This review is long overdue. We took the plunge and decided to seriously look to buy a home in early 2021. We had been casually looking at the market for a long while and happened to run across Eric Wong as the selling agent at an open house a number of years back (2019?). We remembered during that open house he was friendly, informative and seemed honest (to us even as the buyers). He has been a long time El Cerrito resident and knows the area quite well (along with a lot of the Bay Area in general, I'm sure). In the Spring of 2021, we reached out to Eric to see if he was interested in representing us as home buyers and he was. Having been casually looking at the market for a while, we had a good sense of what we were looking for (style and size of the home and in which areas). From that standpoint, Eric would usually send us newly listed properties and we would let him know which ones we were interested in seeing. So there was not much taking the day to explore what's on the market (which is needed to get a feel for what's out there and in surrounding areas if less familiar). For the homes which we were interested in moving forward with an offer, Eric provided his honest opinion about what a competitive offer would be, the risks of holding or waving certain contingencies, and set realistic expectations. He also gave sound advice in regards to what the home inspection reports indicated to him, as well as introduced us to a mortgage lender who was easy to work with and got us a rate that we could support a competitive offer. Our first few offers were not accepted, but Eric was encouraging, and he set realistic expectations, so we were not crushed with every rejection. His encouragement and even keel kept our hopes up and he constantly says buying a home is a process. Happy to say, the perseverance paid off, the process works and we finally had an offer accepted and a new home to look forward to! Finding a real estate agent to work with is a lot like finding a good health care provider, lawyer, or barber. At the end of the day, it has to be someone you can trust (at least on a professional level), share the same vision and probably more importantly, someone you get along with (not just tolerate). And for that personality does matter. Eric had the right personality for us and it worked out, and we can wholeheartedly recommend him. Remember though, this is variable, so find someone you're comfortable talking openly with, trust that his/her professional perspective matches your expectations and that should set up a good foundation for success. Update: We are very happy with the purchase of our home. To date there have been no major surprises which would probably have made us second guess our review of inspection reports or conjure doubt of how we missed something. In retrospect, the time Eric took walking us through all the documentation was worth the peace of mind. read more

Eric helped me and my family purchase our first home in the Bay Area this winter. He was very fun to work with and kept our best interests at heart. I love his approach with his clients which is professional and friendly. He's also very responsive and always made himself available to answer any and all of our questions. He made sure that we understood the process which at times got very tricky and kept things transparent. We worked together for about five months and even ended up exchanging foodie pictures - he's so much fun! I highly recommend working with Eric! read more

Eric was absolutely fantastic during our housing search. Once we found a place with his help, we then had a treacherous journey ahead, dealing with tax issues, inspections, and chasing down many many signatures. Without Eric, we never would have made it all the way to the end, with keys in hand. If you need an agent - Call Eric. read more

Eric was an amazing Realtor to work with. Eric has an amazingly patient and warm and funny personality. He has the exact opposite of a "pushy, salesman" personality and we completely trusted that Eric had our best interests in mind. Eric was also extremely knowledgeable about the East Bay area; his 18 years of experience really make a difference. Eric spent a tremendous amount of time educating us about both the real estate process and the East Bay market, which were extremely helpful in our house hunt. We highly recommend Eric. You will not be disappointed! read more

