Teri is hands-down the smartest, most talented, connected, flexible, and savvy agent you will find in the Bay Area. Long review below for details because every real estate customer has their story . I've never invested much time in reviews but she is worth it. I lived next to Teri for years during the hottest real estate market and we socialized as neighbors do, but she was often sunk into her work. She worked hours into nights and weekends to do her job well. I asked her once if the houses just don't sell themselves and she said, "Even if they do, it's a matter of pride. I owe it to my clients to do everything I can for them." And I could tell she loved it. Finally I dipped my toe into the housing market on the lower end of price range for Montclair. I was almost afraid to call Teri knowing the high-end clientele she had served. So I spoke to several other agents along the way, some of whom actually made me wince with their dumb pitches. "Look at the closets!" Doy. I listened to the horror stories of friends and was amazed that the industry had so many people who lacked much integrity. I confessed to Teri my needs and explained I thought she might not want to waste time with what I could afford. She shared with me some of the best referrals from all parts of Oakland and the Bay Area. Turns out, ahe is not a snob, but has SUPERB taste and high standards in any neighborhood, any price range. I brought up all kinds of listings and options I was sure were perfect, and she diplomatically demonstrated why they might not work out. She knew I was eager but wouldn't let me make a bad move. Even after weeks of exhausting her time with all my ideas and worries, she still insisted on some core tenets to make sure I wouldn't regret one of the biggest decisions of my life. Finally we settled on a beautiful house in the neighborhood I thought was out of reach. And then ...I backed out. OMG! She urged me not to and she was right. At the time, there were reasons. But every day I pass the exit off 13 and I think of how right she was. Great house someone else is enjoying now and she nailed it. Ok whatever. Breathe. Let it go. She was cool about it. She wasn't mad. She understood my life more than my housing needs. Finally, I came back around and of course, this time, Teri was right there with me. I was all over the market - from Lafayette to Oakland and back again. I was surprised by how much she knew outside the Oakland hills. At last, we found a great fit but this time it would put her negotiating skills to the test. She worked tirelessly with me on inspections, getting bids from a huge range of contractors to understand the fixes required and costs to consider. She organized our offers and counter-offers with the right amount of respect and aggression to come to a number we thought fair. And to make things more complex, we were dealing with a house with multiple owners (probate sale) in the middle of our declining real estate market with very little visibility into what a "good" price was. We got the house and completely upgraded. After all was said and done, our house value / investment ratio has remained stable (haven't lost). It's been three years and I just refinanced. Teri helped me make sure I got the appraisal as accurate as possible by providing real comps that an out of town appraiser wouldn't. Better than that, Teri drops by now and again and helps me lay out the furniture this way or that. She looks at real estate not just as a financial investment but as a lifestyle. It's about your family and job and the neighborhood and the fit. She reminds me how some things won't add value but other ways to solve cosmetic issues. She knows our family and our needs but she's not overly involved unless you want her to be. If I ever sell my house, I would trust no agent other than Teri. She has an excellent understanding of the local market values, etc. But she's also got a fantastic ability to make a living look better in under 15 minutes by adjusting things here and there. Her aesthetics are exquisite and she knows what to highlight in sales. And I appreciate how well connected she is among many other local agents, as well as a long list of loyal clients because it affects her understanding of what can be accomplished. She is basically your insider in the market. I'm a critical customer, educated yuppie/hippie with a great education and career. I'm kind of a know-it-all and a control freak. I never thought I needed an agent to do much more than hold my hand through closing (which I did). But Teri helped me see things I never would have seen, learned things you just can't know from reading on the internet. She is a specialist. She earns her top scores for a reason. A lovely person, a talented agent. She is the really, truly the best. read more

Teri is a gem. She was our buyers agent three years ago when buying our home in Montclair. It was a hard sale--the sellers agent was not from Montclair and unfamiliar with the market, the sellers were older, and most notably we found that the house needed $70k in deck work during the inspection. Teri handled everything with class and honesty, and amazingly got the deal closed. A few years later we found ourselves moving out of state for a dream job and contacted Teri to sell our house. She was wonderful throughout the process, from having her great employee Alex help us coordinate the workers to fix a few things to allowing us to docusign absolutely everything. She's quick on email and text, and I can't imagine anyone knows the market better. We're closing next week on our sale for a great price, and I am sure Teri's strategy and market knowledge is the reason. read more

