Anya and Collette were my agents for the sale of my home in Berkeley. They did what they said (got…read morethe best price) they promised to work in my best interests (and they did). And, they did this professionally and responsibly. The home was in perfect condition to be sold. I could not recommend more highly the fine work these women did. They are the best in Berkeley.

Okay, folks...there's another star in the real estate firmament!…read more We went to a number of open houses in our area today.I know, we're real estate junkies but what do *you* do of a Sunday afternoon when you're all dressed up with no where to go without spending money? Stumbled in on a spectacular house that had been remodeled under our watchful eyes. It was a golden opportunity for us to see how gentry lives...this house in Albany, CA is listed at $995,000 and they are going to get the full price for sure! Alexis Thompson was showing the house. The the house had an open fire place, cherry flooring, Mediterranian kitchen, private upstairs balcony...the setting looked like a portrait from Architectural Digest. It was wonderful indeed. To her credit, Alexis didn't ask us to take our shoes off. In fact, she was genuinely nice, genuinely interested in us, and most charitable *not* to notice our doggy bags of take-out Thai. I exaggerate. We ate *after* the open house. But you get my drift...Alexis treated us like interesting folks who just *might* have enough money to plunk down on the house despite our outward appearances. We wish her well on the sale of this house, and in her real estate career. She'll do well. Grubb people, you have yourself a winner! And I say this despite my love of chocolate chip cookies. The cookies were sadly lacking....but Mykah Larkins had them at her open house just down the road. Mykah was showing a sweet little two bedroom that we could easily see would soon occupy a young family who wanted to be near Harding School. Alexis, Mykah...you guys ROCK as realtors! Good to know that real people are in the real estate business! Keep shining, ladies!

For the past 3 years that I've been living and working in Boston, my tax lady has been telling me…read morethat I need to purchase property. I finally bit the bullet this year, and I couldn't have done it without Ana's expertise. From the first phone call we had, I was impressed by her thorough attention to detail, intimate knowledge of the areas in which I was interested (Arlington, Brighton, Watertown), and vibrant personality. Sometimes you just click with people, and I loved that I did with Ana. She's a phenomenal resource to have on your side as you embark on your real estate journey--and easily accessible via email, phone, or text. She gave me access to condo listings, emailed me in real time once units came onto the market in which she knew I'd be interested, and called me with important updates. Ana's really on top of her game! This is probably why I was able to find my perfect place the first DAY we saw condos together... and why my offer was accepted that same evening. She really knows what she's doing and walks you through the process, making sure you know what you're doing, what you're comfortable with, and what you can put on the table in order to make a competitive offer (especially important now in this recently turned seller's market). Ana is amenable to meeting you wherever is most convenient for you to drop off/pick up documents (like your P&S) and was a constant fixture during my inspection, final walkthrough, closing, etc. Plus, she's uber well-connected and has really great recommendations for everything from mortgage lenders to home inspectors to painters--in fact, I've used every single one of her recommendations! She's really just an incredible person--personable and professional--and will definitely be one of the first people I call the next time I'm in the market for more real estate. Thanks, Ana, for all your help--and the adorable apron and awesome wine with which you gifted me today at my closing... I really appreciate it all! :-)

My husband and I contacted Anastasia when we decided to begin looking for homes. Anastasia was…read moreprompt with her responses from the get go. She was very informed about the state of real estate in San Francisco and proactive in seeking out information that was relevant to the property purchase. She took time to patiently answer all of our questions. What impressed us most about Anastasia was her willingness to act with the urgency needed to make a purchase in a competitive market. In addition to acting as our buyers agent, Anastasia provided exceptional customer service. We felt she was definitely putting our interests first. She made sure all of our transactions went smoothly, kept us updated on timelines and even made sure the apartment was cleaned up before she gave us our keys. All in all, we were very happy to have her represent our interests in our first home purchase.

My very first yelp review ! A well deserved 5 star rating goes to (drum roll please...) Alicia Tam,…read moreour agent at Barbagelata. We've decided to invest in San Francisco after selling a rental in South Bay as a 1031 exchange, Alicia was referred to us by the selling agent in South bay, lucky us. From the first contact to the completion of the transaction followed by the after sale services, she has been pleasant, responsive, efficient and always consider our best interest as her priority. Due to the time limit with 1031, we had to move fast. We purchased a bank owned property through bidding, closed escrow in record time. Not familiar with SF at all, Alicia made sure that we were well protected. We made significant improvements at the property, Alica kept in close contact by referring contractors, monitoring the work, sending us video/pictures to report progress. She also volunteered to help us rent the property, in fact she is the one who brought potential renters to see our property and got the place rented with top dollars. I highly recommend Alicia Tam as one of the best real estate Agent in San Francisco. The above review is from over 2 years ago, we are still very happy with the property and the wonderful services provided by Alicia.

