We've bought and sold a number of homes. Cathy is the best agent we've come across, without exception. We needed an agent to sell a house that required a bit of work to put on the market. And, as out-of-town sellers, we worried about finding the right agent. Normally, we look for three areas of excellence in an agent: * Process knowledge and ability - keeping current on the laws and forms, diligence * Market knowledge - pricing, offers & counter-offers, and negotiations * Easy to work with In our case, it required a fourth - * Good project manager. We were lucky to find Cathy, who excelled in all these aspects. Her tagline of "hard work and keen sense of humor" is spot on! She was proactive in managing schedule, risk, and budget. In every instance, Cathy picked up the slack for her "out-of-town teammates" when issues arose (as they typically do in this process). She understands the market, her advice was practical and useful, and she kept us informed throughout the process. We always felt she had our interests as the top priority. If the agent with the highest sales volume in the area is what you're after, look elsewhere. If you want an agent that will spend the time to focus on you and your needs as a client,... in the central coast market, you don't need to look any further than Cathy as the best agent. read more

Cathy Francis is the person you want to work with. She is very effective, smart, hard working, knowledgeable, an excellent communicator, proactive, full of integrity, and is always looking out for your interests. She is on the case, and is right there for you. She is wise, no nonsense, and gives excellent advice to guide you through. She is detail oriented and thoughtful. She makes you feel confident because you know you are in the best hands. She is a pleasure to talk with and work with. Cathy just helped us sell our wonderful vintage home in San Luis Obispo. We live 400 miles away, and Cathy went above and beyond in helping us with many things that we couldn't do from a distance. Cathy helped us with things during the escrow that no one could have imagined could happen. For example, the buyer and their agent were great, but the buyer's loan officer turned out to be a procrastinator. He almost ruined the transaction for everyone, delaying progress so much that it almost failed. Cathy helped us know what to do and greatly reduced the stress in a very stressful situation. And she helped to get the escrow to close on time. Cathy is a very bright light. read more

Cathy recently acted as agent for the sale of our home. This was actually the third time that Cathy has represented us, in both the sale and purchase of properties. Through the years, we have worked with several other real estate agents when buying and selling homes in SLO, but although competent, none has had the enthusiasm for what they did or went "above and beyond" as Cathy did repeatedly. In the recent sale of our home, Cathy advised us on how to make the house show well and how to get top-dollar for the property, as she did in the sale of our home before that. On several occasions she helped us in the process of moving. During the purchase of our prior home, when we arrived for our final walk-through Cathy was already there, sweeping out the garage because she had noticed some scraps/debris leftover from the sellers; while we did some final measurements before leaving, she busied herself sweeping the patio. Her actions were "icing on the cake", giving us a bit of privacy. Now that we have relocated out-of-state, we will miss her lively outlook, sense of humor, and energy level. read more

My husband and I had a great experience using Cathy Francis as our realtor. We were given her name from a relative who had worked with Cathy and we were not disappointed. She is friendly, professional, and very knowledgable on the central coast market. We came to Cathy with our criteria for a vacation home on the Central Coast. She listened to us and that evening emailed me possible listings we would be interested in. We met up the next weekend and spent two days house hunting in Morro Bay and Cayucos. Cathy is very knowledgable with listings along the coast. We made an offer on a home in Cayucos and Cathy made the purchase seamless. She made sure our documents were signed, organized the inspections, met with the contractor, communicated well with the lender and escrow company all the time emailing us daily with the details. We were able to return home to the Central Valley feeling confident in Cathy handling the purchase. Cathy is amazing! I would recommend her hands down as a professional, knowledgable real estate agent. read more

Cathy is fantastic. We had owned a rental in San Luis for 10 years while are children attended Cal Poly. As you can imagine when we went to sell, the students had destroyed it. When I met with Cathy at the house and looked at the disaster, I literally cried. She was so supportive, put her arms around me and said "its just elbow grease". With the help of her, her husband Steve, and myself we hauled away piles of trash, garbage, you name it. She was with us every step of the way while we got the house ready to put on the market. Even when we had weird stuff thrown in front of us, she never faltered. If you want someone who knows the market, works hard, knowledgeable of the laws and codes in the San Luis County, and makes you laugh when you get discouraged, Cathy is you realtor. We cannot thank her enough for her diligence and perseverance to get the job done. I am proud to say a lovely family is enjoying their new house because of Cathy's hard work. read more

Cathy was my real estate agent who helped me purchase my condo about 8 years ago. This was my first purchase and I felt nervous and uncertain about the process. I felt so fortunate to have Cathy guiding me. Cathy took the time to find out what was really important to me. She was extremely thorough and I felt treated me not only as a buyer, but as a friend that she wanted the best for. In other words, this simply wasn't about the sale but really wanting to find the perfect home for me to feel safe, happy and at ease. We achieved that and I love where I live! After the sale was complete, Cathy even put in the extra effort to help organize a painting party and took care of some basic electrical issues that needed to be addressed. To this day, she has been available to me for any advice on my home, whether that be who to use for replacing a furnace to garbage disposal issues. I can't thank Cathy enough! read more

Buying or selling your home is one the most important transactions of your life, and is a daunting and complicated process even with help. Cathy Francis is an agent who will work really hard for you, and she isn't afraid to get her hands dirty. She'll go to bat for you, and give you the straight dish. Her communication is first-rate. She knows the process front to back, and helps you with every stage of the transaction. As your agent, Cathy puts your best interests first. She's also got a host of great references to help you through any pre- or post-sale repairs or renovations and takes a genuine interest in helping you make your new house a home. I just purchased my second home with Cathy, and she's done a great job, despite some challenging circumstances with the property and my lender, and all with professionalism and her signature "keen sense of humor." read more

