I chose Valerie Ruma as my real estate agent and I'm really glad I did. She helped me sell the Berkeley home I had owned for over fifty years. I was referred to her by my contractor who had done projects for me over several decades whose opinion I highly respected. We had our first meeting at her office to sign me up as my agent. She explained everything in language I could readily understand. Throughout the entire relationship, I felt she was 100% on my side, having my interests top of mind. She was very savvy about the market, about timing, about what should be done to enhance the property to develop buyer interest and what wouldn't matter in terms of salability of the house. She visited the house most days over the twelve weeks it took to ready it for sale. She scheduled all the inspections and guided the inspectors. She recommended suppliers for carpets, electrical work, photography, and more. She knew these people from prior engagements. One incredible step Valerie took was to locate a bridge loan to fund all of the restoration work. She located a lender who funded my loan in four days, start to finish. What a godsend! When it came time to set the asking price, she knew how to peg it to attract buyers' attention and create a bidding war. Her negotiation skills were clearly displayed when the winning offer came in 35% above asking price. I was delighted! read more

Val just helped us sell our Alameda home. I've known her for over 20 years. I chose Val to be our agent for more reason than just being a friend. She sold a home across the street from us 6 years ago, which is much like ours, for an amazing amount. Far more than I expected. I knew she was the one to work with if we ever decided to sell. Getting a house ready to sell takes experience, savvy and a pile of help. Val knew all the right people to paint the house, fix the floors, gardening refresh, staging, and all the little things which need updating. We got the house ready to sell in 5 weeks and got an offer, at the money we wanted (much more than Zillow suggested), in just 5 days. Keep in mind that at this time, interest rates have just zoomed up over 6%, more than double what they were just a year ago, and everyone is talking about prices coming down and longer waits on the market. Our house got top dollar and Val is the reason. read more

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This review is about 8 months overdue. My fiancee and I first met Val in November 2019 at an open house for a home she was selling. The house was probably out of our price range and we looked like we had no idea what we were doing. Nonetheless, Val greeted us warmly and willingly answered our questions while asking a number of questions that helped us shape what we were looking for. It was that openness and engagement that led us to seek her out as an agent. She set time aside after our work hours to go through the process with us, listened to our concerns and preferences (even when we constantly broke them), and spent hours with us visiting homes in all sorts of areas, styles, and price ranges while we figured out what exactly we were looking for. She was always on the mark for price points. 3 months later, we ended up putting in our second offer on a house that wasn't even within our original parameters. Val rolled with the punches and we soon got the news that our offer had been accepted! Then the first regional shut down hit. Undeterred, we went through with escrow and ended up with our first house! Val is an incredible force and is a wonderful agent to have in your corner. She's knowledgeable, easy to reach, and makes herself available for her clients. It was a joy working with her to get our first house. read more

Valerie help us sell our home in Oakland this summer and she was once again phenomenal to work with. She focuses on what's important and was able to drive significant traffic to our property during a somewhat turbulent time in the housing market. She helped keep us calm during an incredibly stressful time and got us an offer that was basically perfect given the circumstances. Again, I can't recommend Val highly enough. read more

Valerie did a great job helping us buy our first home. At the beginning of our search, Valerie showed us a couple of properties in one of the areas where we were looking to buy, and also went out of her way to give us a tour of several neighborhoods. We eventually decided to focus our search on a different city, but wanted Valerie to be our agent anyway. Choosing to have her on our team was an excellent decision. Throughout the process of searching, visiting, and bidding, Valerie was very professional. She took the time to learn exactly what we were looking for, and taught us everything we needed to know about reading through disclosures and making offers. She pointed out things we didn't notice and was honest when she thought a property we were looking at did not meet our needs. She was patient through an intensive search, meeting us, taking calls and texting daily until we bought the house that we wanted. She helped us navigate a crazy market and we couldn't be happier in our new home. We definitely recommend Valerie to anyone who needs a realtor in the East Bay. read more

