Billy helped my wife and me buy our first home in Berkeley, CA. He came recommended from a friend that also purchased a home with Billy and we could not be happier with his professionalism, his expertise, and his experience. He knows the ins and outs of this particular market (and so much of the East Bay), and combining that with his grounded approach to appraising and offering on homes, he helped us immensely in crossing the finish line. It helps that he also has so much experience with renovations and what to watch out for in terms of needed improvements when inspections are still often waived in this market, helping us value the pros and cons of any purchase accurately. We highly recommend Billy! read more

I would recommend Billy to anyone looking for an agent. He is hands down the most calm, competent, and creative real estate professional that I have ever encountered, and he helped us find our dream home after over a year of looking for the perfect place in our ideal location and budget. Billy was never pushy, moved at our pace, and was extremely patient with our fluctuating motivation and myriad questions. He actively listened to us and considered all of the many preferences and details that we provided, and he was ethical and honest about all of the potential homes and their promises and pitfalls. He moved with incredible speed to secure our current place during an opportune window, and his acumen and oversight were always reassuring and informative. He managed to orchestrate the buying and selling of our homes within a two month window, considering not only the timing for financing and logistics but also HOA complexity, masterful staging, and professional repairs and improvements. Saying that Billy is a good agent is the understatement of the year. We would not be where we are without him and I can't begin to thank him enough. read more

Billy is quite simply amazing. He has helped our family and friends purchase and sell our homes in the last few years. While we were searching for our new home we were very on and off in our searching and Billy always responded appropriately to our needs at the time. When we were hungry he carefully selected choice properties that matched our exact wants and when we were cooling off he was not pushy. Getting our current home was nothing short of a miracle. Billy texted us one morning and later that day we were visiting the property and putting in an offer that afternoon. We went into contract and Billy was with us every step of the way. His meticulous attention to detail and honest approach are incredibly refreshing in my eyes and vastly better than anything I've experienced in our previous house hunting adventures. We love our new home and I cannot express my gratitude to Billy for helping us secure it as well as selling our old home for us. He was on top of everything and we both bought and sold in the span of just a couple of months. You'll never find a better agent. read more

We recently worked with Billy to sell our house in Berkeley and could not have been happier with the overall process and the eventual outcome. We needed to get our house ready to sell and get it on the market within a few weeks...a stressful process to say the least! I cannot imagine having gone through the day to day of this time without Billy's calm, confident guidance and leadership. Billy is a first rate agent---extremely savvy and knowledgeable about the market, quickly able to assess what needs to happen for a home to get it ready for sale, and able to negotiate for his clients in an authentic but extremely productive manner. We ended up selling our house for substantially over what we had expected, which I fully credit to Billy's skill, savvy, and authenticity with potential buyers. At his base, he seems to truly love real estate and understands what the right home can mean to a person or a family. He never comes across as being too "salesy", but it's clear he really believes in how important our physical spaces are to our lives and how they influence our ways of being. He is a wonderful person and nothing short of impressive as an agent. We could not recommend him more highly. read more

Billy was the PERFECT person to sell my house in Berkeley years ago, and now my husband and I are using him to sell our home in Montclair. He's provided essential help along the way. We could not have pulled off our preparations to put our house on the market without him. He's a builder so he knows houses as well as the market. How many real estate agents come with their own stellar team of contractors who make life easy and lessen prep costs? I recommend Billy to everyone I know. read more

Billy was a joy to work with. We really wanted to be hands off and he handled everything-all the while explaining what he was doing and the timeline to make sure we felt good about everything. He works with a great team of people that made the process smooth. He was a great communicator, clearly has integrity and an all round pleasant person to be around. When I told him I was going to Maui he sent me a map with great snorkel spots. That was an added bonus. I highly recommend Billy. read more

We can't recommend Billy strongly enough for anyone looking for a house in Oakland/Berkeley. Two things stood out as major value-adds in comparison to other agents: 1) Because Billy has so much experience renovating houses himself, he was able to advise us in extreme detail about how we might go about expanding or renovating each house we looked at, including letting us know when a particular house was simply not going to work for what we wanted. And, since settling into our new house, he has been an ongoing library of info on contractors, design ideas, and other recommendations. 2) His Berkeley/Oakland neighborhood knowledge often reaches down to individual houses. He must have said "I know that house" a couple dozen times during our search. This saved us a lot of unnecessary tours/wasted time, and allowed us to focus on getting into good options as soon as they hit the market (Billy often knowing which house were about to list several days or weeks before they did). We ended up in a great house that met all the needs we'd discussed with him in our very first conversation. read more

