We recently worked with Kate Philips to sell our home, and she provided a very solid, professional experience from start to finish. Kate is highly organized, punctual, and kept us consistently informed and updated throughout the entire process. Selling a home has a lot of moving parts, and we appreciated her work ethic in keeping things on track. Additionally, she provided great recommendations for local professionals to handle the yard work, house repairs, and staging, which made preparing the home much easier. Overall, Kate did a fine job getting our home sold and handled the transaction with a lot of diligence. If you are looking for an organized realtor who communicates well and has excellent local connections for prep work, Kate is a perfect choice. read more

Kate is an experienced and diligent realtor. I was out of the country when we started getting my home ready to go on the market. She got the inspections and trades people lined up and helped me with communications and making sure things were getting done. She has your back and makes the process a lot less stressful. She was great at following up with potential buyers and keeping me informed of what was happening as well as taking my concerns into consideration. I would highly recommend Kate, you will be taken care of! read more

I had the pleasure of working with Kate Phillips as my realtor in Oakland to sell a home I had for 20 years. Over time the place became a rental and was in very poor shape - I weighed the option of selling as is, a contractor's special, and decided to do the project and renovate entirely. Kate helped me find an excellent contractor and very skilled stager/designer. She helped me decide what upgrades to do or not do, helped me keep on top of the contractor, and helped me assess the itemized costs for each piece of the renovation in order to decide which items could be done for less separately. I had everything done from foundation to plumbing, new kitchen and bath, refinished floors and full paint inside and out. The whole project was nearly a year. At every step, Kate knows exactly what she is doing. When the house entered the market, I had an offer within 10 days, over asking, hitting the target price that Kate said I should expect. We even closed early. I would recommend Kate to anyone. You will be in good hands! read more

Kate helped us sell our house in Maxwell Park. She truly knows the market and has great intuition as to maximizing monies spent on marketing and improvements. She also connected us with a brilliant staging company. If you are looking at Oakland real estate, Kate is a brilliant guide! read more

I cannot recommend Kate highly enough. She is meticulous about detail and totally reliable. She has a great team of contractors who resolved a variety of problems to a high standard. My house sale went through quickly and smoothly thanks to her efforts and care. I had regular updates from her as I live in the U,K, and was aware of what was happening at each stage. You will not find a better Realtor. read more

We chose Kate Phillips as our realtor because of her history of living in and selling in Maxwell Park for many years. 33 years of specializing in this closely knit community is a definite perk. Kate worked her magic and provided us with 3 offers within 2 weeks of our listing date. She made our sales process run smoothly from start to finish. Her personal list of preferred service people was a huge asset. Not to mention that they were competitively priced at savings to us. We were super pleased with her stager recommendation which made our home look so glamorous that we were tempted to move back in. Also, her roofer referral gave us a competitive bid on repairs. One of the big surprises was that the house was featured in the Sunday San Francisco Chronicle thanks to Kate's long term industry network. She definitely will provide you with the insider's scoop. You can't go wrong with a listing with Kate Phillips. read more

See all

Kate helped me list and sell my house for the amount I wanted. She is quite familiar with the areas she specializes in. She made the process relatively smooth and easy by having a list of contacts for anything I needed (landscaping, etc). I would definitely use her again. read more

One word to describe Kate -- amazing! She is responsive and really understands what' s happening in the market. If you are going to buy or sell, recommend you reach out to Kate. read more

Kate is an amazing realtor that knows how to get you the best of why you're looking for. While living in the Maxwell Park neighborhood of Oakland, I couldn't help but notice that all houses sold by her looked beautiful and received top dollar. Sure enough, when it came time to hire her to sell our house, she worked her magic and got us a good price (during a down market!). I highly recommend Kate for all of your real estate needs! read more

Kate Phillips helped us navigate the complicated world of Bay Area home sales. She was responsive, timely, and professional. As a longtime Oakland resident, she really knows the area! Kate helped us sell our house swiftly, offering expert advice along the way. read more

