I'd wholeheartedly recommend Brian McCarthy to any of my family and friends. My wife and I instantly connected with him when we met at an open house at the start of our home search. He quickly earned our trust by following through on everything he promised, answering my flurry of questions thoroughly and fairly, and staying consistently responsive throughout the process. A bit about our journey: after a rich, informative conversation with Brian about the home search process, he guided us through pre-approval, prepared us for open houses, and ultimately helped us find our home. He offered fair, client-focused advice--never pressuring us--and flagged potential issues with respect while suggesting multiple strategies to address them. To make our offer competitive on our dream home, we went with a 14-day close--a whirlwind that Brian helped make far less stressful with his steady counsel and guidance. We just closed, and my family and I are incredibly grateful for Brian's support in starting this new chapter of our lives. What you can expect when working with Brian: - Knowledgeable, warm, and responsive service - Trustworthy referrals to lenders, inspectors, and more - A no-pressure, client-focused, transparent experience - Strategic and tactical guidance within your target market - Someone who prioritizes your success and happiness If you're not fully convinced by this stranger on Yelp, schedule some time with Brian--you'll see for yourself. Best, Jonathan read more

My family could not recommend Brian more as a realtor. Brian was referred to us from two of our friends, and he was such a great fit. He was always positive, yet realistic when navigating this current housing market. We were deciding on which area to settle - Oakland, El Cerrito, Richmond or Alameda, and Brian was so knowledgeable about the different areas. He was really patient with our family as we narrowed down which city - and even which neighborhood within the city - that we wanted to live in. It was very clear that he felt his role was to help us find the right home - not just any home. He has a strong passion for his job and was available to show us houses - even outside of open house times. Oftentimes, we had our 1 year old with us, and he was really great with her too. He was available via text and phone call, and really accommodated our preferred communication style which was really convenient since we were in the throes of being new parents while also looking for a new house. We also really appreciated that by working with Brian, we not only got a realtor, but a team of support that helped to wrap around us to make the homebuying process less unnerving - this means, guiding us for when to get pre-approvals, providing recommendations for banks for the loan, etc etc. We have now closed on our house, and we could not be more excited. Even as we prepare to move in, we know that Brian is there as a resource to help us as we navigate any needed repairs and any questions that pop up along the way. If we ever need any support with buying and/or selling a home again, we will definitely be contacting Brian. read more

We highly recommend Brian! We could not have asked for a better experience as first-time homebuyers. From day one, he took the time to get to know us, share his expertise, and help us navigate the current market (no small task!). He is kind, knowledgable, attentive, and honest. We felt that he genuinely cared about finding the right house for our family. Being parents of a young child, he was patient and flexible when we needed to bring our child along to showings or schedule a call outside normal business hours. Working with Brian, our search was not only successful, but truly memorable. We are grateful for his guidance and partnership on this journey! read more

When we started our journey into buying our first home, it was scary to say the least. Thank goodness for Brian and his team, we could not have done this process with out him. We fully trust that he has our best interest at heart and took such good care of us. Honestly the service he provided us and the care to Show us around was like no other. We will forever be grateful to him. And we love our home so much!! read more

Brian is one of the best referrals I've gotten from a friend. Brian worked with me for over two years through COVID to help me find the right home. He was always patient after endless hours of touring houses that I didn't feel were "right" but ticked most of my boxes. He made sure I didn't get overwhelmed. He kept telling me when we find it you'll know and he was right. My search was expansive including Berkeley, Oakland, Piedmont, and San Francisco. Brian happily met me at all the properties. As COVID eased, our family started traveling and properties would come on the market that I wanted to see but I'd be out of town. By that point, I fully trusted Brian to look at a property for me and evaluate whether or not I would like it. He would even video call me to do a "tour." He knew my taste in houses better than my spouse. When we did finally find a property we loved, Brian helped negotiate a great price. Even after we closed, Brian followed up to make sure our move in was smooth, and all the issues with our home warranty were resolved quickly. He went above and beyond as his job was technically done. He is extremely thorough and clearly cares about his clients as people not just a transaction. read more

