Wendy helped me buy my first home in 2011, and through that process became a lifetime friend. When I was ready to move 14 years later, there was no question on who would represent me. Wendy helped me buy a bigger home that I absolutely love, in a weird market, at a great price. And within a few months my old house was sold. I had never sold a home before so this last part was a new experience. Unsurprisingly, Wendy poured her heart and soul into getting my home the best visibility and traffic she could, in an even weirder market. She has all the right contacts, and uses independent and local businesspeople when she can. I'm hoping not to have any more Real Estate transactions in this lifetime but if I do, I'd call Wendy first thing, no questions. read more

From our first meeting with Wendy as we started searching for a home she was relaxed and supportive during what we knew would be a challenging process. She was patient when we needed it, and pushed us to be realistic in thinking about our priorities. She helped us consider places we might not have otherwise and eventually we landed on a wonderful home. Wendy's years of experience in the industry really got to shine as we slogged through inspections, repairing bids, and the chaotic state of the insurance industry right now while both my husband and I were traveling for work. We felt confident knowing Wendy could be our point person through it all. She talked us both down off the ledge more than once during a very stressful escrow and was the first to celebrate with us when we finally got the keys! We'd happily recommend her to anyone looking for a low pressure/low stress agent to help navigate the harrows of what feels like a high stress market! read more

I'm three and a half months into being a first-time home owner in San Francisco. I dreamed of owning and never thought I could make it a reality. Thankfully, I found Wendy. As a first time buyer, I had no experience with the SF market, how to navigate the process of reviewing disclosures and preparing to make a bid. Wendy made the process easy. She was our on-call cheerleader who made herself available to clarify our questions and to quickly act on recent homes we had an interest in. Wendy is knowledgeable about the market, accessing the quality and craftsmanship of a home, and ultimately putting together the skilled team to make closing on a home surprisingly quick. I could not recommend Wendy more. She exceeded our expectations. read more

I've been at my new place for two months now and I love it more every day! Thank you so much, Wendy for helping my husband and I purchase. We are first time buyers and owning in the Bay Area is something I doubted would ever happen. Wendy was able to show us the possibilities because she really gets to know her clients. She listened to our needs and helped us find the places that had the most potential for us, while keeping us within our price range, which was no easy feat. She helped us see the pros and cons of each property we toured and pointed out features that would benefit our lifestyle that we would have overlooked without her experienced eye. In addition, Wendy helped us sort through hours and hours of paperwork- an absolutely necessary step in making an informed condo purchase. Some properties that looked great on our visit, turned out to be not ideal for us upon review of the hundreds of pages of paperwork, which we would not have been able to understand on our own. It is amazing what can be accomplished with a realtor that really gets to know their clients and listens to their needs in order to find the place best suited for them. If you are looking for a realtor who's specialty is a personalized experience, Wendy is the one for you. read more

Wendy is fantastic! My husband and I are first-time homebuyers, and are extremely fortunate to enjoy our new home in Oakland during the unprecedented COVID-19 crisis and Shelter in Place, thanks to Wendy. She is professional, responsive, and friendly, always going above and beyond to provide quality service. We were apprehensive about entering the highly competitive and desirable Oakland market, which seemed to get even more competitive during COVID-19. Luckily, we had Wendy. Wendy was patient and professional, answering every question under the moon. No question was too basic, which, for a Type A person like me going through 200 pages of legalese, was super great. Also, unlike other agents who may try to rush you into making an offer, we never felt pressured. In fact, Wendy nearly talked us out of every potential offer by providing a very thorough and honest assessment of the house -- here's what you really need to worry about from the disclosures, here's what was missing, here are some other considerations, etc. We LOVED this about Wendy. Her knowledge of home maintenance is unparalleled, and set us up for the realities of home ownership. During COVID-19, Wendy kept us informed about the latest in the market and exercised extremely safe practices when viewing houses. She kept constant communication with the listing agent, and was always prompt and professional with her responses. We were fortunate to get our current home on the third try, and learned a lot along the way (including that COVID-19 actually created a more competitive market for the houses we were interested in). When our offer was accepted, Wendy continued to provide great customer service, quelling our fears about all the ways in which our offer could fall through and what to expect before getting the keys. The journey into home ownership is exciting and scary. Luckily, you don't have to do it alone. Get Wendy on your team sooner rather than later! We're enjoying beautiful views of downtown Oakland and creating a loving home. Thanks for everything Wendy! read more