I can hardly express how offended I was by Kate Phillips when my wife, son and I went to an open house she was showing in Maxwell Park this weekend. But I must. She was completely uninterested in engaging us with not even a hello upon arrival, and when I asked questions -- and we were the only visitors at the time---she could only offer one word answers and a disregarding glance as she quickly returned to whatever was so consumingly important on her phone. Interestingly, she was certainly happy to speak at length with the visitors before us, which we witnessed as we toured the house unacknowledged. And while I certainly hate to come to this conclusion, especially being a solidly upper middle class university professor, I wondered if she spoke with them (who were white), and not with us on the basis that we are people of color and thus presumed we couldn't afford the house? Interestingly as we were leaving after noting to Kate how unprofessional she was, another couple of color who were outside preparing to leave themselves said they had the same experience with her at another property and actually refused to do business with her. We sadly had come to the same conclusion in spite of liking the house. As I was buckling my son into his car seat another young couple, this time white, arrived. I stood by the entrance to listen as my wife stayed by the car and sure enough Kate offered a greeting and introduction to them. When I earlier expressed my disappointment in her behavior the only response that Kate offered was that she was tired. No apology, just an exclamation of fatigue, a fatigue however that was overcome when addressing the visitors before and after us. Had I just witnessed a kind of racially restrictive real estate covenant in the 21st century? I am aware that this review contrasts sharply with those written by others whom Kate represented. So perhaps with sellers she's wonderful, but caveat emptor! read more

Kate Phillips - Proxima Realty Group - Real Estate Agents Near Me

Kate did an amazing job marketing and selling my home in Maxwell Park, Oakland. She was very professional and focused, communicating with me throughout the entire process so I felt comfortable and was able to make well informed decisions without pressure. As an out of state seller, this was important to me as a lot of coordination and interactions had to be done remotely.. Kate was very responsive in answering questions and advised me when any issues came up, offering solutions and keeping the process moving without cutting any corners. Her experience and knowledge of the Oakland area was a definite asset, and she had the contacts and resources to help me get my home fixed up, staged, and ready to sell. I was able to prep the house within the budget and timeframe I wanted.. The marketing Kate did was outstanding, with a polished website, and pictures that really showcased the house and all its best features. The results speak for themselves as I had multiple offers and sold the home for more than I expected. I would highly recommend Kate for your real estate needs.. Great customer service, integrity, attention to detail, and Outstanding results! read more

We choose to work with Kate because of her many years of success in the industry and her active presence in the market. Kate was extremely helpful as our move was across country, and we depended on her to handle much of the work while we were in route. Her knowledge, ethics, and expertise were invaluable. We relied on her services and wisdom. We felt good about the process and end results, and this is essential as this was our home for 20 years. read more

Kate helped us sell our house during a challenging time of Covid-19. She helped us get a wonderful price and really gave us the agency to decide on the fixes and styling of the home before sale. She connected us to a great network of professionals to get the home staged and ready and executed a marketing plan that really drove the value. She knows Maxwell Park like no other. Very grateful for her help during a turbulent market! Highly recommend. read more

"Kate was very thorough and guided us every step of the way from recommending painters, landscapers, stagers etc, suggesting minor cosmetic fixes that we're easy to do and made a big impact for showing. She was able to get us an amazing price for our home and we couldn't be happier with the whole process and her expertise." read more

As first time home buyers, we were intimidated by the idea of purchasing a home in the Bay Area. But my husband and I were lucky enough to meet Kate at a foodie event in Oakland. In Kate, we found a seasoned real estate agent who is super in-tune with the bay area market. She gave us great advice at every step of the home buying process including negotiating our home price after inspections. Her style is very direct, honest, and no B.S. She is also responsive, on top of all the details and super helpful. We are so grateful to Kate for holding our hands through the biggest purchase of our life. We couldn't have done it without her. Rahel & Dan read more

Kate was referred to me with high approval based on her wealth of knowledge of the local area where I was planning to sell my property. Her vast experience, professionalism, and responsiveness were all very impressive. I was appreciative of her 20+ years in the real estate industry and her thoroughness to ensure that all inspections were performed in advance prior to the sale, which helped expedite the transfer of ownership. Her guidance, encouragement, and passion to provide excellent customer service to her clients are admirable. I highly recommend her for any of your real estate needs in the Bay Area. read more

