Buyer’s agent?

We worked with Megan Micco, who's a lifelong Berkeley resident, and had an amazing experience. She's not pushy at all and super knowledgeable. She also has great relationships with other agents in the area. We've recommended her to all of our friends who are looking.

We have had a great experience with Donna Costello 510-338-1355. She has helped us to both sell and buy a home. She is very patient but also professional. She has a lot of experience with homes in Berkeley and Oakland.

Leslie Bandy of Red Oak is wonderful. Very patient, very much there for YOU. She's not your typical real estate agent and she's very honest with you (no fake nonsense). My husband and I had very particular and hard-to-find needs and she found us a great place. We looked all over Berkeley and North Oakland. She also convinced us NOT to buy a place that she thought would have been a very bad decision for us (she was SO right), even though it meant a longer search and more work for her. Really highly recommend.

https://www.redoakrealty.com/agents/61041-leslie-bandy

Sheri Madden with Red Oak is amazing. We bought two houses and sold one using her and i cannot recommend her enough for either role. She has helped several friends with purchases as well, everyone is equally as impressed

We used Steve Maurer  with Compass. He was great, he worked with us patiently for 9 months while we dragged him all over the bay looking at all sorts of different nonsense! https://www.compass.com/agents/steve-maurer/

We spent almost a year searching for our first home and made 8 offers. Maureen Lawlor was incredibly patient and thorough. We never felt any pressure from her. I highly recommend her. Best of luck! https://www.coldwellbankerhomes.com/ca/oakland/agent/maureen-lawlor/aid_25478/

I highly recommend Bethe Vanier from Kim Cole Real Estate. She's super nice, very understanding, knowledgeable, buttoned up and never pushes. I worked with her for over a year to find my perfect fit and she was a pleasure to have by my side as I navigated the process. We also used her to sell our condo and she is great at that too.

https://kimcolerealestate.com/agent/bethe-vanier/

You can do no better than Corey Weinstein at Red Oak as a buyer's agent  I've worked with her for multiple transactions on the buying and selling side and she's fantastic. She listens to her clients and she's committed to finding the right house for you. We had some pretty specific requirements and we weren't in a big rush to move. Corey was super patient as we looked at properties and it paid off, we found a great house in our preferred neighborhood where houses don't often come on the market. I'd work with her again in a heartbeat. 

We worked with Sheri Madden who both help us get our new place and sell our old place. https://www.redoakrealty.com/agents/25973-sheri-madden

We started talking to her early on (we gave ourselves 2 years to find the right place knowing how limited inventory was - we found one in 6 months) and she showed us different places and have us talk through what we liked and what we didnt liked about each place so that she could get a good sense on what we wanted (and my husband and I have slightly differing opinions). She was extremely patient with us, never pushed us at all and has a wonderful calm demeanor. In fact, when she saw our current place, she told us - "i think i might have found a place you both would love" - and she was right. She was also a great guide all throughout the process - she has an amazing rolodex of people that she leverage to help us in our decision making. For example, she had a contractor walkthrough the place to tell us what the condition was, what work might need to be done, and how much it would cost. Same with an electrician. We loved working with them after that as well. I highly recommend her!

We really liked our realtor, Mischa Lorraine. She was not pushy in the slightest. 

  Mischa LorraineRealtor ®, CalBRE #01858312www.yourlife-yourhome.commischa [at] mischalorraine.com (mischa[at]mischalorraine[dot]com) 510-331-3617

We worked with Ira and Carol Serkes. Very data-driven, respected our decision to make unrealistically low offers on a couple places "in case we get lucky," and ridiculously quick turnaround on the paperwork thanks to Carol. We ended up putting together our winning bid on a place while I was in Austin on business and only intermittently available, so tolerant of our schedules too. They've been working in the Berkeley real estate biz for a while and know it well from what I understand.

We worked with Diana Backinoff and were very pleased. She's quite knowledgeable about the area and the neighborhoods in Berkeley/Oakland/Alameda, and was very patient with us as our search for the perfect home stretched out over several years (!). Can recommend her without hesitation. 510-381-8890 https://www.realtor.com/realestateagents/diana-backinoff_montclair-village,-oakland_ca_2989587_820294618

We love Becky Andersen. We spent so much time with her during the year+ that we were house searching that she became a permanent part of our lives; several years later, we are still in regular touch. She is a wonderful human, cares so much more about her client finding the right house than about the money, and has decades of experience in this market. Feel free to message me for more info about our experience. https://www.coldwellbankerhomes.com/ca/oakland/agent/rebecca-becky-ande…;

Highly recommend Jenny Wang, she helped us over the course of more than a year look for a place (we finally found something and are closing this week). She was very patient, and also just a very good, knowledgeable, experienced agent. Her email is  j.wang [at] ggsir.com (j[dot]wang[at]ggsir[dot]com). 

We've worked with Dalia to buy twice and she's been great. Knows a lot of agents in the area, so that's been a real asset when working with the buyers agent. We'd recommend her. https://www.redoakrealty.com/agents/61085-dalia-juskys

I feel lucky to have found Aliky Vasdekis (510-815-4358), she works with BHG and Redfin, when I bought my home.  It took me about 4 months to find the right house (we went to dozens of listings together) and then another 3 months to finalize the purchase (it was a short sale) and she stuck right by my side throughout guiding me skillfully at every step.  She's patient and super knowledgeable about the local real estate landscape.  Plus, she has a good eye for houses that have good bones if you're interested in maybe remodeling. 