We were looking for a home in the Berkeley / Albany area and worked with Eric for several weeks before switching realtors. Usually I don't come back to write negative reviews because why spread bad karma / you never know what the situation is. But we recently closed on a home with a different agent, and in the process I learned some things that brought me back here. First, the pluses: 1) Eric was extremely responsive to us on absolutely no notice. We wanted to check out Albany and he was there for us in under a day. 2) He was insanely responsive the entire time, and very meticulous. I felt very confident that, on the administrative /brokerage / detail level, he would have ever i dotted. 3) He was also super friendly and flexible. The challenges: Very quickly after we met Eric, we found a home we wanted to offer on that was a developer-flip. We had some questions about the construction and viability of an ADU that the developer was offering to build as a part of the sale, and that's when things fell apart. 1) A colleague of Eric's was representing the buyer, and it was immediately obvious that he was reluctant to press her when we had additional questions outside of the usual info. The ADU construction meant it was important for us to coordinate with the developer-seller over details of whether we could make the home viable for us, but he refused to facilitate that conversation. We felt that he had a conflict of interest wherein in valued his relationship with the seller's agent and need to avoid awkwardness with her over his representation of us. 3) Specifically, he pressed us harder and harder to make a contingent offer (which, knowing this market, is a terrible move) rather than making the push to get us the basic information necessary to make a non-contingent offer. The relationship finally broke down when he flat-out refused to go find out the dimensions of the back yard before the offer deadline and insisted we get them in a contingency. 3) As a result, we didn't reach a place where we were comfortable making the offer, and lost the home. (Literally, the one thing we needed before offering was the length of the back yard.) At the time, I felt that perhaps this was a personality mismatch-- some people prefer harmony, but we're relatively goal-oriented-- so I sent him a polite, no-harm-no-foul letter saying that weren't a match. I regretted breaking up with an agent who had done work for us, but it was only over a couple of weeks. I was surprised when Eric sent a passive-aggressive note back, but didn't feel a need to respond. The two things that made me come back to actually write a review: 4) Recently, we finally closed on a wonderful house in Berkeley. In the process, we learned that the buyer's market here is incredibly complex and competitive, and navigating it took a lot of strategy and perspective. Looking back with that understanding, I realized that there was absolutely no way that we could ever have ended up getting what we needed working with Eric. While he seemed excellent at the administrative parts, he repeatedly resounding refused to give any advice with regard to price, perspective, options, or strategic decision making-- being complete newbie buyers in Berkeley's market we would have been utterly defeated. In the messy bidding process, we found ourselves saying, "Thank god we stopped working with Eric" about 5 times. 5) The home we were trying to offer on with Eric had a bad smell upstairs. We weren't sure where it was from, but it was one of the questions he promised to get answers to and then decided we should move on without knowing. Now that we're doing painting, I just learned that the smell comes from zero-VOC paint that was handled improperly and went bad. Furthermore, it's very, very difficult to clear this smell when the bad paint is on the wall. (I figured this out by having a 3-minute conversation with a paint store about getting non-smelly paint.) This meant that... A - The developer-seller most likely mishandled the paint, knew what the smell really was, and lied about it. In fact, I think they painted over the bad layer. B - Both Eric and his colleague the seller's agent had the context to identify that the issue might have been paint going bad and could have figured it out with a similar 3-min call to a paint store, but didn't. C - The fact that Eric was unwilling to rock the boat on this issue meant that we very, very nearly purchased a house with a major, difficult-to-fix issue that made it unlivable. It's not worth complaining about one bad interaction, but it is worth warning other first-time buyers about an agent that almost got you cheated. --- TLDR - we didn't realize what an unhelpful agent Eric was until we actually got a chance to work with a helpful one. If you know what you're doing he seems like a great administrator, but for us he was completely unable to represent our interests in the face of mild conflict. read more

Eric was great to work with! He was super responsive to everything, and able to jump on houses as soon as I expressed interest. Once my offer was accepted everyone he put us in touch with made everything go seamlessly - from the lenders, to title company, etc. There was not a single hitch, and it was all taken care of without headache from me. Thank you Eric!! read more

My fiance and I worked with Eric and his partner, Nicole Nott, to find our home in Richmond. Eric is very knowledgable about real estate in the East Bay which helped a lot when deciding where to look for homes and what kind of offers to make. He was always available to answer our questions and to patiently listen to our thoughts and concerns. He never rushed us or pressured us in any way and was a pleasure to work with. We ended up getting an offer accepted for a beautiful home in Richmond and are in the process of moving now. He accompanied us to sign the papers for the title and prepared us for each part of the process. Even after the sale, Eric has made himself available to give us contractor recommendations and to answer any questions. As first-time home buyers the whole process of buying a house can be overwhelming, but it helped so much to have Eric guide us through the process. I highly recommend his services! read more

Buying a home, no matter where you are looking, is a difficult task that is fraught with unexpected emotional challenges. This would be true in Nebraska or Arizona, but here in the Bay Area, these emotions are amplified by the stratospheric prices, limited inventory, all-cash offers, imminent IPOs, and seismic risks-- all of which affect the market for even an average starter home. It's not for the faint of heart. Throughout this process, Eric Wong proved to be a steady, experienced, and objective advisor. He will not push you to a certain house or a certain offer price, but instead gives you feedback informed by years of experience in the area so that you can make the best decisions for your family. With Eric's help we searched for about 6 months and made offers on three houses before landing on a place that nobody else was interested in, but that was just right for our family. He responded quickly to information requests, followed up on interesting properties, and worked late into the night and early in the morning to help us through the process. He also put up with our crazy toddler joining us at open houses, and never failed to impress with his bowtie collection and dapper style. If you are looking to buy in the East Bay, it will not be easy, but Eric is an excellent navigator to help you arrive in a home that's right for you. read more

