About Kate

Kate assisted us while looking for a home in NW DC and was a joy to work with. She is very dedicated to her clients and very experienced in the DC market with both buying and selling. I highly recommend her!

Kate was a terrific buyers agent. SUPER responsive and work hard to help me to put together a strong offer to land a great home. Her communication with me was good and she was very patient as I asked tons of questions. There was one issue between me and the seller and she did a good job of quickly resolving the issue in my favor. Kate was very helpful on the pre-inspection. Her network of local vendors is incredible. Very highly recommended to all

I would highly recommend Kate and her team. Kate is among the most knowledgeable, responsive, and personable professionals I have had worked with in any context. As first-time home buyers, my husband and I were continually pleasantly surprised at how smoothly the process went, thanks in no small part to Kate's knack for anticipating and resolving potential areas of concern before they can become problems. The DMV market in particular is daunting to navigate; Kate's experience and knowledge helped to inspire the confidence we needed to close a favorable deal. In short, look no further-- Kate is the agent you need.

The BEST! As always. Here's are the top 5 reasons (there are many more) why I like working with Kate: Understands the local housing market Attention to detail Interest in houses and architecture Hustle and tenacity Honesty and integrity

Kate worked incredibly hard selling my condo. In a challenging market, she was creative in thinking outside the box to get my unit the most attention possible. This is my second time working with Kate and I highly recommend...she delivers great results!

I cannot say enough about how lucky we are to have Kate as our agent. Kate was an incredible asset to me and my husband as we navigated buying our forever home in an insanely competitive market. With her guidance and insight, we narrowed and targeted our preferred neighborhood and must-haves in a home. With each home we saw, Kate expertly walked us through the pros, the cons, and a plan to be successful and competitive in the bidding process. Kate was exceedingly patient and understanding as we worked together to fine tune exactly what we were searching for in a property and neighborhood. When we found "the one," Kate quickly helped us hone in on a ...

Kate was absolutely wonderful to work with to sell our condo. We loved our place but our family was rapidly outgrowing it. Her advice during the preparation and sale was perfect and demonstrated all of her savvy, expertise, and experience in the field. She was deftly able to navigate these extremely volatile and uncertain times and deliver results that helped set up our family for the future. She was amazing in setting everything up and keeping it on track through the twists and turns of the process. It was more than what she did, it was also how she did it. She listened to our anxieties and concerns and provided us clear-eyed, constructive advice a...

Kate is an absolute pro. She uses her expertise to shepherd clients through the entire process: house prep, pricing, showings, negotiations AND post-contract work. Each stage requires a different set of skills, and Kate possesses all of them.

Great experience with Kate! Very knowledgeable and worked quickly to sell our condo in less than a month! I would recommend Kate and the Compass Team!

Kate is an unbelievable professional. She’s represented us through two moves, and she recently helped some of our family make a move from New York to Northern Virginia during the COVID pandemic. We cannot say enough good things about her. Smart, professional, punctual, responsive (to an extreme), yet somehow friendly and down to earth at the same time. Kate is truly a marvel. We feel so fortunate to be one of her client-families.

Kate is thoughtful, kind, experienced and is always responsive. She made me feel comfortable with all types of questions and gave us quality time to go over documents and ideas. She follows through with her actions and gave us great ideas without pressuring us into a decision. I would recommend Kate to my friends when selling or buying a home.

Kate is MAGIC. The pandemic drove me to finally agree to leave DC for more space in the suburbs. She made this transition during a difficult time -- getting a condo ready for sale while working from home, home schooling AND searching for a new home in a very tight market -- not only possible but painless. Kate had a game plan for everything, from a timeline to putting our condo on the market to her personal staging, working with our existing furniture and accented with pieces she bought. No short cuts. We accepted an offer in two days. Kate walked us through every stage of selling and buying, always accessible despite juggling many clients. On the...

Friends referred Kate to my wife and I after Kate helped them buy their first home, and we couldn't have been luckier! Kate was there to help us through every step of the process. She guided us through what the process would be like, skillfully navigated our many wish-list items for our dream home, and was always available to answer our questions and help us through the chaos of the process - even when COVID threw many uncertainties into the mix! Kate is easy to get along with, knowledgeable, and has great insights for first-time buyers and those with kids in mind. Without a doubt, Kate was an amazing agent to have and I would gladly recommend h...

Kate was an incredibly thorough, responsive, knowledgable agent especially for a first time buyer like myself navigating the process for the first time. Although I found my ideal home after seeing fewer than 10 properties, I could tell Kate would have shown me 100 more until I was happy. It is obvious that she truly loves her job and is looking out for her clients' interest, not just trying to make a sale - she will respond to you morning or night to accommodate your schedule, even as an obviously busy agent and mom herself. She gave me honest feedback on properties that she had construction concerns on in order to make sure I had my eyes wide open ...