We have only the very highest recommendation for Billy Witort and the whole Realty Advocates Team. Navigating the real estate market in the Bay Area can be at turns both frustrating, and ecstatic and Billy was the best partner we could've hoped to have. He has deep knowledge of both the market and the ins and outs of construction/renovation so he could quickly and accurately assess the quality of any home we looked at. He was unafraid to get right in there and crawl into the smallest spaces to see what was going on underneath the covers. He helped us understand and prioritize our own requirements and the tradeoffs involved in each situation. While we made several offers before finding the perfect place, we never regretted a single one and always went in clear-eyed thanks to his able guidance. We defied our own expectations and have landed just where we were meant to be. In the end, we saw him as both a trusted partner and a dear friend. We can't recommend Billy and Realty Advocates highly enough! read more

If you are looking to buy in Berkeley/Oakland, especially if this is your first house, definitely call Billy! GETTING THE HOUSE: I had been wary about using an agent or broker for our home purchase out of fear they might "throw us under the bus" to get a deal to go through. This was definitely not the case with Billy and Realty Advocates. Despite the insanely competitive Bay Area market, we never felt rushed or pressured. As new home buyers, Billy was extremely patient with us. He answered every single question, walked us through every step of the process, and was very accommodating to schedule home tours with us after work. He is extremely knowledgeable about old homes. He can tell you what is worth fixing and identify problem areas I would have never thought to look for. The home we ended up buying was flipped by a shady investment firm from Los Angeles, and the deal was very a-typical for the Bay Area market. He helped us line up all the necessary inspections and repair estimates to make sure we knew exactly what we were getting into. With Billy's great communication and Brett's years of expertise, they were able to play our cards right and negotiate for a sale below asking. GETTING SETTLED: After the deal was closed, when I would expect most realtors would shake hands and walk away, Billy held our hands all the way through moving in and getting the place up and running. This was an absolute godsend! After living in apartments our whole lives, and then suddenly having a fairly large, 100-year-old house to take care of - it can be very overwhelming. But, the day we showed up with our moving truck, we found Billy, a handyman, and a carpenter in the house cleaning, patching nail holes, fixing doors, and starting on some exterior repair work. He has continued to help us line-up reputable professionals, helped us prioritize all the repairs and upgrades we want to do, and many important things we didn't even realize we needed (like a 6-pack of beer in the fridge!). Billy is an excellent realtor and new-homeowner coach! We are very happy with our new home and have no regrets about our decision to buy this house. Billy really cares about you and your new home and will make the whole process stress-free as it can be, even enjoyable! read more

My wife and I decided to purchase a house in Oakland, and a good friend recommended that we work with Billy. Billy did a great job from start to finish and we couldn't be happier with the home we ultimately purchased. At each house we visited, Billy would help us get a sense of the neighborhood, help us think about how we would use the space in the house, and imagine what all the pros and cons of living in a place with our growing family might be. He was also an incredible resource when it came to identifying the work that might need to be done to make an 80 year old house safe and livable. Whether it was foundation, drainage, electrical, or cosmetic, Billy would highlight potential issues not on the inspections, and help us think about what budget and timeline we might need for repairs. Can't recommend him enough! read more

My wife and I decided to sell our Oakland home in late 2015. Initially I wanted to do it w/o an agent, and bought 2 books by Nolo Press that detailed the go it alone process. After reading, I quickly decided I wanted help, and noticed the Nolo book mentioned Realty Advocates as providing quality assistance. My wife and I met with Billy and Brett from RA, and shortly thereafter decided they were the realtors for us. Brett and Billy guided us thru the sale of our house with professionalism and, very important, when we were in meltdown due to the stress, calmly offered solutions to what we were facing. I am not sure Billy eats or sleeps based on his ability to respond to our around the clock questions! Highly recommended! read more

