I was given Grace's name from a family friend who told me that Grace would be the person he would use if he were selling his house. Boy am I thankful he did. In short, my review about working with Grace would be 10 out of 10. No notes. She was amazing. Grace was an excellent partner through the process. She gave great advice about renovations, etc. She kept me informed about all the work she was doing. She was an invaluable conduit to the teams working on prepping the house. In retrospect, I could not imagine having done this without her. Moreover, I am certain we would not have sold the house for the price we did, without Grace and her team. If anyone asked me for a referral when buying or selling a house, that would be the easiest question ever: Grace Bishop. Period. 10 out of 10. No notes. read more

Grace was a perfectionist when it came to preparing the house to sell! which was exhausting for us, but we've never sold a house so quickly and so successfully! So it was well worth all the time and expense, and we are extremely grateful for her expertise. Easy to work with, always available. Reg & Dorothy Brooks read more

My partner and I were referred to Grace by a mutual acquaintance, and we are incredibly grateful we found her. Buying a home for the first time is intimidating -- if you are feeling overwhelmed by the process, you are not alone -- and we went into the process knowing virtually nothing. Grace patiently walked us through every step and answered all of our questions. Less than a month after our first meeting with her, we were under contract on a home. The process went so unexpectedly smoothly that when our offer was accepted, I confessed to Grace that I was still only on Chapter 2 of a book I was reading about the home buying process. Having an agent with deep knowledge of the local market turned out to be far more valuable than any general guide. She offered support and was a great sounding board for our questions and concerns. She also assembled an excellent team to support us through the process. We could not recommend Grace and Kim more highly. read more

Working with Grace and her partner, Kim, was fantastic! They are extremely organized and always responded to my questions immediately. Grace's market knowledge is exceptional. We had to put our house on the market in mid October, which was not considered the best time of the year to sell a house. We observed the verge of market slowdown and houses in our neighborhood remained on the market over a month at least, a few are even over 100 days. Grace priced our house appropriately, therefore, our house was on contract in 2 weeks with above the asking price in this current difficult market. Preparing our house for the market was smooth because of her extensive network. All the contractors did a great job. Grace had keen eyes on details. She is very transparent with the process. Our budget was limited, but she and her crew made it happen! I highly recommend Grace and Kim. read more

What Grace said in her response to my review was in accurate in that she referred to an investor offer that was very far below market rate. That one person offered something very low -- one of the scam companies - that I was considering taking doesn't necessarily mean that she got me a good deal or handled things the way that you would expect from a real estate agent. read more

Grace was incredible!! Just as she was almost 10 years ago when we bought another Berkeley home with our son and daughter-in-law. This time she (and Kim!) were extremely responsive as we struggled to put together a winning offer for a home we absolutely loved, while we were on vacation in Duluth, Minnesota visiting my brother and his family. They helped us pull together the documents we needed to justify a funding package, and guided us about offer amounts so we were able to get a bid submitted before the offer deadline, which occurred while we were on a plane on our way home. They were both proactive in guiding us to extremely helpful and flexible people to help us determine financing options. My wife and I can't express enough how much we appreciate their help!!! read more

As a first time homebuyer, Grace's expert guidance was instrumental in helping us land our first home. Grace came recommended to us by friends who had also recently purchased their first home and had a good experience working with her and Kim. From the beginning, we felt we were in very good hands. Grace and Kim presented us with a wealth of knowledge about the home buying process and what to look for in all the sources of information that go into making an educated decision when purchasing a home. Grace advised us on how to navigate pricing in the Bay Area market, what types of houses to spend time investigating, and also took the time to discuss the unique challenges that exist in each neighborhood or area we were interested in. Every open house we went to, the selling agents knew Grace, and her good connections with other agents really helped us along the way. When it came down to the wire, Grace was able to swing it in our favor using her experience as an agent without us paying more out of pocket. In that moment Grace showed the value she brings to a buyer who might even know the home buying process well. Highly recommend! read more

I could not have asked for a better home buying experience, working with Grace Bishop. This was my first home, and from the get-go, Grace was able to explain each step in the process and arm me with the knowledge I needed to navigate the road ahead. She always answered any questions I had quickly and thoroughly, and routinely went above and beyond to get me anything I needed. Apart from being professional, Grace was kind and never hesitated to lend me her advice and expertise. I don't believe I would have been able to close on the home that I did without Grace as my agent. read more

