Michael is a great realtor - and we have worked with quite a few in the past 10 years to recognize…read morea true professional when we see one! He made the process of buying a home very smooth for us. He kept us very well informed with frequent updates through the "bidding" process for our house. Prior to that, he was great about sending us many, many choices when we were still not focused in our house hunt. After the offer was accepted, Michael continued to follow up with the seller's agent to ensure we got the house in top condition. He knows the area very well and what he doesn't know, he makes sure he finds out from other agents and his network - very diligent and very thorough! He was also very thorough in following up with comps etc. to help us come up with the "right" price for our place. He made the whole process for us as stress-free as anyone possibly can in a seller's market!

Mark provides both quality and value for the service you get. Word-of-mouth is always best and…read morethat's how I found Mark when I did a service requested assistance. He has experience in the industry and knows how to negotiate the best deal for the buyer. I purchased a house in El Cerrito in June 2025. I started working with Mark in October 2024 and he patiently showed me around the area and continued to allow me to find the best place and work through the bidding process that goes on in the Berkeley El Cerrito area. I give him five stars plus and recommend him highly to all those that are looking for a good Realtor, who has their back and knows what he's doing

Mark Playsted of Compass Realty is a one of a kind realtor who did an incredible job handling the…read moresale of my sister's condo in the East Bay. My sister was hospitalized and in very poor health. She asked my husband and I to handle the sale of her condo unit. We live out of state so the sale was a more complicated transaction and due to my sister's poor health, time was of the essence. With Mark's expertise developed over years in the real estate business, he coordinated the work of his talented team of contractors, inspectors and stagers. He held one open house which yielded multiple offers, and worked closely with the title company to complete this sale in three weeks time. He is truly a miracle worker. Mark handled all the details and put our minds at ease during a very difficult time. Mark guided us through this transaction with patience and compassion. He is very easy going, incredibly efficient and very knowledgeable about very aspect of real estate sales. In our 40 years of marriage we have bought and sold two homes in California and three in New York State. We felt all realtors did a great job. However, none were even close to the quality, professionalism, attention to detail and talent of Mark Playsted. We highly recommend the work of realtor, Mark Playsted. He quickly assessed our needs regarding this sale and moved at lightening speed to accomplish this very difficult job.

We met Garrick randomly at an open house while we were casually browsing for houses in Fall 2024…read moreand once we started talking to him we were impressed by how knowledgeable he was. We are not local and barely know much about the Bay Area but he was very generous with all the information despite us not engaging him as our buyer's agent at that time. Fast forward to couple of months later, we decided to get in touch with him again as we were ready to buy a place. What we liked about Garrick was he was not pushy at all and he was very realistic about the houses we saw (eg, if the place had good resale value, considerations like school district, etc) It was not long until he helped choose the perfect place for us that fits our criteria. If anyone is looking for a great and experienced real estate agent, we high recommend Garrick!

It was great working with Garrick again! We were lucky enough to purchase the first home that we…read moreplaced a bid on and Garrick made the process super simple. We had to make some changes due to a mistake on our end, but Garrick made the necessary changes to allow things to go smoothly. We are thankful for his patience and knowledge! Again, he brings attention to details that we would have easily overlooked. See you again soon for house #3, Garrick!!

Tom Kortizija was supposed to sell my house, and help me buy another. I did the majority of the leg…read morework required to buy the house, my girlfriend and I did the vast majority of searching and open house viewings (without Tom as his availability was spotty) and he cut corners throughout the process which ended up costing me $. Worst yet - Tom lied on many occasions, leaving me hat in hand holding the bill. Tom is dishonest and not trustworthy and lied to me on multiple occasions in front of witnesses. You've been warned. He was completely incompetent in his attempt to get my house ready for sale and on the market, despite me consistently nagging him to get things moving. He also wanted to list the house for almost $100k less than the real estate agent I replaced him with - who ultimately sold the house for more than $100k more than what Tom thought he could get and the house sold in 1 week, and was overbid.

Tom is an amazing real estate agent. He was referred to us by friends and we owe them one!…read more He helped us sell our house and purchase another one in Danville. He has the highest integrity and work ethic and will not rest until your needs are met. He is very knowledgeable about the market and real estate ins and outs and offers very sound advice and opinions when asked. He truly goes above and beyond to get the job done and is well-respected among his real estate peers. We are so excited to move to our new house and won't hesitate to ever seek him out in the future or to recommend him to friends.

