“Deidre,
I can’t thank you enough for the fabulous job you did in selling my house. You helped get it ready in two weeks, staged it, priced it to meet my needs, took it to market, had two over asking bids the first week, negotiated brilliantly on my behalf and had me out after a 21 day escrow. Pretty amazing in this tough market.
The best part of dealing with you was your clarity in defining the process and my role in it. You helped me obtain top flight carpenters, painters, electricians, gardeners, house cleaners, stagers and inspectors through your contacts. It would have taken me forever and at a much greater cost to find the same talent and move as quickly as we did.
I received your name from three friends (two whose homes you sold and one who you helped buy this first home). They were tremendously impressed and pleased with both you personally and the professionalism of your work. You can add one more impressed and grateful voice to those singing your praises. If I can ever assist you I would be honored to do so.
Thanks again.”

“Before I decided to move out to California from Illinois in 2007, I wanted to get a feel for the housing market in the East Bay area. I found Deidre online and, upon visiting Berkeley, met up to look at a couple properties. I could tell immediately that she knew the “lay of the land” very well. Being a broke student, I visited several properties that were within my budget AND met the stringent criteria that I had for purchasing a property.

After 2 years (!!!) of looking, my fiance and I found the perfect place in Oakland. We couldn’t have done it without Deidre’s limitless patience for picky people! When the ball got rolling after we made our offer, Deidre was there for us 150% of the way. At no time was the ball dropped or were we left hanging.

She made our home purchasing experience very easy… and fun!

Thank you Deidre!”

“My wife and I have been working with Deidre since Spring of 2009. We can’t recommend her highly enough.

1. She works tirelessly on our behalf, educating us as to the marketplace, neighborhoods, things to look for in a house, types of financing, etc.
   
2. She’s extremely sensitive to the fact that the house has to fit with who we are, what we need, and what we can afford, so she pays attention to who we are, what we need, and what we can afford.
   
3. She’s incredibly well informed; frequently leading us to neighborhoods and houses we would not have looked at otherwise.
   
4. She never pressures us in any way, but knowing that we have a mind of our own, she expresses her opinion.
   
5. When we have made offers, she has done everything in her power to get us the house. We haven’t closed on a house yet, but we are completely confident that working with Deidre we’ll find the perfect place for us.

”

“A family member referred my parents and me to Deidre, and we are so happy to have found her. We were looking for a Realtor that was experienced, outgoing, hardworking, and honest. Deidre possesses all these qualities and more! From the start Deidre began working tirelessly, emailing us daily with new listings, referring us to a great mortgage brokerage, showing us houses during times that fit our schedule. Within a couple months, we found a house, put in a bid the day after it listed, and closed 30 days later! But don’t get me wrong, the process was not that simple. There were delays with the appraisal and our loan almost fell through at the last minute, among other issues. I truly believe we would have lost the house if we didn’t have Deidre fighting for us and doing everything in her power to overcome these obstacles. In today’s market, the home buying process is very difficult; anything from a delayed appraisal to not dotting an I can result in a transaction falling through. Deidre meticulously guided us through, set up and attended all inspections, and her rapport with the mortgage brokerage and title company really benefited us. In the end, we were blessed with a beautiful home in a beautiful neighborhood for a beautiful price, thanks to Deidre. ”

“This was my first time purchasing a home and I could not have done it without Deidre. The home buying process can be long and tedious depending on what you are looking for. We looked at tons of houses and Deidre was always sending me potential candidates and she was always willing to take me to view them in person.

Throughout the process Deidre was always looking out for my best interest and she always kept me updated.

I have learned that the most important quality of a real estate agent is experience. Throughout the home buying process I was amazed at the amount of information & people Deidre knew. Having developed a good relationship with inspectors, agents, title company, etc…Deidre was able to make the process as easy as possible. She seemed to know all of the selling agents, inspectors, title company very well. The inspectors that Deidre recommended for my house and foundation were excellent. I Felt that they were extremely thorough and honest.

Deidre is a great agent and is very experienced. I would recommend her to anyone looking for a home in the Oakland/Berkeley area.”

“We selected Deirdre to sell our house because we were taken by her evident affection for our style of house, a mid-century modern in the Oakland Hills. We were convinced that the style of the house made it a special marketing proposition and Deirdre took to the project with enthusiasm and good ideas.

As it turned out, the road to market was rockier than we expected because we still had tenants in the house and it seemed as if it could not have been a worse market in which to sell. To complicate things further, we live in New Zealand and had to do everything long-distance and deal with the time difference. But Deirdre handled the challenges with good grace and humor and took on many extra responsibilities to make up for our absence. As well, she Skyped with us at all hours and set up systems so we could handle documents and signatures online.