Our experience with Grace Bishop and Kim Markinson was nothing less than excellent. Right from the start, Grace was down-to-earth and professional. She was clear from the get-go on the path we were about to embark upon and receptive to our wishes and feedback even if it differed from her own. Both Grace and Kim were quick to respond to any email, text or phone call, always reassuring us and leaving us feeling we were in excellent hands. Grace guided us through the initial phases of selling a home, the home repairs, the photos for the listing and the final MLS listing. Kim was both kind and amazing and really knows her business when it comes to the multiple documents that need to be signed. They both get an A+ ... read more

This past autumn, I had the great pleasure of working with Grace Bishop and her wonderful team at Red Oak Realty when they helped us sell our home in the El Cerrito hills. I found Grace and Kim and the rest of their staff to be absolute professionals from the first moment I entered their office on Fairmount Ave until the moment that our home sale was finalized. Grace truly loves helping people buy and sell homes! She is a big fan of architecture and design; she is incredibly detail oriented; and she is a real problem solver with a positive can-do attitude. Throughout our home-selling process, we learned that no question or concern was too big or too small for Grace and her team to handle -- quickly and competently. Grace has long-standing positive relationships with all the vendors and contractors you'll need to get your home looking its very best: from inspections to staging, from landscaping to painting, she can find you skilled tradespeople to get your house from listing to sale as smoothly as you can imagine. I have absolutely no reservations in recommending Grace Bishop and Red Oak Realty. Selling your home can be fraught with stress and setbacks, and having a true professional on your side makes all the difference. Grace is just such a person. It was truly a pleasure working with her. Kate V. (formerly of El Cerrito, now living in Ontario, Canada) read more

Working with Grace Bishop was a pleasure from the first meeting to the close of escrow. When I first met with Grace, I was dealing with quite the difficult real estate situation; Grace figured out a game plan right away, and was always there to help when needed. If Grace was not available, her teammate Kim would step in and save the day. Both Grace and Kim "saved the day" on multiple occasions!!! I never felt unsupported or uninformed; they kept me appraised of what was going with with my property and the real estate market as a whole. Ultimately, Grace's swift responsiveness to a potential buyer led to the sale of our property. I truly felt like she had my best interest throughout the whole process, and I highly recommend Grace and her team at Red Oak. read more

I cannot recommend Grace enough! She and her team (shout out to Kim!) were knowledgeable, professional, transparent, and explained every step of the home-buying process to my husband and me. They navigated us through a tricky probate sale with multiple heirs that were out of the state and out of the country. Grace has immeasurable industry knowledge, numerous contacts, and treated us like her top priority. The entire time we were confident in how she handled the deal and took her recommendations seriously. After our experience buying a home with Grace I can say that we trust & respect her, recommend her highly, and would love to work with her again. read more

As this was my first home sale, I was not sure what to expect for the process. Grace and Kim handled this somewhat difficult escrow with ease, allowing me to execute this entire transaction from out of state (and for part of it out of the country). This was invaluable to me as it didn't require me to go to California, and I felt that I was in great hands throughout the entire process. I was also able to get quite a bit more for my property than I thought I could, due to their thorough knowledge of the local market. I'm very satisfied! read more

Where to begin! Grace and Kim helped my wife and I find our first home, working closely with us every step of the way for almost a yearlong search. Their knowledge and patience through the whole process was incredible and made us feel empowered, even in the highly competitive and expensive East Bay market. When we finally did have our offer accepted on a home, they were both amazingly efficient and communicative through all of the many steps and piles of paperwork. I cannot recommend Grace enough for anyone looking to buy or sell, truly a top notch professional who looks out for her clients best interests wherever they're coming from. read more

