Soni helped negotiate the purchase of our phenomenal home, in a multiple-offer scenario…read more Your interests will always be paramount. Before I delve into what she did for us in our purchase, I feel it necessary to express that for me this is no ordinary Yelp review because I've never reviewed anyone whom I've felt is as undiscovered as Soni. Soni would never feel comfortable asking her clients for a testimonial; now that I know her better, I feel like she'd rather suffer death by a thousand cuts than impose upon her clients to write something up for her. In fact, I had to convince Soni to allow me to enter her into Yelp. To her own detriment, she always wants to help others. She is a supremely giving spirit, a beautiful, delightfully kind person. I didn't know Soni until we engaged her to help us find a home here in the city. By happenstance we met as fellow dog owners walking our dogs in the local park. She is a full-time agent who makes a living purely by word-of-mouth from her clients. If you've worked with agents before, I feel confident you'll notice a distinct contrast after working with Soni. She will always make time to speak with you. She will work with you with only your best interests in mind. I'm pretty sure we weren't any more special than any of her other clients but she made us feel cared after. I believe she serves each one of her clients with that same level of diligence and professionalism. I believe she cherishes her clients and it shows. Wisdom and Experience. She was right on the money with her recommendations on how we should proceed in our negotiations. During our negotiations, she kept her nose to the grindstone and worked into the late hours on several nights past midnight to make sure our interests were served. In our case, looking back (four months later) I realize that Soni understood at that time how pivotal timing was in our transaction - more than we had any idea because she was serenely calm during it all. We didn't realize how astute her advice was at the time. I'd wake up in the morning to see her late night emails to the seller's agent with paperwork dotting all our i's and crossing all our t's. Never a peep from Soni complaining about the difficulties we encountered during our purchase. And we had ours. A significant undisclosed surprise surfaced and Soni ensured that our contract was amended to address the matter, requiring money to be held in escrow until resolution (still not yet resolved yet so her advice again was golden). She dealt with other difficulties like ineptitude from a mortgage broker whom she specifically warned us beforehand not to use (but whom we used despite her warnings....yet she never mentioned a peep about it after we decided to use the lender). That lender eventually caused us to be in breach of our contract TWICE but Soni was masterful in how she helped us work through this with both the lender and seller's agent (who had a back-up offer clamoring to step up, hounding the agent to follow up on whether we would close). We closed without any penalty despite two extensions. There were some unusual characters involved in our story but Soni proved her skills in dealing with difficult personalities. Soni is a Master. Sometimes the extent of the value of a service professional is not fully evident during the service but we now know that the advice Soni provided us during our transaction was golden. If we were trying to get our home now, only four months later, we would not be in it today. I'm certain. This is why it's so important who you choose as your agent. In an age where we all can access MLS listings and check out properties ourselves, an agent's worth is in his/her wisdom and experience in successfully advocating your interests in a sale or purchase. Soni proved she's worth her salt when it comes to working through challenges in a transaction. She got us an absolute dreamy home with a killer view, fully furnished and under-priced due to market and situational timing. There was a critical piece of information that was pivotal in causing our home to be under-priced at that time and Soni was keenly aware of it and used it to get us into a home we otherwise would not be in if not for her astute awareness. We feel quite fortunate Soni was our advocate. When we are ready to sell, Soni will be our agent.