Val is the reason you need a realtor - an honest, responsive agents who fights on your behalf. My wife and I are first time home buyers, and we confidently started down the path of "why do we need an agent?" As we quickly found out, the home purchase is as much as about the nuance and details as it is about putting in a competitive bid. Our first find was a beautiful Berkeley townhome at a time we weren't even that serious about buying a home. We saw the Sunday open house, loved it, and decided to put in a bid due Tuesday. We had no agent, no lender. The seller agent introduced us to Val and the rest is history. In just 48 hours, she worked tirelessly to run us through 300 pages of disclosures and submit our bid with time to spare! We lost by just a small margin, but Val earned our trust. The next time around, we were buttoned up and Val was now at the helm. Our second bid was the one. We loved it at first sight, and Val quickly got to work. And not just the paperwork. She got to know the seller agent, stopped by tour the home when we weren't there, read the disclosures cover to cover, and arranged a visit to inspect any flaws and meet the neighbors. Every step was so diligently executed that we didn't have to get a second or third opinion. When something seemed off or problematic, Val caught it and made herself available evenings and weekends. In short, we couldn't have done it all without her. We've now been at that beautiful new home for almost a month and owe it all to Val. Our interaction hasn't stopped at the move either - Val opened her incredibly large network of quality contractors when we need help to this day. She's our agent for life and I'm recommending her to any and all friends! read more

My husband and I absolutely LOVE Valerie! We recently moved from NYC to the Bay Area and needed to find a home fairly quickly (we are expecting a baby in April), and Val helped us buy the FIRST home we toured! I had an initial phone call appointment with her in August when we were still in NYC and she was extremely professional. She asked a ton of questions to uncover exactly what we were looking for in a home. Once we arrived in California in December she explained the current market conditions and set up several houses to tour for the first weekend we were available. She made sure to choose homes in areas with good school districts that would fit our budget and specifications. She was extremely up front and honest with us throughout the entire process. She is very knowledgeable about many features in a home and would point out things like slopes in the flooring or cheap fake hardwood. As a first time home buyer - that was invaluable! Once it came time to go through the disclosures and make an offer, she went line by line through the documents to help us understand each item - this was tedious and time consuming, however she was more than willing to help! I would HIGHLY recommend working with Val - you will be so happy you did! read more

Val did a great job coaching us through the home buying process, and she was very patient with us as we tried to navigate the competitive market. She knows the neighborhoods, comps, and other agents really well. Val also did a great job working within our schedule for showings and was really helpful in getting us up to speed on all the diligence you need to do before putting in a bid. We would highly recommend her. read more

Valerie is a top notch professional. If you're a prospective buyer in the Bay Area, looking for a real estate agent can be a little intimidating, and your top concerns are probably what mine were: if this person going to follow through on everything they say? are they experienced enough to help us compete once we find the property that we want? will they make the process understandable and smooth for me? For Valerie, the answers are "yes, yes, and yes." Not only does Valerie know her stuff through and through, but she made every step of the home buying process as easy as possible for my wife and I. We were extremely aggressive when we started looking in the hyper-competitive Oakland and Berkeley markets last summer, looking at anywhere from 10-20 houses a WEEK. Valerie kept up with all of it, gave us fantastic recommendations along the way that helped us to define what exactly we were looking for, and was super accommodating to our hectic schedule (we both work sometimes long and irregular hours, and have a toddler, who was just learning to walk at the time). After losing out on our first three offers, Valerie was nothing but encouraging, and helped to give us the determination not to give up. The fourth time was the charm for us, and we landed our dream home in a great school district without having to go above our max comfortable price point. She even got us a fruit tree as a house warming gift, knowing that was something that we had liked at previous homes we had looked at. I can't recommend Valerie enough, and I hope you're lucky enough to work with her. read more

Val - I have to thank you from the bottom of my heart for shepherding me through this process. It's really been amazing to have you guiding me and having someone I can trust taking care of things so well. You've done such an amazing job marketing the property even after all of the management of construction and the rest of it. Everyone says so and I'm eternally grateful. And it sold so quickly and for far more than I thought possible, all due to your expertise and care. I can't thank you enough. read more

Valerie is just the best! All sorts of things happened in my life that either held up or complicated my condo sale and Valerie rose to the challenge! She went above and beyond the call of duty. In the middle of selling my condo, I was admitted to the hospital and was in a coma, almost died and spent 2 1/2 months in a nursing center recovering. I was very out of it yet Valerie visited me, brought my mail, found a temporary home for my cat, kept the sale moving forward on schedule, brought personal items to me in the nursing center... She was so great I started to feel like I was taking advantage of her generous and friendly nature. She ls very responsive to the situation--understanding and supportive most of the time but firm and professional when necessary. She will do whatever needs to be done to get the best results. We sold my small one bedroom condo for $50,000 over asking! Don't hesitate, this is the last realtor review you need to read! read more