We met Grace almost 20 years ago when we were looking to buy our first home. We were walking down Solano Ave and as we passed by the Albany Red Oak Realty office stopped to look at the listings in the window. Grace came out to see if she could help and even though we were not qualified yet, she took the time to explain the process and put us in touch with a lender that could help. We kept in touch and within 6 months we were ready to go! The market was really competitive at that time so we made a few offers made that didn't materialize but one evening she gave us call to see a home that had just come on the market. When we walked through the front door we knew that sweet little bungalow was the one for us. We wrote up the offer that night on the hood of her car (way before Docusign!) and within a few days we were in contact and on our way to being home owners. What struck us about working with Grace is that she was truly our partner though the entire process, from taking the time to learn about us, to helping us finding a good lender to finding the home and closing the sale. There was never any pressure to make an offer we weren't comfortable with and she was straight forward with what we could expect. Over the years we kept in touch and when we decided to sell the home there was no doubt that we would work with Grace again. We were very emotional about our decision to sell. This was our first home and we truly were in love with that little house. When we met with Grace and her assistant, Kim, they were very patient with us and thoroughly explained the selling process and what we needed to do to prepare. She was very straight forward with us about pricing and the what we could expect. She determined a good asking price and listing date to position it with the other active listings in the neighborhood. Her marketing strategy was very successful with over 400 people attending the open houses and 7 very solid offers! We highly recommend Grace! She is experienced, knowledgeable and just a really great person to work with. She has an extensive network from her 20 years of experience in the area and what ever side that you may be on, buy or sell, you will be in very good hands. read more

I recently sold a 1 bedroom condo in Berkeley with Grace Bishop and Kim Markison, and I cannot recommend them enough. I contacted Grace after reading her positive Yelp reviews (on multiple Red Oak Yelp entries for some reason), and am so happy that I did. This was my first time selling a property, and this condo was in my family for 23 years, so it needed some TLC/repairs/landscaping. Grace and Kim took the time to walk through everything with me, starting with what items I should repair/paint/refinish to get the most for my money. Next, they recommended some cosmetic landscaping, and they worked directly with their landscaper (they met with him personally and walked him through what to do). They recommended a sewer-lateral inspector who was very reasonable and gave us a quote within a couple days. I was out-of-town and my smoke alarms went off for no reason, so Kim even went over to the unit and turned them off on a Saturday morning! Grace was very patient with getting all the necessary documents from our HOA. Both Grace and Kim were always accessible, and they responded to my texts/emails/phone calls immediately. They worked directly with their photographer and staging company, and both were perfect. In the end, I got a great offer within 3 days (!) of listing the property. I was honestly pleasantly surprised every step of the way and with every interaction. I never write Yelp reviews, but they definitely deserve 5 stars! If they worked this hard to help me sell my 570 sq ft condo, I can only imagine how hard they work to sell homes. I 100% recommend them. read more

January 2021 Having been born and raised in the East Bay, I never wanted to leave this beautiful, diverse, special place. However, purchasing a home here is not as easy as it was back in the 70s and 80s when working and middle class families (like my own) could afford to own. That being the case, I figured we had one of two choices - be lifelong renters where we want to live or leave the Bay Area to be able to purchase a home. When we first started talking to Grace and her associate Kim Markison about our desire to own a home in the East Bay we shared our concern that it wouldn't be possible for our family to be competitive in this market. Grace was direct and honest in her feedback. She didn't feed us illusions that it would be easy, but she did lay out different options for us to consider that would make it a possibility. Her extensive experience and in-depth knowledge of the East Bay housing market was apparent from the onset of the process. Without tech-type salaries or family financial help, it would take time for us to be positioned to have a chance but she instilled confidence that it was not only possible, but we would indeed find the right house for our family. We shared with Grace what was most important to us in the home we wanted to own and the location we wanted to live. Every step of the way she listened closely, honoring our family's priorities and offering honest feedback regarding specific properties and how they did and didn't align with our stated desires. Through these experiences it became evident that Grace is driven not by sales and commissions but by really working to connect buyers to the home that is right for them. Grace is ethical and honest- two extremely important qualities of a real estate agent, especially considering how vulnerable the process of purchasing a first home can be. In addition to her experience and knowledge, Grace has put time into fostering great relationships with clients and colleagues alike, her reputation in the field an asset to any client working with her. Selling agents often knew her and wanted to work with her, which was a major advantage for us when it came time to make an offer. Grace Bishop is a bit of a unicorn, in that she possesses a rare and very special combination of traits. She is a no-nonsense, direct, honest, knowledgeable, savvy agent who exhibits great patience, empathy, and understanding towards her clients and their experience. Through the daunting, scary, exciting process of purchasing our first home Grace and Kim were there to answer questions, normalize our experience, educate and support us. It was a long journey, but as Grace had assured us at the start of it all, it was possible and we absolutely did land in the right house for our family thanks largely to her. Charity Harbo & Roger Cox read more