We are first time homebuyers and Eric and his partner Gerri were the best agents we could have hoped for. They were super responsive, always getting back to us quickly whether it we had questions about a house or just needed a recommendation for a contractor or locksmith. When putting in offers we never felt pressured to put in a higher offer than we felt comfortable with, but they were always really helpful when helping us figure out a realistic number. We were also looking for houses during the COVID pandemic, and they were always quick to help us set up appointments to see houses and available to meet when we had time. When it was time to close on the house Eric & Gerri kept us updated every step of the way. We could not recommend them more highly. read more

From the get go Eric was fantastic- relaxed, efficient, friendly and very competent. The process was smooth and considering the current covid situation, quite fast. We were selling and He gave us a very accurate estimation of the value of our house and helped us get exactly that. Bravo Eric! read more

My partner and I first met Eric at a 2010 Berkeley open house. From meeting many agents in the prior 5 years of open houses, Eric is the most approachable real estate agent and hones in on his client's housing tastes. From other agents, we hated dealing with disgusting and sleazy sales-talk, re-adjusting our glasses to make sure we could recalibrate their inflated ego with their desperation, or simply rolling our eyes at their client pre-conceptions and judgements. These agents kept sending spammy MLS listings based on price range, bedrooms, bathrooms, parking, and neighborhood criteria. Eric actually sorted through those checklist preferences and further filtered them towards modern aesthetic, recently built, and notable local architect involvement. With many clients to meet and hook, Eric actually noted our non-checklist preferences that inspired us to work with him exclusively for the East Bay. This real estate agent-client relationship went on for 2 years until my partner and I finally bought a place in 2012. I was surprised that Eric kept me on his rolodex for 2 YEARS! Most real estate agents would have abandoned me and most did. During the 2 years, we searched from Berkeley to San Mateo, then to SF, then to Marin, and then back to the East Bay. This guy has zen-honed patience with fickle clients like us. He was honest and upfront that his expertise was the East Bay and quickly gave us references to other agents in the other areas. Eric knows to keep his laser-focus on the client by not spreading himself too thin. So what was the process like? We actually went through with an offer, then backed out. Then we submitted a low-ball offer on another home during the trough of the recession to gamble our chances, and then got outbid only for us to rebid. Then we watched the seller's banks drag their feet, and we ripped a direct (translate: mean) email. So what was Eric like? When we went sheepish, Eric patiently waited for my partner and I to debate it out, 2 hours in Eric's office. Eric gave us useful comps on the spot and gave us a few hypothetical scenarios to think about. We submitted the offer. The next morning, we called and rescinded the offer. Eric's reaction? He had a good feeling that this was going to happen. He pulled the offer and still wanted to help us find our suitable starter home. He did not produce an ounce of anger or lay on any guilt-trip. He quickly moved on. When we went aggressive, Eric facilitated our message to the listing agent. When time was of the essence, Eric hustled for us. When we became unpleasant, Eric coached us. Nothing surprises Eric, and he is on his A-game. During the offer, inspection, and move-in, Eric quickly provided references for home inspectors, cleaners, painters, mortgage lenders, locksmith, contractors, etc. For everything we needed, he would send three referrals so we could start our review to vet who we wanted to take our business to. We rarely just lean on the agent that much, but Eric's recommendations typically turned out to be the best in the area. When I passed on these referrals to friends, they would mention how their extensive research or agent turned up the same top-notch referrals. We would normally recommend Redfin for all other areas, but for the East Bay, you have to go with Eric. He was born and raised in SF and spent the last few decades in the East Bay. Since moving from SF to our East Bay home, we have actually run into Eric at several local places like Homeroom Mac+Cheese and Berkeley Bowl West. How often do clients actually see their agents walk the talk in terms of touting how much they love the East Bay? Eric does! Without a doubt I recommend Eric as your real estate agent for his unparalleled East Bay knowledge, laser-focus on the client, and ability to tease out how the client emotionally connects to the buyer's process and home itself. Eric was the one who wanted us to love our starter home and not settle, and he never wants buyer's remorse. More than a year living here and finally feeling like East Bay is home, we have no buyer's remorse. Hence fulfilling Eric's wishes and promises, we felt compelled to finally vouch for him. That and we got a Chinese New Year card and nice red envelope from him. Yup, still on his rolodex after 4 years. read more