Val made it clear from the start that she would do what was best for us selling our home, and our happiness was her top priority. We entered the market during a tough time, and she made sure to market and promote our unit non stop. She was open to our suggestions, but also gave us gentle guidance as this was our first time selling. Very responsive and sympathetic, with strong work ethic, Val clearly loves her job and her clients. You are in good hands with Val. =) read more

We were referred to Valerie by another agent and she helped us win our home in Berkeley. She's an amazing agent who's not afraid to give us her opinion (which we loved) and do the research to he the deal done. On top of that, she's been super helpful in the transition period after close to help us get our new home ready to move into. We highly recommend Valerie to help find a home in the East Bay. She's super knowledgeable about the area and is well known in the agent community. read more

Valerie Ruma did an excellent job managing all the tasks required to sell my home. Many pieces of this puzzle needed to fall into place. They did, and thanks to her help, the final result was excellent! Val has artistic talents, and contacts with numerous people who advised about updates, and were available to make changes, do repairs, and paint. She readily answered my many questions and reassured me about the path forward. The entire sale process went very smoothly (although I expect that if we had hit any snags, Val would have had solutions for those, too.) Her experience, calm and friendly manner, and competence were invaluable. I highly recommend working with Valerie Ruma. read more

I highly recommend Val as an agent. She is professional, honest, experienced and connected to resources that smooth the home sale experience. Plus, she's just a really nice person who always returns your phone calls/texts; and gives you a straight forward opinion about preparing your home for sale. I don't know what I would have done without her gentle nudges towards sensible choices; and once she took the helm at the open houses I felt confident that she would look out for my best interests; which she did. Thanks Val! read more

Valerie participates in a special program with our bank. As part of this program our bank assigned us to her and held back a % of her commission and refunded it to us to help cover closing cost. I'm not sure if this is relevant in my review but I'd like to be completely transparent. I'd also like to highlight that we are not "special" or "first time home buyers" and could afford a more than average priced home in the bay area. Now here is why I'd never recommend her... We worked with Valerie for about 2 months to find a property, she showed us a total of 3 homes. I was disappointed that Valerie showed up to the 3 homes having done little to no research on the house or neighborhood. It got to the point where I was consulting with realtor friends for answers. Again I would have used a different realtor but we had the special program through our bank. Honestly, there were so many issues with her but the final straw was when she met us in person at our last house. We indicated we liked the house and would like to make an offer. She insisted she did her research and tried to push us into offering almost $100K more than asking on the house. That's right folks $100,000 more than asking!! I refused so she discouraged us from putting in an offer. Fast-forward 3 days after bids are due, I called her and insisted she reach out to the seller to find out what the house sold for (something she should have automatically done). After speaking to the seller, she comes back to me and says they have no offers. Long story short we got the house for asking price. My guess is since she wasn't receiving her entire commission (see comment above) she felt it acceptable to half a** the job. It seems as though most of the people on here giving her 5 stars are either first time home buyers or know little about the market and blindly follow her advice. Here is the moral of the story: I'm giving her 1 star because its required by Yelp and because she wrote the contract for the house we got. However, after this experience I would not use nor recommend her. read more

We were referred to Val by one of our dear friends. She made purchasing our first home an enjoyable and seamless process. I would highly recommend her as she is knowledgeable, patient, thorough and reliable. If those characteristics are important to you, then you should definitely work with Val. read more

My wife and I met Valerie after a recommendation of a real estate agent in our home town. We were shopping for a condominium in Oakland. We flew in to Oakland on weekends and went to many open houses with Valerie. She was great choosing properties to view, negotiating price, and helping us avoid a bidding war. During the escrow process she made sure everything went smoothly. Even after the close of escrow, when there was a little problem Valerie resolved the issue to our satisfaction. If we sell or buy in the Oakland are in the future, we'd definitely use Valerie as our agent. In response to a comment below, this is the fourth home we've purchased and Valerie is our favorite agent! read more

