It would be my pleasure to be your guide as you embark on your next real estate adventure. Whether it will be your first home purchase, or you wish to purchase a larger home or an investment, I would enjoy meeting with you to see if we are a good match.
You’ve probably already experienced the vast amount of information about real estate available online. Most of it will not be relevant to our East Bay market, and much of it is conflicting! If you’re like most people, you don’t need more data, you need a guide to interpret that data and sort through what’s accurate, what’s not, and what’s most important in achieving your specific goals. I certainly use data to help understand the nuances of the market at the time you are active, but I will be both high-tech and high touch!
My role as a real estate advisor over the past 28 years has been to not simply give you information, or to tell you what you want to hear, but to actively listen to you and provide expert guidance—to be both your Guardian Angel and your Devil’s Advocate.
In evaluating a property to purchase, all of the details are important, and I promise to pay attention to them. I commit to listening to you: your hopes, your goals and your fears. Our market is not logical, and there are likely to be surprises and frustrations, changes and challenges along the way, no matter how hard I try to prepare you for this journey. I have been described as someone with a calming influence, and as your guide, I will urge us all to keep our senses of humor and perspective, and a clear sense of the objective: My goal is for you to achieve your goals!
BUYERS: My top priority for my buyers is to listen to your needs and understand your goals: when we visit homes I want to see them through your eyes. In everything I do I will be striving for you to become an informed consumer. And I will help you maintain your sense of humor through the buying process, regardless of the market!
- I have represented over $85M in buy-side transactions, helping buyers purchase condos to multi-million dollar multi-unit properties, in all architectural styles.
- I look forward to sharing customized knowledge about our local market to help you identify your best options. A large part of my work is performed “behind the scenes”: previewing homes, researching comparable sales, providing referrals to appropriate experts in other fields, evaluating changing legislation, and maintaining my professional credentials. For every hour I spend showing you homes, I will have spent up to ten hours in preparation. I am constantly monitoring the local real estate market to serve you better.
- If you need to obtain a loan, I will begin with referrals to top loan agents, who care like I do about listening carefully to you, and giving you candid advice, and also creative solutions.
- Once we identify a home that you wish to pursue I will make sure you understand the property as an entire package: its current condition and the significance of information within the disclosures. We’ll discuss what will be your future maintenance responsibilities, and how much you may need to budget for further improvements, as well as taxes and insurance.
- I will strategize with you about how to best structure your offer, based on the property, the competition and the market at the time, so that your offer has the greatest possible chance of being accepted.
- I pride myself in highly effective offer presentations for my buyers. You may not think this is an important aspect, but it is!
- My services do not end when I hand you the keys to your new home. I look forward to continuing to be a source of guidance and information.
My clients and friends said it best:
You are so different from the other real estate agents we worked with before meeting you Arlene. You are our realtor for life and we hope to continue deepening our friendship with you over the years. Thank you so very much.
—G. & K, Oakland buyers