Eric Wong - Chinese New Year card and red envelop for client - Real Estate Agents Near Me - Albany, California

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Eric Wong handled our first-time buying experience expertly and we would happily work with him again. He was always on our side, every step of the way, and we never felt pressured to settle for a house. He was genuinely interested in matching us with the right home, quietly gauging us, and doing tons of research to turn up possibilities. We were surprised by his honesty. If he thought a house was wrong, he said so and why. Once we selected a property, he worked tirelessly to get it. There were several bids on our house and we think he read the situation well and out maneuvered the other agents to secure it. We honestly believe that if we didn't have Eric, we would have missed out on our house. After our offer was accepted, we entered the stressful period of home inspection, finalizing our loan, etc., where he was extremely helpful and resourceful. We trusted him fully as well as all the people he recommended. Eric completely knows what he's doing and is extremely responsive and efficient. Along with that kind of savvy, he was very sensitive and thoughtful to our needs - never pressing, always patient. But his honesty was his most refreshing and important trait. Because Eric was straight with us, we never doubted his intentions. So when he said jump, we jumped. When he stated a thought or opinion, we took it very seriously. Though we had a client-agent relationship, we were more like a team, the kind of team that succeeds in finding the right house and buying it. It's a serious business and we're very fortunate we found the right agent. read more

Considering how many realtors there are our there, I had a really hard time finding mine. I did a ton a ton of research on yelp and got numerous recommendations but no one seemed quite right for us: too smarmy, too slick, too pushy, too, too, too... Then, I met Eric at an open house he was hosting. I liked him immediately. We struck up a conversation and he really seemed to listen to what my husband and I were looking for in a home and was honest enough to agree that the house we met him in was not the right home for us. His honesty was both unexpected and refreshing, and over the next eight months would prove to be an invaluable component of our home buying process. That's right - it took us eight months and four bids and many weekends spent trolling the open house circuit to find and purchase our first home. But we were picky and Berkeley/North Oakland is a tough market. Towards the end, we started feeling desperate and on a couple of occasions, considered bidding on homes that weren't quite right for us. Thankfully, Eric, in his quiet, unobtrusive way, intervened. In fact, at every turn, Eric put our interests first. And when we finally finally found the one home that was perfect for us, Eric worked tirelessly on our behalf. And it was a lot of of work: the house we ultimately bought was a foreclosure, with an unresponsive seller, a fixer upper, lots of inspections, a touch and go appraisal period, and a remote title company. He even negotiated a $20K price reduction, which in this market is a rare event. But most importantly, Eric helped us get into the right home for us. We could not be happier with the way everything worked out and so grateful for the wholly positive experience of working with such a stand up guy. read more

Eric is a rare breed in the real estate space. He is incredibly detailed in his approach to helping clients. He is very hands on and tells clients what they need to know to be properly prepared to buy a home in this very fast paced real estate market. Equally he is surrounded by many professionals at his Winkler Real Estate Office giving him a sure upper hand in how to get his clients the home they want. My team and I highly recommend Eric and enjoy working with him. Thank you Eric. read more

If you are in urgent need of a realtor, STOP AND CALL ERIC NOW! I was working with a realtor who was not returning my phone calls and not helping me in any way. I called Eric because I met him at an open house and he talked about listening and helping first time home buyers. Not only is a great listener, but he is also very knowledgeable in the Berkeley, Albany, El Cerrito area and very well connected. We used all of his suggestions and couldn't be happier. Best part about Eric? He is professional and funny! Couldn't ask for a better realtor who genuinely put our interest in front of his and who has a great dynamic between professionalism and comedy. read more

I highly recommend Eric Wong, a fantastic realtor who helped my wife and I get our house for a great price. Eric's e-mail tagline says "calm clarity," and believe me, during the stress and uncertainty of buying a house, those qualities are invaluable. Eric guided us through a very complicated purchase. At every step he made sure paperwork was submitted on time, or that other parties were meeting their deadlines, and he always explained everything to us clearly and patiently. He lined up inspectors in less than a week (he knows many contractors) also helped us negotiate a lower price when we didn't think it was possible. Whenever we needed Eric, he was available immediately or soon thereafter by e-mail or cell phone. We worked with Eric for more than six months, and on the weekends and during the week, he'd meet us to look at houses. Eric quickly developed a good sense of what we liked, and gave us a lot of insight into the Bay Area housing market. What I grew to appreciate most is how personable, polite, and funny Eric is. You end up spending a lot of time with a realtor, and we really enjoyed being around Eric. read more

