Michael helped my wife and I purchase a home, and I'm so pumped on how helpful he was during what was the biggest financial decision of our lives. If you're reading this, and you're undecided, you will want him on your team.
I originally lived in Burlingame, and Michael's THE Peninsula guy. We had certain "must haves" from a property though that opened up options for us to purchase from San Mateo to Pacifica through San Francisco, all the way to Walnut Creek. This obviously doesn't make it easy on an agent that specializes in the Peninsula. So, per Michael's advice, we were in conversation with other agents during our home search in areas of the bay area that weren't truly his bread and butter. (He did not have to advise us to talk to other realtors, but he did.)
After Michael was patient with us for over a year, advising us on countless properties, we ended up deciding to pursue a place in the Oakland Hills, not on the Peninsula. But because of our experience with Michael, and other agents along the way, we insisted on having Michael represent us as our agent, despite taking our business out of his true territory. Because we trust him.
And he went above and beyond. He showed up in the East Bay regularly. He was honest, and given it wasn't his traditional territory, like a true professional, he scoured his huge network for the opinion of the more local expert agents in the Oakland Hills prior to offers being looked at by the seller.
In his search, he ended up connecting with the only other agent that the SELLERS interviewed to sell the home, but did not hire. We ended up with a ton of what seemed like truly insider information that helped us understand the sellers. Because he dug deep past the superficial layers of real estate agent communication to stir up the most valuable information for us. Given the gravity of the purchase for our family, his diligence was literally life altering for us.
He finds his way into information like this because he is super personable. The accent helps! He just draws the attention of whomever he is interacting with using a calm enthusiasm.
Calm, but calculated. There were multiple offers on the home, but we had what seemed like insider information as to what the buyer was going to part with the home for, because of Michael's diligence. So our offer caught the attention of the seller immediately.
With the multiple other offers, we ended up in a bidding war, but we had information as to where the war would end! because of Michael! There was a lot of back and forth between us and Michael during this time, and he was readily available for every call and every text. He had our best interest in mind, starting with the home search, all the way through the negotiations.
So when we were in negotiations, he understood when to engage, and when to demonstrate restraint. He was honest and forth coming with us the entire time. He offered his research backed opinion, but never pushed us to do anything uncomfortable. And despite his serenity, and his kindness, in the end, we saw him draw a hard line when we needed him to, when the seller attempted some funny business after accepting our offer.
It's my longest yelp review. But my wife and I are still on a high because we feel we ended up with the perfect home for our family. And we consider Michael part of our family now because that's how he approached our buying experience, as if we were family. I want to have him over for drinks and to listen to his stories like an Uncle.
If you're on Yelp looking for a real estate agent, and you've read this review, and still decide to not at least call Michael to see what he can offer you, you need to re-evaluate if you're serious about home buying/selling. Because in our experience, he exceeded all expectations. read more