Kate helped us purchase a great home in Oakland in a very competitive market. Her kind and warm personality along with over 30 years of experience were a perfect combination for us as first time home buyers who were very new to this process. She gave us a lot of great advice during our visits to different houses and kept reminding us about what really mattered to us. Kate patiently educated us and led us towards finding our desired home within only three months from the start of our search. It had been particularly challenging time due to all the market changes of COVID as well, but Kate made the whole process much easier for us. We loved her integrity and wisdom and the way she led us without pushing. Kate followed up with us regularly, she introduced us to an amazing loan broker. Even after closing she helped us get in touch with many different tradespeople for the house related work. If you are looking for an optimized path towards buying your dream home in Oakland, Berkeley or surrounding cities, we highly recommend Kate. read more

Kate Phillips - Proxima Realty Group - Real Estate Agents Near Me

Kate came highly recommended to us as a expert in the Oakland area and she did not disappoint! She is easy to talk to and very responsive to calls/texts/emails. She really worked with us to find something in our budget that we absolutely love, and we feel that her knowledge of the local area really gave us an advantage in the competitive Bay Area housing market. She was great navigating us through the whole process, taking time to answer any and every question we had, which we had a lot of! She also has a extensive network of tradespeople and we are constantly asking her for referrals. If you're looking to buy a house, you definitely want Kate in your corner! read more

We found Kate by happenstance at an open house. Our realtor wasn't living up to our expectations, so we gave her a try. She did not disappoint. She is honest, forthcoming in her opinions, and pays attention to detail. For example, on one home tour, she asked us what we thought about the neighbors (who had severals cats and cars in their driveway). On another tour, she asked us what we thought about the highway noise? Could we live with it? She was patient with us and the process. She knows the Oakland area very well and was very knowledgeable about the different neighborhoods. We ended up finding a home in San Leandro, and Kate was a rockstar from offer to closing. If you're looking for a realtor who will truly add value to your home search and help you find the home of your dreams, try Kate. read more

I found Kate on-line through her website when searching for homes near Maxwell Park in Oakland, CA. She was able to squeeze me into her schedule with just one evening's notice! Kate is extremely knowledgeable about the East Bay. I had her slogging from San Leandro to Berkeley, looking at all sorts of homes. She has great tips for restaurants and local businesses, she has great contacts for construction and other services, and she keeps you in the loop with great communication! When it came time to negotiate our purchase, she gave great advice on what was probably the most complicated purchase of all time. It was a combination of a foreign seller, an uncommunicative seller's foreign Realtor, a city code inspector, and a short schedule! Oh, and she had to coordinate with my lender, who was based out of state! With her untiring dedication, we made it to the finish line with enough time to get the kids enrolled in school and we moved in before the first rain! I highly recommend Kate for your SF Bay Area real estate needs! read more

Kate has been my realtor ever since she sold me my house in 1994, and she is the only one I'll have sell it if I ever leave. She is an expert in the local housing market in Maxwell Park and the greater East Bay, and provides warm-hearted and professional guidance to buyers, sellers and ongoing homeowners like myself. She is always available for questions about my home's value or recommended improvements and generously provides the best referrals. For those selling, she works in a low-key, friendly, and supportive way to help them prepare their house so it shows in the best possible light. As a result, over the years I have watched her sell house after house in the East Bay, all with bidding wars pushing the final price up. I recommend her expertise for buyers or sellers--her support will continue long after the sale is complete. read more

Kate is truly the Queen of Maxwell Park! She knows the neighborhood and lives it in too. The process of selling a house is challenging and for us doing so after 19 years to make a change of cities, clear out all the accumulation from 19 years of "well, we may need that some day", plus moving hundreds of plants to a smaller home that needs a lot of renovation added up to STRESS! Kate guided us through with calm, straight forward support and advice. She helped decide what work needed to be done and what didn't which helped a great deal. She told us the price she wanted to get for us on our first meeting and she got it. The sale was slower than we had anticipated and she kept us focused and calm as the process played out to a great result. We felt we could trust her guidance when we were ready to settle. Kate is realtor, sage prophet and therapist plus just a very real person. Trust Kate to get you top dollar and or be your advocate to get the best price on your purchase. read more