Cathy is fabulous to work with. We were looking for a property in SLO for our son who is a student Cal Poly. As real estate investors, we have worked with multiple real estate agents in other parts of the country, so finding the right realtor was vital. We initially spoke with Cathy by phone after much research online. She met all of our expectations and helped us find what we were looking for. Cathy was incredibly patient, had tremendous knowledge about the nuances of SLO neighborhoods, took the time to truly understood what we were looking for and was a lot of fun in the process. We were in constant contact throughout the process and never felt pressured. Her integrity, individualized attention and attention to detail is incomparable. We can't imagine working with anyone else will be working with her again soon. read more

I live in the Bay Area and decided to purchase an investment property in San Luis Obispo. I found Cathy on Yelp and selected her to help with my search. I was exceptionally pleased with the service provided by Cathy. She is proactive, prompt, friendly, and fun. She helped me through a process which included (1) going into escrow on one home, (2) falling out of that same escrow (due to issues with the property), (3) finding a second (better) property, (4) putting an offer on that property, and (5) then closing on that property. Through these "twists and turns" Cathy kept the process going, kept a GREAT attitude, and became a friend to me and my family. She is super hard working and a pleasure to work with. She knows the SLO market very well and helped me find the perfect home! I highly endorse Cathy! read more

I consider myself fortunate to have found Cathy Francis. The move to the Central Coast was a major decision for me, and Cathy had all the knowledge, patience, skill and good sense to guide me through my eventual purchase of a home in Pismo Beach. I first got in touch with Cathy when I was still in the Pacific Northwest. We communicated for a few months and Cathy helped me feel more and more familiar with the market here, even at that distance. Once I was in town, my transaction went quickly and smoothly. Cathy listens intently and she never lost sight of what I told her I was looking for. I can't emphasize enough how well she uses her knowledge of people and place to suggest the right fit for the client. I know I was in good hands throughout. An exceptional experience. read more

I had the pleasure of working with Cathy recently while she helped us sell a house. I had started off my search for a realtor knowing that I would be working with them from a distance so I needed someone that I could trust to take the wheel with the process and feel confident that they would be honest and up front with me. I contacted Cathy and right away I felt at ease with her. She was very responsive but laid back with a great personality. She also truly knows her stuff when it comes to everything real estate, which I appreciated greatly. Cathy is an extremely hard worker and she went above and beyond for us during the selling process. You can not go wrong with having Cathy on your team when it comes to the buying or selling process. read more

We moved from the east coast (good bye snow, humidity, and hurricanes - hello fire, drought and earthquakes!) and thank goodness we were referred to Cathy Francis as the realtor to go to! Communication was always excellent and Cathy thoroughly knows the area, the prices, and all the workmen you will need to fix up your new home, as she has lived and renewed homes in the area for a many years. She was patient with our ignorance, and extremely knowledgeable about which houses were going to require a lot of work and the time and costs involved. She went over above and beyond for us and I cannot recommend her highly enough! read more

Cathy has been a Godsend! I recently inherited a house that needed A LOT of work and I had no idea where to start. Cathy helped me assess the financial trade offs of keeping it or selling and once I decided to keep it as a rental she has been an invaluable resource as to how to tackle this big project. Her ties to the community and years of experience are a huge asset as she has great contacts and provides wonderful referrals! I would not hesitate to contact Cathy if you are looking to buy or sell in this area - she has a great eye and understands the economy of this area. read more

Cathy was a godsend. I expected to have to cycle through a couple Realtors to find a good match, but she was the first one I called and I didn't need to call anyone else. Her expertise in what she does, from explaining microclimates to understanding the appreciation one can expect from various property types in different towns and neighborhoods, is outstanding. She's energetic, fun and quick-witted and sees this as more than a business. She takes a personal interest in helping match buyers with the house that suits not just their needs but their personalities and lifestyles. read more

Cathy helped me sell my house....she painted, staged, moved furniture, told me what to keep and what to get rid of. I learned so much while working with her and her husband. They are honest and trustworthy and I always felt had my best interest at heart. She also helped me when looking for a place to buy and was very patient while I changed my mind about what I wanted and didn't want over a period of 6 months of looking. She knows where to go to buy everything you'll need to remodel. She is a fantastic resource. She was fun to work with and so very knowledgable. read more

Cathy Francis is smart, hard-working, honest and professional. She is also fun and witty and knows all the downlow on everything/everybody. All of that makes driving around with a realtor looking for a house to buy into an actual good time, something you pretty much never say about the house buying (or selling) experience. She listened to what we said we were looking for and filtered appropriately, not wasting one minute of our time. My wife (who found this gem of a realtor) and I both agree - Cathy gets five shiny stars. read more

This is the second time we have used Cathy Francis as our real estate agent in San Luis Obispo. She is awesome! She is knowledgeable, an excellent communicator, and a hardworking diligent agent. We used for both purchasing and selling property and she was always on top of our transactions. She is easy to talk to and was great about explaining the process as well. She is a skilled negotiator which resulted in us obtaining selling and buying prices that made us very happy. Hi read more

I called Cathy to research listing my rental property in Los Osos. She returned my call immediately and with my agreement to work with her listed the property in a matter of a few days. She kept in touch with me via email and phone regularly to inform me of showings and strength of interest. She generated a full price offer with a 30 day close just 30 days from posting the listing. She is lovely to work with and very motivated and thorough. I highly recommend Cathy. read more

I actually interviewed a number of real estate agents when I decided to buy in this area. I settled on Cathy to my good fortune. She is a no nonsense professional who knows her stuff and gets stuff done. She will help in many ways. I have seen her roll up her sleeves, clean a garage, paint, remodel, and stage interiors to facilitate sales. Her abilities to coordinate various parties to a sale, and keep the paperwork moving in a timely manner are impressive. read more