Trying to sell our home during a pandemic was confusing at best. Grace and her team stuck with us over a two year period while we went back and forth and then finally made our decision. Grace's suggestions about the best ways to prepare our home, her market knowledge, patience and good humor were invaluable. The sale could not have been smoother, the results were beyond our expectations. Thank you! read more

We have now bought and sold a house with Grace and Kim at Red Oak. They have been fantastic to work with for both processes and I highly recommend them. In our sale, we received valuable advice about what final touch ups to invest in, and when to aim to bring the house to market. On our subsequent search for a home, Grace and Kim's insights about the market conditions and inspection reports helped us make our offers with confidence that we were competitive, and pass on houses with problematic issues. When we finally found a house we couldn't lose, we had a good idea of what it would take, and our offer was accepted. Grace and Kim are professional, efficient, and a pleasure to work with. read more

Grace, her associate Kim, and the rest of the team at Red Oak were a joy to work with. I felt very taken care of through every step of the process. This was my first time selling a home, and both Grace and Kim were always available to answer any question I had. They referred me to great specialists who prepped my home for sale within a couple of weeks, Grace hired a professional photographer, and our listing went live. My home was only listed for 8 days until we received the offer that we accepted, and it sold for well over list price. I have full confidence in Grace as a realtor, would wholeheartedly recommend her, and hope to have the opportunity to work with her again in the future. read more

It was a pleasure to work with Grace Bishop of Red Oak Realty. Once we decided to sell, we wanted to move quickly to take advantage of the seller's market. We interviewed several agents that had been recommended by friends, and at the end of our interview with Grace (and her Associate Kim Markison) we knew she was the one we wanted to work with. Her calm demeanor, efficient approach, and obvious familiarity with the market in our neighborhood made the decision easy. Less than a month later, our home was on the market a, beautifully staged, artfully portrayed on a website, and able to attract many potential buyers. She referred us to several professionals (stager, painter, housecleaner, gardener, window washer, inspectors) who were also very responsive and did great work. She works with an excellent photographer and consultants who developed the on-line listing so that the house really shone. While the house was on the market, she communicated regularly about how many showings there were each day. Grace was kind and empathetic about the stress of moving from our home of 20 years. In the background Kim was sending us documents to review and sign in a timely manner to keep everything on schedule. We had six offers, all above asking and it was easy to compare the offers from the Red Oak website. Her logic and reasoning helped us confirm the highest offer as a good one, and indeed it was. The work did not stop during escrow. Chicago Title Company was very efficient and communicated regularly about the required documents and on-line signing. We really appreciated Grace's and Kim's attention to detail in making sure everything happened on time. We highly recommend Grace Bishop. If we decide to stay in the East Bay we will not hesitate to work with Grace again as buyers. read more

After 8 years of looking for a house, we met Grace and found our house. For whatever reasons, our bids with other agents got close but never were accepted. Grace got us our house on our very first bid together. If only we had found her sooner! Grace understood our needs and our limitations right away and seemed to really get what we were looking for. She asked all the right questions and made us come up with some tough answers. Just one month after working together, we had our house and 30 days later, we moved in. Grace was our fearless leader throughout the home buying process. From negotiation tactics to mortgage and inspection help, we literally could not have done it without Grace and her very strong contact list. Through the process, Grace was our unflappable rock. She gets our highest recommendation. We love our new home and truly have Grace to thank for it. Jim Farber & Melissa Graviss Oakland, CA read more