Wendy was amazing. She was very informative, Punctual, understanding, and calm about our first home purchase process. We had high demands of what we wanted even though our loan amount was very low for the Bay Area. She still helped us find out dream home even though it was not very realistic in our price range. She was very patient with us and was always very responsive to our many questions. My husband and I would recommend her to any home buyer. She is very professional and open minded to our vision. We are very happy with our new home and the choices she helped us make to make our dream a reality. read more

Wendy is an exceptional realtor. I'd worked with several prior to her, and she blew them out of the water! From the start, Wendy told me she would take care of everything and make the process of selling my home as painless as possible. I highly doubted this, as I'm an anxious person, but she made good on her word. Wendy lives to serve her clients, and is available and responsive to them. I texted her a million times and, without fail, she got back to me quickly, even on weekends and evenings. She's relatable and genuine, and never made me feel like l was imposing. Selling my TIC (tenancy in common) was complicated, and that's when I realized how intelligent and ethical Wendy is. She navigated legal, regulatory, and county compliance issues, involving me only when necessary. I swear, she handled so much for me, I hardly thought about the fact that I was selling my house, much less worried obsessively about it, as I'm prone to doing. If you need a realtor, do yourself a big favor and contact Wendy. l promise and swear you'll be just as thrilled with her as l was! read more

Wendy is awesome, it was so helpful as first time homebuyers to have such a knowledgeable, experienced friend in our corner. Fully recommend! read more

Wendy helped my buy my first place, a condo in Berkeley, in 2010. The condo was a short-sale, Wendy stuck it out through 8 months of what turned out to be a very difficult sale to put me in my first non-rental home. When we decided to relocate in 2016, she worked with us on five bids over the course of the year and a half we spent looking, eventually putting us in a fantastic place in Alameda, and then handled the sale of our Berkeley condo. When we opted to move out-of-state in 2021, she was able to recommend a fantastic agent in our new location in addition to selling our Alameda house for us. Wendy went above and beyond the call of duty for us as both buyers and sellers. She not only knew exactly the steps we needed to take to maximize the sale prices when we sold, but was also able to suggest vendors she trusted to do repairs, updates, staging, and photography at reasonable prices. read more

We've worked with Wendy both as a buyer and as a seller and both were great experiences. As a buyer, she was able to give us great insight into things to look out for in an older home, comps for the area and engaged with the seller's agent to help us prepare the best offer which was accepted. On the selling side, Wendy guided us through the process especially as the market we were in, was one with little activity or history and was sort of a shot in the dark as far as pricing. She developed a marketing strategy, an offer strategy and we ended up receiving 11 offers. And when we received those offers, Wendy again gave us great insight into each offer, especially the pros and cons, so we could really evaluate them well. Throughout both transactions, Wendy stayed in constant communication so we knew what was going on and the next steps. We'd definitely recommend Wendy for real estate needs in the East Bay. read more

Wendy helped my husband and I purchase our first home in December. She was amazing and if buying a home were something I was going to do every month, I'd go with Wendy every time! She is extremely helpful (answered ALL of our questions, well thought out or not), thorough (no stone left unturned both in the property search and throughout the paperwork process) and so very patient. Wendy is great to be around and her tireless efforts to help my husband and I find the perfect home were so genuine...really, I could go on and on...but as they say, the proof is in the pudding. We are now settled into a home that we love, in a neighborhood we enjoy and at a price point that is exactly what we budgeted. We couldn't be happier! read more

Wendy is as good as it gets! This January, with Wendy's guidance and support, my partner and I purchased our first home together in the jewel of the East Bay, Oakland. Wendy walked us through the entire process. I never felt stupid asking her any questions (even when the questions I had were stupid.) She vigilantly investigated and gave her honest opinion about every property we were interested in. Wendy was prompt, professional, and she worked her butt off for us! We could not have have had a better experience, bravo! read more

