We recently bought a house in Berkeley and were so lucky to have had Jodi Nishimura as our realtor! Jodi is a fantastic resource, the best we could have imagined, especially in this crazy Bay Area market where the prices make one doubt one's sanity. She is experienced, knowledgeable, straightforward, kind, and patient, as well as a joy to work with. She was incredibly quick to understand our needs, wishes, and tastes, and she found houses for us to look at -including the one we bought--that we would have surely missed. She respected our tastes, but also helped us to imagine other possibilities in this very tight market. It's fair to say that we would not have been able to prepare a successful offer on our house without her guidance. She has also been great help after the sale, recommending repair people and coordinating a works calendar. We can't recommend her enough! read more

Jodi was a true pleasure working with as our agent when searching for a condo to purchase in the East Bay. She understood from the very beginning the type of property we were looking for and the neighborhoods we were interested in. She was very patient with us and we never felt pressured to purchase. Jodi gave us sound advice and we always felt that she had our interest first. We love our Jack London Square Condo and are so happy that we were able to close escrow before our wedding. We will recommend her to all our friends and family who will be searching for either a home or condo in the East bay. read more

Jodi definitely goes above and beyond. Jodi helped me buy a 5 unit property and her guidance and support started with identifying the property to begin with and continued through closing, identifying various contractors, coming up with suggestions for renovations and working through tenant complexities. Working with Jodi has felt like being in a partnership, which I really value. As others have noted, Jodi is an exceptional agent and person. read more

This review is for the most awesome real estate agent there is, Jodi. Things are going very well here, it is been an exciting year of new homeownership and we have felt great about our decision every day. We are very grateful to Jodi for finding us the perfect house and giving us great representation throughout the entire process and always having an answer to any and all crazy question of mine! read more

Jodi is amazing! My husband and I were first time home buyers and were terrified of the Bay Area market. She immediately made us feel hopeful and in a few months we were making our first offer. She's patient, knowledgeable and a joy to work with! We love our home and would highly recommend Jodi for your real estate needs! read more

Jodi just helped us purchase a new home in Berkeley for our growing family. We can't recommend her highly enough. Jodi was tremendously helpful, hard-working, thoughtful, knowledgeable, and reliable. She spent hours helping us find our new home, worked with us each step of the way, was able to provide guidance when we needed it (without being pushy), and was a wealth of information and resources. Jodi is amazing! read more

In the last three years Jodi has helped my family buy and sell a few properties. Currently we are working with her to find my mother a home. We love Jodi because she really hears what is important to us. She's kind and compassionate - something that is invaluable in this crazy market. Of course, Jodi is also knowledgable, experienced, hardworking and thorough. She cares about people and she cares about her work. I see that in her other reviews people have gone into great detail. Jodi really is all that :) and she inspires some of the warmest reviews I've ever seen. Well, there's good reason! read more

I spoke and dealt with other agents in buying a home in Berkeley for me and my family, and chose to work with Jodi. I do commercial real estate acquisitions for an investment company and have an MBA in real estate/finance, so have experience doing this. In the past when I have worked with residential brokers I have noticed a lack of financial understanding -- which is a limitation that can hurt a buyer of a personal home or an investment property -- but not so with Jodi. She gets it, impressively, both from a financial perspective as well as interpersonal, which means that she was smart and excellent in negotiations on my behalf. As we brainstormed negotiations, I felt I was talking to a peer colleague at my firm -- she knew all the angles in the issues, and dealt with them diplomatically with the other side, as well as with me. Dealing with this for years in my job, I could tell that Jodi was truly a professional and that I could trust her to advance my side as well as I could. This makes things much easier, much less work and less problematic as a buyer busy with other life issues, and is a boon when you find someone like this to assist and protect you. Jodi also quickly understood what I was looking for, and didn't waste our time with irrelevant properties. Each one she mentioned got closer and closer to the best fit. This is a psychological astuteness that is also very valuable, and gets overwhelmed in other brokers by their desire to flood you with options and get something closed. Jodi provided sales and rental comparable transactions, driving me to see them, so I quickly could understand the market and make an informed decision. Jodi found me an excellent property that hit all of my main wishlist items, got me in the door, and dealt with a very difficult seller. I tried my own referrals for mortgage financing, and found them disappointing. I then tried Jodi's referral of Tom Nitsan at MPR Financial, and he was excellent and extremely helpful. This took months, since I'm living in SoCal and Berkeley/Bay Area is a market with many buyers. In a funny way, I'm mildly surprised to see that Jodi has reviews from other people during the same time frame -- only because I never sensed that she was distracted by other clients and other jobs. It honestly seemed like she was available and responsive any time, and always looking for what would work for my search. I want to be clear that from a professional standpoint, I have some experience assessing brokers and as above I would recommend Jodi highly. But to end with reference to the even more important things and perhaps the most telling thing, in getting to know Jodi I am thankful to say I would also consider her to be now a friend. She's a smart, caring person and parent, a person of ethics and substance. I look forward to staying in touch with her even without buying or selling anything. And if I do want to buy more, I will definitely trust Jodi with my search and closing. read more