Grace is a completely amazing realtor. Anyone looking in the insane Berkeley market knows that you need someone really smart to be helping you, and my husband and I felt in completely great hands the entire journey with Grace. We originally attempted to purchase a home with another realtor, back in 2009. We made offers on at least 5 homes, none of which were accepted. The old realtor basically just kept saying, " you got outbid." We didn't get the impression he was advocating for us at all, just setting out numbers. We also constantly felt pressured by both him and our mortgage broker to bid more and work more and ask relatives for more money, none of which were options that were in line with reality (bid more, ask others) or our values (work more). Grace met with us, really listened, and took us seriously. Although she and Red Oak certainly sell their share of million-dollar-plus homes, we never felt like second-class citizens because we were more in the 500k 2bed/1bath range (an impression we certainly got working with our other realtor). The competition in Berkeley is FIERCE, especially at the entry-level end of the real estate market, and Grace didn't waiver, kept us up-to-date on news she heard from other realtors about properties, and gave great advice while making it clear that our financial decisions were ours alone. Within TWO MONTHS of working with Grace, we found a dream home for our small family, 3 blocks from our daughter's elementary school and 5 blocks from BART, which we both use to commute to work. We put in one offer, and with Grace's help, wrote a wonderful letter that she thought helped seal the deal. This is all in addition to the general ease of working with her for all kinds of technical reasons, DocuSign (a remote signing program) most of all-- the other guy acted like we had nothing in our lives but time to run to his office and sign stuff, constantly. Couldn't recommend Grace and the Red Oak staff more. read more

Grace Bishop and Kim Markison are the ultimate real estate professionals and we recommend them enthusiastically. With nuanced expertise in the local real estate market, they helped us navigate our home purchase with valuable insight and advice every step of our journey: setting us up with the right online search tips, presenting us with pre-market leads, advising on competitive offer strategy, negotiating and bringing our offer to contract. Not to mention serving as our real estate spiritual advisors as necessary! Grace and Kim frequently checked in encouraging emails even when the market was quiet. They were eventually able to help us find our dream home during shelter in place! Kim and Grace are a smart, personable and powerful duo and we were lucky to have them on our team. read more

Grace is absolutely fantastic to work with. She is impeccable, gracious, strategic, thorough, patient, smart - I really can't say enough. She represented me in a sale that involved some complexity, and moved us to an outcome that exceeded our best case scenario projections. She kept us calm and focused on our goal, and navigated big and small challenges that arose with enormous poise throughout the process. She knows what she is doing, and is held in high regard among her colleagues. This is priceless. Her systems are excellent, and she has surrounded herself with a team of outstanding professionals to work with at various points in the process. Thank you, Grace, for your extraordinary work. I will be referring everyone I know to you. Ellen L. read more

Grace Bishop is THE person you want representing you in Berkeley when buying or selling a house. Grace represented me as a buyer back in 2005, when the housing market was crazy, and again as a seller in the spring of 2014--when the market was even crazier! In both buying and selling a house, I was well-represented, informed, and respected by Grace through the entire process. As a first-time buyer, I had a lot to learn about the market in Berkeley, and Grace was so helpful, knowledgeable, patient, positive, and full of quiet energy that helped balance the stress and make a complicated process go as smoothly as possible. As a seller, I did not hesitate to call Grace to represent me again, and Grace did not disappoint. Again, Grace navigated me through the complexities of the housing market in Berkeley, and offered astute advice about how to best prepare my house for sale. Because Grace is so trustworthy, unwavering in her integrity, firm in her expectations, and smart as a whip, I was able to trust in Grace and could not be happier with the results of the sale. Grace is top-notch! read more