Eric is simply put an excellent real estate agent! Very helpful & responsive, conducts himself and his business in a professional manner, looks out for his clients interest and gets you truthful answers to your questions or concerns. All round we found him very pleasant to work with. Eric helped my wife and I buy our first house and guided us through the process all the way, making it very easy for us despite the fiercely competitive market. He went out of his way to make sure we were comfortable and informed us on every detail. Eric is very well connected and organized all our inspections for us, he recommended an awesome mortgage broker (Alex Alexander of Princeton Capital) who managed the process with Eric beautifully and we closed almost a week ahead of schedule, He set us up with our home owners protection, locksmith, electrician, HVAC specialist etc. etc. weeks after we closed. The follow up service has been as good as the service he provided from the moment we met until close. There are really only four words left to say, we would definitely recommend!! read more

My experience with Eric was great as a first-time homebuyer. I was hesitant about agents in general; I didn't want someone who was pushy. Eric was the complete opposite and didn't try to force me to make any decision I wasn't comfortable with. I really appreciated his patience and considerable knowledge during the buying process. The entire process took about six weeks and Eric was always on hand at every stage to ensure that every detail was taken care of. He was very helpful in providing recommendations for lenders and home inspectors. At one point, due to a misunderstanding, he even paid out of pocket for a washer dryer unit that was not included in the sales contract. I was impressed by his diligence and attentiveness. I would recommend Eric to anyone, but especially any first timers who are nervous about the process. I don't think I could have had a better experience. read more

Eric was absolutely incredible. He came highly recommended from a friend and did not disappoint. My wife and I had been passively looking for homes in the Bay Area when we met with Eric. He gave us an insight that I think few agents in the Bay Area possess, due to his lengthy career and his relentless drive. No matter the time of day, Eric would always pick up our calls or respond to our texts and emails. He kept us sane and calm in a crazy market. He helped us to be patient and wait for a home that checked the boxes we wanted most. Eric really helped to make our experience as smooth as possible and it worked out great for us in the end. I look forward to staying in touch with Eric as he is as good of a person as he as a real estate agent. read more

Eric and his partner Danielle were extremely helpful and friendly with helping my wife and I find our first new home! Since we were first time buyers Eric was super patient and explained the entire process in layman's terms. He was also very familiar with the East Bay area and gave us good recommendations on places to look and tips for what to look for in a new house. After we visited a few houses together he was very good at getting a feel for what type of place we were looking for and gave us more tailored listings. He never rushed us with our search and wanted to make sure we really liked a place before we submitted any offers. He was also very approachable and responded quickly to phone calls, emails or texts during the entire process. We'd definitely recommend Eric! Thanks Eric and Danielle! read more

Eric did an amazing job helping my fiance and me buy our first home. We found Eric through my dad, who worked with Eric up until a few years ago. When we started looking for a home, my dad told me to talk to Eric because he knows that Eric is trustworthy and always puts his clients' interests first. In other words, people who know Eric professionally trust him enough to refer their own daughters to him. As first-time buyers, we had no idea what we were doing. Eric provided expert advice, worked diligently and tirelessly to get us through the process, and was careful to make sure that we never felt pressured to make decisions that we were uncomfortable with. Eric was focused on our best interests from start to finish, and always a quick call, text, or email away. On top of everything else, Eric was fun to work with. We ended up buying a house in Richmond that we love, and we even managed to close early, about three weeks from the date our offer was accepted. Eric also connected us to other great people along the way. We ended up working with a lender that Eric referred us to, who was perfect for us. The home inspectors that he scheduled for us were great also. Since we were new to the home buying process, this was a huge help. We will happily refer our own friends and family to Eric when they look for their next home. read more

My wife and I had started looking for houses on a "relaxed" timeline when we met Eric one morning. Life is strange, and we found a house we wanted to put an offer on that very afternoon. Eric was a total lifesaver. Being first-time buyers, we had no idea what we were supposed to pay attention to and definitely wouldn't have been able to navigate the paperwork by ourselves. Eric helped us stay calm and positive through what could have been an incredibly stressful time. He's clearly very skilled and experienced: knows the area, knows the business, knows who to talk to to get stuff done. And he's extremely responsive at practically all hours. We're very grateful to Eric for his help getting us through it all. read more