My wife and I started looking to buy a house without a realtor. In the first few days, Wendy was the ONLY realtor that responded to our emails and calls respectfully and informatively - so we asked her to help us buy a house. Wendy was amazing. Things were starting to be very competitive again in the East Bay and she helped us sort out the good from the bad and the beautiful on the surface, but really ugly underneath stuff. She is impeccably professional without being a stuffed shirt - we appreciated her honesty and keeping it real-ness. We ended up in a fabulous home, thanks to her. She also introduced us to Vientian Café, home of gloriously tasty Thai food and the biggest damn Thai iced tea I've ever seen. read more

Wendy is goes to bat for people who are looking to buy real estate that might not otherwise get the attention they deserve. She is relentless in looking up liens, legal documents, title changes, lateral sewer histories, H.O.A. documents, tax information etc. etc. She badgers reticent H.O.A. officers, follows up on legal difficulties, and relentlessly seeks information to help her clients. She gives good buyers advise and informs her clients of all the legal ramifications of the transaction. She is prompt, never misses appointments and has the latest technology to make the complex real estate market work for her clients, not the other way around. Wendy has helped me and my friends into home ownership, a valuable member of the local community. read more

Wendy is an excellent real estate agent. She does an excellent job of communicating and keeping us abreast of developments. In her early in-person meetings with us, she gave us a great overview of the buying process and what to expect. And most importantly, she gave us great advice on how to make our bid competitive (that it's about more than just having the highest bid, but making sure the other fundamental aspects of our offer were solid). She has a keen eye for detail and we really felt like she was looking out for our interests in all phases of the purchase. For example, for one place we were looking at she wouldn't give up prodding a less-than-forthcoming seller about the true situation regarding their laundry machine/hook-ups --- her vigilance in this case helped us avoid a bad purchase. Soon enough though, we found a place we liked. The whole purchase process went very smoothly (Wendy is very on top of the paperwork situation), and the experience was very educational at the same time. read more

Wendy is absolutely fantastic! She represented us both in buying our house in 2013 and selling it in March of this year. She's down to earth, honest, easy to talk to, and a great human being. She also knows the real estate game well and gets tough when she needs to negotiate for her clients. She helped us write a compelling offer to buy our house, which we had assumed would be out of our reach in a competitive market. When our circumstances changed and it was time to move a few years later, she rolled up her sleeves and really worked to help us coordinate and get the house looking great as we had to move out of state quickly for my wife to start her new job. She did a great job showing the place, and we got some super offers. She ensured we got the best possible terms and negotiated a good compromise on the issues we had doubts about. She's a real stickler for details and made sure all the i's were dotted, t's were crossed and our buyers were able to close on time. Other reviewers have mentioned her integrity and I think that's what it comes down to. She truly cares about her clients, and takes pride in her high quality hard work but also being fun and pleasant to relate to. Wendy really pours her heart into what she does and is a shining example of her trade. read more

Wendy is probably the best real estate agent you could hope to meet. We just purchased a new home with her, but it wasn't our first time at the rodeo--my wife first met Wendy when purchasing her first home 8 years ago, and immediately Wendy stood out by taking my wife seriously when few other agents would, always following-up promptly and providing lots of insight, advice and guidance. Since then Wendy helped my wife sell her first home and we've recommended her to several people, all of whom have had incredibly positive experiences with her. I've worked with a few other agents over the years and while they weren't all bad, it's hard to compare with Wendy, she is truly exceptional. Her experience and insight are invaluable for the Easy Bay, and she has a very good feel for what the marketplace is like, she seems to have a perfect sense for what properties will go for, and where to find what's good and bad about them. Although incredibly professional she's totally willing to duck into a crawlspace in heels and a dress to really get a feel for what the property is about. Wendy is honest and forthright and truly cares about her clients and wants to make sure they find the property that's right for them. If you're buying or selling in the East Bay I couldn't imagine having a better agent. Wendy is on top of everything, puts in the work and gets the job done! read more