Brian has been an incredible partner in our search for a home for over 2 years. As first-time homebuyers in the East Bay, we had many starts and stops to our search and wondered if we'd ever find anything that worked for our family. Brian was incredibly patient throughout the search. We've traveled all over the area with him looking at homes. For us, he's been not just an incredible realtor, but a teacher, confidant, friend, and trusted advisor. We are so grateful that our friend connected us years ago and we can't imagine working with anyone else! Thank you Brian for helping us find our first home! read more

We highly recommend Brian! We are grateful for his patience, knowledge of the market and area, and how kind and friendly he is :) We definitely feel he always had our best interest at heart, and went above and beyond what I would expect from a realtor. He did a great job navigating negotiations, and we are grateful for his guidance and expertise! Our two young daughters really liked Brian as well, and we appreciate how patient and nonjudgemental he was about us bringing them along (and their "toddlerness" at times). We are very excited about finally owning a home in CA, and extremely grateful to Brian for helping it happen for us. If we ever have real estates needs again, we will definitely be calling Brian! read more

About a month ago Brian helped my partner and I find and buy our first home in the East Bay. As first-time buyers, we needed lots of hand-holding, and we simply could not have been in better hands. Brian's deep familiarity with the region, frequent and attentive communication, and willingness to act quickly and thoroughly whenever an opportunity presented itself not only produced a successful purchase in the end, but kept us feeling cared for and informed throughout the process. I think my favorite aspect of Brian's style was the way he adapted his approach as he got to know us over the course of our time together. It was clear that every house we viewed was as much an opportunity for him to learn about us and what sort of house would be the best fit as it was for us to see what was out there. Each viewing we attended and offer we made felt like progress toward our dream home, regardless of whether we struck out or not. The result of his diligent rapport-building and mentoring of us was a home listing that he knew instinctually was a great fit for us. He was palpably excited to share the listing with us and We felt an immediate attraction to the place the moment we saw it. We put in an offer that same day and were accepted later that evening, thanks in no small part to Brian's quick follow-through in contacting the selling agent. So, as I write this review from the living room of my first home, I can confidently say that I only have fond memories of our time with Brian and that we are so much better off having had the chance to work with him. I cannot say enough about how thoroughly I would recommend his services to anyone looking to buy in the Bay Area. read more

The moment we met Brian McCarthy, we knew we found our partner in this venture. My wife knew the other go-agent Tanya so we were very comfortable there. Their communications at every step was incredible and their level of expertise and professionalism far exceeded our expectations. If any of you are looking to sell your house or buy one, please please please, call Brian McCarthy and his group, you will be beyond delighted. read more

Brian helped me and my family purchased a home. I am very happy the way he worked helped to close my home in 19 days. highly recommended.

First let me say that we were referred to Brian by two separate people, and I cannot even begin to say how happy we were that we followed their advice. Brian was an incredible agent for us. As others have said, being first time home buyers, we needed a lot of guidance, and Brian walked us through every step and answered ALL of our incessant questions. He recommended a lender, whom we loved, and he checked in every week. He also went with us on our first home searching weekend to show us what to look out for. He's incredibly knowledgeable, experienced, and honest. When we were ready to put in an offer, Brian was just as excited for us as we were. He helped us through the entire process and had our back the whole time. He helped with every detail - counter offers, closing, walk throughs, and even after we moved in, he still checks on us. He is constantly available, punctual, and super upbeat. I am so happy he was recommended to us, because we will be recommending him to others, too! read more

Brian worked with us for almost 2 YEARS to get us into our wonderful East Bay home. There are so many great things to say about him, but as my opening sentence implies, he is patient. He was able to nail down what we were looking for early in our journey by listening to us, and was able to steer us towards houses that would work for us. He was always very responsive when we found something we wanted to see, and helped us through it all when the pandemic came. We were very impressed with his knowledge of the ever changing bay area real estate market, and he gave us honest advice (even when he knew it meant this wouldn't be the house for us!). He knows the East Bay very well, knows the different types of houses available in the various neighborhoods, as well as the upsides and downsides to individual properties. One aspect of a realtor's job (that we didn't realize was important when we started) is their ability to discourse with other realtors (the seller's realtor in our case). Brian always reached out (sometimes repeatedly) to ask the hard questions, and most importantly to get the answers! Bottom line, would we use him as our realtor again? 100% yes! We also wouldn't hesitate to recommend him to a friend or colleague. It was a great experience working with him, and he truly had OUR best interests in mind when looking for a home. read more