Doug Buenz at 680 Group was a pleasure to work with and played a key role in both selling our home…read moreand helping us purchase a new one (in 2025). He is highly experienced, well-connected in the local real estate community, and knows the market extremely well. He negotiated behind the scenes to help us secure the home we wanted and coordinated closely with the mortgage and loan teams to keep everything moving. When we hit a serious snag late in the loan process, Doug stepped in and worked through it, which ultimately allowed us to close. He was consistently responsive, met with us several times, and followed up with all parties involved. His professionalism, market knowledge, and commitment to seeing this through made a meaningful difference for us. We highly recommend Doug for all of your real estate needs.

We recently sold our home in Pleasanton through Doug Buenz, and every step of the process from…read morelisting contract to final closing was exceptional. We actually met Doug prior to the March 2020 sudden shelter in place and subsequent shutdown of the home market due to Covid-19. My husband and I toured a number of open homes and observed the sales trends of many realtors in the area. What we observed was Doug had a high success rate in the speed at which his listings went into contract and ultimately sold at near or even above list price despite the economic woes caused by the pandemic. We held off in the actual listing of our home until the shelter in place restrictions were eased in mid-May. I can't speak enough high praise of Doug's thorough and completeness of his sales process. His team was on point with everything from the photography and video, administrative process to complete seller forms, the actual listing, continual updates of buyer showings, obtaining agent feedback on the showings, and ultimately driving the negotiations in the offer process to ensure our goals were met. Even once we entered the contingency phase through escrow closure, Doug continued to provide regular updates and step-by-step communications on what to expect. He was very responsive to all questions that we had. And finally when our home sale closed, Doug was there to congratulate us; and just today, we were pleasantly surprised to receive a flash drive that contains all of our closing documents, final closing statement, real estate and escrow documents pertaining to the sale of our home. There was not one detail left out in the whole process. I absolutely would recommend Doug Buenz and the 680 Group for anyone looking to buy or sell their home!

Michael is a fantastic agent. Very thoughtful and was strategic about how to approach the sale of…read moreour home. He built a thorough plan that went over and above what I have seen other agents provide to their sellers. He leveraged both online and offline tools to ensure our home gained as much exposure as possible. He handled the offer situation respectfully with buyers and buyers' agents. In this seller's market, it would have been easy to simply put the house up and let nature take its course - but Mike absolutely exceeded my expectations and I would recommend him to anyone.

As a first time home buyer it is extremely scary and Michael knew that right from the beginning and…read morehe held my hand and walked me through each and every step of the way and never let me down even when I wanted to give up on looking for my own place. Even when his wife suddenly went into labor he still made sure that there was someone he trusted to continue helping me on my search for my very first buy. And I am please to say all his hard work and dedication payed off. I purchased my very first home (a condo) and it is PERFECT for me. He got everyone of my wishes! If your looking for someone to treat you like you are his sister, brother, Aunt, cousin or any family member Michael is your guy!!!!!

I will be coming back to Allen Hibbard as he has been a strong advocate for me as a first time home…read morebuyer. He supported me every step of the way during this process. He thoroughly understands the market and has decades of experience as a realtor. He made sure that I fully understood the risks and value of each home that my partner and I were interested in. He worked with the selling agent so our offer would be competitive and stand out. He helped us close on a home that had 3 other competing offers. He's a great negotiator who never pressured me. I feel valued and well-represented, Allen didn't want us to spend more than we had to and I trust him. I have no reservations recommending Allen as a buying or selling agent.

I just completed a trust sale with Allen as my RE agent. He…read morewas a key part in making the process smooth and successful. From start to finish, he was always there to ensure things went smoothly. His recommendations on preparing the house to go on the market were key to getting the best offer. I would highly recommend him to anyone looking for a thorough and professional agent to assist in any real estate transaction.

Richard is an excellent agent and can do both residential or commercial representation in the…read moretransaction. He owns a number of properties and knows the ins and outs of buying real estate first hand. He is a great analyzer of the income stream of commercial properties and thus can understand values and fair pricing. I have been on the other side of a sale as a seller's agent and Richard meets his deadlines, fairly advises his clients and delivers. He is patient and through in everything he does. Highly recommended!

At first when I read about Richard, I thought it was all too good to be true...Then as I began…read moreworking with him, he far exceeded my expectations and then some! Richard's extensive experience in nearly all areas of real estate truly show when working with him. He is clearly out to build strong relationships with is clients and not just commissions. Expert at finding the best deals, and works extremely hard to get the job done and done right. Excellent problem solver, the more difficult, the better he does. I would have lost the deal if it wasn't for Richard. Not just and agent, but an excellent friend. Looking forward to the next deal with Richard!