This is a warning: stay away from this woman she is completely duplicitous and untrustworthy. She was supposed to handle the sale of my home with my ex-husband. First of all, she massively undervalued the property, it was appraised at nearly $1.3m and she wanted to list it for less than $800,000. She would claim she was working to help me to see if I could buy my ex out of the house but she would routinely communicate with my ex without including me in on correspondence. She told us the house would only sell to cash buyers, which would really decrease the price. She was completely unreliable with her predictions regarding the value of the property. She kept making out that things were being delayed by me when in actual fact I would set up appointments and then she would cancel them. She took no inspections on the property meaning it would be anyone's guess what issues the property had and then how much buyers would drive the price around. I am on a really tight budget and was living in the house while it sold, this did not stop Carlisle from repeatedly claiming the presence of an occupant would dramatically decrease the sales's price of the house. She kept making this claim despite the fact there were many more pressing issues with the house which would lower the sale's price. It became apparent to me that Carlisle was sending these emails such that my ex could use them as leverage to get me out of the house. On one occasion, Carlisle sent an email that was full of nonsense, it read exactly like a statement you would submit as an exhibit in court. She made various unsubstantiated claims about house prices, claiming houses sell for more in June than in November. When I went away and looked at the data this was completely incorrect; the average sale's price for a home in my neighborhood is higher in November than in June, or any point throughout the summer. This is likely due to smaller inventory and so more people bidding on a single property. She repeatedly made mention of the presence of pets lowering the sale's price, seemingly ignoring all the unfinished construction work my ex abandoned. A few weeks after writing the email my ex filed a motion in court to have me removed from the property claiming I was not cooperating. He used Carlisle's email as evidence. Carlisle had a clear conflict of interest, at first she made it seem like she was on my side but over time it became more clear that she was just playing both sides as her end goal is to profit from you buying or selling a home. Since my ex has all the money, it was clear Carlisle wanted to align herself with him as he would be a better future client. When I found out that her emails were being used against me in court. I texted her and expressed my utter shock. I said that the hinges she said were untrue and that her actions were going to result in me being evicted from my home. In response, she emailed a copy of my text to my ex and then stated I was not trusted. That part was bizarre given that the only deceitful person is Carlisle. I imagine her biggest issue was that I caught onto the fact that she was claiming she was going to help me when actually she was doing anything but that. I would really not recommend this woman. She is incredibly manipulative, her emails have resulted in me losing control over my home and my ex being able to do what he likes with my asset. She will make it seem like she is your best friend but she is anything but a friend. There was another situation with Carlisle where I took on a contractor recommendation from her. The people I hired stole my copper piping, they demolished my bathroom and abandoned the project for 3 weeks and when they tried to frame new walls everything was lopsided. I eventually fired them before they could do listing damage. At the time Carlisle feigned ignorance but I am sure she was more than aware of her Contractor's dodgy practices. Buying and selling a house is a big endeavor. Do not fall for people like Carlisle she was happy to dump my house at whatever price. She did not follow requests to provide me with all emails and she took action to make things harder for me. This woman has made my life next to awful, I am losing my home, I cannot control how much it sells for or how it is sold and it is because she took action to create more animosity between myself and my ex. All of this stems from the fact realtors make huge sums of money on selling houses. She preferred the house be sold on the market so she could make money, whereas if I simply bought out his equity she would not make any money because it would just require a deed transfer. As a result, she pretended to be helping me when in actual fact she was just doing all she could to further my ex's aims. Prior to leaving my ex vowed to make me homeless and penniless, Carlisle helped him get closer to his aim. read more

This is the 4th time I have used Teri's services, most recently representing me as a seller- and as always she has an exceptional understanding of the market. Teri coordinated all of the marketing preparation that included interior/exterior painting, staging and landscaping. She developed a pricing strategy to achieve a price that far exceeded my expectations. She is a true professional and her years of experience in the Oakland Real Estate market shows through in everything she does. read more