Updating my review since Kate just helped us sell our home as well. Kate Phillips helped us with both the purchase and sale of our first home. She's a consummate professional and we felt totally confident in her skills as she helped us navigate the unfamiliar waters of real estate. Kate educated us about the process so we were prepared for any ups and downs during the real estate transactions. She was a great advocate in recommending and working with other professionals and throughout the negotiations of both deals. She was a great asset to us and she was an in dispensable part of our team. We would highly recommend her for all your real estate needs. read more

Kate listed and sold our home and it was a pleasure to work with her. Kate really knows the market. She listened carefully, gave helpful, expert advice, and was immediately responsive to our questions. Kate stayed engaged through our house closing and provided frequent updates. We highly recommend Kate. read more

Kate Phillips is a very knowledgeable Bay Area realtor. I am her State Farm agent, and have worked with many of her clients to insure their homes. Her clients all tell me how much they value her expertise and experience, as well as the caring way she works with them during the stressful home searching and home buying experience. Everyone should have a realtor as good as Kate; just give her a call and don't bother shopping anywhere else! read more

I have had the pleasure of knowing Kate for a few years now. She is not only dedicated to her clients, but she tries very hard to exceed her clients expectations. I would definitely recommend working with her! read more

Buying or selling property is never an easy undertaking. It's emotional, confusing, confounding and potentially defeating. You, the buyer need an advisor, and for my partner and me, that advocate has for the last 15 years been Kate Phillips. Of course she' s knowledgable about current market conditions. That's a given especially in the tumultous Bay Area Real Estate scene. But with that market knowledge Kate also brought professionalism, a hound-dogs attention to detail and a savy sense of timing. Kate has supported us through 4 of our real estate transactions (single family houses and land purchases) in a manner that made us feel confident we were on the right track. Real Estate is not without its twists and turns, but Kate helped us negotiate each deal so that at their conclusions we felt the terms suited US BEST. She will always be the realtor we want in our corner. read more

Over the years, my husband and I used Kate's services for both personal and professional real estate transactions. She has brought her expertise and enthusiasm to each successful sale. She offers suggestions to help facilitate a quick results at the best price and will stay on top of the process every step of the way. read more

Kate helped me sell my Mom's house after my Mom passed away and I was so pleased with her help and all of her hard work. She was very professional, knowledgeable and thorough, and she worked really hard on the sale. She ensured that we had several inspections done before the house was listed for sale, to help us with the listing price, and also to be candid with buyers about the condition of the home. This had an amazing effect because I got several offers, and some of them waived their own inspections because of the inspections we had already done. Kate had suggestions for inspectors and tradespeople, and coordinated everything. She also helped me retain people to fix the house up for sale. She was wonderful about providing advice, but not pushy at all. She did not push me to do any work on the house, and said that it could be sold as is, but was also honest that I would be able to sell it for more, if cosmetic work was done. She was a great sounding board as I tried to figure out what work to do, and was so supportive. Once the home was all ready, Kate had a professional photographer take beautiful pictures of the home that looked amazing. It looked so much better that I could've imagined. One thing I also really liked was that Kate was very timely, and got everything done as quickly as possible. I wanted to get the process over with, and she was very good about scheduling inspections asap, and doing everything possible on her end to get the house on the market as quickly as we could. Also, given that my Mom had just passed away, she was very supportive during what was a very difficult time emotionally for me. I would definitely use Kate again without hesitation. read more

I have had the pleasure of knowing Kate for over 15 years through our neighborhood volunteer work in the Maxwell Park area of Oakland, CA. So when it was time to sell my home of 15 years, both me and my wife agreed that Kate with her in-depth knowledge of the Maxwell Park area would be the perfect choice to represent us. Kate's experience, and all the professionals in her network that helped us during the process of preparing our house to go to market, really helped in easing the stress of selling. We truly appreciated that she was responsive, sensitive, and patient during the process. So with everything mentioned above, we were able to sell our house quickly! We highly recommend Kate, and we wish her continued success! read more

I had a great experience working with Kate in selling my home in Oakland. My transaction was somewhat complex so it was very helpful to have someone with Kate's experience and knowledge to guide me through the process. I found Kate to be thoughtful, responsive, and professional. I happily recommend Kate for your real estate needs. read more

