Joy Hitzeman and I have known each other for about four years, because we are neighbors at Lake Berryessa, north of Napa, CA. In the few months it took to find and buy my house in Richmond, I had the great pleasure to know Joy a little better, and I am immensely thankful to her for her help and support.
Although the real estate market in the Bay Area is extremely tight and prices have reached mind-boggling heights, I had great hopes and was very determined. I knew it'd take some time but thought I'd find a nice home soon enough. Once I actually started looking, however, I realized how difficult it would be for someone like me, a college professor with a modest salary, to buy even the tiniest house in the Bay Area!
From day one, Joy worked hard to find me the best house possible. She mostly works in the Pacifica area, but she did not hesitate a second to drive to the East Bay (and North Bay) to show me houses for sale. For every home we visited, she evaluated advantages and disadvantages on the spot: building construction, sun exposure, front and backyard landscaping and maintenance, neighborhood's social mix and safety, proximity to shops and public transport, to name but a few.
For my Richmond house, Joy immediately established a wonderful relationship with the realtor--who was one of the two owners selling that property. Later on, when we did the walk through before closing, I thanked him for being so patient with my mortgage loan's repeated complications. "It's alright," he said, "you have a great agent. It's not that common, you know... And it makes my life much nicer when the other agent is as friendly and efficient as Joy." To this day, I too feel extremely lucky to have had her on my side: the more the mortgage loan process got complicated and I was losing hope, the more Joy acted with calm, determination, efficiency. She fought for me from the very first to the very last day. Her and I went through so many loopholes... and we did it together: she was always there for me. Even when she went out of town for a week, she never failed to quickly answered and returned all calls, text messages, emails, and dealt with last minute new requests with great professionalism.
In the end, I was able to buy my house in Richmond at a reasonable price. A three-bedroom home, with a large backyard, located in a safe, friendly neighborhood, and close to public transit and shops. A house that had just been completely remodeled and passed all very thorough inspections with flying colors! Yes, then, I can say that Joy Hitzeman is a highly qualified, professional, diligent realtor. I will also say that she is a wonderful human being, a combination that, to me, makes her unique in her field. I feel very fortunate to know her and have the utmost respect for the woman she is. read more