Billy might be the best real estate agent in the East Bay. Just one guys' opinion. Let me begin by explaining that I've been in the market for a home in the East Bay (Oakland, Berkeley, Albany, El Cerrito) for the last 5 years. In this challenging economy its been, well, let's say a challenge. Over the years I have been outbid on more than a dozen homes. After a truly disheartening 2017 search, Billy was able to secure for me and my family what I can only describe as my absolute dream house. Hence the 5 stars. I've worked with 4 different agents over the years and I've come to recognize 2 critically important characteristics in the agent/home buyer relationship: 1. It helps to genuinely like the people you work with. Your agent is a working relationship where you both have to rely upon each other to achieve the desired result, so consider your agent a business partner. I found a great partner in Billy and felt very much like we were on a team effort. Even though he was servicing other clients at the time, I never felt second on the list and Im sure none of them did either. The partnership here was solid. 2. You have to be strategically aligned. I didn't always think of buying a home as a discreet business transaction (my bad) but once I began to I was able to evaluate homes quicker and more appropriately for our family's needs. In part because I was able to eventually model the very specific costs, qualities and elements I absolutely needed in a home. With a very specific model I was able to weed out a lot of homes I would have eventually passed on (or regretted buying). I dont think I was truly settled on an effective strategy until I met Billy through making a bid on a home he was selling from his personal portfolio. Up until his home (the 10th home I bid on) I had sworn off agents and had began to search on my own. Billy's house was extremely move-in ready and was so well designed (down to the last detail) that we were struggling for ideas on how to improve it. I later learned that he and his family had bought the house as a teardown and had conducted their own, extremely cost effective (and obv attractive) gut renovation. If memory serves the house sold for almost double the asking price. Let's call this "a very successful sale". I realized that the way Billy had found this house and improved it was probably a better model for my own house hunt than I had been pursuing. In this case the strategy would be to find a house that was undervalued because it needed a lot of work, and for other various reasons, might be attracting a less competitive crowd of home buyers. Full disclosure: we were grossly outbid on this home. Billy had executed this strategy so successfully that I just had to request a meeting with him to see if I could learn anything useful. I thought to myself, here's a guy that took a small investment and turned it into a big ROI. Im not deep in the real estate game like he may be, but the numbers and the quality of the home he was able to achieve were very much in alignment with my own, perhaps somewhat ridiculous aspirations. We met at the house after it sold and we had a great conversation, within 30 minutes I knew I had found an incredible agent for my search and hopefully a friend (he's a cool guy). The home I ended up purchasing was the second home we bid on together. The first home just barely did not work out, it was the closest we had come to success and it ended up being very instructional. And though my home buying aspirations might have been more than a bit lofty for the times we live in, somehow Billy helped me navigate toward a home that fit virtually every one of our needs/desires. On top of things the home we bought was by far the most interesting and most desirable home I had ever dared to bid on over the entire 5 year effort. I would not have tried to bid on this home without Billy's direct encouragement. I had seen the home as a treat at the end of yet another full weekend of open houses and basically I thought this place was so cool that my friend Billy would have to at least see it (has some uniquely 60's architectural charm). Billy didn't let me pass on the place and I will be forever grateful. He was able to see that the stars were aligned for this house to sell for way under value. Trust me, we still spent a pretty penny and the bid we placed was basically the max we could afford. Let me also say that we've only been here for a few months and our home could easily flip for 20% - 30% above what we spent. It was a really good deal and has become a kind of a legendary steal among my neighbors (thanks Billy, everyone on the block thinks Im a genius). This dream house fell through the cracks and Billy was able to recognize the opportunity. Im not a religious guy, but thank god this worked out, and thank you Billy for being an excellent agent, I can't recommend you enough. read more

Can't say enough about how great it was to work with Billy. He worked hard to understand our needs in a complicated situation and thought through numerous creative possibilities with us. We ended up with an incredible home, beyond what we imagined would be possible. He also has a great network of contractors/tradespeople that has helped us get settled and transform a garage into a rental studio. read more

Billy provided us with thoughtful advice and some much-needed creativity as we navigated the highly competitive East Bay market. He was responsive, fun to work with, provided a level of industry knowledge that we weren't finding elsewhere, and helped us coordinate renovations after the sale. Would be a pleasure to work with him again. read more

Billy was tremendously helpful during my real estate search. He's very nice and friendly; I enjoyed looking at homes with him. I was searching in Berkeley and North Oakland, which Billy knows really well block-by-block. He was helpful in thinking through my strategy: identifying the type of building I was looking for and the important features to look for in a property that makes a good investment. Billy found many properties that matched what I was looking for and then met for the open houses. His engineering background became evident when he'd check under the house with me to see the condition of the foundation, plumbing, electrical, and he'd explain to me what to look for. He kept in touch with seller's agents to get the inside scoop on properties, especially when it came time to put in a bid. I ended up deciding it wasn't the time for me to make a purchase, but I would definitely turn to Billy if I were searching again. read more

