I highly recommend Maya Arechiga as the Realtor to sell your home. She really offers full service…read more She helped us formulate a plan to get our Mom's home ready for sale. As we were out-of-town, she was able to get all the contractors we needed to clear out, spruce up and repair the home. The work got done in a very expedited fashion, and the house sold for a very good price!

When my mother died, we soon realized that we would need to sell her home in El Cerrito and that…read morethere was a huge amount of work to do: emptying the house, including selling, donating and hauling and deciding what would be cost effective to do to fix up the house for sale. We were faced with finding contractors in an area we didn't live in anymore and many other issues. All this in an emotionally fraught time. I am so glad we called Maya Arechiga early in the process. We had intended to bring in a realtor at some point, but my sister-in-law suggested we get someone's opinion on what to do in the house early on. Maya knew just what to do with the house considering our budget and got our approval for every expense. She knows so many people! She knew a wonderful estate-sale person who set up an estate sale for us (pro-tip: don't take stuff to Goodwill until after the estate sale) and has relationships with many contractors who have worked with her on previous projects. If she did not have a contractor that she knew for a specific job, she lined up several for us to meet and chose from. Though not a general contractor (she doesn't handle the money), she was with us every step of the way and helped us find solutions to every problem that came up. She is very professional and experienced - just what we needed. Ultimately our house sold for much more than we expected. There were several bids and the high bidder was a family that I'm sure will enjoy the house for many years to come. I recommend Maya highly, she is energetic, responsible and relatable.

Hilary Davis with Bay Area Modern, recently sold my home in Novato, and I couldn't have asked for a…read morebetter experience. She's a true gem--professional, knowledgeable, creative, and an expert in the local real estate market. Hilary went above and beyond to help with every detail, from preparing and staging my home to creating a fantastic website and video that helped it sell quickly. She has been with me every step of the way. I highly recommend her to anyone buying or selling in the area!

Hilary is by far the best Realtor we have ever worked with, hands down. We've bought four other…read morehomes in the San Francisco Bay Area, and in our past experiences, the agents we've worked with haven't done a whole lot of legwork for us, instead placing the burden of finding a property squarely on our shoulders. What a difference with Hilary! Our first meeting with her, she drove us around and showed us neighborhoods, taking the time to go over each area in detail. When she sent us MLS listings, she was incredibly responsive when we had questions about properties we were interested in, and she always made the time to show us places we wanted to see. She even filmed a walk-through of a home for us when we weren't able to get out to see it that day. The other wonderful thing about Hilary is that she KNOWS Marin County. I'm a lifelong Bay Area resident and thought I understood the ins and outs of Marin pretty thoroughly. Well, Hilary's deep knowledge of this area blew mine completely out of the water. Because she was born and raised here, she knows the county like the back of her hand, and she understands the pros and cons of living in each of the various towns. We also loved that while Hilary highlighted the positives of the various properties, she also did not sugarcoat the negatives. Early on, there was one home near the top of our price range that we were interested in, and it would have been easy for her to make a quick sale if she just showered praise on it. Instead, while she did say positive things about the home, she also pointed out negatives we hadn't thought of, and we decided to pass. Through Hilary's hard work and diligence, we eventually found the perfect home for our family. I should also add that we were looking in a popular price range, which made the market very competitive. The house we ended up purchasing was one we had seen on the MLS but had dismissed due to a faulty assumption. Hilary suggested we go check it out, anyway, and when we saw it in person we knew it was "the one". She carefully crafted an offer for us and the home was ours. We are very grateful to Hilary for her help and expertise. She was with us through every step of the process, going above and beyond with every aspect of the experience. She was always accommodating, super proactive, patient, and extremely knowledgeable. We couldn't have asked for a better guide.

A lot has changed in how houses are bought and sold since the last time I was in the market (1996)…read moreand Maria explained these up-front and I took notes. Sure enough, she was right about each point. I thought seeing dozens of photos of the houses on Zillow would give me enough information. But I quickly learned there's no substitute for going in-person with someone who knows what they're doing and can reveal the good, the bad, and the ugly about a given house and neighborhood. Maria knew the market, the area, and the other agents involved. I made my offer just as she recommended and it was accepted with no drama or fuss, and then she worked hard to get all my questions answered before the closing. I was expecting escrow to be as fun as a root canal from a 1-star dentist, but it was surprisingly painless and straightforward thanks to Maria's team at Kai Real Estate. Wish I had them in 1996. Full disclosure here: I picked Maria because she is a personal friend and I wanted someone I could trust in my corner. But family members (who didn't know Maria before and came by to give their thoughts on the house) were impressed by her proficiency and diligence. After the sale, Maria continued to stay in touch and found me a promo on a security system that I wanted. Maybe you don't have a friend in the real estate business that you trust. Well, consider Maria Giron for her professionalism, and maybe by the end of the process you'll have a friend as well.

I had the very good fortune of having Maria Giron as my realtor as I searched for my new home in…read morethe Concord area. Since I had to drive 400 miles to meet with her over a weekend to view candidate homes, I wanted to be sure she was aware of the features I considered "must have" and "desirable but negotiable" and "unacceptable." Maria efficiently arranged for me to see prioritized houses so no time was wasted. She was open and honest about features that needed work, which I really appreciated. I was very impressed with her kindness, patience, respect, and professionalism. She answered my emailed questions promptly and made the decision process very easy for me. She took care of all the interactions with the seller side of the transaction with my complete trust and confidence. I now own my dream home! I would not hesitate to recommend Maria Giron to anyone looking for a 5-star agent. Kia Real Estate is blessed to have her on their team.