As first-time homebuyers, we were very lucky to work with Kate. She was extremely responsive to all of our questions, never pressured us into any decisions, and gave us the confidence we needed throughout the buying process. She helped us to write competitive offers in a very short amount of time, and was very insightful during walk-throughs on what prices made sense and pointing out things to look for in the home that we would not have thought about. She also helped us to handle some last minute issues that arose a few days prior to closing, which could have been very stressful, but due to her immediate availability, attention to detail and quic...

My experience with Kate was tops from my first interview when she wowed me with her expertise to, now that the contracts have been long-signed, her continuing advice and friendship. She responds instantly to texts and makes each client feel like her only or favorite one, without ever applying any pressure. She is unbelievably knowledgeable, experienced, charming, and well connected. I could not recommend her more highly!

I have bought and sold a few homes in multiple cities and worked with many agents but none like Kate. She is the absolute best. I enjoyed working with Kate because she’s patient, honest and decisive. All my future adventures with home buying and selling is now going to be exclusively with Kate although I haven’t asked her if she wants to work with me ??

5 stars is really not enough to rate Kate. Throughout the buying process she was a stable and patient guide. Really couldn't have asked for a better agent during what turned out to be a slightly rocky buying process.

Kate is fantastic. My family and I moved here from out of state which posed issues w scheduling, and our availability. Kate always made time for us, and made us feel like a priority. She is definitely on the ball. She is also extremely knowledgeable about the market and pricing. Kate wanted to make sure we found the right home for our family and she definitely gained our trust with her relentless work, expertise, and willingness to go above and beyond . I would feel comfortable recommending her to anyone.

Kate was referred to us from a friend and it was a pleasure working with her through each step of the process. Whenever we needed something she was on top of it; often working extra hours to ensure our offers were competitive and timely. Kate's knowledge and accessibility gave us insight into what the pros and cons of each property we toured were and how much we could expect to pay for it. Homebuying is always a stressful experience but working with Kate reduced that stress by magnitudes.

We cannot put into words how amazing Kate was throughout the entire process. She was recommended to us through a colleague who advised us that we would not be disappointed. We could not agree more and would highly recommend her to anyone needing assistance with the housing market.

Kate is the only person I would ever use as an agent. Her knowledge of the market, commitment to my family during the process, sophisticated understanding of the transactions’ nuances, and integrity again made us feel comfortable in both the sale and purchase of our respective homes. This is our second experience with Kate and her team, and my family owes them a great deal. Can’t imagine a better agent.

Our experience with Kate couldn’t have been have better. We were first time homebuyers on a strict timeline trying to navigate the D.C. housing market during a pandemic- not exactly a recipe for success. But Kate made us feel confident and knowledgeable throughout the process. She was always thinking several steps ahead and was prepared to guide us every step of the way. We were also very impressed with her reputation in the community- everyone we encountered was sure to tell us how wonderful Kate is to work with. We’d enthusiastically recommend her to anyone thinking of buying or selling!

Kate is outstanding. I bout my first home under her guidance and when it came time to sell it five years later I immediately looked her up. I knew I wanted to work with Kate when I inquired about a Zillow listing and a handful of agents reached out. She was the only one who, instead of offering to show me the house, knew the it had already been sold and was immediately honest with me about it, letting know and sending me comparable homes. She is trustworthy and thorough. When it came time to sell my home she saw me through a tricky tenant situation and provided support and clear guidance throughout the process. I could not recommend her highly enoug...

Kate helped us purchase our first home and we couldn't be happier with the outcome. She added value throughout the process, from helping us determine what neighborhoods would best suit our needs to advising on home inspectors and contract negotiations. Kate was patient and responsiveness throughout our 6+ month search!

Very experienced realtor. Really listened to what our wants and needs are. She was able to get us the best deal in a very competitive area in Adams Morgan.

We are so thankful to our friend who referred us to Kate. At our first sit down meeting, she meticulously walked us through the home buying process in great detail, patiently answering our questions and modestly sharing her tried-and-trusted strategies. We worked on an accelerated timeline as we decided to jump on a house when we saw it. Kate was extremely helpful, resourceful, patient, and professional at every step of the way —it became clear early on that she was always thinking ahead and would explain things to us before we could even ask the question. Communication with both Kate and her staff was crystal clear and quick. As first time buye...

As a first time home-buyer, I could not be happier with my experience with Kate. She was accommodating to the learning curve I was up against and was extremely responsive and detailed in her approach to securing the property in question. I would recommend Kate to anyone in the DMV area looking to purchase or sell, especially first-time home buyers!

