Faye: I recently bought a commercial property in Walnut Creek and couldn't be happier with Snow…read moreBentley's help. She took the time to understand my investment goals, quickly brought me several strong options, and then worked her magic at the negotiating table. Snow delivered impressive results: a meaningfully lower purchase price, seller contributions to closing costs and repairs, plus contract terms that gave me excellent protection and future flexibility. Those concessions made a big difference to my bottom line. Her steady guidance kept the entire process straightforward and focused on what mattered most to me. Snow is a true professional--I highly recommend her to anyone buying commercial real estate.

Just wanted to give a huge shoutout to Snow! As a restaurant owner opening in San Jose, I was…read morepretty stressed about scoring a solid lease in this crazy competitive market. Snow totally nailed it -- she found me a killer high-visibility spot with great foot traffic and the perfect kitchen setup. She negotiated like a boss and got me lower rent, a solid tenant improvement allowance, free rent during build-out, and flexible terms that saved us a ton of cash. The whole process was super smooth and way less stressful than I expected. Snow is the real deal -- highly recommend her to any restaurant owner!

Melanie went stratospherically beyond our expectations from a realtor while selling our home. She's…read moreextremely knowledgeable, patient, and communicative. During the entire selling process, Melanie was on-site most days of the week and handled everything for us. I could not have hoped for a better realtor to work with and I cannot recommend her highly enough!

Melanie helped us to buy our home in Orinda last month. She is truly a local expert on the…read moreneighborhoods of the Lamorinda area. We appreciated the time that she spent with us getting to know our family, and she was great with our daughters who weren't always enthusiastic to join us on house tours. Melanie has a very strong network of realtors in this area, which makes her well positioned to advise buyers on a potential sale price. We trusted her instincts, and had our offer accepted on our dream home - the first offer we made in Orinda! Even after our house closed, she has been extremely helpful and responsive to all of our questions. I can't recommend her enough!

I did a deal with Ben and the Payum team. I repped the buyer and they repped the seller. Ben and…read morehis team were professional, punctual, and efficient. Their communication was second to none and they were on top of everything. I wish every deal I do has Ben on the other side of it. Highly recommend!

Hard to share just how wonderful of an experience I had with Ben and his team…read more I bought a house with them last summer and they were so professional and organized. There are no words,,, they are just so good!! I am a single working mother and I did not have time to mess around. Can you believe we got the first house I offered on! Its true! Ben knows the market and he has good relationships with the other realotors. He and his team clearly value their integrity and put the needs of thier customers first. The whole office is staffed with excellent communicators and they respond so fast, I thought I was in a time warp. I felt like the stars aligned when I bought my house and it was because the staff at Paymun know what they are doing. They helped me all along the way. I am very blessed to have had them on my side. What a great experience!!!

Vlatka was our realtor when we sold our home and moved out of state in 2023. Much as we loved it,…read morethe house needed updating. Vlatka was a huge help with that, first by providing great design advice, and then by connecting us with excellent painters, etc, who did the work quickly and at a price we could afford. While getting the place ready to sell, we found problems that required complex repairs to pass inspection, and, again, she recommended professionals, people she had worked with before, who met our schedule and did the work within our budget. Finally, she helped us decide how to price the house in a very tricky market, such that it sold quickly and for more than we were expecting. Vlatka is a gem. She's a great communicator and genuinely cares about her clients. We highly recommend her to anyone looking for an excellent realtor.

I can't say enough good things about our experience with Vlatka Bathgate as our seller's agent in…read moreOrinda, CA. From the moment we decided to list our property, Vlatka's dedication and expertise shone through. Vlatka's knowledge of the local market was impressive.Throughout the entire selling process, Vlatka demonstrated professionalism and a keen attention to detail. She guided us through each step, making it all seem so easy. Her negotiation skills truly paid off, ensuring we got the best value for our property. One thing that truly stood out was Vlatka's excellent communication. She was always available to answer our questions, provide updates, and offer advice. This level of responsiveness made us feel valued and taken care of. We can't thank Vlatka Bathgate enough for her exceptional service. She made selling our home a smooth and stress-free experience. If you're looking for a seller's agent in Lamorinda area we highly recommend Vlatka. She's a true professional who gets results. Thank you, Vlatka!

We recently worked with Kristi and Lisa to sell our home in Moraga, and the experience was truly…read moreincredible. From start to finish, they were professional, knowledgeable, and super pleasant to work with. They provided excellent guidance on pricing, home preparation, and staging. We trusted their advice completely, and it paid off--we ended up getting more for our home than we anticipated. It is clear that their expertise in strategy and prep made all the difference. Beyond the results, they were just great to handle the process with. They are responsive, proactive, and always do exactly what they say they will. If you are looking for agents who really know what they are doing, I advise you to trust Kristi and Lisa. We couldn't be happier!