The end result was an offer before the house was even put on the market. Deirdre had it on her website as a “coming soon” listing and as soon as it was possible to view the house, a couple who had had their eye on the listing made a preemptive offer, which was above our listing price. Deirdre guided us through the negotiation, had good ideas along the way, and the sale closed on time—all of which seemed remarkable given the market at the time (May-July 09).

In the end, our only disappointment was that Deirdre didn’t get to fully market the house on the open market, because we think she would have done a great job. As it was, we were very happy with her hard work, attention to detail, and professionalism in dealing with a difficult situation, and happily recommend her to our neighbors.”

“We found Deidre like we find most things… online. After casually looking at houses on our own for a couple of years we decided we were serious enough to find a Realtor. We were specifically interested in mid-century homes and that led us to Deidre’s blog and website. She seemed like a good match from what we saw online so we scheduled an appointment with her. At our first meeting we went and looked at a few homes and discussed what we liked or didn’t like. She was great about pointing out the good, the bad, and the questionable. She never tried to gloss over potential problems and instead made sure we were aware of any challenges a home might have. Within a week of working with her she found a house during her Realtor’s tour and called us immediately. We saw it with her that very evening. While it wasn’t really mid-century, it was a great fit for us; it was the right size, the right layout, the right amount of yard, in the right neighborhood… I could go on. A week after that we were submitting an offer. Since we were first-time home buyers it was a major learning process and she was patient and helped us understand everything. She worked hard and used her experience to help us make the best offer we could while staying within our budget. Deidre had a team of inspectors already scheduled when our offer was accepted and she was present during all of the inspections. One thing about Deidre, she works with great people and knows who can get things done. From mortgage brokers to contractors, she’s got great recommendations. We did run into some information that meant we would need to have some work done to make sure the foundation was properly supported. Deidre came through for us working with the selling agents to cover whatever costs the sellers could to offset our expenses on needed work. It’s been 6 month’s now and while the market has dipped a bit more, we have no regrets; this was definitely the right house for us.”

“I knew buying a home would be one of the biggest decisions I would make in my life and because of that I had been looking for a long time. I didn’t want to settle. I was a little hesitant going with a realtor that I had only met online, but I decided to go with Deidre. I’m glad I did. It was great working with Deidre on my home search. Given that I’m very picky, she was extremely patient and understood my wants and needs as a homebuyer. If I were to describe Deidre I would say she was very professional, highly ethical, hard working and had a lot of enthusiasm and I appreciated that. I love my home and I have no regrets. If I were to do it all over again I would still choose Deidre as my agent.”

“We feel so lucky to have found Deidre to work with in buying our first home! Every step of the way she gave us the support we needed when we needed it, but knew when to give us the space we needed too! When you are working with Deidre you can be sure that your happiness and comfort is
her first priority – she has a wonderful no-pressure attitude, but was always available for us at the drop of a hat when we had questions or concerns. After months of looking, when we finally found THE house there were multiple other bids – Deidre helped us figure out ways to make our offer as
strong as possible, and got us into our dream house! Most importantly, her support and help didn’t dry up once the offer was accepted, or even once we had closed – she continues to be a source of knowledge and wisdom for us as we figure out the details of home ownership! We couldn’t be more pleased with our experience with Deidre, and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend her to anyone purchasing a home, but most especially first time home buyers.”

“Yvan and I were paying very little rent in SF, but knew that this period would be a great time to try to purchase a home. We just had a baby and I was extremely busy managing several programs for a nonprofit. We thought we would have a hard time finding a house we would like because we had so many desires and needs for our growing family, but not a lot of money. Deidre Joyner was a referral from a friend of a friend and from the beginning; she listened to us and responded to our interests and concerns. Even when we were not very conscious of location and potential appreciation possibilities, she reminded us to also think of resale value because she knew we were interested in staying in the Bay Area for about 7 years. I thought I knew Oakland, but she helped guide us through up and coming neighborhoods with an eye on appreciation and a safe community where we can raise children. There were a lot of homes for sale at so many different price points; it was hard to sift through so much information online. Deidre did a lot of work sifting through listings after hearing our interests and seeing our reactions after several home showings. After only a few months, we found a charming home in a great location. It was a bank-owned with lots of potential, and we were willing to do the work. Deidre guided us through the different appraisals and inspections and helped negotiate a fabulous deal from the selling bank. She did a lot of extras like hook us up with a homeowner’s insurance agent that offered us the most competitive rate we found, reminded us of the great neighborhood communities that we would enjoy within close driving distance, and referred contractors for the extra work we were going to do. I knew bank-owned purchases would be difficult, and, even in the midst of my crazy work and travel schedule, Deidre stayed on top of the deadlines, on top of the paperwork and in 30 days our escrow closed successfully. This process managed to be less stressful than the things I had to deal with at work. We were truly lucky to have found a professional real estate agent with years of experience and know-how. Without Deidre, we would not have been able to buy this house, gotten such a great deal and with minimal stress. We would definitely refer her to friends and family looking for a home in the Bay Area.”