Jodi is an amazing realtor. In our experience, she goes far above and beyond what we expect from others in her profession. Beyond her vast expertise, willingness to go the extra mile, wealth of excellent contacts in the business, and strategic know-how, she is honest and ethical. We found her to be truly a breath of fresh air in what can be a cynical and overwhelming market. Above all, when it came down to it she went to bat and got things done for us in impressive fashion. I really believe anyone would be lucky to work with her read more

Jodi recently helped me find my house in Oakland after 3 months of searching. While we were looking, she was able to help me evaluate each home as an investment opportunity and educated me on different options to help me get into this extremely difficult market. She has a great sense of the market and was honest and realistic about what offers would work. Whenever I went to an open house, other agents would always comment on how lucky I was to have Jodi as an agent as she is one of the best in the Berkeley/Oakland area and I could not agree more. Jodi knew the ins and outs of these markets. She helped me envision what could be done with some of the places that we looked at with a little "sweat equity", and ultimately got me into a place that checked all of the boxes on my wish list. Her professionalism, excellent client service, and experience helped me throughout the entire process. Even when dealing with challenging sellers and this intensely competitive market, she helped me keep it all in perspective and encouraged me to stay optimistic about the prospect of finding the "right house." When we did find the right house, Jodi was ALL OVER IT!!! Knowing that there were other offers on the property, Jodi moved quickly and advised on a winning strategy. Within an hour of seeing it, Jodi had an offer written and an inspector scheduled to arrive first thing the next morning. Within 24 hours of seeing the house, she had gotten my offer accepted. I was kind of in disbelief that it could happen that quickly, but that is the magic of Jodi. She was nothing short of amazing during the closing process and made a very stressful process seem pretty seamless. She was very organized and involved every step of the way. You would do yourself a great service by working with Jodi. I look forward to the next time I get to work with her again! read more

Jodi was amazing as realtor on the recent sale of our home. She completely and tastefully managed the remodel of the house as we were in another state. She was a great listener and communicated thoroughly and regularly through the whole process. She was a huge support every step of the way, even as we waffled on the decision to sell and grappled with sensitive tenant relations. We felt like we could trust her completely, and relied on her extensive knowledge and excellent advice. The sale price of the home exceeded our expectations and it is no doubt thanks to Jodi's tireless work on our behalf. We would recommend her to anyone looking for an outstanding realtor. read more

Jodi is a great realtor and a pleasure to work with. She helped us buy an Oakland home in 2009 and sell that same home in 2017. On both ends, Jodi was thorough, attentive, savvy and respectful. Beyond negotiating great, fair deals, she has fantastic taste and knows how to find potential in a home during a purchase and maximize possibilities during a sale. During our recent sale, we put a lot of trust and responsibility in Jodi to make upgrades to our home before it went to market. In the end, the process was smooth, and we got WAY more than we expected in the sale...like around $500k more. A hot market certainly helped, but I have no doubt Jodi's work to prepare our home for the sale played an instrumental role in making our sale so successful. The people she works with are top notch. She's awesome. We wish she worked in our new location! read more

When we interviewed seller agents, only one of many: (a) showed up early for a 9am appointment; (b) remained calm, poised, and collected as our 18 month old occasionally screamed and cried; and (c) asked us for the opportunity to be our seller agent and sell our beloved home. That relator was Jodi Nishimura. My only requirement of Jodi was to make the sell process easy for us. And Jodi did just that! Every problem thrown at her, Jodi resolved with ease. I never worried. When I complained about a cheezy bathroom mirror for staging, she had a new one up to my liking in less than 24hrs. She has a great team ready to work with her and for her. There is no drama, just results! She is responsive and trustworthy. She exceeded our expectations in every way. Jodi represents the best of the best. We highly recommend her and our happy to write this review in that regard. read more

My husband and I had troubles selling our house with the previous agent and had no chance but take our house from the market. We researched different agents in the area who has experience selling high-end houses in Oakland and Berkeley. We came across Jodi's profile and scheduled an interview with her. We got very impressed with her knowledge of the market, selling techniques and unique communication style. We would really recommend her to anyone. She is very clear about what she can do for you, extremely honest about her recommendations and goes above and beyond your expectations. We had a very complicated transaction and we cannot be happier to have Jodi by our side guiding every step of the way. She truly cares about her clients and does everything she can to make a vulnerable journey for selling a house as calm as possible. She is also such a nice, giving, and calm person. Thank you, Jodi, so much! read more