Alicia got us into the places we wanted to see that other realtors said they couldn't. She was…read morealways responsive and kept all the moving pieces in order. Without her, we would not have landed our current home. Whenever we sell or look for another place, we will be going back to Alicia. My recommendation for her work is of the highest regard.

Rosie was outstanding in helping us purchase our first home in the Bay. From the beginning, she…read morelistened to my husband and I's need; she asked all the right questions. As we viewed homes, Rosie pointed out positives and negatives, while also giving us the space to independently get a feel for our own likes/dislikes. When it came time to pull the trigger, she was invaluable. Rosie gave us all the resources to make a smart bid and she was indispensable in closing the deal. We're delighted to have worked with her.

If I had 500 stars, I'd give them all to Rosie the Realtor. An acquaintance recommended her after…read morewe fired our dud realtor, and we were wary. Could she work around our limited schedule and deal with ever-present, ever-loud twins in the background? Could she really find us a liveable house in our price range, in a good neighborhood, with good schools? Thanks to Rosie, I'm now a homeowner. I never thought it could happen! And Rosie was there every step of the way, with a smile and an efficient can-do attitude. Even in our bargain basement price range, she treated us like we were million dollar clients. She saved us from a number of pitfalls, helped us where others failed, and never ever wavered in her communication. With her blackberry, she was practically available 24x7! Rosie exceeded every expectation I had, delighted me in areas I didn't think to have expectations, and was a bulldog when she needed to be, badgering sluggish paper-pushers to make sure we closed as quickly as possible. I cannot recommend Rosie more highly. Call her, and you'll be pleased. Go with the service providers she recommends -- they are all true professionals as she is, and won't want to let her down. I own a house! Thank you, Rosie!!!

2-YEAR UPDATE. I wanted to be clear that I was not asked to give a review or update my review. When…read moreI receive exceptional service I feel that it deserves acknowledgment. It's been almost two years since we purchased our home with Cynthia by our side. Over the past two years, we've had a few unexpected issues and questions that arose from time to time, and Cynthia was right there to take our call and offer assistance where she could. We are first-time homeowners, so we needed someone with experience and knowledge. Cynthia has exceeded our expectations at every turn. I really can't recommend Cynthia enough for all of her hard work and dedication to this venture. Buying a home is a massive accomplishment and a convoluted process. Having someone with her expertise and integrity guiding us was essential to navigating the world of homeownership. Thank you, Cynthia. You've been there for us before and two years after the sale. We enjoyed seeing you at our house-warming party, aka CRE8ICON. We hope to see you at CRE8ICON 2 in October.

Seriously, stop looking: you just found the best Realtor in the Bay! Cynthia helped my husband and…read moreI find our *dream home* in Oakland. We're so fortunate to have worked with her and can't recommend her highly enough! We interviewed 30+ Realtors when we began house hunting and Cynthia was by far the best--working with her reinforced this. She's a house whisperer for first-time homebuyers, helping us figure out what we *really* wanted/needed in our first home. Having Cynthia's deep knowledge of the local market helped us avoid huge mistakes (did you notice the noisy school bus stop in front of the house, nope--but Cynthia knows all about it!) and discover neighborhoods we hadn't known about when we first began house hunting. She knows her stuff and taught us how to spot a money pit beneath nice paint and real gems under a bit of bad wallpaper. She is also really connected (everyone knows and loves her!) which is a huge advantage over the other agents we looked at. Her reputation for integrity, authenticity, and professionalism speaks for itself and opened SO many doors for us, people wanted to work with us because we were working with her. She's really patient (we were super picky and OCD!) and super on top of it--seriously, we would often text her a house we liked and she'd respond in what felt like seconds later with all the details we needed to know make an informed decision about if we wanted to see it or not. She saved us time, she saved us money, and she saved our sanity. Also, she is one of the most genuine and kind people I've ever met--she met us before we were even engaged but over the years has not only totally made our home dreams come true but has become a dear friend and part of our family (she was at our wedding and our baby calls her Auntie Cynthia these days). We have recommended her to our friends and she's helped them find great homes too so now it's time to spread the love to the larger Yelp community. If you're looking to buy or sell a house in the Bay work with Cynthia, it will be one of the best decisions you'll ever make!