We worked with Andy Read at Caldecott. Truth be told we didn't work with him for a long time (we'd been house hunting w/ another broker in SF, and only engaged with him after we found a house in Berkeley that we wanted to put an offer in on). That said, he was really great in helping us navigate the offer & closing process, and is very knowledgeable about the area.

I may have written a recommendation for her before but I strongly recommend Anne Culbertson.  She is currently at Compass but used to be with Grubb (when we worked with her).  She knows this part of the East Bay well and was incredibly patient with us.  We probably worked with her for 18 months, maybe even longer - I was actually kind of sad when she handed us the keys because we weren't going to see her anymore!  She was incredibly patient, trustworthy, and honest about whether our offers would be viable or not.  (We were buying in a very hot market.)  She was not pushy about getting us to offer more than we were comfortable with, nor did she ever encourage us to place offers on homes that were not right for us or that had a lot of issues/repairs we weren't prepared to properly deal with. She was comfortable looking at places outside of the core Berkeley/Oakland areas but also clear when she felt that we would be better represented by a local agent (for an offer in SF).  She is worth a call.  Good luck!

Hi, 

I know an excellent agent. Her name is Susan Niami. She helped us buy our house and also helped my brother in law buy his house. If you are ready to buy and ready to find your next home I'd be happy to connect you. Just send me your email and I'll put you in touch. 

Ana Lucia Garcia

I highly recommend Tia Hunnicutt.  She helped me buy my house, as well as sell it a few years later. She was very honest about the type of house I could afford and the current market.  I never felt that she was pushy.  Best of luck to you in your search.  

We worked with Kellen Gauthier to buy our first house last year, and I would strongly recommend him to anyone looking for a realtor. His number is (510) 499-5347, and his email is kellen [at] ilovealameda.com (kellen[at]ilovealameda[dot]com )(he's based in Alameda, but works throughout the Bay Area).

Starting our search, Kellen guided us through the process of figuring out exactly what we were looking for in a house, including challenging some of our initial assumptions. As we toured listings, Kellen always had a vision for how to re-imagine a house's layout and use the space to its full potential. And he was more than happy to let us take our time and find the right place at the right price—never any pressure to buy.

Once we found the perfect home, Kellen came up with a strategy to get our offer accepted (even beating another, higher offer!). During the contingency period, he went above and beyond coordinating with numerous inspectors, working to negotiate the best price possible and to make sure we were comfortable moving forward with the purchase. While in contract, a major issue came up with our loan, but Kellen was able to use his connections with the lender to get things back on track. Kellen and his team took care of all the details, big and small, to make the purchase go smoothly.

We just worked with Megan Micco and cannot recommend her enough!

Super knowledgeable, trustworthy, respected in the community and well connected.

https://www.meganmicco.com/

We absolutely loved working with Priscilla Izumi Cook from Sequoia Real Estate (https://sequoia-realestate.com/priscilla). We started looking right before the pandemic, paused, geared up again, and bought in September 2020! She was patient throughout, proactive, and knowledgeable. Let me know if you have any questions.

Manasi

We worked with Elic Suazo as a buyers and sellers agent (first as buyers). As I got (desperate) he actually sat me down and told me my house choices were not what we had discussed, and he needed clarity on what our goals were. Which really reminded me not to lower my standards. He is great!!! 

I cannot speak highly enough of Aaron Brown.  He is from the area and knows it well.  He is patient, knowledgeable, and experienced.  He took his time with us to make sure we got what we really wanted in our first house.  I never felt pushed at all, in fact he talked me out of bidding on houses we didn't love.     He founded his own real estate company called perspective real estate.  You can find him at https://www.perspectivere.com/agent/aaron-brown/

Hi, we worked with Deidre Joyner of Red Oak and really loved her expertise. She’s good at really finding the right fit.

Hi, 

We are navigating the same situation and could not be happier with our agent, Romney O'Connell www.romneyoconnell.com. She has not only been patient, but has also offered us extremely valuable advice as we try to find a home that better accommodates our family's needs. Romney is also helping us make thoughtful decisions about how and when to put our current home on the market. Her years of experience supporting both buyers and sellers is really shining through in this process. 

Romney was originally reffered to us by three separate friends who each had great feedback to share about their experiences working with her. Based on those referrals, we passed along Romney's information to my husband's parents, who ultimately selected her as their agent. They were impressed by the support and guidance they received throughout the house-hunting process and noted that it was Romney's patience and thoughtful communication that ultimately helped them find the home that was exactly he right fit for them (I can share the glowing review written by my in-laws if requested).  Now that we are personally working with Romney, our own experience can only confirm that she is deeply committed to always acting in best interest of her clients. We feel luck to have her in our corner! 

I'm including all of Romney's contact information below: 

Romney's contact information - website:  www.romneyoconnell.com 

                                                      email: romney [at] berkhills.com (romney[at]berkhills[dot]com) 

                                                         phone: 510-599-6911

We purchased our current place in Lower Rockridge with our agent who looked at 30+ houses with us over the course of 8 months. We would say that's very patient! We always appreciated his insights and him not trying to push anything on us. Our agent is Ed Kuo with The Grubb Company. DM us for his contact info.

Please check out Diana Ip from District Homes!! https://www.district-homes.com/about-us/  

Our situation was different from the ones described above, as we were living in the Midwest during our house-hunting year.  Diana was amazing--she walked us through the process, was extremely responsive to any and all of our questions, and patiently and knowledgeably guided us through multiple offers until we were able to buy our dream home.  She was our advocate every step of the way, which was SO important since we were looking from afar and could only fly in to look at houses (pre-COVID) about once every couple of months.  Just a wonderful experience!