We worked with Wendy to find and buy our first house in February 2020. For years, in fits and starts, I worked with different real estate agents, even ones that were referred by my home-owner friends. However, I was never successful buying a place with previous agents. My experience with Wendy was successful because she is a very honest, straightforward person. She was not concerned with getting the highest fee possible, instead focused on making sure we were happy with our purchase. Wendy is flexible in how you work with her and is extremely responsive. She provides a wealth of experience and knowledge and spends an extraordinary amount of time reviewing disclosures, which are onerous. She will also endeavor not to waste anyone's time writing offers on bad value property or that she thinks will go out of your price range. Several times, she discouraged us from bidding on a property that was a pretty facade with a rotting foundation, figuratively, even if her commission would have been higher than what we ended up with. She is also very astute when it comes to purchasing condos in terms of looking for red flags in HOA documentation. Ultimately, we purchased a single-family home, but it's important to know that she works well with both residential types. As buyers, it was incumbent upon us to listen to her expertise and to articulate and embody your "must haves" and "nice to haves". We were unsuccessful twice in bidding and did have to adjust our location choices in order to get the "must haves" and many of our "nice to haves" for our third, successful try. She kept us motivated by sharing her own inspiring experiences with us in addition to strategies she has used in the past. She continues to check in with us regularly to make sure that we are happy with our home. Since our purchase, I am a devotee of Wendy, referring anyone I know who is looking to buy in the East Bay, and they have been very happy with her, as well. She is by far the most collaborative, creative, thoughtful, and honest agent I've encountered and cannot recommend here enough. read more

I recently bought my first home in Oakland with Wendy's help and I can't imagine anyone doing a better job. I met Wendy at one of her open houses and was quickly impressed by her easy-going and positive personality. Wendy listened to me, took me seriously, and understood what I was looking for, which I really appreciated after feeling condescended to by other realtors because I am a young single person. While searching for homes, Wendy was never pushy and pointed out potential issues she saw - and she has a great eye for detail. Even though I have been living in Oakland for almost three years, she suggested checking out some great neighborhoods of Oakland that I had never explored, and I found my home in one of these neighborhoods. It's clear that Wendy's priority is to help her clients find the perfect home for them rather than making a quick commission. I was outbid on two properties before finding my home, and before I made the offers Wendy gathered as much information as she could about other potential bids, but never pushed me to bid higher than I was comfortable with. Once I was under contract, Wendy was on top of everything. She moved quickly to get inspectors out to the property and checked in frequently with my loan officer to make sure everything was moving smoothly. The inspectors she recommended did a very thorough job. She recommended having the sewer lateral scoped, which was $50 well spent because the seller agreed to pay for the replacement during negotiations. Even while Wendy was on her pre-scheduled vacation in Hawaii, she was still doing everything she could to make sure the property closed on time. I felt very well taken care of. After closing, Wendy has continued to be there for me to make sure I am satisfied with my new home. I would recommend Wendy to anyone looking to buy their first home in Oakland. She is bright, knowledgeable, and a lot of fun to work with! read more

When s*@% gets real, Wendy's who you want on your side. She helped us buy our first home last year...a prospect that seemed impossible at times. She stayed with us and kept the faith and sanity through the (many) ups and downs. She listened to what we were looking for and let us lead the search (like we wanted.) She was swift and realistic when it was time to put in offers, and when an offer was accepted and we had a big hiccup (involving one night where I really thought I had possibly ruined our lives...this buying a house thing is no joke!) she stayed steady, and curious, and not only didn't freak out with us but helped us solve our issue and move forward. I'm writing this from the sweet, sweet comfort of our new home, and I'm so grateful for Wendy's help to get us here. read more

Wendy is a real star. She helped me sell my condo and I could not be more happy with her level of service, professionalism and dedication. Besides being an excellent business woman you can tell she really cares about her work and clients. She will 100% go above and beyond for you in any way she can. I think her level of service is unusual. I'm so lucky to have found her and can't recommend her enough. I've had mixed experiences using Yelp, but in Wendy's case all of these reviews are the real deal and she will live up to them! Thank you Wendy! read more