Reflecting on the holidays and the start of the new year, one name comes to mind when my husband and I think how lucky we are to have found our beautiful home. GRACE BISHOP. Grace is AMAZING. I recommend her in a heartbeat to anyone who needs a realtor and raved about her throughout our house-buying experience when discussing with other friends who were also house-hunting. I rarely Yelp; I am more of a Yelp lurker and read other's reviews. But I feel NOT reviewing Grace here would be a great disservice to anyone looking for a rockstar agent. We received a glowing recommendation from a friend as my husband and I were on the market to buy our first house. We did our due diligence and researched Grace (on Yelp and her website) and interviewed her in addition to several other agents. Finding someone who was knowledgeable in the industry, well-versed in the East Bay and that we also liked and trusted was important to us. Hands down she was the front-runner. From her professionalism in our first meeting to the well-thought out information booklet she gave us, we were super impressed from Day 1. Grace is smart, thoughtful and detail-oriented. She's super responsive via phone, email and text. And as we were going through one of the biggest decisions we would ever make, we appreciated her warmth and witty humor to help us through the big hurdles, especially during a fast-paced 15-day escrow. I was in the middle of my pregnancy while we were house-hunting, and Grace was kind and patient during what I attribute to hormonal meltdowns. Grace's numerous accolades prove she's sought after and quite busy, but we never felt like we weren't her main focus. She was always two steps ahead on what our next move should be. Her assistant, Kim, was also part of this great team that helped us secure a house that we love. In the few instances Grace was not available, she gave us ample heads up and Kim was guiding us so we didn't lose momentum. We both work in San Francisco and she was flexible in meeting us to accommodate our work schedule. Grace is aggressive but not pushy - exactly what you need in an intense seller's market. She's well-networked with contractors you can trust. Her recommendations are always spot on. If something doesn't sound like a good idea, she walks you through the logic of why and gives alternate solutions. She's a problem-solver. We had a few surprises along the way and she was always creatively triaging the best way to work through issues. As we make some necessary improvements to our newly purchased home (all of which were discovered during escrow inspections based on Grace's recommendations), we continue to work with contractors who are consummate professionals who either Grace recommended directly or know of her. Her reputation throughout the industry is stellar and in working with her, it's clear as to why. We can't recommend her highly enough. And while we plan to be in our home for many, many years, she will be our first phone call should we decide to sell. Grace rocks! read more

I hardly ever review anything on Yelp - but I have to make an exception here. I don't know what I can add to her already exceptional reviews, except to say that Grace really is a unique and utterly exceptional person in the world of real estate. She's helped us purchase two homes and sell one, and in every case has gone above and beyond. Our most recent purchase and sale were particularly hectic, having to be negotiated partly while we were on another continent (!), and Grace handled it all with unbelievable patience and capability. We got outstanding results with both, and neither deal would have gotten done without her. I can't recommend her highly enough, especially in a volatile market. Call her. read more

Grace and her assistant Kim are an amazing real estate team! From start to finish, I felt well taken care of. Grace was a recommendation from my previous real estate agent in San Francisco and after our first meeting, I knew she was the right fit for me and my working style. Grace and Kim are detail oriented and efficient, and I found them easy to partner with in finding my new home. Whenever I had a question, either Grace or Kim got back to me very quickly. The market in Oakland, Berkeley, and Lamorinda is crazy. That said, if you (the buyer) invest time staying on top of listings using an app like Redfin, you can leverage your agent to see the properties that most interest you. The real estate world is different now - I wouldn't expect my agent to be driving me around to every new listing and giving me neighborhood tours. That's on you, the buyer. But once I found homes that I liked, Grace and Kim were helpful at giving me input and additional info about them. When I wanted disclosure packets, I usually had them within 24 hours. Where I really value the work of an agent and where I benefitted most from Grace and Kim is in their advice, offer strategies, network of relationships with other agents and people in the business, and their highly organized approach to moving through a deal. Grace seems to have fantastic relationships across the industry, which I believe definitely helped me win the home I purchased. Any time I needed to bring in an inspector or other professional, Grace and Kim always had trusted folks to immediately recommend. I never felt like we "stalled" at any point. I also never felt worried about "what's happening right now?" The overall process was smooth and I'm happy with the home I purchased. I would be very happy to work with Grace and Kim again in the future and I highly recommend them! read more

Selling any large financial asset can be very stressful, and when selling a home, there is an emotional component that can cloud ones judgment. It is critical to work with a professional you can trust. When I sold my house, Grace recommended I do some things that were counter intuitive to me, but I put my trust in her because she did an amazing job helping my wife buy a house. The outcome of the sale exceeded my expectations and more, and I am so glad I had Grace as my Realtor. Grace and her assistant Kim are kind, communicative, and professional. read more

Grace and Kim - we cannot tell you how much we appreciate everything you have done for us. Moving across the country with two kids during COVID to start a new job was immensely stressful and you both took a significant portion of our concerns off our backs. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you! Not to mention, you originally found the house for us and then sold it for significantly more less than a year later! Who does that?! You have been the best to us. I'm so glad my cousin connected me with you and I hope we stay in touch. Grace, we will miss your daughters as our sitters and hope they are thriving despite the lockdown challenges. We will miss you all! read more