As a general rule I don't write reviews but, as we all know, there are exceptions. I make this exception because buying a house is one of the biggest decisions we make in life. I was very fortunate to have Kate guide me and represent me through the home-buying process. Kate had what I consider to be the most important attribute - negotiating skills. Kate was able to negotiate a price well below what I was willing to pay. Kate negotiates from a position of strength because (a)she knows and understands the real estate market (b) she analyzes what houses have sold for in the area, and (c) she has a truly remarkable ability to observe weaknesses (struc...

Kate is the absolute best in the business! She sat down with us 1.5 years ago and we were honest with her on our timeline. We were looking to buy a year-plus out but she had no hesitation in spending almost every weekends with us for 1.5 years! She is patient and kind, made for customer service and will entertain any and all silly questions you have. She'll set up showings at midnight the night before, knows the ins and outs of the DC/MD/VA market like the back of her hand but more than that she became a trusted friend in the process. Even after we closed on our home, we still feel like we can call/text her about any home problem we have. I have no ...

As first-time homebuyers, Kate worked with us tirelessly to help us find our dream home, write the most competitive offer for it, and close on it in an extremely short amount of time. She is without a doubt the best agent you could choose to work with--and she surrounds herself with the best people in the business, from the lender we worked with to close in 18 days to the home inspector that did our pre-inspection the very next business day. Every piece of the puzzle fit seamlessly in this process, and it's because of Kate. We would not be where we are without her. By the time we sat down to sign all of the documents at closing, we were comfortabl...

Kate was excelllent. Overall very knowledgable and had excellent strategies for selling our condo. She also was very good at staging the apartment which helped with the showings. I'd definitely recommend using her as an agent in the DC area.

This review is very tardy, but I did not want to rush through all the amazing things that I have to say about Kate. Let's start from the beginning: my husband and I were displaced from our apartment in Arlington due to a fire, and we had an urgent need to find a place to live. We decided to pull the trigger and buy instead of renting again, and went to a good friend of ours for a realtor recommendation. Our friend synced us up with Kate. When you first meet Kate, you can see that she is petite, but immediately I knew that she was an aggressive, no - nonsense woman; something that I respect, admire and strive to be. After chatting with Kate init...

Kate is wonderful in many, many ways. She was unfathomably patient and calm as our search extended nearly a year. She is a lot of fun to spend time with, which makes a difference when you are giving up weekend after weekend to searching for a home. She has great taste (or at least was great at making us think she shared our taste!). She was well-informed about everything from taxes and titles to boilers and roofing, providing information that we didn't even know to ask. She was great at engaging our daughter so we could take in a home with minimal distraction. And when it came down to making an offer and getting the house we wanted, she dug in like ...

Kate was invaluable to us during the home search and buying process. When we initially met with her, her warm and outgoing personality immediately put us at ease, and she also demonstrated a strong knowledge of the housing market in our area. Since this was our first home, we really relied on her knowledge and experience, and she had great advice for us every step of the way. We constantly peppered her with questions, and she was extremely patient with us and never rushed us off the phone. She introduced us to a number of her contacts, and we liked every person she recommended to us. We would wholeheartedly recommend Kate to anyone looking to b...

Kate is fantastic. She knows the market, what makes sense to sell for the best price and made the process so easy for me. House selling made easy! Not what anyone expects when approaching selling a house but definitely what she delivered. Highly recommend Kate if you are looking for a professional, knowledgeable, driven and great real estate agent and partner.

Kate was very helpful and responsive to me as a first time homebuyer. She continued to follow up on my home long after the purchase. Thus, it was only natural that she help us sell our home. Kate is tireless and very knowledgeable.

Kate took the time to see who we are as a family. She was open to helping us look in three different states and listened to what was a priority for us. She has been helpful beyond the traditional realtor experience, suggesting how to look for schools, how to sign up for all utilities and she did a thorough inspection of every moving part in the house. She was patient with our process as we moved across the country to VA. This was the best realtor experience among mine with 8 other realtors.

Kate is an absolute pleasure to work with. She makes it point to fully understand your needs before custom delivering a solution. I highly recommend her as an agent. I will be using her again when it is time to sell my apartment.

We feel very fortunate to have found Kate. She is smart, knowledgeable and patient and proved to be incredibly helpful in many ways. Due to starting our search from abroad, and reconciling our unique needs with our budget and the housing stock, the entire process took 7 months. Despite this, Kate kept a level head, was patient, and more importantly, helped keep our morale up. There were times when we felt like we wouldn’t find a place that ticked all our boxes but Kate kept us calm and didn’t force us to settle for anything that wouldn’t work for us perfectly. We began our search with very little knowledge of the area and Kate proved to be an indisp...