My business partner and I sold a home we renovated with Kate. From the beginning she was very personable and professional. She payed attention to all the details and we feel like she got us a great price for the house. Thank you Kate! read more

Kate Phillips represented me in two home purchases and I would highly recommend her to anyone in the process of selling or purchasing a home. Kate truly listened to what I was looking for and sought out homes that matched my criteria. For my second home, I wanted an older home with a formal dinning room and period charm and she was able to find and show me homes that matched that. Kate was extremely professional through the entire process and her attention to the many details of purchasing both my houses was impressive. Buying a home is a fairly stressful endeavor and I feel like Kate was adept at keeping me calm and positive through the entire process. read more

I've known and worked with Kate for over 10 years-she always (with out a doubt) has her clients best interest, she is honest while also very caring! When helping her buyers or sellers she always reviews the numbers before the signing to address any unforeseen errors prior to her clients seeing the statement. She attends every signing, offering a sense support, and "hand holding". Kate allows you to know and feel as her agent she will def go to bat for you!! I am lucky to have the opportunity to work with and be on a team w such a great legend! read more

I have worked with Kate for over ten years now and have worked on many transactions with her. I'm a mortgage broker and have been on both sides of the transaction with her where she had a buyer and we worked to get them in a property and where I had a buyer and she was the listing agent. In all cases, Kate is professional and knows the business. When she's working with a buyer looking for a home, she tirelessly searches for the right property and has great negotiating skills to help the buyer get into contract. I highly recommend Kate for my buyers and for anyone selling a home. read more

Kate is a very experienced real estate agent who knows the process inside and out. She helped me with every part of the sale of my home and it went great- I'm grateful for her expertise! read more

Kate is simply a cut above the rest. Her vast experience in real estate can be easily detected the minute you speak with her. My wife and I personally interviewed many agents to sell our home in Berkeley but were both immediately drawn to Kate. She was the only realtor that we felt had the experience, the temperament, and tenacity. We have mentioned her name to other agents and other real estate professionals in the past and all expressed the same sentiment about her. We are very committed and happy to work with Kate when we sell our next home. read more

Kate helped us to buy our first home in April 2009, and she was a great advocate for us. Don't let her mild-mannered nature fool you. Kate will go to the mat for you. She has a great knowledge of the market and excellent instincts. When we bought, there was not too much supply in our price range, and consequently it was a competitive market. But Kate still negotiated to get us a fabulous house in a neighborhood we love for below asking price. During escrow, we really appreciated the team of inspectors and service folks that Kate has in her rolodex. From John Holmgren the mortgage broker, to Dave Venable the inspector, to Dan Marzilli the foundation guy, to Earle Chapman the electrician, we have found, without exception, Kate's people to be extremely competent, informative, and fair. Now that we've moved in, we're still pulling information from that rolodex. At closing Kate told us, "I'll be your realtor for life." She said it with an absolute awareness of how green we are as homeowners and how many times we would be calling her in the near future to get advice and help. We appreciate that she's there for us as much now as she was when we were in the market, and I think that says a lot about the kind of advocate she is. You'd be lucky to have her in your corner. read more

I worked with Kate to buy a home in Oakland. But that simple statement doesn't do justice to the process and to the amount of hand-holding, support and expertise that Kate provided. I seriously looked at between four to eight open houses pretty much every weekend for six months. Before finally closing on the right home I made several competitive offers, sometimes losing out to all-cash, zero-contingency offers, and sometimes going through multiple counter-offer bids with other potential buyers. In a sellers' market, it was a frustrating, sometimes tense experience. Somehow through it all, Kate was present and helpful. She maintained a positive sense of perspective, provided an empathetic and helpful ear, and never let us give up. She was a sounding board and a buffer and kept us looking forward to the perfect house that 'might be the next one we look at'. And she spent way too many of her free evenings taking us around to see houses for a second and third look. We ended up finding our perfect house, and Kate continued as a tireless & fierce advocate through the inspection, appraisal, and closing process, working closely with my mortgage provider, the title company, and the selling agent to make sure we were well represented in all aspects of the deal. I don't know that we'd be in our house today if it wasn't for Kate; and I certainly don't know we'd be in a house we're as over-the-top happy with if not for her. Highly recommended. read more