We lived overseas for a number of years so we were a bit shocked with the whole home-buying-in-the-Bay-Area-in-late-2014 experience. We were introduced to Grace by a friend and she was extremely helpful in guiding us through the whole process -- made sure that we took the necessary steps so that our offer had the best chance to be accepted in this very competitive market. She also gave us contact information for any and all other people/services that we needed during and after the big transaction. Grace and her assistant Kim Markison, (they worked as a team,) were always available to answer our many questions and worries. She also helped us begin celebrating the holidays in our new town with a lovely holiday party. Thanks! read more

Grace and Kim were awesome. They are very knowledgeable, experienced, and meticulous. They were very patient with us throughout the whole stressful process. Great communication and very responsive. They had lots of resources to schedule in short notice inspections and knew where to look to find damage we would not have known about otherwise. We would definitely work with them again. read more

My home search started Jan 2019 with one realtor looking for a house in the Bay Area. As a first time home buyer the task of finding a house felt daunting and unattainable especially as the end of the year grew closer. Almost an entire year looking for a house and I still didn't have a better understanding of how to search for a house or go about the process of putting a bid down on a house I liked. In fact over the past year I saw several homes I was interested in but the opportunity time after time passed me by. As someone in their late 20's who had been saving up for many years with a goal of buying a house it seemed like my budget just wasn't feasible in the bay area housing market. Beginning of 2020 I decide a change was needed and was recommended to reach out to Grace and Kim. What a contrast! Right from the start Grace and Kim never gave me the impression that I couldn't buy a house with my limited budget but were realistic and up front with what I should expect. They helped me every step of the way and answered my questions thoroughly to ensure I understood the process of how to go about looking for a house, putting a bid on a house, putting in counter offers on a house, working through contingencies and eventually closing on a house. They answered and re-answered questions when I got overwhelmed in the house buying process. Their level of communication made me feel like I was their only client even thought I knew I was not and they never made me feel too small or unimportant to be worth consideration just because my budget was lower than the average Bay Area home buyer. If you want first-rate help during your home buying process I highly recommend Grace and Kim! read more

Before practicing real estate, Grace was my high school club volleyball coach. After I graduated high school, we lost touch. However about 15 years later, when looking for a new home, I remembered that she changed careers and became a realtor. I figured if she practiced real estate with the same drive and tenacity as she coached volleyball, she would be a great realtor. And she is. I am so glad I contacted her. My experience buying a starter home with Grace was fantastic. Grace understood that buying a home was a new experience for me and she tried to make it as seamless as possible. She was attentive and listened to my needs and concerns and was my advocate throughout escrow. Grace is an excellent realtor. Thanks to Grace, I now own my first home and I love it. I recommend her very, very highly. Five stars plus. read more

Grace Bishop was the best referral I have ever received! She performed and delivered above and beyond all my expectations. I was a first time buyer with little knowledge of how the real estate industry truly worked and my time and flexibility to traverse through this unknown world was limited by my profession. Grace was focused, knowledgeable and able to point me in the direction of what I needed to do to educate myself as well as was accommodating, patient and kept her word as to what she could do for me. Buying a house is a complex endeavor that triggers many emotions, engulfs a good portion of your life and can be overwhelming. Grace can break it down to digestible pieces. Her immense knowledge of the East Bay Real Estate Market, neighborhoods and referrals to quality professionals whose assistance you may need during the buying process or 5 years later are invaluable. Her experience helps you to become a stronger contender for your dream home as she can advise you in bidding, negotiations and be an objective person to help you navigate any situations that arise during the process. Further Grace takes the time to get to know you and what you want from a house as well as how much you want to spend. She values your time, won't waste it and is constantly looking for that "house" for you. Her expertise offers you more than less experienced eyes could see of a house''s potential or pitfall. Once you have Grace as a real estate agent, you have her as a friend and resource for life. Five years later and I still go to Grace first with questions, to seek referrals etc. for anything that has to do with my house. She always has the time, an answer or referral waiting for me. If for some reason she doesn't hold the answer she knows someone who will. As I explore my next housing options, the one thing I know for sure is that I will choose Grace Bishop to be my agent. read more