As part-time teachers, my husband and I never thought we could own a home in Alameda. Jodi Nishimura was able to prove otherwise, but not until she first pulled off several tremendous feats. We didn't have very much money saved, were very particular about school districts, and were overall extremely tentative. For months, Jodi showed us dozens of places on any given day, and was patient and reassuring the whole time. We put in several offers and she suggested ways to compensate for lack of the highest bid, but the bids for the most money still prevailed. Finally, she found us a cosmetic fixer in a great neighborhood and school district. When she saw it, she was very excited because she instinctively new the cosmetic problems were minor, but would lessen some of the tight competition. She said that this was the place we were waiting for, and she ball-parked, with surprising accuracy, the amount we needed for renovations. Given the price of the property, though, there were still multiple offers over the asking price. She had us write a letter, and she insisted on presenting the offer in person. They accepted, AND she was able to negotiate 2 bathroom remodels through escrow. The happy ending was almost ruined though because of problems with our funding. She spent countless phone calls talking through the loans with our broker (not someone she had recommended). She went way, way beyond her duties as a realtor, and made it happen. After we finally moved into our newly renovated dream home, we found a few things left in the attic by the previous owner. I called the seller's real estate agent to see if she could contact them. She told me then that the reason the owner accepted our offer was because of Jodi's presentation. She really wowed them. Jodi believes in justice, and she isn't willing to accept that only a select few should own a house. She is remarkably intelligent and extremely knowledgeable about all aspects of the housing market. If you're looking for a compassionate and professional agent, Jodi will more than meet your needs. read more

We are the proud owners of a house in North Berkeley, and can't thank Jodi enough for helping make it happen. First and foremost, Jodi is very professional. She knows the local market and had excellent suggestions throughout the whole process. She was able to point out the strengths and weaknesses of each property, and perhaps even more importantly, accurately assess the value of the home. Jodi was patient and always available to answer any questions we had. We felt that she went out of her way to make sure all our priorities were met. Jodi represented us well during the bidding process, and was successful in getting our offer accepted even though it was not the highest bid. Our praise for Jodi does not stop there however...throughout escrow and even after closing Jodi has helped line up contractors and an architect for a kitchen remodel. She even was willing to stop by the house and water some trees that the city had planted when we were out of town! We highly recommend Jodi and plan to recommend her to any of our friends that are looking for a home in the East Bay. read more

Due to life changes, I've had to buy and sell twice now, in Oakland and in Berkeley. I feel lucky that Jodi was there to help my family find homes that fit our changing needs. For our most recent move, we had very particular parameters for the home we were looking for and Jodi helped us find a place that met our needs despite the tough market. She's extremely knowledgeable about the unique Bay Area/East Bay market and has really good instincts. We saw firsthand how her years of experience informed the buying and selling process. On the selling side, I'm glad we went with her recommended upgrades as they were smart changes that were instrumental in making the home more marketable. She's very responsive and communicative which we found important. I can't say enough about her integrity and how she really comes through for her clients. I always felt she heard us and was able to understand our needs or concerns. Anyone would be lucky to work with Jodi and her amazing team. read more

I have sold two homes with Jodi. In both cases I felt like I was being guided by a sure-handed veteran with a deep knowledge of the Albany-Berkeley-Oakland area. Moving out of a home and preparing it for sale is a hectic and stressful process. Jodi made sure everything moved along quickly and smoothly. She was accessible, offered good advice and she works with a talented team (contractors, painters, gardeners and stagers). So when my homes were ready to show, I knew they would attract top dollar. I also appreciated Jodi's strategic and insightful thinking and her cool and calm negotiating style. I wouldn't hesitate to use her again. read more

Jodi is phenomenal!!!! She knows the Albany-Berkeley-Kensington-Rockridge areas very well, and she knows the local markets, realtors and brokers. She is super patient with her clients, she will not push you to jump to a house and get the deal done if you are not ready. (We looked for houses for several months, and we did not feel any pressure to buy.) Jodi is very responsive, and she moved fast when we put an offer. Jodi is a great listener, and she had our best interests in mind all the time: she was very involved in the process and she was concerned like if she'd be buying a house for herself. What I loved the most about working with her is that she educated us during the entire process, pointing at the flaws of the houses and neighborhoods that we fell in love. Jodi helped us navigate disclosures, appraisals, inspectors, and contractors. Her negotiation skills are superb: she got us a fantastic home in a wonderful neighborhood for a great price. Thanks Jo! read more

I cannot imagine a realtor who works harder or smarter than Jodi. She found me a beautiful home for an unbelievable price, even in these highly competitive times, way beyond what I thought I could afford. She went so far beyond any other realtor I have ever heard of, even after the house closed! I felt taken care of and hand-held every step of the way through this process. I felt incredibly lucky and grateful to work with Jodi. Thank you Jodi!!! read more