In all categories, Soni scores a big 5 stars in my book…read more First, she helped my boyfriend sell his condo with such ease that I was astounded. He had purchased the condo through Soni originally and she was diligent in helping with marketing, but to the finest detail. She even came over one weekend to plant flowers in the backyard. She was very honest and up-front about things we needed to fix in order to make the place appealing enough to sell, as well as what we did not need to spend money upgrading. A testimony to her skills--we sold the place on the first day it was on the market! What a relief considering it was just before Thanksgiving. Our split-decision to move ended up working so well, thanks to Soni. Next up, we worked with Soni to purchase our beautiful new home! Soni was very careful to never send us listings of homes we could not afford. This was in stark contrast to my previous realtor, who never seemed to listen to my budget. In fact, with the previous realtor, I had to find all of the properties to view myself because she would never send me anything that was in my stated price-range. Soni also always made herself available to give me a ride to an open house or meet me at an open house. She said she wanted to better understand what we liked about various properties to help us find the place of our dreams. She was very honest when she felt places were over priced or not worth the investment in required/desired upgrades. Again, working with Soni was exactly the opposite of my previous experience with a realtor who went with me one time to view properties. I was on my own for the rest. Finally, and I think most importantly, Soni represented us so well during our home purchase. When we discovered in the home inspection that the furnace was well-past its reasonable life expectancy, she helped us receive a credit from the buyers. She came to every appointment for follow-up and even helped us schedule these appointments. Additionally, we ended up with the worst mortgage broker on the face of the planet. We had to extend our contract twice and closed escrow over a week late. Soni gave us great advice and assisted us through the entire anxiety-inducing ordeal. We are so happy in our new home--and Soni is still following up with us to be sure all is going well! Now, step three is selling my condo--and you can bet, Soni will be my realtor. If you're looking to sell or purchase a home, Soni is truly an exceptional realtor who will provide you with great advice, excellent representation and is truly a joy to work with.

It was pure luck that we stumbled across Vera while buying a house, and we're so glad we did. As a…read morebuyer, I wasn't sure I needed a realtor, but Vera added a tremendous amount of value from the start. We had secured a pre-approval through Sofi, but their broker was not responsive at nights or weekends. This was especially problematic when they had sent a typo on the pre-approval paperwork. Vera found this unacceptable, and recommended we talk to another broker. We did so the very next day (Sunday). That broker was not only as on top of things as Vera, but also found us a much better loan option. That's just one of many examples where Vera was extremely organized and on top of every detail leading up to our closing date. She stayed on top of the brokers, the lenders, the title company, inspectors, and the sellers. It was such a relief knowing Vera was looking out for us. She'd text, email and call, responding immediately to any question or concern I had. We closed super quickly, and painlessly. She's also extremely sweet and caring. Our 4 year old son took to her immediately, and she even got him a gift when we closed. My son still asks about her. I'd sincerely recommend Vera to anyone looking to make sure their bases are covered when navigating the real estate market in SF.

So glad that we ran into Vera while looking for a new place to buy. Never thought that we'd have a…read morebuyer side agent till we met her. She's very passionate, knowledgeable, thoughtful, a great listener and always give you honest suggestions/advice. So far, she has helped us buy new places and to sell an old house. People who have bought/sold know an awesome agent can help you to make everything go smoothly, and give you reassurance when they do not. That's Vera! It has been a joy to work with her, and call her a friend. We can't imagine doing a real estate transaction without her. We've also introduced her to our friends, and they all love her as well.

Finding a new home is a lot of work, with a caring, skilled real estate professional on your side…read moreit makes this task bearable. We stumbled upon Ms Sunae Chon while visiting an open house. Sunae took the time to probe, asking what are we looking for 1) family home, or 2) investment. We are leaning towards an investment property and she was off running the MLS. Sunae is always positive and advises us on market trends, displaying down payment ratios, and sharing market comparisons. I honestly feel she has our best interest at heart. http://www.sunaechon.com/ Sunae Chon, Broker Phone: 415.321.7065 Cell: 415.377.2411 Fax: 415.321.7265 s@vanguardsf.com Vanguard Properties 2501 Mission Street San Francisco, CA 94110

Sunae is AMAZING! It is not easy work being a buyer's agent in SF. Competition is incredible and…read moreif you're a buyer without endless cash, it can be a bit disheartening knowing what you're up against. Sunae makes it all better. She is great at finding unique ways of gaining a competitive advantage without just throwing cash at an offer in hopes of not being the greater fool. Being first time SF home buyers, Sunae held our hand as we explored neighborhoods, property types, and local regulations and customs. In fact, we interviewed two other agents and ultimately chose her because she is incredibly responsive and is a tireless advocate for her clients. On more than one occasion we dealt with uncommunicative or downright shady sellers or agents and she was able to aptly shepherd us through their nonsense ensuring a positive outcome for us. In short, we love Sunae. She is relentlessly positive, has an incredible depth of knowledge of the market, and a phenomenal work ethic. I cannot recommend Sunae enough. We'll be using her for any future properties we buy in the Bay Area.