Brian has been an invaluable partner and leader in our home buying journey. My husband and I started our (more serious) home buying search earlier in 2023 and were very uncertain about where we wanted to live, what was important to us in a home and had many overall questions about home buying being first time home buyers. We actually met Brian at an open house when he was representing the seller - and we immediately knew from our first conversations he was the person we needed to help us! He is incredibly knowledgeable and welcomes all questions (and I had a lot!) with grace and ease - always making sure we felt comfortable. Brian truly makes you feel like family - and will guide you through the entire process from beginning to end (and even beyond closing!). He's truly someone we believe will be in our lives for years to come as we inevitably will have questions about home ownership that he so kindly welcomes and encourages. We are so grateful to Brian, Tanya and the whole team behind the scenes at The McCarthy Group. There were many moments of uncertainty and questioning if we'd find the right home, and Brian stood by us the whole time and reassured us we would find the perfect home, and we did! read more

Brian was the best ‼ Brian helped me buy my condo in Pinole which was the first property I viewed that was advertised on his website, the McCarthy Group. Brian started with getting me all the disclosures and went over the whole HOA packet which was hundreds of pages. Brian helped me with every step of home read more

Brian is an excellent realtor. Honest, reliable, knowledgable, and SO friendly. I know several people who had bad experiences buying houses. I with they could all have Brian for a realtor. I bought my first home with him with no knowledge of how the process worked. He answered all of my questions along the way and I always felt like I was getting good useful information from him. He is incredibly knowledgable and HONEST. He talked me through the pros and cons of each decision I made, and gave honest assessments of all possible scenarios. He never tried to sell me anything, but helped me understand what I was looking for and what would work for me. Brian helped me with a lender after several rejected me. He navigated the beginning of the coronavirus lockdown with confidence and clarity. He also pushed through the closure of my house with great assertiveness under unique and unprecedented circumstances. I cannot recommend Brian highly enough. I got a house that I completely love. I can't imagine that I will ever sell it but if I do I will call Brian. read more

Brian is amazing. He and his partner, Jeff, helped to sell my condo in Oakland and honestly, I won't be working with anyone else going forward. Brian is someone you can simply trust on all fronts...he knows the market well, understands the competitive landscape, is communicative, timely, and will be honest & upfront on all sides. He's well connected and has great connections with contractors, stagers, photographers and other vendors to move through the selling process expertly. I trusted him to manage & represent the sale without hesitation, knowing that he'd give buyers a great experience and negotiate respectfully on my behalf. Thank you, Brian, for being such a great partner throughout the process. I look forward to working together again soon! read more

Brian recently helped my partner and me buy our first home. We had been tentatively looking for years and had asked many friends during that time whether they'd recommend their realtors, only to routinely be told no or get lukewarm responses. Luckily, we finally talked to a trusted friend who had worked with Brian and gave him a GLOWING recommendation, which made our choice easy. Throughout our search (and afterwards, as we've continued to have occasional questions!), Brian was communicative, reliable, kind, patient, knowledgeable, and supportive. He struck a perfect balance between optimism and confidence that we would find the right house, but also talking to us realistically about the competitiveness of the market. As anxious first-time buyers, his calm and level-headed demeanor was invaluable. I'd happily recommend Brian and work with him again. read more

UPDATE to a previous review: This review is overdue, but I just wanted to say how Brian has done it again! After helping to sell our condo in 2018, we worked with Brian again last year to buy and he continues to be a standup, knowledgeable, fun, and well-connected professional. Brian knows the Bay Area market extremely well. He helped us navigate a highly competitive market in Oakland to land our dream home and I can't thank him enough. Above all else, Brian is honest and we always felt like he had our best interests at heart. From making sure that we knew about listings ASAP, to calling out the downsides of a less than ideal HOA even though we were in love with the unit and he could have probably had an easy sale. He is balanced with his input and we never felt pressured to go beyond what we were comfortable with...either in pace or offer amount. He even made sure to join us late in the evening for the signing of our closing documents, just to ensure that he was there for any questions. We've worked with Brian twice now, and I already know that he'll be someone that we'll continue to turn to every time we or friends have a need for a real estate professional. He's simply a gem! read more