Val is amazing in so many ways ! Knowledgeable, energetic, straight forward, supportive, realistic, honest, generous, creative, and a thorough professional through and through. I felt so confident with Val representing me as a buyer. Bottom line: Val is your Gal !!! read more

Valerie provided excellent service and guidance throughout our process. She went above and beyond to help us understand the process from the outset, was knowledgeable and extremely responsive as we went through the process, and successfully got is into a home we love in an extremely competitive market only 1-2 months into our search. Further, she helped make the transition into the home smooth by connecting us with local contractors that could help be renovations and work to be done. My partner and I would both highly recommend working with Valerie. read more

After an extensive search ,Valerie helped us to buy a house in Bushrod, Oakland. She is very communicative and efficient . We moved from east coast to Oakland , Valerie make this overwhelming move pleasent and smooth by helping us in every aspect . we honestly blieve we are so blessed to have her in our life . I highly recommend her for anyone. Thanks to Valerie . read more

This is long overdue, and I say that way too much... Valerie is everything one could want in a realtor: honest, ethical, kind, knowledgeable, attuned to the needs of her clients and determined to do what's best for them, regardless of whether that results in a sale for her. Because of Valerie, I now own my home (First time, woo hoo! I feel so grown up.) and she made the process as painless as it could be, given that, well, reams of legalese are not my first choice of reading material. I had a small budget and a desire to live in an awesome, walkable neighborhood, and we made it happen. Throughout the entire nerve-wracking process*, Valerie remained calm, upbeat and encouraging. I'm sure she has clients with MUCH more money to spend (like, all of them), but I always felt that when we were out looking, her attention was focused on finding the best possible home for me. Also, she has excellent taste and varied interests, and whenever we were driving around, she'd point out cool places to go and yummy places to eat. That was an added bonus. *Nerve-wracking because lenders suck. I could say more, but this is about Valerie and her awesomeness. read more

We are spoiled! Valerie sold our property in Alameda, and the process went fantastically well, from before we listed through closing. We feel privileged to have worked with Valerie on our home sale. It was the first time we sold a house - and she handled our newbie jitters well. When we decided to sell our house, Valerie came to our first meeting prepared with listing strategies, timelines, and expected prices - right off the bat! Once we started the process Valerie's team of contractors and stagers swarmed our house and made it look beautiful! Valerie's creative staging ideas (finishing our garage and staging it as a more functional space), coupled with her excellent marketing really made the property stand out. We are so lucky we had Valerie on our side through this process. If you're looking to buy or sell a house in the Bay Area get in touch with Valerie Ruma - she's connected, and makes the whole process seamless. We highly highly recommend her. read more

We spent almost a year looking for a new home in the Bay Area and Valerie stayed with us every step of the way. She's extremely knowledgeable about the market, and she really went out of her way to listen to our needs and find the perfect property for us. I'll share one story that I think demonstrates how helpful she is. During the walkthrough on our new home, we discovered that one of our fences had collapsed. We'd literally just gotten back from signing all our paperwork and I was concerned. Within an hour, Valerie had confirmed that the seller would pay for the repairs. By the next day, we had a contractor working on the fence, and the funds for the repair were in escrow. That's the kind of resourcefulness and follow-through you can expect with Valerie. I would recommend Valerie with no hesitations to anyone looking to buy or sell a home in the Bay Area. read more

Valerie is an outstanding real estate agent - I HIGHLY recommend her. She goes above-and-beyond all expectations. She was always one-step-ahead, knowledgeable, competent, proactive, thorough, understanding; she listens to your needs and concerns and finds solutions. Absolutely the best - professional and generous - definitely the highest rating possible. I am so thankful to have found her for the purchase of my new home in Alameda. read more

I highly recommend Valerie Ruma from Alain Pinel Realtors. I knew her from another job and when I decided to sell my house in Alameda, I sought her out. I needed to sell my house fast as I was not able to afford the mortgage anymore. I had been living in that house for 13 yrs it was tough to say goodbye and I had accumulated lots of stuff over that time. I was pretty over whelmed. She was very professional and knew what she was talking about; even other realtors knew her and said I was in good hands. She always made me feel at ease and answered all questions with confidence. She helped me fix up my house and went above and beyond by arranging to have stuff I couldn't sell at my garage sale or get to the dump taken care of for me. The sale of my house was a very easy and stress free process thanks to Valerie. read more