We hired Billy Witort and Real Estate Advocates to sell our Albany home in the spring of 2017. Beyond the sales and marketing help you expect from a Realtor, we wanted expert help in sorting through what we should do to prep the house for sale to get the absolute best price. Billy has an engineering background and beyond the superficial we wanted to make sure the house had no significant physical issues before the house was put on the market so we could make the sale according to out detailed schedule for a cross country move. Billy Witort and Real Estate Advocates come from a very consumer friendly place with lower commissions than others in the market (low overhead, but full service). We thought they had values that were consistent with ours (progressive, consumer friendly, truthfulness, fairness, kindness, environmentally oriented) and we wanted to speak with our dollars. They overcame my negative preconceptions about realtors and that made it way easier to trust them. We put a lot of work in fixing up our house before the sale and Billy Witort and Real Estate Advocates were there every step of the way to be our sounding board and trusted advisor. We probably saved at least half their commission in relying on their judgement in getting the house ready for sale. Helping us focus on the needed work and skipping the nervous seller fretting to much kind of improvements. Looking at the house and guiding us from the viewpoint of the marketplace, current buyers and other Realtors. They provided us trusted guidance at every step of the sale process. I could go on and on but the other reviews say it all. You could not go wrong with Billy Witort and Realty Advocates. read more

Big fan of Billy and very grateful for all his help taking us through the home buying process in Oakland, CA. My wife and I (one kid and another on the way) were considering using Redfin to save a bit on the agent fee but are so glad we went with Billy. He went above and beyond in numerous ways and is still helping us out six months after buying our home. 1) Super flexible on meeting time and place - will go out of his way to work with your schedule 2) Extremely knowledgeable of the East Bay market, down to block-by-block familiarity with a number of neighborhoods in Berkeley, Oakland and Alameda 3) Great relationships with other agents who might be on the other side so good insight when things are coming on the market or how the sale process is going 4) Very accurate gut when it comes to comps and valuation so you won't overpay but will still be able to win a deal 5) Impressive knowledge of how to best evaluate a house's defects and risks ahead of time and plan for how to address it. Billy has done a lot of renovation himself and knows all the questions to ask and areas that you should be concerned with. In a climate where the buyers can't put contingencies down this is EXTREMELY important 6) MOST IMPORTANT FOR US was Billy's connections to contractors, handymen and other services that we needed to fix up the house after moving in. Finding good folks at a reasonable price is super difficult and he has already pre-vetted all these folks. Billy even came in himself to help fix a few things after we bought the house. In addition to all these benefits, Billy is a really nice, good, chill guy. Not ostentatious or superficial in any way. I've already recommended him to friends who also bought their house in Oakland through him and will do so again. If you're buying or selling the East Bay, you can't go wrong with Billy! read more

Huge thanks to Billy for helping my wife and me find our new home in North Berkeley. At the start of the search we interviewed several agents before picking Billy. We're so happy we did. It is obvious that Billy cares first and foremost about finding his clients their perfect home, not maxing his commission. He is an especially good choice if, like us, you are looking for a house with some renovation/project potential. Several things impressed us: 1) When we first met Billy, he helped us refine our search by asking us questions, listening to our answers, and answering our long list of questions. This was in stark contrast to other agents we met who talked AT us for an hour before asking any questions about what we were looking for in a house. 2) When we had a hard time narrowing down our list of potential neighborhoods, Billy took us on a couple bike rides around the east bay to visit open houses and scout out neighborhoods. Along the way we were impressed by his detailed knowledge of the Berkeley and Oakland markets. 3) Throughout the process Billy was super flexible about talking with us or meeting with us late at night, long after his work day should have been over. 4) Billy didn't try to talk us into more expensive houses that would have meant a bigger commission for him. In fact, he talked us out of a couple expensive options because he didn't think we would ultimately be happy with those houses. The house we ultimately bought was more affordable and a better fit for us. 5) Billy has done a lot of renovations himself and probably adds the most value in evaluating the structural risks and potential projects in houses. At several times during our search he crawled down into the basement of an open house to get a good look at the foundation. We ultimately bought a house with a couple immediate fixes and space for an addition and other projects we were only able to do so because Billy walked us through the cost and timeline of those projects. 6) After we closed, Billy followed up every day for two weeks to make sure we were happily settled in our new house. He has vetted several handymen and was able to get them working on our house right away. He even personally came over and managed the handymen as they worked on a couple projects. And when our water heater stopped working, he came over to crawl around and help me troubleshoot it. In addition to all of this, Billy is a genuinely good guy. He is friendly, relaxed, and is a calm presence in an otherwise crazy process. I would highly recommend Billy to any potential home buyers in Berkeley and Oakland. read more