Sold my house using Lynne and not a great experience. When they needed something to move the sale…read morealong I'd get emails and calls from multiple people in her office. However, when it came to keeping me up to date with what is happening forget about it. I'd go weeks without any communication on what was going on, but then all of a sudden they needed me to sign something and it was like the world should stop for them. At one point I was not certain that I would accept the terms of the sale and received very nasty emails from people that worked for her including telling me the other party would sue me if I backed out. It was very evident that they could care less about what was important to me or that it was a good deal for me, they wanted their commission check.

Based upon my experience with Lynne French, I would never, ever use her for a real estate…read moretransaction. When we visited the open house, she answered our questions. We had a particular question about building a pool in the backyard that she said she would get back to us on, but she did not. Not a big deal though. We ended up purchasing the home. When escrow closed and we went to move in, the sellers movers had damaged parts of the floor and other areas, but what was the most shocking was that the bookcases in the office that were advertised as built-ins by Ms. French were gone! When we contacted her about this she said it was a misunderstanding between her and her seller. Ok, those things can happen, but they certainly weren't our fault, so Ms. French or her sellers should have either put the bookcases back in, since the flyers specifically stated the bookcases were built into the office or compensate us for new bookcases. She refused. I even found bookcases that were not as nice at Costco and offered to take those instead, if they didn't want to reinstall the "built-ins." She still refused. Eventually, after much back and forth, Ms. French offered to spilt the cost of them. This is totally unacceptable. This greedy woman made a $36,750 commission on this sale, but was haggling over approximately an $850 issue. We didn't ask for anything else from the seller during escrow except for some extremely minor repairs that cost about $400. This extreme greed really showed me her true character. I will never do business with her again and I make sure any friends in Clayton that are considering using her know about this experience. There are many real estate agents that specialize in Clayton, why settle for someone who is so greedy and short-sighted?

My wife and I were very happy to have Diane Shafer as our broker to find a house. She is meticulous…read moreand a full service Realtor. She knows Rio Vista, CA market extremely well. From taking us looking to buy a house through closing. She goes above and beyond to help us. I highly recommend Diane Shafer Real Estate not only because she is so professional, but because she cares about her clients. Thank you Diane. Mike and Mare

I have never encountered a less professional realtor than Drew Haisley. She was rude,…read moreunprofessional and swore at me when I questioned her. Don't ever question her as she will over talk you and bully you. To think she was supposed to be representing my best interests. I have turned her into the real estate board for unprofessional conduct.

I had a nice transaction with Rachel. She was excellent at communicating and followed the…read moretimeframe of the RPA. Her clients left the house in good condition and she was a pleasure to work with.

We were looking to buy a single family home in the SF Bay Area for our daughter and husband to rent…read morefrom us. We did an internet search and came across Birnbaum Realty in Benicia, CA. Rachel Birnbaum was the Owner/Broker. She had a number of very good reviews so we called her and spoke for quite a while about what we were looking for and our budget. From the first call, she started working to find us just the right house. Quickly, she came up with a number of options. She actually videotaped homes she previewed which made things easier for us to choose which ones we wanted to visit and further evaluate. In all of our dealings with Rachel, she was always on top of things, keeping in touch on a regular basis and updating any new listings. We eventually expanded our search to include other cities in the East Bay Area. Prior to making our first trip up North, she would give us the pros and cons of each house, and the back story of the cities. She is both an excellent Real Estate Professional, and easy person to work with. We found a house in Brentwood, CA, made an offer which was accepted after some back/forth negotiation. She handled the escrow process flawlessly and the sale went through without a hitch. Rachel gets an A+ from us for the help she provided, including her knowledge of real estate and her mild easy manner. A win-win transaction, so happy we had Rachel on our side. Another quick addition, Rachel is married to a General Contractor, Ron Bruno. Ron actually did the renovation work that was necessary with the Brentwood house. His work and the subs he hired were also excellent. The work was completed on time and within budget. They are truly a great pair to work with from start to finish.

Julie is very well connected in Berkeley and worked extra hard to help us get an offer in that was…read moresuccessful. She also helped us navigate all the details that come up before and after closing.

"Julie really knows the Claremont / Elmwood neighborhood. Julie has been our family realtor since…read more1987 when we were selling our 1st home in the Berkeley/Oakland Hills and buying our 2nd home in the Claremont area. She's a dynamo. She works very hard, is savvy, tenacious and smart, and will help you in a most positive way, be it selling or buying. We highly recommend her!" -The Wintons, BUYERS & SELLERS.

Lynnda Mitosinka is the Broker/Owner of Morningstar and as someone told me "she is THE AGENT if…read moreyou are looking in the East County for real estate". They were right. This nice smart lady knows Real Estate. She does not waste your time driving you around looking at homes that will not fit your needs. When you first meet with Lynnda tell her what you are looking for, she will then only show you homes that work. As she is a long time resident and realtor in Oakley she knows the area like the back of her hand. Lynnda is nice, knowledgeable, smart and knows how to put and keep your deal together. If you are somone who hates real estate agents , Lynnda will definitely change your point of view.

Lynda is very knowledgeable and will put forth the extra effort to help you sell your home. She…read morewas able to push my sale through when all hope had been lost. Lynda gets results in a timely fashion which in our case was critical.