Valerie is a highly knowledgeable agent. I was looking for a place in Alameda, and she took me on an awesome tour of the area, highlighting my areas of interest, tennis courts, and health food stores. She takes the time to get to know your needs, and then targets the places she knows you will like. She goes above and beyond what I would expect from a real estate agent, and gives you the confidence that you will find a home in a place you love. I highly recommend her! read more

We met Valerie while moseying home from Costco in 2014. She was showing a funky little bungalow in North Oakland and we signed up for her newsletter after meeting her. Fast forward a few years, and we're now in the market and need an agent. I said to my husband "what about the lady with the newsletters?" and we called her. The rest is history. We were first time home buyers who couldn't agree on anything, and the process took a long time as a result. Valerie hung in there with us ALL THE WAY. She became a great partner in the process and looked out for our best interests at every turn. We're now living comfortably in our home and we have Valerie to thank. I happened to run into the seller's agent recently, and she went out of her way to rave about Valerie and her professionalism and responsiveness; I wasn't surprised -- we feel the same way. We had a stellar experience with Valerie and would highly recommend her to anyone seeking an agent. read more

We were lucky enough to work with Valerie to help us find our dream home. She is extremely knowledgeable about the housing market and was upfront and realistic with us about our limited amount of cash for a down payment. That being said, we saw many homes, made a few offers and were close to giving up. Then Valerie sent us a link to exactly what we wanted. It was perfect. We saw it and decided to make an offer with an extremely short close date. Valerie worked so hard for us to ensure we did everything we could to buy this home. She went ABOVE and BEYOND for us with the seller. When our offer was chosen, I think Valerie was just as excited as we were. Not only is she a great realtor, but she cares about her clients personally. I just don't have the words to say how appreciative we are of her. She is the BEST! read more

As a Home Inspector, I've seen several hundred Real Estate Agents at work, and there are few agents that can match Valerie when it comes to representing clients with competency, work ethic and total integrity. She puts her clients' needs as her first priority, and works tirelessly to get things done. Valerie holds herself to a high standard, and as a home inspector, she also holds me to a high standard and feel I've become a better inspector because of her. Valerie is a successful agent, and it's no accident. If you need a real estate agent, you can't do any better than Valerie. read more

I worked with Valerie for over a year to buy a place in Oakland. We looked at a lot of places, and she was incredibly generous with her time. She has a good grasp of the market, educated me on the process, and answered every phone call. When I did eventually find a place, it was not an easy purchase. I'll spare you the details, but trust me, it was a tricky. Valerie gave me great advice, and held my hand every step of the way. She also has a great network of inspectors and other pros to tap into to help the process. The deal almost fell apart at the very last moment due to a last minute issue with my bank. Valerie was cool, level-headed and it all ended up working out. She's a total professional, as well as a very honest and ethical human being. I highly recommend working with her. read more

Valerie is a true professional: honest, timely, knowledgeable, ethical, warm hearted, aware of the pressures and needs of her clients, and has the best interest of her client in mind at all times. With Valerie's professional knowledge, guidance and willingness to bear with my eager persistence I was able to find my own piece of paradise. Valerie was fantastic! I found my place while roaming through open houses over many weekends and Valerie understood the perfect fit and helped me close the deal. My move involved selling a property to purchase a new one, providing a direct, daily, comparison between service quality, reliability, professionalism and personal connections between my two agents. Valerie not only provided leadership and support during my purchase process, she was also invaluable in guiding me through the necessary timelines to complete my sale as well. My sale and purchase occurred within a span of eight weeks. Valerie was by my side to help me find and complete all documents, negotiate and process the legalese of all papers 'real estate'. She personally presented my offer, with my handwritten letter to the sellers wrapped in a fine bottle of red wine! Classy. The true gift that Valerie added goes beyond the art of property sales; Valerie enthusiastically shared her favorite local hot spots, including eateries, boutiques and fun places to explore. It was clear that my happiness was important to her. read more