In 2011, Wendy helped my husband and I purchase our first home! Before Wendy was recommended to us by our friends (who also bought their first home through her), my husband had been looking for a house for approximately two years. Five months after we started working with Wendy she helped us find and purchase our dream house. Wendy's professionalism, knowledge, and character made us feel confident that we were in good hands--which is so important for first-time home buyers! We feel so lucky to have had Wendy alongside us in such an important life-step. We highly recommend Wendy Graves! read more

I cannot praise Wendy enough. She helped sell our condo and helped us find an amazing house. She is extremely hands on and is not afraid to get her hands dirty - and I mean that literally. She will get under the house into the crawl space to check things out. She is responsive at all times of the day and night. She is also very realistic and knows the Bay Area market extremely well and all the quirkiness that goes with it. She understands that all budgets are different and I guarantee she will do her utmost to find a property within your budget and will suggest neighborhoods you may not even have considered or known existed. She is also not afraid to play hardball on your behalf but can also be very diplomatic when the situation calls for it. Her people skills are amazing and they will work in your favor. I would not hesitate for a moment in recommending Wendy and in fact have several times and I now have several friends that are also very satisfied customers. read more

We worked with Wendy to buy our house and, 7 years later, to sell it- both transactions were fantastic. She's smart, patient and efficient. We would work with her again in a heartbeat but sadly we moved out of the area. She's the best. read more

My husband and I were looking for homes in Oakland, after seeing the housing market become relatively affordable. We met Wendy at an open house and were so impressed with her friendliness. We didn't know too much about Oakland neighborhoods or home buying (first time home buyers), but Wendy is so knowledgeable and so willing to share her knowledge. She is so passionate about what she does that it's hard not to share in her enthusiasm! She was always available to us, and worked around our schedule. She also never pressured us one way or another, but just outlined pros and cons, based on her experience with the situation. I highly recommend her and if needed, definitely go with her again! read more

My wife and I were looking to change our longtime residency from SF to somewhere near SF. We looked in SC, Marin, East Bay, and some Peninsula, always ending up in frustration. During this wide search we had used different agents, mostly taking the recommendations of a friend or the friend of a friend. Wendy was hosting an open house we went to see in Oakland during this time. She asked us for our contact information, and promptly wrote us a letter stating her interest in representing us. We are not usually a push over for salespeople, and we certainly didn't want any extra agents hounding us, but Wendy wrote such a nice letter, she had actually sold us on her Realtor services. During this time we decided on Oakland. It was also becoming clearer to us that we didn't have the right representation. So we took a chance with Wendy. The Oakland market is a very competitive market. It takes some serious negotiating skills, and the knowledge of and love for Oakland to successfully buy a house here. Wendy was able to help us get the house we really wanted, and she got the job done right. If we move we will definitely use her services again! read more

Wendy was a tremendous help throughout the process of my wife and I relocating to the Oakland area. The move was intimidating at first, but Wendy's positive approach and intimate knowledge of the neighborhoods really contributed to our final decision. She was always quick to reply to questions and offered hope when it seemed like we weren't finding anything we liked. We would definitely recommend her to others. read more

My husband and I just bought our first home 4 months ago. We found that recession or no recession the Bay Area is a very very competitive market! We learned along the way that you need a GOOD agent in order to stay competitive and land your dream home. We found just that in Wendy. She's an amazing writer, an excellent communicator, intelligent, and goes above and beyond with thoughtful service to her clients. Wendy was the best representation we could find. She helped us in landing our dream home at a great price! Highly recommended! read more

I met Wendy at an open house for one of the lovely properties her agency was marketing about a year ago. I could tell right away that she was passionate about her job and finding the right home for her clients! That's why one year later when my husband and I were ready to jump into the buying market, we immediately called Wendy. Her expertise in the Oakland area is outstanding and her response time is great. I highly recommend working with Wendy to find the perfect home for you in the East Bay! read more