Lisa and Kristi are a wonderful team. We bought and sold a house with them over the past (3)…read moremonths and we couldn't have done it without them. For the purchase of our new home... 1) Lisa and Kristi have an amazing network. We needed to put in an offer in a single day and they mobilized their network to get us pre-approved for a loan, insurance secured, and a few last minute visits to the house for 'mini-inspections'. 2) Lisa and Kristi have access to tons of 'pocket listings'. They are part of Compass, which runs most of the listings in our area, but they are well-connected w/ the broader real estate community to understand what's coming, what are the details, and what is a fair price. 3) Lisa and Kristi have great knowledge of what to look out for. There were more than a couple things that they caught, which saved us time, money, and headaches. For the sale of our existing home... 1) They keep a pulse on the market, which shifted in the (2) months between when we bought and when we sold. The level of pricing insight was essential to have a successful outcome, and much better than any ChatGPT analysis :) 2) They know what buyers are looking for, which then drives how they prep and stage the houes. They were very communicative, open to ideas / suggestions, and timely. 3) They understand how home selling works, and paced us to ensure that we set offer dates, reviewed bids, and asked for more when it made sense. All in all, they are a great team that complements each other well. We went from home viewing to offer accepted in 5 days for our purchase, and we went from listing to accepted bid in 5 days on our sale.

Jim has been fantastic assisting my husband and me to sell our house in Walnut Creek (we had used…read morehim to buy the house originally as he was recommended as part of a company move to the Bay Area). We made the decision to sell quite quickly while we also had various travel commitments coming up. Jim not only worked with our time line but also assisted us with getting the house cleaned out, have various contractors come to fix things and just overall getting everything ready. By the time we were back in town, only a few things were left to do before we were able to put the house on the market. After less than 5 business days we had various offers and were able to sell above the asking price. We definitely recommend Jim for any future real estate needs!

We starting working with Jim Ellis in February 2020. He was recommended by a friend who especially…read moreappreciated Jim's listening skills, patience, and years of experience as a real estate agent. We wanted to find a larger house in the Oakland/Alameda area to share with an elderly parent and sell the Oakland house we had lived in for 33 years. Due to all the uncertainties caused by COVID-19, we decided to sit out 2020 and early 2021 and started up house hunting again in April 2021. The Bay Area real estate market has never been crazier and Jim helped us negotiate all of it with a steady hand and wise counsel. His advice about improvements and repairs to make to our Oakland home was realistic and sound. His network of tradespeople, from flooring to painting, was invaluable. It is not an exaggeration to say that without exception, everyone we worked with had nothing but good things to say about Jim Ellis. He kept us on track with a firm hand and the result was a house that showed beautifully and sold well above asking. Did I mention that Jim is an extremely patient person? Early on he stressed that house buying is a process. We looked at many, many houses over the course of the year and never once did we feel any pressure to buy. He always emphasized that he wanted us to feel completely comfortable about our decision. Though we were priced out of Alameda and Oakland, we ended up in a truly beautiful mid-century modern house in the San Leandro hills that ticked most of the boxes we had established at the beginning of the search. Both the buying and selling process went very smoothly, we believe largely due to Jim's skills and years of experience in the field. He was always on top of what needed to be done and lines of communication were always open. I'll close with an example that demonstrates Jim's keen listening skills and illustrates perfectly who Jim is as a person. The new house we bought has an electric induction cooktop. I mentioned in passing to Jim that probably some of our pots and pans wouldn't work with induction technology. In less than a week after our conversation, Jim presented us with a beautiful set of cookware all compatible with an induction cooktop. Typical Jim Ellis thoughtfulness. It was a pleasure working with him.

Sold a Condo in Orinda…read more Review for Meredith Petersen Lucky for me, Meredith Petersen was my real estate agent. Meredith is VERY knowledgeable about the process of buying a new home and her years of experience show in the way she does her work. In addition, she has a combination of wonderful qualities that definitely help all the people involved in the process. When I think of Meredith, I remember and still value her warm and friendly personality and, even more important, her GREAT sense of humor. Given that her customers are in the nervewracking process of selling their former home and some are involved in a major move to a completely new area, those qualities are helpful and supportative to both the buyer and the seller alike. At the very end, my daughter and I were of course very happy that we sold my condo and that we were able to do it much earlier than we had anticipated. However, for both of us, that meant that we would no longer be seeing and talking to Meredith on a regular basis and, as strange as that may sound, we literally felt sad when it came time to say goodbye! Judy White