As a professional trustee, I have used Grace to sell two different client's homes in the East Bay. Having worked with several real estate agent's, I immediately appreciated Grace's organizational skills, and her ability to get the workmen in to get the house ready for sale. In both instances, the house sold for over the asking price-which was great in a "down" market. I wouldn't hesitate to reccomend or use Grace again. read more

Probably the best thing I can say about Grace is that she makes me wish I was either buying or selling a house all the time. Before moving back to Northern California, we'd had our share of experiences with Realtors who were solid, very good and not very effective. Grace raised the bar tremendously, starting when we first relocated from Philadelphia to Oakland in 2011. First some background: Redfin was all the rage in 2011 when we were looking to move back to California, and I figured we could use it to buy our house and skip the standard Realtor fees. Fortunately, a Bay Area architect who came to look at a place with me because we had some hopes of expanding or adding on to a smaller house suggested that we get in touch with Grace. It was the best phone call we ever made. The process of buying a place from 3,000 miles away was made so easy by Grace's expertise, calmness under pressure and willingness to do whatever was needed to make sure our deal was done -- including staying up with us on the phone until 11 p.m. (Pacific time) to work out some kinks with our mortgage broker on a tight deadline. When it came time to sell because my job relocated us back to the east coast just two years later, there was never any doubt about who would be our Realtor. Now, we were certainly not selling the most expensive house among Grace's listings, but you'd never know it by the service. Grace was attentive, great with communication, realistic about what we should expect and very clear about what our strategy would be. She also made sure we stayed on top of the things we needed to do. In short, Grace is awesome and assuming our next purchase or sale is not in the Bay Area, we'll be thankful to find a Realtor who is even half as good. read more

If you're anything like us, you're terrified of entering the red hot Bay Area housing market. When homes looking like haunted houses can list for over a million dollars, what is a hopeful home buyer to do? We'll give two anecdotes to describe what made Grace (and her awesome associate Kim Markison) stand out during our search. We took several years to find our perfect home, and during that time Grace gave us numerous estimates of how much she thought each house would sell for and what a reasonable bid might be. At one point we wondered: How accurate were these estimates? We've heard stories of agents inflating numbers to increase both their commission and odds of landing a sale. So we did the analysis, looking back at her predictions and comparing them with the actual sale price of the house. She was spot on in almost every case (and substantially more accurate than the online realty sites were), and if anything she was slightly conservative in her predictions (a bias we really appreciated). This gave us great confidence in her estimates and that she truly wanted to do what was best for her clients. But Grace truly earned her reputation as a top agent the day we won our bid. After finding a house that knocked our socks off, we decided to put in an aggressive bid. We nervously wrote it up and sent it to Grace the morning bids were due. A few hours later Grace called. She had been tracking the number of likely bidders and speaking with the selling agent. She hadn't yet submitted our bid, and thought we could go lower. We dropped the bid substantially and send it back to Grace. Just before bids were due a text message appeared on our phone. It was Grace again, suggesting we further drop the bid. She had spent hours on the phone with the selling agent, cagily trying to figure out what the sellers would accept and what they wouldn't, and gleaning that the other bids might not satisfy the sellers. We dropped the bid further. After a few tense hours she called us again. We had dropped too far, but if we were willing to inch up a bit she thought we could have a deal. We inched up, and a short while later we got the news: the house was ours! At a price substantially lower than we had at first thought it would go for. We are so grateful for Grace's last minute efforts on our behalf. When we tell others that our agent suggested we drop our offering price (not once, but twice!) people are frequently shocked than an agent would do such a thing. But we truly feel Grace wants to do well by her clients, and believes that she too can do well by helping them get the best possible deal. read more

Grace has helped me purchase two homes and has been responsive, knowledgable, and willing to show up for multiple inspections. I just closed on my home and there were multiple concerns post offer and Grace was quick to contact the seller and get things resolved. She also has DocuSign, which really saved a ton of time in signing documents. Grace really knows the Berkeley, Albany, Oakland, and El Cerrito areas especially and I highly recommend her as an agent. read more