Eric is knowledgeable, reliable, and as professional as it gets. Easy to trust at every turn, which is so important in the stressful Bay Area market. read more

Eric's zen-like demeanor and knowledge of the real estate market in the Bay Area was invaluable to us in our recent home purchase. We were first timers to the world of real estate and all of its maddening complexities and complications - and he guided us through the process, step by step, and assured us throughout that the right home would be ours. His expertise and insights about comparable homes in the neighborhood helped us get the sweet, little urban home of our dreams - and upon our first offer, in a competitive situation. Not only does he know real estate, though, he's also a pastry chef, world traveler, aficionado of food and drink, and an exceptionally nice guy - making him an all-around fun, interesting person to know and spend time with through what can be a stressful, overwhelming process. read more

My husband and I moved from Chicago to Oakland in August 2012. After getting our son Charlie settled into his new school, making new friends and loving Oakland, we decided to lay down some real roots and buy a home in here. Even though we own a home in Chicago, we were unprepared for the crazy real estate market of the Bay Area. Eric was able to show us different neighborhoods, and a series of homes. He really took the time to teach us about how the local market functioned, what we could get for our budget, and the strategy to successfully make an offer for the home we wanted. Eric was very responsive and patient with all our questions and concerns. He worked hard at finding us a home inspector, an electrician and a plumber to investigate the house in a very short time span. We would recommend Eric to anyone looking for a home in the Bay Area. read more

When I decided to buy a condo in Berkeley, I had only ever bought property in Australia. It was an entirely different process! Enter Eric (thank goodness). He guided me through the turmoil of the Bay Area's crazy real estate market. He answered all my questions (even the stupid ones - without ever implying that they were stupid!) and addressed all my concerns. He helped me design a winning bid and encouraged me to include an important (to me) contingency - the engineering of which he then followed closely, emailing me photos as the process was completed. I had to return to Australia before escrow closed, but that didn't faze Eric. He simply called long distance to answer my questions, accommodating the time difference and my work schedule. When escrow did close, he purchased a lamp and timer to put in the condo till my return, and padlocks for my storage units. He hung about waiting for a locksmith to change the front door lock. And he checked and emptied my mailbox. Unbelievable (except that he did it all)!! I couldn't have asked for a more professional, accommodating, wonderful agent! I'd call Eric again in a heartbeat for future real estate needs. Unfortunately, he's not perfect....he does watch Masterchef! Though since he prefers the Australian version, I've made allowances. read more

After an over four month escrow, today it finally closed and I finally have my duplex! Eric supported me and did every thing he could to get me this place. He met with layers, stood in long lines at county offices, went to multiple inspections, and dealt with me and my crazy family to ensure I got the right place. I knew he really cared about me and what he was doing. He is very honest and truly wants what is best for his clients. This is a very tough market for a buyer in the East Bay and I could't recommend Eric more to guide you through it. read more

We have worked with Eric in selling 3 Berkeley properties and buying 2, and he handled all the transections smartly, smoothly, and with style. We appreciated his combination of competence and sense of humor, and would completely recommend him to anyone looking for a good realtor. read more

My name is Jesse Stroup and I am the Residential Mortgage Loan Officer for Skyline Home Loans I have had the great pleasure of working with Eric Wong of Daniel Winkler and Associates, Inc. Eric has proven himself Time and Time again, with his abilities and dedication to getting the deal done. No task has ever been too big or deal too small for him to handle. I know that when I have Eric working as the Realtor, it will be done correctly. I recommend his services without hesitation. Yours Sincerely Jesse Stroup Mortgage Professional Skyline Home Loans NMLS# 6229 www.jessestroup.com Direct: 510-704-3445 read more

When I first met Eric Wong I was impressed with how knowledgeable he was of the real estate market in the East Bay. After working with Eric for the past few years I have realized he is the total package. He is an agent that knows the in and outs of the market at all times and he always has the utmost care for his clients. He is an outstanding agent for buyers and for sellers as well. I recommend contacting Eric for all questions real estate related. I am confident you will come away as impressed as I was. read more