I was luckily enough to bump into Randy during my 1st home buying crusade. He was extremely…read morehelpful and aggressively helped me search for the right place. He's very knowledgeable about the home buying / mortgage process' and helped clarify things for me every step of the way, even though I am a thick headed PITA. He kept me regularly updated during escrow too. To top it off he was very easy to contact and was punctual in responding to voice mail and email. Prior to meeting Randy I was frustrated with the "car salesman-like" approach most real estate agents exude. Randy is a mellow, patient, honest guy who had my best interests in mind. Thanks Randy!!!

Randy Dean helped me shop for properties in San Francisco in 2007, when I was single and couldn't…read moreafford anything other than some very small TIC (Tenancy in Common) apartments ... and again in 2009 when I had my sweetheart with me, so we could pool our resources together and buy a house. What I like about Randy Dean is that he is 1. Very trustworthy 2. Very knowledgeable about building codes for San Francisco properties 3. Very upfront about drawbacks to any home you may want to purchase 4. An excellent writer (For one house that we put an offer on, Randy wrote up an awesome essay about the deficiencies of the home, and why it was that we wanted a lower price; that's a very powerful tool to have for negotiation.) 5. Available ... he always made time to be there for us for the inspections, and for any questions we had. 6. Very personable, communicative, and easy-going ... great personality, and a pleasure to work with. Also, Randy is very knowledgeable about buying and selling TIC's, so if you are going that route, I highly recommend that you look Randy up. In fact, I am investigating TIC's again, so ... that's why I'm looking Randy up, and that's how I found he's on yelp. Very cool. I'm glad to see the glowing recommendation by Alfonse P, as it reflected my experience with Randy, as well.

Arevik has been my realtor for over 20 years, successfully guiding me through both the purchase and…read moresale of two properties. She is extremely knowledgeable, smart, responsive, and unfailingly hardworking. She truly makes her clients and the partnership a priority. During my most recent sale, we wanted to get the house on the market as quickly as possible. Arevik somehow managed to put together an exceptional marketing strategy and coordinate all of the moving parts seamlessly. Her attention to detail made such a difference. Arevik is warm and friendly, yet also a strong and highly skilled negotiator. Her determination and expertise resulted in the best possible outcome; I am extremely happy. I highly recommend her to anyone looking for an outstanding and caring real estate agent!

Arevik is amazing! From start to finish, she was always there--super responsive and supportive. She…read moreput in so much time and energy walking me through every step, and even managed to close the deal while I was out of town. Thanks to her, we got a great place in San Francisco at a solid price. If you want someone who really cares and delivers, Arevik's your person. Highly recommend her! -- Anna H.

6 stars out of 5. Jeff is such a top notch agent that made the stressful real estate purchase…read moreprocess painless and seamless for me, every step of the way. He's always super responsive and on top of everything, even more so than the principals! He also knows the market and the neighborhood so well and is patient and transparent. The level of professionalism and also real estate expertise is bar none. I couldn't imagine doing this with another agent.

Jeff helped my wife and I buy our first home last year. He was incredibly knowledgeable and…read morehardworking. He appears to be well respected in the SF real estate community as multiple selling agents commented that we were getting great advice from Jeff. Most importantly, Jeff helped us get a great deal on our dream home!