Actually 4.75 and an overall Wow! I owned and sold a home in Virginia years ago and bought a home in Alameda in 2011. My mother was a successful real estate agent and broker and I have experience in real estate strategies and transactions. Last spring I decided to sell my home in Alameda and contacted Valerie after receiving her flyer concerning a home she just sold around the corner. I apprised her of my home sale needs, we devised a plan to fix it up a bit. I agreed with her recommendations given the market, moved out, fixed it up, and then put it on the market. I had 3 offers well-exceeding the asking price the night of the 1st open house. Results exceeded all reasonable expectation. Quarter star deduction for two of her recommended contractors (handyman and cleaning folks). Her other recommended contractors (Strauss Carpets and staging/interior design woman) were aces. read more

I met Valerie at the condo I ended up buying. We spoke a few times on the phone and I told her what I was looking for a month or so before she called and told me she had seen a place that she was confident I should see. She had been at the brokers open and realized it fit my criteria. She urged me to take the next day to see it. I took her advice and immediately was blown away at how accurately she took my needs and converted them into something I could see. Being a first time homebuyer, she was extremely helpful with all the technical terminology and technicalities in home buying. If she didn't know the answer to something she would find someone who did know the answer. She made the experience low stress and did as much of the research and work as possible. She presented me with clear and concise information. She was really easy to work with. She was not pushy - but rather knew when to let me know that there was a sense of urgency. She never made me feel that my decisions would affect her personally. Even after I placed an offer she took me around to see other places so I could be sure I was happy, comfortable, and clear with my decision. I was impressed with her professionalism and down to earth nature. She even took the time to walk around the neighborhood with me since I was new to the area. As a performing musician my schedule was extremely hard to trying to find a new place to live. She did everything possible to accommodate me. And when I signed my papers we met at the condo so I could have a last look and she took me to the title company! I will recommend her to anyone wanting to work with someone exuberant, enthusiastic, knowledgable, and in-touch. read more

Valerie was extremely helpful during my search for a new home. As a first time home buyer and new to the Bay Area, it was overwhelming and a bit frustrating, but Valerie made me feel comfortable and calm during the whole process. I always felt like I was being taken care of, and she exceeded my expectations. I would recommend Valerie to anyone that's looking to buy or sell in the Bay area - hands down! read more

Valerie is the Bay Area realtor you want on your side! She is someone you can always count on, will go out of her way to ensure you are educated about this crazy housing market, and will help you put together a super competitive offer that you are comfortable with. She has become a true friend of ours throughout our first time home buyer experience. My husband are still so stunned that we were able to buy a house in Alameda in March of this year. She made the whole process so great. Some of my favorite moments about working with her was our first meeting together where she provided prospecting options and a map for our budget as a starting search point, she went through practice offers with us, took our late night panic phone calls when we began making offers, and went out of her way to help with our initial move in. She even came to our loan signing appointment. She is our realtor for life! I highly recommend reaching out to her. read more

From the moment we first met Val, she made us feel like she wanted to help find a home that was perfect for my family. We searched all over the Bay Area and she was as patient with us on the 30th home as she was on the first home we looked at. She had great insight on homes, history of architecture, and city ordinances. If there was home we were interested in, she made herself available to show the property, even when it was last minute. She was honest with her opinions and brought up good points that we may have otherwise overlooked. We didn't feel like she was overcrowding us. We felt she was talking with us, and not at us. She was also very patient on days we had to bring our 2 and 4 yr old along. We were beginning to have our doubts about finding a home, but her endless optimism motivated us to keep searching, And now we're in the home of our dreams. We give her five stars for her patience, resourcefulness, and availability. read more

My wife and I met Valerie through a referral from a friend. We were very impressed with her professionalism from the start. This was a breathe of fresh air as we had encountered some of the opposite with our previous agents. After an email or two she insisted we meet face to face to get to know each other so she could be clear on what we were looking for. To say my wife and I were picky is an understatement. We were clear about what we wanted but were not the strongest clients in this tough market. She was wonderful at accommodating our crazy schedules as well. At the time I worked days and my wife at night so our window to view homes was very limited but she did everything she could to make sure we had the opportunity to see every home we were interested in. She greeted us with a big smile at the first home as well as the last. One of the things I liked the most was her communication. We were not always able to pick up the phone so Valerie made sure to email or text every piece of information she needed us to have. She is very knowledgeable about this profession and made us feel a lot more comfortable with the whole process because of it. Valerie helped us find a wonderful home for our two daughters to grow up in. I recommend her to everyone I come across that is considering the purchase of a home. read more