Eric helped us find our first home and we enjoyed working with him very much. He was responsive to our needs, accessible, and knowledgeable about every aspect of the home buying process. As others have said, he is trustworthy and professional and went above and beyond to make himself available to us. He was incredibly communicative and easy to work with and we would recommend him to any and all of our friends. read more

shopping for a house in this economic climate can be frustrating, exhausting, and confusing. that was the experience we had before eric. we originally went with a realtor recommended by a co-worker and spent most of the time trying to figure everything out by ourselves. after the frustrating experience, we found eric - working with him made such a great difference! we are happy to report, after spending over a year looking for a home in the berkeley area - we found one we love! we highly recommend eric to anyone looking for a realtor in the berkeley/oakland/albany area. eric is patient and thoughtful - both incredibly important in a realtor, especially in this housing climate. from the first meeting, eric was focused on finding out what is important to us. he was honest in helping us understand what he thought we could afford as well as remain positive and supportive of us bidding within our comfort zone despite the comps. eric is very responsive on email and over the phone. he not only sends us house listings but sends us his review on why he recommended it to us. eric's guidance was imperative to helping us target what is important to us. eric often met with us on off hours since we were working 50+ hours a week. he would also show us some houses that was just about to go to market early... once we were in escrow, eric remained instrumental to helping us stay sane in the roller coaster ride. he was on top of tracking all the paperwork - making all the calls to our lender as well as to the sellers. he made sure all the questions we had and didn't think to ask were answered. after we got through all the challenge of getting a home, eric also was able to provide great recommendations for contractors to help our house become ready to move in. one year and 2 months after we started, we are moved into our new home. eric played a huge part in making it happen and we can't say enough good things about eric! read more

I came to work with Eric because he was my sister's realtor (I believe she found him through a recommendation from a friend). When my partner and I decided to go in on a duplex with my sister, Eric teamed up with the realtor my partner and I had already been working with. We had agreed upfront that Eric would be looking for single family homes for Sister to purchase alone, but he would also keep an eye out for duplexes for Sister, Partner and me to buy together. Meanwhile, my realtor was looking for condos for Partner and me, but not specifically for duplexes for the 3 of us. We thought this arrangement would avoid confusion and each realtor would know where they stood, if each party bought their own property or if all 3 of us bought a place together. I thought it was generous of Eric, once we found a duplex, to include my realtor in the transaction, and to allow her to get some portion of the commission, even though Eric seemed to do most of the work. I'm not sure what exactly their arrangement was, but I know he included my realtor in the process. I was glad for that especially because I knew my realtor would otherwise not get compensated for the time she had spent with me and Partner up until that point. Eric started out as just my sister's realtor, but ended up basically inheriting me and Partner once we found the right duplex. I took a little while to warm up to him, since he's not the chattiest guy. A number of times, I would go to an open house with my sister, who would mention to the listing agent she was working with Eric Wong. Almost each time she mentioned him, she would hear some variation on: "Oh, I love Eric!" At first I was surprised to hear this - he hadn't really wowed me yet personally. But over the weeks I saw how responsive he was to my sister's feedback, and how available he would make himself to tour houses with her. He truly seemed to want to accommodate my sister, and wanted input from her on what she might need from him that she didn't feel like she was getting. Sister was a first-time buyer, so her needs were quite likely all over the map. My own realtor began to get to know Eric, and her feedback about him was uniformly positive and enthusiastic. Then I started working with him closely when he began to write offers for Sister, Partner and me on a few duplexes, one of which was finally accepted. He's a solid and dependable person, whose friendliness and sense of humor took me a little while to discover, since I had had somewhat limited contact with him initially (his being my sister's realtor, not officially mine). He was extremely responsive by email, phone and text. I think he has the qualities that are most important in a realtor: dependability, thoroughness, responsiveness, and good relationships with other realtors. read more