This woman is not human, she is completely superhuman. After a brutal 9 months of looking for a home all over the bay, I had just about given up (i had gone through 2 other agents and even lost a home where I was the highest bidder on my 5th offer - go figure). I heard about Teri through the grapevine and decided it was worth a shot since my search couldn't get worse. From our first meeting I was more at ease than i had ever been. I got my home in 2 offers, she opened me up to new locations and ideas. She KNOWS EVERYONE! which is the biggest help. She is brilliantly smart and tenacious when it comes to real estate and everything home related. She will be my agent for years to come. Her clients all love her and use her consistently. Do not look further if you are looking in the Oakland area. read more

Words cannot best describe my unqualified endorsement of Teri Carlisle as a realtor. She was the listing agent when I bought the house almost 11 years ago. As my circumstances changed it was time to sell the house. Teri was the first person I called. She is cordial, professional, candid and honest. These are rare qualities to find in a professional today. As an out of town seller, I depended even more on her guidance. She developed a strategy for selling the house. This included certain upgrades to increase the curb appeal as well as keeping an eagle eye the competing properties that were coming on the market. I followed her lead in every aspect of the process. Buying or selling a home is by definition a stressful event. In following Teri's guidance of the process, my stress was reduced to a manageable level. This included a 30 plus day calendar, outlining each step, from painters, to inspections, and stagers up to and including the expected date of receiving offers. The hiccups along the way were minor and inconsequential. The closing was uneventful and done in a timely manner. Teri is simply the best read more

My wife and I retained Teri to manage the sale of our home. We initiated our sale with the idea we knew better contrary to what Teri suggested...the results were not nearly what we thought would occur...following that experience, we completely followed Teri's counsel and this time the results were AMAZING! Teri really understands prospective buyers in our community and truly has her finger on the pulse of how to best manage the sale of your home. I would highly recommend you consider Teri to manage your home sale... read more

Teri Carlisle is the best! Teri sold our home in the Oakland Hills in two days at our original offering price. Teri has an excellent reputation and years of experience in the real estate community comprising the Oakland Hills, Rockridge and the surrounding area. She is rated in the 97th percentile among her peers based upon her success record. She is a seller's realtor. In many cases she concludes a home sale at or above the offering price - and within days of listing! We came to Teri after researching the performance history of seven realtors and interviewing five of them. Among the five realtors interviewed, Teri had by far the best understanding of the local real estate market and recommended the best offering price. Her peers recommended offering prices ranging from $150,000 to $350,000 less than Teri's recommendation. Besides being a delightful person to work with, Teri's strengths include: (1.) A shrewd understanding of the local real estate market. (2.) Solid advice on preparing and staging our home for sale. (3.) A large cadre of reliable, cost effective contractors. (4.) Solid, supportive advice on transitioning from our home sale to our relocation. (5.) Personal advice and support during the difficult time all of us experience while selling our home of many years. ABOVE ALL TERI SOLD OUR HOME AT THE BEST POSSIBLE PRICE WITHIN DAYS OF PLACING OUR HOME ON THE MARKET! Teri is a lovely person. You will enjoy working with her. Selling or buying she will achieve for you the best possible results! read more

I want to say a few kind words about Teri Carlisle - A lucky break to find her after a long search and many interviews with agents Teri came through for us. we had a wonderful home that needed lots of work and a very contentious sibling co-trustee situation. Teri helped us find workers and shared her knowledge of what was needed to prepare the house for sale. She was extremely helpful and I feel we got a wonderful price for our family home. I cannot recommend her more highly - Teri is the best! Give her a call and find out for yourself. Bailey read more

I worked with Teri both to buy my first home three years ago and sadly recently to sell it. She is amazing!! Honest, personable, good-hearted, sharp, and very very skilled. I could go on and on. I am very grateful she was the one helping me through this very stressful and painful process. She truly made it survivable! Without a doubt, I recommend Teri 100%. read more