We felt very fortunate to meet Meredith as we were beginning our search for a home in Lamorinda. As…read morea resident of Orinda, she is extremely knowledgeable about the area, the schools, and is well-known and respected by all of the agents we came across on the sell-side as we were looking for a home. She worked hard to understand what we were looking for for our growing family and we felt like she just "got it." Ultimately Meredith not only helped educate us about the area and delineate between different neighborhoods, but also guided us through the process of selling our condo in San Francisco, which led to our contingent offer being accepted on our dream home in Orinda. During the closing process, she went above and beyond for us, connecting us with contractors to take care of some necessary repairs in the home, and even meeting with them at the house to walk them through the project when we weren't able to be there. Meredith is supportive, strategic and hard-working and we are so grateful to her for helping us make the move to our new home!

Patrice and her team, most notably Liz, worked so hard to help us find and purchase our first…read morehome. We knew right away that we were in good hands. As first time homebuyers, her style really put us at ease. We are grateful for her decades of experience, knowledge, kindness (to all parties involved), attention to detail, dedication, and patience with us throughout the process. She is a true professional.

When we were looking for a house, we stopped at an open house hosted and listed by Patrice…read moreSandstrom of the Sandstrom Group. This was our first encounter with Patrice. We were all impressed by her knowledge and professionalism about the industry, market, and the area we were interested in. We were wowed by her upbeat, positive attitude. Not having a realtor to represent us as buyers, we chose the Sandstrom Group. It was one of the best decisions we made. Not only did they (team member Liz) supply us with listing to evaluate and visit, Patrice showed us several houses. That's what you would expect from any realtor. However, the service provided by this group went well above and beyond. When certain construction obstacles became apparent, Patrice negotiated a favorable settlement to cover the additional costs of correcting these issues. As you may expect, the closing took place without any hiccups. Here's is where the difference between the Sandstrom Group and other realtors becomesapparent. They didn't just close the file, Patrice and her team were extremely helpful with our home warranty claims, even following up about the service we received. In closing, I highly recommend the Sandstrom Group whether you're buying or selling. They will be there for you 100% for the entire process. Awesome.

My husband and I selected Katie Macks as our real estate agent to sell our home in Berkeley. We…read moreare thrilled and delighted that she delivered all that she promised in her initial meeting with us, bringing us the Highest Possible Price while making sure that we didn't leave any of our money on the table. We were also able to accomplish this within our very narrow time constraints. In every phase, from inspection reports to showing the property, to negotiating with the buyer's agent to closing the transaction, Katie did exactly what she said she would do and more, showing great respect to all parties involved and always working on our behalf to protect our interests and pocketbook with a big smile and a great attitude! Throughout the entire process we knew that she had our best interest at heart. Katie is a consummate professional, is savvy and knowledgeable about the market, and has an amazing work ethic that provided us with the results that we were looking for! In our opinion, anyone looking to buy or sell his or her home would be so very fortunate to have Katie represent them.

Katie, thank you for everything!!…read more You did not just find us a house, you really found us a home. One we know we will be in for the rest of our lives, we could not be happier. From the moment we met you we felt we had a real connection. Your professionalism & expertise not only in the local real estate market but also in the nuances necessary during these times were fabulous. In addition to your real estate wisdom, we really felt the personal touch you also provided was outstanding. You really made sure we understood what was happening at every step of the way & more importantly you took time to ask us how we felt about things & then listened to what we had to say. We know we never would have gotten our home without all your help. Thanks for everything! Richard & Cathy H

Patti, helped us buy our home in Moraga back in 2003 and just helped us sell the same home over the…read morelast several weeks. Sue and I in 2003 knew immediately we were in good hands given her extensive knowledge of the market, the varied neighborhoods we considered and the quality of schools in each instance. She found us a home with great upside and excellent schools for our 4 yr old daughter and 9 year old son. Over the years Patti stayed in touch, and we didn't hesitate to seek her assistance and expertise again as we had raised our children and prepared to sell our home. She is the consummate professional, always communicating any changes in the market, adjusting our approach where needed to ensure we secured the best outcome. We would happily recommend her services to any family and close friends as confident she would deliver for them as well. Tim & Sue Winkler

The best. Patti has sold 3 homes for us now in 3 different East Bay cities. She has out done…read moreherself every time. She's detailed, smart as a whip and the team of folks she works with are top notch as well. I highly recommend Patti to anyone looking to buy or sell a home in the Bay Area.