Working with Brian on the recent sale of our condo has been a great experience. He was extremely knowledgeable, thorough, and communicative throughout the process, and we felt that he always had our best interest in mind. Everything went smoothly, and we are very happy with the outcome! read more

Brian was an outstanding agent for us. As first time home buyers, we needed a lot of guidance. Brian was always available to answer our questions. Searching for a home can be a grueling process but he kept us positive and motivated. He even picked us up and drove us to every home that we were interested in. While viewing potential homes, we benefitted from his knowledge and expertise, as we weren't always sure what to look for. Once our offer was approved he kept us on track through a very fast closing. Brian was very generous with his time, and even after we moved into our home, he consistently checked in with us to be sure that things were moving smoothly. Brian is punctual, organized, friendly, and he was always available. He connected us to a lender, called contractors for us, and supported us every step of the way. The seller's agent also told us how impressed they were with his communication and professionalism. Highly recommended! read more

I can't say enough about Brian.He truly excels as an agent He was there from the beginning, advising us on how to get the best price for our house. He found great contractors for us and coordinated all the work, even picking things up from the store. In the end, he got several good offers for our house. It's too bad I don't have any other properties in the area that he could sell for me. read more

Brian was such a pleasure to work with! He recently helped us buy our first home in the Bay Area. The process got a little complicated with both our lender and the seller. There came a point where the seller tried to delay the closing date a week before we were set to move in. Brian jumped in and saved the day. He also maintained in close communication with our lender and kept everything moving along. read more

I worked with Brian on the purchase of a Condo in Oakland. Brian reached out to me regarding my condo unit knowing well that I was very interested in units in the building! Thanks to Brian, the entire process went very smoothly. He was very knowledgeable, very prompt with getting back to me regarding my questions and concerns, and kept me informed every step of the way. Brian was also very on top of things, especially with his coordination efforts with the seller, lender, and escrow company. I am really happy with how the entire process turned out and I have Brian to thank for it - he explained the entire process to me and what to expect. He is clearly very experienced with the local condo market. I recommend Brian and would no doubt consider him for any other future real estate needs that I may have! read more

Brian is the best agent I have worked with. I just bought my first home in San Francisco and having worked with several other agents, I had lost trust in agents because they were chasing commissions and did not have my interests in mind. Brian changed that. He was like a friend who was looking out for my best interests. Always very responsive and available to answer questions. I would just pick up the phone and call him with the most trivial of home buying related questions and he would very patiently answer all my questions. Without going into exact details, there were some instances where Brian steered me away from homes that upon further research I found were not the right ones and steered me towards homes that I really liked and were amazing. He has that knack for sensing what you're looking for. Many agents would not do that and they would just make you go for the most expensive home so they can make profit, but definitely not Brian. I still call him with my new homeowner questions and is super helpful. I should also note that he is very experienced with Bay Area real estate and knows the area inside and out. Brian is the best agent I have worked with. read more

After several months of searching in the city for a house, my husband and I set our sights on East Bay and quickly realized we needed a local realtor who understood the intricacies of Oakland. Walk in Brian! Brian made himself readily available (in-person, phone and email) to answer all our questions and his depth of knowledge about the East Bay market greatly contributed to the entire process. He helped us find our dream home, put together an attractive and unique offer, and guided us through every step of the way. In a process that can be complex and stressful, Brian kept us informed and feeling confident. Highly recommend! read more

Brian was our agent on our recent house purchase in Richmond and we would recommend him 100 times over. He handled everything (including working with the not-so-great sellers agent) without a hiccup. Buying our first home was easier than we had imagined and we owe so much of that to Brian. Would absolutely recommend! read more