They found they worked together very well and continued on to flip several more homes together. They understand the process of buying, selling and constructing homes.
For both Victoria and Armando, client satisfaction is of the utmost importance. “ We feel that having a positive experience when buying or selling your home is a very important part of a brand new life adventure and should be something you look back on and smile at. We will do our best to give you that experience.”
En español:
Izamal y Yucatán son excelentes lugares para vivir, razón por la cual Armando y Victoria eligieron como su hogar. Siendo yucateco por parte de su padre, Armando decidió que quería mudarse de Portland Oregon a Yucatán, México, para volver a sus raíces, y en 2021 hizo exactamente eso. Victoria apoyó esa decisión y nunca miró hacia atrás. Su aventura en Yucatán comenzó en Mérida, donde compraron una encantadora casa colonial en el Centro de Merida y disfrutaron de todo lo que ofrece la vida de la ciudad... accesibilidad para peatones, una gran variedad de restaurantes y entretenimiento en abundancia.
Como Geocachers, Armando y Victoria disfrutan de caminatas a lugares poco conocidos y descubrir esos lugares puede ser una experiencia muy satisfactoria. Al descubrir que no hay muchos Geocachés ubicados aquí en el área, colocarán algunos propios con la esperanza de hacer crecer la comunidad de Geocaching. Yucatán tiene tantos lugares maravillosos para descubrir con sus ruinas, cenotes y muchos pueblos pequeños con sus propias especialidades como la fabricación de zapatos, camisas, Guayabera, cerámica, etc. Mientras se aventuraban a muchos de estos pequeños pueblos, descubrieron el pueblo mágico de Izamal, conocido por sus edificios pintados de amarillo. El ambiente relajado y apacible los llamó y ahora están en el proceso de construir su nuevo hogar allí.
En los Estados Unidos, Victoria era copropietaria de una empresa de construcción especializada en remodelaciones. Además de dirigir la oficina, disfrutaba ensuciarse las manos en el trabajo real de demolición y el proceso de construcción. Cuando conoció a Armando, él estaba en medio de remodelar una casa, así que saltó directamente para ayudar. Descubrieron que trabajaban muy bien juntos y continuaron construyendo varias casas más juntos. Entienden el proceso de compra, venta y construcción de viviendas.
Tanto para Victoria como para Armando, la satisfacción del cliente es de suma importancia. “Creemos que tener una experiencia positiva al comprar o vender su casa es una parte muy importante, cundo se comienza una nueva aventura de vida y debe ser algo que le haga sonreír. Haremos todo lo posible para brindarle esa experiencia”.
More Testamonials
Our Clients are Saying:
Hello Linda and Rob
We wanted to thank you for selling our home. The thing that struck us was your professionalism in all of your dealing with us and with the potential buyers. We appreciated the sincere feeling and understanding you projected towards us and our home. You selected the right people who were truly interested in dwellings like ours and were always punctual with showings which here can be rare. Your understanding of the market here turned into an asset for us and again appreciated. We would highly recommend you both to anyone looking for people who know what to do and what they are doing in the real estate market in this area. Thank you so much
D. & L.B.
You are the best realtor we have ever had and certainly by far, the best Merida has!!!!! I will always refer you!
G.S.
We couldn't have done any of this without you two. You made our dream of moving here become a reality and we could not be more grateful to you for it. Everything seems possible when working with the two of you and then, suddenly, it is! Even a global pandemic doesn't slow you down and we admire and take inspiration from how awesome you both are! Thank you for all of your support and guidance throughout the past few years, it's been amazing to work with you and be your friends :-) D.F.
Rob and Linda, I am so thankful to have you as my agents. I appreciate the time you spent helping me find a house that checked all the boxes on my list. It is gratifying to meet two people so dedicated to doing a good job. Your efforts are sincerely appreciated. I will be referring you to all of my friends because of your excellent service.