The lucky 7th review! Eric was recommended to us by Daniel Winkler, the property management company overseeing our rental unit. He was described to us as "laid back", and this turns out to be quite the personality we needed. As first time home buyers learning about how mad crazy the Bay area housing market is, he patiently guided us through our frustration with this cash rich buyer-sellers market. Being traditional buyers, we were shocked at the short bid dates and the over asking offers. Eric used real life examples of his sales and buys to demo to us what we needed to be comfortable with to find a home in either Alameda, Berkeley, Albany or El Cerrito - the same places EVERYONE seems to hope to live. He realistically predicted how much over asking we should bid, and was honest when homes were out of our reach. We were impressed by his ability to place our needs over his; a few times he advised us to walk away from offers and deals because he could tell we were too upset or could not afford to keep going. This is good - there are a lot of buyers throwing good money out there for location and we often wondered if we were being too conservative. Perhaps best of all, Eric is someone who will listen - really listen - and identify you and your partner's needs and will provide balanced, non-judgmental advice when disagreements go down - and they will go down, sometimes embarrassingly in front of your agent. Eric will observe your likes and dislikes and after viewing a few homes, he will pick up your style, watch the market, and send you frequent listings of homes you might like. He will do his best to work around your work schedule and meet you at 8am on weekdays and weekends to do home tours. He will advise you when the decisions are yours to make - so no pressure. When our offer was accepted on a home, we had a very challenging time negotiating with the sellers. Eric was very timely in his communications with the seller's agent and with us, and gave us the space to make rational decisions even though the sellers pressured us into waiving our contingencies. Eric is also very kind and will put his neck out there to help make your deal go through. He is the reason we are in the right home! We highly recommend Eric. Happy house hunting, Yelpers! read more

Eric Wong is amazing. He found us a condo in Richmond to invest in in 2012, it was a ridiculously good deal, a foreclosure selling for less than a third of its sale price in 2006. The place had been totally remodelled when sold in 2006, very upscale, and was immaculate, ready to rent out. We eventually decided to sell and called Eric to give us a market review. Two weeks later, we signed a sale contact with Eric on 1 Nov, the day after the tenant moved out. He was already looking for potential buyers. The escrow closed today, in less than 30 days, full price, more than twice what we paid for it in 2012. The whole buy and sell was handled very smoothly and efficiently by Eric. While we did own it, we got excellent rents. Wish we could do it all again! read more

My wife and I found Eric because his brokerage (Daniel Winkler and Associates) had sold a lot of houses in our area. Since we were looking to sell, we gave Eric a call. Not only did Eric show up to the house, but Danny came as well. Both Eric and Danny were very professional through the entire process. Some agents will say that their only responsibility is to market the house and handle all the paperwork. Eric helped us arrange a contractor, painter, landscaper, stager, window cleaner and house cleaner. He showed up to a majority of the vendor appointments so that we didn't have to take time off of work. He provided good advice throughout the entire process, including helping us set an asking price that brought in a lot of interest. We ended up receiving 5 offers after one weekend of open houses and went with the offer that was 22% above asking. Even when we got a little crazy because of the stress, Eric kept a cool head and communicated that everything would turn out alright. It doesn't end here. We decided to use Eric to help us find a house in the Walnut Creek/Pleasant Hill area. Both Eric and Danny made multiple trips out to Walnut Creek after work hours, in major traffic, to help us find a house. It took backing out of a contract on a house that had some major issues we found during the inspection, and 3 other offers before we found a great house in Pleasant Hill that meets all of our needs. When we went to do the final paperwork, the notary was shocked to see Eric at the house with us. He said "I know you have a good agent because rarely does the agent show up for the final signing". He also brought the keys over to my workplace when we closed. At no point was Eric pushy. It's very clear that he cares about his clients and is willing to do whatever it takes to help them buy or sell a house. Both Eric and Danny mentioned multiple times throughout the process the most important thing was that we felt comfortable working with them. It is very telling how good this brokerage is as it is my understanding that a client rarely meets the broker and usually just deals with the agent. We must have connected with Danny 20-30 times both in person and on the phone over the last 4 months. Their reputation precedes them and regardless of where we went during our search, somebody knew either Eric, Danny or both of them and asked how they were doing. Thank you Eric and Danny for everything you did to help us buy and sell our homes! read more

Eric is an experienced and knowledgeable agent who made the entire home-buying process as painless as possible. He knows the market well and was always spot-on about his predictions for what homes would sell for. He is honest yet kind and his calm and steady demeanor helped us to feel like we were in good and trustworthy hands. He understood what we were looking for and worked diligently to find houses that would fit our needs. He was always available, answering our emails and texts right away, at all times of day (the man never sleeps!). We don't know exactly what goes on behind the scenes but we feel strongly that Eric's diplomacy and negotiation skills helped us to secure our house. And during escrow, he took care of everything so that the process was virtually seamless. We didn't have to worry about anything. Even though we've closed on our house now we're confident that he won't disappear and that we can still go to him for any advice, help or questions. We were lucky to have him as our agent and would recommend him highly to anyone. read more