Kate is superwoman. I just recently purchased my first home and she made the process seamless for me. She took the time to truly understand what I was looking for and then she relentlessly went after it to ensure I found the perfect place for me. Kate's knowledge of the DC area and the incredible professional network she has established over the years made my search and closing an incredibly positive experience. Not only does Kate do her job...and she does it well....but she also pays attention to the details. I look forward to now having Kate in MY professional network and can't wait to work with her again. THANK YOU!!!

Kate was outstanding every step of the way. She was patient and worked with us throughout the process as we made the decision to sell our home and buy a new one. The advice she gave us put us in a solid position to get a new house under contract when we found the right one. She also did an outstanding job staging and marketing our old house to get a top of market price and post settlement occupancy agreement that made our transition into a new home work. Kate helped us navigate the incredibly aggressive market in Capitol Hill and then ultimately transition back to Northwest where we had lived before. Having lived in the new house for about ...

My husband and I are about to enjoy our first meal in our new home, and I'm excited to be writing about how outstanding Kate is. Our journey toward home ownership was long - with a couple of false starts, a surgery or two, and some timing that wasn't right - and Kate was always there! She took time to get to know our taste, our must haves, our deal-breakers, and our comfort zone. She was more than accommodating in taking us around when we found a listing that interested us, and she wasn't afraid to tell us if she thought something wasn't right. She made an investment in us, and it paid off for all of us. She literally held my hand as I wrote that fi...

Kate helped my wife and I sell our condo in Glover Park and we were both highly impressed by her. She has a friendly and welcoming demeanor that made us feel confident in her from the start. We were amazed by her staging of our condo, which she followed by working hard to sell our place. During contract negotiations her experience showed as she anticipated actions and had us prepared. She made a complicated and stressful process easy. We would call her immediately if considering buying or selling a place in the greater DC market.

Kate has that great mix of kindness, detailed understanding of the market and the aggressiveness to get the best for her clients. She's patient and reflective for buyers who can face tough challenges in the hyper-competitive DC market and able to guide her clients through any bumps. With her guidance and astute approach, we achieved the almost-impossible of winning two bids for two houses so had our pick and got our dream home. Kate's also well-connected in the local real estate industry which was a great support for lenders, contractors, inspectors, and all the other advice to make the house into a family home. I would highly recommend her! Yo...

Kate is a professional who perfectly combines knowledge, process, and execution. She guides you through the steps starting from an intent to buy, laying out the options, pointing out the feasibility of the choices and handles the negotiation and the closing. Along the way, she is always available for advice and in our case, course correction. In a market that is as competitive as Washington DC, we won two bids in two attempts in a very desirable locality. She handled the complexity of the bidding and the financing processes with immense skill and confidence. Kate puts the client at the center of the universe minimizes the stress and uncertainty of t...

We can't praise Kate highly enough. Our house had been on the market for 90 days with another broker, when we decided to list with Kate instead. She managed to get the same place under contract at the same price in a week's time -- and to sell it within a month! How did she do it? She (along with her equally impressive colleague, Jonathan Diffley) rewrote the promotional material for our home, took new photographs, blanketed the neighborhood with fliers, held a wine-and-cheese event for our neighbors, paid for beautiful staging, contacted potential buyers she knew from previous sales, and tirelessly followed up with anyone who expressed any inte...

Kate helped us sell our home in Capital Hill in 5 days at 3% over list price. She made the process smooth and there were no surprises. We decided to work with her after interviewing the 5 top ranked realtors in our area. Even though she had less experience selling homes in our area, she was the only realtor who could articulate a clearly thought-out plan and rationale for staging and selling our home. Everything unfolded according to her predictions. Kate worked hard to personally stage our home. She created an open house strategy that made our neighbors feel welcome and brought in over 200 people in one weekend. We ended up with 5 competitive bi...

Kate helped me purchase a home recently in Capitol Hill. My experience was very positive, and in particular I appreciated her style, working with my family, which was done in a very friendly and trustworthy manner. Kate was also very responsive at all times, provided apt advice during negotiation, and we ultimately found a perfect home for our needs. I recommend her without reservation and would not hesitate to work with her again.

We highly recommend Kate Foster-Bankey. She loves what she does and it shows. When our family came back to DC in 2014 after 3 years of living abroad, we had a rude awakening. Home prices in the District were going up by the month, with competition for single family homes in good school districts, near transport, impossibly fierce. Multiple bidders and insane escalations clauses were the norm. Our first realtor simply gave up with us after a month, claiming “unrealistic” budget to our expectations/needs to have, before the fall season had started. This was the grey scenario when we met Kate. Kate was quick to grasp our needs (not wanting to...