Our experience with Nicole & Lenny representing us as first time home buyers was absolutely…read morefantastic! They were kind, thorough, strategic, and just genuinely fun people to go on this journey with! I would also say, there are a lot of perks to getting a duo in terms of availability. They were beyond willing to see properties with us outside of our primary neighborhood that we initially told them we were looking in. It was more important to them that we found the RIGHT house. Nicole & Lenny also helped us navigate any complex home buying processes. Their willingness to walk line by line on contractual documents many times over was instrumental in helping us become more confident and crafting the most competitive offer as a team. In the end, we were able to have our offer accepted on a very competitive house due to their strategic prowess. They also put in a lot of work into orchestrating inspections and getting estimates for any repairs required. Their connections to local experts in the trades were second to none. Nicole & Lenny were strong negotiators and were really adept at balancing the buyer's needs while ensuring the transaction itself went smoothly. This is not always an easy balance to strike. They made the whole process fun and exciting, even during the stressful moments. We highly recommend them, especially for first-time home buyers. We're incredibly grateful for all their hard work and couldn't imagine working with a better team!

I hardly ever write reviews, but had to for Nicole. To say that she went above and beyond to…read moresecure us our dream home is a complete understatement. For context, we are first-time buyers and completely new to the insanity that is the Bay Area real estate market. It's incredibly important, especially if you're a first-time buyer in the Bay, to partner with a seasoned agent who is dedicated, communicative, transparent, and willing to go above and beyond. Nicole is all of this - and more. Over the course of 6 months, Nicole toured dozens of homes with us throughout the Bay. We never felt pushed or pressured into making an offer. Additionally, we were those clients who would change their mind last minute about placing an offer, and she was always supportive and validating - it was so clear she wanted us to find THE perfect home just as much as we did. When we finally found our dream single-family home in Berkeley, and placed an offer, Nicole's expertise and experience truly shined: she helped us craft an unbeatable offer, utilizing all of her tips and tricks as a seasoned agent. Our offer came out on top amongst multiple offers, without even having to go over our budget. This was all during the height of the COVID real estate boom, when it was seemingly impossible to get and offer accepted. Between offer-accept and close, there were a number of last-minute emergencies, namely due to miscommunications with the lender. Nicole went above and beyond by proactively advocating for us, taking the lead, and putting out these fires. I firmly believe we would have fell out of contract had it not been for Nicole's leadership and expertise here. Experience and expertise aside, Nicole is a warm and kind partner. She truly cares for her clients, and genuinely wants them to find their dream home. This kind of authenticity can be rare, and we were beyond lucky to have had her by our side this past year! Thank you Nicole!

Stephanie is a great realtor - she is knowledgeable, friendly, helpful and kind. She is honest and…read moreethical - she's obviously not in the business of just churning through clients, trying to make a sale. She helped me through an atypical purchase, offering advice and guidance along the way that proved invaluable. She also made some great referrals to others in her network, and I found them all to be trustworthy and respectable as well. I highly recommend contacting Stephanie if you're looking to sell your home, and/or buy a new one!

Simply put, Stephanie is incredible. She is the epitome of integrity. After interviewing her it…read morewas clear that she really knows her stuff. She knows the SF market and is also quite wise about those looking to head to the east bay for something more affordable. We were unsure of when we would be able to get serious about buying a place but her advice and recommendations were really useful. She was clearly happy to spend time talking to me even through it wasn't clear when/if we would be buying something. When our landlord let us know they would be willing to sell our current rental to us and suggested a price I called Stephanie for advice. She did some initial research and then told me the price they were offering was excellent for our neighborhood. I asked her what her commission would be for an off market deal. SHE RECOMMENDED WE USE A LAWYER INSTEAD OF HER TO HANDLE THE TRANSACTION BECAUSE IT WOULD BE A BETTER DEAL FOR EVERYONE INVOLVED. She gave up a good commission because she has integrity and she is committed to really helping people. Needless to say if we are ever able to buy another place she will be our realtor. There are a lot of realtors out there. You can go with one that cares about making tons of money or one that is smart and dedicated to helping people long term.