Heather Headley gave a presentation in downtown Oakland for the first-time home buyers programs…read moreavailable to prospective homeowners. Initially, I thought I would finally put my Veteran's Affairs benefits to some use and settle into a single family home, thinking that my modest single-Dad's income and average credit history was an obstacle to residential investment income. Well, after barraging her with questions in the class I began to see that there possibly was room in my life for investing in multifamily real estate after all without having to be a former millionaire dot-com investor enjoying early retirement. I made sure to get her card at the end of the class as I planned to contact her depending on how flexible my bank was going to be in terms of securing enough funds to pick up a reasonable property. For the first three months of my house-hunting process I went with a different company than Mason-Mcduffie, paired up with an agent I'd found through REMAX. I found my options seemed very limited with a VA loan, which tend to operate on very conservative parameters that I found too limiting. With the VA loan guarantee I could only shop for single family homes, which is a shame because multifamily is such a better business prospect for G.I.s re-entering civilian life and their families, and rarely came across duplexes that looked worth my time (using an alternate FHA rehab loan). So, I stopped looking. Another year passed during which time I had taken on a roommate and taken on a second and third job in order to build more of a nest egg and higher level of income history. About 15 months from when I first started looking I recalled how much more feasible multifamily investment property sounded when I took the class taught by Heather Headley, so I contacted her via email and phone and started the process all over again through Mason-Mcduffie. This was well worth my time. Going FHA / HUD, Heather Headley did some number voodoo and the figures looked far better on paper this go around--the lending terms were less constricting than through the VA, the interest rates were a lot better than the first mortgage company I went with, the real estate supply in Oakland had lived through another 12 months of slow death, and Heather at Mason-Mcduffie helped me secure a far better financing arrangement than I'd found with the previous lender. We were in close contact throughout the whole process, either via phone or email. She took the time to make sure I understood all the terms of financing clearly, explaining everything in simplest terms in a very straightforward manner. Not only that, but she put me in touch with an excellent real estate agent named David Richman who helped me scour Oakland for the best deal that, also, thankfully, turned out to be for sale by owner rather than in foreclosure or a bank-owned home. The two worked together very hard for the next 30 days to help make my first home purchase a reality. Things came together much more quickly this second time around and now, I'm not only a homeowner I'm also an investor with a starter property to live in and rent to tenants while building my real estate investment portfolio. I've now held the property for almost a year and from a work-life balance/business standpoint it was the best investment I could have made. If I didn't love my three jobs so much, I could quit my DotCom gig in the city, the freelancing work on the side, keep the part-time night job, take on a roommate. I could just manage my property full time and I'd be a happy urban farmer with a productive veggie garden, some hens, and a goat, occasionally enjoying the sound of frogs croaking in the creek out back while sitting on my porch with my guitar. Actually, now that doesn't sound like a half bad idea. Hmmm... Heather Headley at Mason-McDuffie is great and she'll be the first person I contact when I decide to refi. If you are currently undecided about which company to go with, are a single veteran looking to buy a first home and considering having a go at three or four unit multiplex properties (inflexibility of VA terms exclude these types of properties--LAME), get in touch with Heather Headley. She helped me make it happen.

I can't tell you how amazing Heather is!…read more If you are shopping for a home loan you want to work with her. She looks after you and makes things go smooth. She patiently explains and effectively gathers all the information necessary without making it feel like pulling teeth. I will always go with her, there's just no other way.

Just wanted to give Melissa a big thumbs up! We are so thankful for all your help…read more Ten years ago Melissa gave us sound advice through a tricky short sale home purchase. My wife and I were able to secure a loan and successfully move into our dream home. This was our first home purchase and short sales aren't the easiest, yet Melissa taught us so much about the process. Four years later we were able to ask Melissa for help refinancing our home; this resulted in saving us thousands in the long-term. Just recently we contacted Melissa about a cash-out refinance. My wife and I were purchasing a second home abroad and needed extra funds in a very short time frame. Melissa came through for us! We still can't believe how smooth every thing went. Thank you Melissa; you're the best. (We also want to thank Chicago Title for their additional help).

Melissa is a true professional gem in the mortgage world. She just helped me refinance my mortgage…read moreand I cannot recommend her more highly. She's very responsive, provides information clearly and makes this stressful process very manageable. I'm only going to use her for all of my home financing needs and I'd recommend her to anyone who has finance or refinancing needs.

Kendra recently helped me sell my 1br condo in San Francisco. I could not have asked for a smoother…read moreprocess. She had in-depth knowledge of the market, trusted connections, and an excellent supporting team. Kendra knew the particular building better than anyone, which really helped us move forward quickly. She was easy to work, responsive, and help keep me up to date throughout the process. Kendra and her team were able to quickly find a perfect motivated buyer and we ended up selling the property off-market in only 2 weeks!

The housing market in San Francisco is crazy! If it wasn't for Kendra, I could be living somewhere…read morefar away from the city. Thanks to Kendra, I live in a condo of my dream! She understood my comfort zone that never pushed anything beyond that, and led me take the time to look for a property that's right for me. When I did find the place of my dream, she helped me write a letter to the seller. Apparently, the letter made a big difference for the seller when she was going through multiple offers. Also, the seller's agent got along really well with Kendra (because she's so amiable) that it may have influenced the seller's decision!? I am so convinced that I got my place because Kendra was my agent. She lives in San Francisco herself that she truly understands the neighborhoods. If anyone is looking to buy or sell a place, I highly recommend Kendra.