L. A.
We would wholeheartedly recommend Rob and Linda for finding your home in Merida. We are a family of five and they really went to great lengths to help us find the best house and neighborhood for us. They are professional, courteous and communicative throughout the entire process. And patient, as we looked at many properties before finding our perfect home! Thank you Rob and Linda! S. and A. Linda and Rob where absolutely marvelous. They are great people! Our circumstances changed and we needed to leave Mexico and move back to the States. Not only did they show the house, they also checked on it regularly to make sure it was OK. We were very pleased with their service!!! They sold our house in record time (about a month), after being on the market for ONE YEAR, with another Realtor. No wonder their Real estate office was #1 in Chicago! Happy Day’s,
S. and R.
Rob and Linda are punctual, professional, incredibly on top of their game and exceeded our expectations on finding a property. They are good at listening to your needs and coming up with exactly what you are looking for. I highly recommend them and am now proud to call them my friends.
Xx,kc
Linda and Rob are stellar professionals in every sense of the word. I contacted Linda from the US about a property I was interested in. I told her I was coming to Mérida and she and Rob went to work searching for more properties. She was very personable, quick to respond and listened to my needs.
I had specific criteria esthetically, but uncertain about the exact sort of space I wanted—whether it be a multi use building that would serve as an art gallery, a rental for Airbnb plus a private space for myself or just a house. I wanted, one story, not too big and in Centro so that everything was walkable. Rob and Linda found my house! Although there were many great choices, I knew as soon as we walked in, I was home.
Linda made the closing very easy as I had to go back to the US and she was there to handle the details and did the walkthrough over FaceTime. She has also been extremely generous in helping me get utilities and bank accounts set up. She is a wealth of knowledge about who to contact for almost all your needs ranging from pool cleaners, gardeners to dentists!
Look no further for a realtor. These are great people to know in Mérida and you couldn’t ask for a more dedicated team to be on your side.
C. K.
Rob and Linda are simply the best. They really listen to your wishes and work to find the perfect home for you. As a first-time home buyer in a foreign country, it is especially important to have people you can trust. Rob and Linda are trustworthy professionals working with others of the same caliber. They are two of my favorite Merida "finds".
J.G.
Dear Linda,
I can't thank you enough for all your help finding me the perfect home. All the times you took us out to look at house after house and never giving up always telling me that
the perfect place was out there.
You where right! I know it took a while but it was so worth it.
I could have never done this with any other agent.
Thank you for all your help.
C. A.
Dear Linda and Rob,
Selling a home is always a stressful experience. This is especially the case when the owner is not experienced with, how to price, timing the listing, proper staging, and negotiations associated with selling a home. In our case, the process was further complicated by not living in the same state during the selling period.
You were pivotal in developing a pricing strategy first by providing a detailed market analysis of home sales in our area and then helping us to determine when to place the home on the market.
You were extremely helpful by giving us “de-cluttering” suggestions. We especially appreciate you personally addressing the “punch list” before the final walk through.
Thank you for always responding quickly to our questions and concerns by email and phone. We felt very confident you quickly released and updated information regarding the sale of our home to all involved in the process.
As we received offers for the home, you were instrumental in helping us negotiate the best deal.
It was truly a satisfying experience to have you guide us through the various steps and decisions we needed to make to sell our home.
Sincerely yours,
C.P.
We recently relocated with the real estate assistance from Linda. Having my partner as a native to the area, and with Linda on our side, she made the transition flawless!
Although my partner had an idea of where we wanted to live, it was Linda who facilitated over 25 showings in a week’s time! Tiring as it might have been, she made it all possible in such a short period of time. She is one of the most genuine people we have known. She took the time to get to know us on a personal and professional level. As most people know, moving can be very stressful, with Linda O’ Donnell as your agent, whether you are looking for your first rental, or your first permanent residence, Linda will give you personalized service from day one!
When it comes time to buy, we will be fortunate to have the peace of mind, knowing our finding a realtor homework will be already done. We will be using Linda as our go-to for future real estate needs!
In closing, look no further, let Linda O’Donnell and her team take your worries away, and open the door to a great future for you and your family today!
Sincerely,
C. B.