Jodi is terrific. My wife and I contacted Jodi after seeing some positive reviews. We wanted to buy a house in the east bay, but we also wanted to be financially prudent in what often felt like a crazy market. Jodi was great to work with: she gave us a lot of information that felt objective and useful, never pushy; she was very responsive (even after we took a few months off after getting discouraged); and she was very savvy both about individual houses and about the art of getting an offer accepted in this area. She helped us identify opportunities that were overlooked--and therefore not overpriced. We were looking for a house off and on for over a year, but Jodi never lost interest in us as clients, and never tried to push us when we were uncertain. We got into contract on the third place we made an offer on. During escrow and even after closing Jodi was very helpful as we navigated getting the foundation replaced and lining up other services and repairs. I highly recommend Jodi. read more

We were referred to Jodi from a mutual acquaintance. From the moment we met with her I knew we had found the realtor for us. Whether it was her insight into the market or her ability to communicate with the sellers agent when it was time to make an offer, her support and guidance were invaluable. Our home was a short sale that needed some cosmetic help. Jodi has as an amazing network of resources that were able to make my dream home a reality. We were very fortunate to have someone like her on our side. read more

Jodi is an amazing real estate agent and we most definitely would not be in or home today if it weren't for her help. She is a great communicator who listened closely to our needs and is extremely knowledgeable about the local market. She was constantly engaged and was always available to us when we needed her. She kept an eye out for us and helped us uncover an overlooked opportunity that completely fit all of our criteria and then some! Jodi is professional yet friendly and really understands what you're looking for. Her extensive experience in the business allows her to see opportunities and pick up on details that some home buyers would not be able to. She has a wide network of contacts that are able to help turn a less than stellar home on the market into your dream home. Suffice to say, Jodi is an amazing agent. Thank you Jodi! read more

Jodi is the best realtor we have ever worked with. She helped us sell our home in Oakland and purchase our new home in Piedmont. She took significant time to understand our needs, and then went out of her way to find places that might fit the bill. From the initial offer through closing, she excelled at anticipating both issues that might arise, and questions we might have. Jodi communicated very clearly our options, and accepted our preferences without trying to talk us into anything. She also provided access to an amazing amount of resources that she could activate with minimal lead time. With all those hard factors, she is also very personable and genuinely cares about putting you in the right home. We could not have asked for more in a realtor than we have found in Jodi. read more

Despairing after almost a year of searching for our dream retirement home, we met Jodi at one of her open house events. We were so impressed with her warm professionalism and upbeat presence that we drove back to Sacramento and called her with hopes she would take us on as clients. Its been a Bay Area real estate roller coaster and Jodi has calmly and expertly guided us through thick and thin. One of her greatest strengths is that she listened to what we were looking for and absolutely "got" what we wanted and needed. We were able to sell our condo post haste and we are now settled into the home we thought we'd never find. She is thorough, hard-working, goes above and beyond, and all with an upbeat and caring attitude. She was tireless in researching, exploring, and offering resources that made selling, buying, moving, and settling in, an amazingly smooth process! If she would allow us, we would like to adopt her for our own because she apparently treats all of her clients as if they are family. She's a rare gem in this business and we are forever grateful for having found her. read more

Jodi is an excellent realtor. We recently purchased a small multi-unit building. It is really hard to find realtors with experience in this market, which is very different from buying a single family home, but Jodi has handled a lot of these sales. Jodi was great - had a lot of knowledge on multi-unit buildings (pricing strategies, typical condition and structural style of these buildings, great knowledge of all similar buildings that have sold in the last year) that we would never have been able to tap into otherwise. She is extremely competent and never pushes you do to anything that you are not comfortable with. Very strategic when making offers about how to use terms other than price to make your offer very competitive. Our purchase ended up being a difficult drawn out one and her patience and professional approach got a deal done where it might very easily have collapsed otherwise. I highly recommend her. read more

Jodi worked with me on two very different properties in very different areas. Her knowledge, patience and guidance took my comfort level from very uncomfortable to totally at ease. I found great value in Jodi's ability to listen. Yet, at very precise moments, her words of advice, encouragement and honesty came through loud and clear. You can't go wrong with Jodi Nishimura. read more

It is on rare occasion that you have the opportunity to meet someone like Jodi who is so conscientious, highly competent, principled and genuinely caring. I am so grateful that we contacted her to represent us in this highly competitive Bay Area real estate market. She was our true champion throughout the search, buying and closing process. Jodi has an outstanding network of highly competent bankers, mortgage brokers, title and insurance agents. It is the true test of an individual when challenges arise, as they did when we made an offer, and Jodi rose to the challenge quickly finding a backup lender and crafting a winning strategy to circumvent a competing all-cash offer. Even after the close, Jodi continued to provide excellent recommendations for contractors and repairmen who are every bit as impeccable as she is. She came highly recommended to us and we most definitely would highly recommend her to others! read more