Five stars isn't enough to truly convey how great we think Teri is, and what a wonderful job she did for us during the long and often stressful process of buying a house, then updating and selling our old house. From our very first meeting, Teri showed how thoughtful, well-prepared, knowledgeable and experienced she is, and how much she understands all the ins and outs of the East Bay real estate market -- particularly in the Oakland Hills and Glenview area. She knows the history of so many individual homes in this area, the pros and cons of different neighborhoods and specific streets, and was able to give us excellent advice about where to focus our search, what things to particularly watch out for with home construction in hills neighborhoods, and how to go about finding the best long-term home for our family. After helping us find an amazing new home that exceeded what we thought we'd be able to get in this market, Teri and her colleague Alex did all the heavy lifting for us in terms of getting our old house spruced up and ready to sell, handling unexpected crises during the big storms this winter and taking care of all the arrangements with contractors, stagers, gardeners, etc. Buying and selling within the same 6-month window was exhausting, but Teri made it as easy as possible for us and we always felt like we were in good, trustworthy hands. Her recommendations for our old house were spot-on, in terms of easy updating, dealing with results of the inspections, and market timing -- we ended up selling for much higher than we had anticipated, with multiple offers. In addition to her skill at her job, Teri is a genuinely warm, kind person with a great sense of humor. She treated us like good friends right from the start, took the time to understand what was truly important to us, and really went to bat for us during both the buying and selling process. Buying and selling in the crazy Bay Area real estate market is hard -- financially stressful and emotionally challenging at times, often in ways you don't anticipate. Teri understands all aspects of that, and she treats her clients the way she would her own family. We can't imagine what this process would have been like without Teri on our team. Can't recommend her highly enough!! read more

Teri is a true professional. She helped our family sell our house in the Montclair district of Oakland earlier this year, and effectively managed the process from beginning to end. She recognizes that selling your house is stressful, is extremely important to you, and puts forth every measure to ensure a successful transaction and end result for all parties. In preparation for the sale Teri offered guidance about the following which drove the positive outcome: - She offered very useful counsel on reaching out to the City of Oakland to make sure the square footage was correctly reflected on the public record which undoubtedly helped us achieve a higher sales price; - She consulted on the work that needed to be done to make the house shine in its best light, and she provided top quality and inexpensive resources to assist with work we couldn't do ourselves; - She has a great design sense related to staging the home which gave us the ability to reuse our own furniture rather than paying for professional staging (for the record I am a strong proponent of staging for selling your house if needed); - We had lengthy discussions about timing for when to go to market, working around holidays, understanding the better months to sell, etc; - She provided comparables to help us price the home correctly (and I was doubting the strategy admittedly!). Even in a crazy real estate market where one would think the house sells itself, there is a definitive strategy for how to position a house relative to its competition to garner a multiple-offer situation which we had; - She worked extremely hard and at all hours of the day to engage the right buyer and manage the at times stressful escrow process; - Throughout escrow and until the very last day of the escrow period, she worked diligently with the buyer's lender, appraiser and agent to make sure everyone had the information needed to close the transaction. In the end we were thrilled with Teri's approach, work ethic and results. She also happens to be a wonderful person which is important when you have an intense period of time going through this process working so closely with someone whose work product has a profound effect on your personal financial situation. Teri is an ace and I could not recommend her more highly! read more

As a novice home buyer I really needed someone to hold my hand through the process as well as kick my butt and then that of the seller. Teri worked the price in my favor and walked me through each step allowing me to learn and when the inevitable bumps come along her experience and insight made everything seem simple. She was able to predict every issue that came up before I noticed or some inspector made note of and explained to me the options, in's and out's of how to fix it. With her cadre of painters, contractors, plumbers, roofers and electricians she had the inside track and best price to fix every need. School low down, best Farmer's Market, best place for appliances a veritable well of information. She has a superb eye and a spectacular ability to suggest colors, furniture, a great sense of space and flow and had sensational remodeling ideas, and in my case even fashion! Always with a smile and a laugh she is always upbeat! And I love that yearly box of See's candy at Christmas, Top to Bottom everything you could need in an Agent. read more