After going through the entire process of buying a house, to call Billy Witort of Realty Advocates in Berkeley my realtor, sounds like an understatement. Hero feels more appropriate! As a 1st time home buyer, and in this crazy market no less, I was looking for a realtor who not only knew the market, but with whom I could connect and feel I trusted. Upon meeting Billy it was very clear that he knew the ins and outs of the East Bay real estate market. I felt immediately comfortable and at ease as he listened to my needs and concerns, which were many! Through out my search to find the home that best fit my needs, Billy was always on top of what was on the market. He made several trips look at houses before I went to see if he felt it would be a good match. Going to open houses with him made me see things that I would not have even known to look for! He takes the time to check out houses from top to bottom and has an excellent eye for details (layout and interior/exterior finishes) that make a home feel like a great home. This came in handy as I was looking for a fixer. He was able to give immediate suggestions (all kinds of awesome ideas!!) for short term and long term fixes and remodels. The few times I went to open houses on my own I felt like I needed my "Billy vision" to be turned on! Billy always responded to my emails in a very timely manner with clear answers to my questions and concerns. As a real estate novice, I came to depend on him to help walk me through each step of the way. He was able to help me understand what was going on at each turn! Billy knows the Bay Area, and Berkeley in particular, in and out. He has very detailed knowledge about different neighborhoods and what they have to offer. This was so helpful, as I could literally name a block in Berkeley and he would be able to tell me right off the bat what was near by and how the community felt. There were many days during the house hunt when I felt as if I were in over my head. Without Billy to help guide me through I can honestly say that I would have been discouraged, given up and continued to rent. I love that I never felt any pressure from Billy to make a offer right away or go with a place I wasn't 100% sure about. He always gave me his gut feeling about pros/cons without making me feel forced either way. That said, I came to trust his expertise so much that when I would talk to family/friends about my likes or dislikes about a certain property their response would always be "What would Billy say?" I have always dreamed of being a home owner. Billy played such a large role in making that happen. Because of him, I am in my preferred neighborhood, in a house that I am thrilled to call my own, and for that I am full of gratitude towards him. I do not plan on selling any day soon, but should that day ever come I know exactly who I will be calling. I can not think of a better person to recommend to anyone who is thinking of purchasing a home in the Bay Area. Home ownership is a huge step to take and having someone who has your best interest in mind is, in my book, the only kind of realtor to have! read more

Billy did a terrific job helping us find and get our home in a very competitive Berkeley market. A few things that really stand out in our minds were his willingness to hand hold us through every step of the process, his creativity and experience thinking through home improvements, and how he instinctively understood what we wanted. We'd highly recommend Billy to anyone looking for an agent in the East Bay. read more

Billy Witort (Realy Advocates) has been an exceptional real estate agent during our home buying process and post-buying fixing, renovation planning. He took the time to know us and understand what type of home and neighborhood would be ideal for us, and shared our excitement in looking for a home. He was very candid about discouraging us from making offers on homes that were not a good match for us or were not a good value, e.g., a home where the renovation cost would have been much higher than we initially thought.. For every home we saw with him, he explained the good and the bad of each home - layout, structural issues (roof, stucco, fault-line, landslide area), neighborhood (schools, traffic, crime, walk to BART), renovation costs, permit history, comparison with other homes, and the price range for which it could sell. He also explained his thinking in enough detail such that we became more and more self-sufficient as we looked homes. Often Billy would reach out to friends he knew in the neighborhood to get our questions answered; Billy himself is a Berkeley native and so knows East Bay pretty well. Billy was always available to go to Open Houses even with last minute requests and for homes which only had a small chance for working with us. During the offer process, Billy was always patient and thorough. He explained to us the different dimensions on which an offer is evaluated in the current insane market. He would also put in touch with Brett (who is also part of Realty Advocates) to get another opinion on many of the questions we had. For the home that we finally bought, our offer came in second and below an all-cash offer - Billy made sure our offer had all the right ingredients such that the sellers and the listing agent favored our offer over another offer. During and after the closing process, Billy and Brett provided us with lots of good references to local roofers, electricians, plumbers, handyman. In addition, Billy met us multiples times in our home to help us prioritize different maintenance tasks and helped us with our thought process on renovations. He provided a day of handyman services to help us get some initial tasks out of the way. To summarize, Billy enjoys his work and is great at it. He is easy to work with and we have no hesitation in recommending him highly to anyone looking for a home in the east bay. read more