Wendy made our dreams come true! We just sold our house in East Oakland within two weeks flat and everything went very smoothly. Wendy handled so many moving parts for us since we were also moving to another state during the process. From screwing in a missing fire alarm to watering the garden to even helping with our mail. Nothing was too small or big for her. We were able to buy our house in Boise and sell our house in Oakland without falling out of contract or being blind sided by buyer demands, she carefully handled the transaction in a way that really sealed the deal from the very beginning. We were also blown away by her knowledge of the current market, her creative solutions to issues that popped up, and her care and professional poise with every potential buyer she met. We love Wendy!!! read more

Wendy is very determined and does an awesome job in fighting for her clients, getting them what they are seeking at great value. She listens well and really knows her stuff. I can't say enough about Wendy. read more

My housemate just completed the process of buying a house, and I accompanied her (almost!) every step of the way. Wendy was a pleasure to work with. Her advice was always sound and well-reasoned, and she respected our limitations while still making useful suggestions. She never tried to pressure us into too expensive of a home or into a neighborhood we didn't like. She is very familiar with Oakland neighborhoods and deserves her nickname as Queen of the Flatlands! I would recommend her to anyone looking for a friendly, hard-working person to help them find their first home. read more

wendy goes to bat for her clients! i saw first hand how she bends over backwards to make the deal happen , good job!

It's taken someone like Wendy to inspire me to write my first yelp review ever. After meeting countless realtors at various open houses in Oakland, my wife and I decided to work with Wendy because of her enthusiasm and great personality. Throughout our home search, she made us feel like her #1 priority and was endlessly flexible in arranging for home viewings. Unlike realtors we've encountered in the past, Wendy never pressured us to select a house just to make a sale or encouraged us to bid higher than the worth of a house just to make a higher commission. In fact, she was always great at spotting potential problems that my wife and I would have otherwise overlooked and encouraged us to make sound bids. In short, Wendy is honest, hard working, smart, and got us into our dream home as promised! read more

The only thing I'm upset about is that I can only give five stars. Wendy Graves is by far one of the best real estate professionals I've ever met. She's dogged, sincere and a problem solver. For months my wife and I searched for a house. She would take us out and arrange viewings of houses for us and for the months it took us to find a house never once did she ever seem like we were a bother. The most important thing about her is her incredible integrity. She had no problem giving me push back on things or letting me know what was best. She did it in both a professional and tactful manner. Integrity is just something you cannot teach. After we were in contract our loan fell through because of the sloppiness and negligence of our lender. She gave us an alternative lender to work with that ended up doing our loan. Because of the new financing our close was going to be longer than we had originally planned. She skillfully and intelligently managed the situation by going back to the sellers and explaining our situation. In the meantime we had to sell our place and within 7 days we started the selling process and and were in contract on our home. The buyers of our house were slow and not the most agreeable but that could have been a symptom of a horrid agent. Yet again Wendy jumped in to do the heavy lifting to do her job and the other agent's. She picked a fantastic title company that was working as hard as she was to simultaneously close our purchase and sale of our homes. She has a tremendous ability to pick teams that will get the job done. To say our purchase and sale was stressful is an understatement. Her communication skills were incredible. At no time during all the issues was she ever out to lunch or silent. She sold our place in Albany and helped us buy our home in Walnut Creek. If you use anyone but Wendy for your home selling or purchase you're downgrading. I went through just about every issue you can during our process. Wendy was there every step of the way not just being reliable; but the anchor that held the entire process together. Thank you Wendy, you're welcome in my new home any time. read more

This woman single handedly found us our house in Oakland. We were exasperated with our search and had told her that we wanted to take a break (we were being outbidded every time) then she talked me into seeing one last house and BAM! it was done. She is thorough and professional - not at any time did I feel pressure or felt that I didn't understand something. She set me up with an excellent mortgage company (RPM in Berkeley) and excellent inspectors. She was available at anytime for consultation (always returned calls/emails). She is an excellent and ethical real estate agent and now I count her as a good friend. read more