Testimonials

Grace is absolutely fantastic to work with. She is impeccable, gracious, strategic, thorough, patient, smart – I really can’t say enough. She represented me in a sale that involved some complexity, and moved us to an outcome that exceeded our best case scenario projections. She kept us calm and focused on our goal, and navigated big and small challenges that arose with enormous poise throughout the process. She knows what she is doing, and is held in high regard among her colleagues. This is priceless. Her systems are excellent, and she has surrounded herself with a team of outstanding professionals to work with at various points in the process.

Thank you, Grace, for your extraordinary work. I will be referring everyone I know to you.

Grace helped me to purchase my first home in 2013. As a first time home-buyer, i needed a real estate agent who had the expertise and patience to guide me every step of the way, while keeping my best interest at heart. From out first meeting, I was impressed by Grace’s thoroughness, attention to detail, and professionalism. After working with another agent that I felt had not listened to my needs, I felt immediately at ease that I was now in good hands with Grace. Grace exceeded my expectations time and time again during my year-long home buying process. From her regular and timely communication, to anticipating the next three steps of the process, Grace consistently followed through and provided excellent service. As a choosey shop and risk-adverse person, I appreciated that Grace generously took the time to respond to a myriad of questions I had – from loan pre-approval, to market conditions, price bidding strategies, the list goes on and on. Grace was an invaluable help as I prepared for each of the seven bids we submitted. She took the time to review the home disclosure packets, and clearly put into laymen’s terms the technical language of home inspections, pest reports, and other disclosure documents. She pointed out the red flags that I would not have spotted as a novice home buyer. Grace’s fifteen years of experience in the real estate business was evident when we finally got into contract. Her professional relationships with lenders and inspectors were so critical to be able to close escrow within the short 21 day period. I could count on Grace to set up appointments, and coordinate between the various parties on my behalf. Grace also adeptly negotiated with the seller on my behalf, and in the end, I was able to purchase my first home under the asking price – an unheard of feat during the tight housing market at the time! I would whole-heartedly recommend Grace to any first time homebuyer, or seller/buyer who looking for high-quality, meticulous, professional service. When it comes time to sell my home in the future, I will be calling Grace!

To prospective home buyers or sellers:

It is a pleasure and honor for us to write this letter of recommendation for Ms. Grace Bishop.

Ms. Bishop is a true professional, knowledgeable, personable and always accessible and responsive. She also has a great team of professionals who helped us with staging, termite, roof, plumbing, and home inspections.

We highly recommend Ms. Bishop to be your realtor. She will work tirelessly as your advocate to achieve the best results.

Sincerely,

To whom it may concern,

We are writing this letter a few days after moving into our home, in order to very enthusiastically recommend Grace Bishop. We were first time homebuyers, and in the Bay Area market, we had braced ourselves for a long and discouraging process. However, not only did Grace help us to find, troubleshoot, and bid successfully on our house within two months or so of starting the process, she did this with humor, patience, and kindness.

Grace has real experience as a realtor in this market. She is well known in this area and also very easily put us in touch with various inspectors and consultants with remarkable speed. She is thorough and detail oriented, and great about juggling all the aspects of the process. She responded very quickly to our emails and calls, and also patiently spent hours with us going through home inspections and helping us to put them into useful perspective. We really felt that we could trust her completely--she seemed less our realtor, and more our friend who happened to be a real estate expert!

We hope to not require a realtor for quite some time, but would not hesitate to call upon Grace again in the future. We will be recommending her wholeheartedly to our friends in the meantime.

Keep up the great work, Grace!

Sincerely,

We recently sold our house with Grace and it was without exception a truly positive experience. We had been burnt by a previous experience and working with Grace restored our faith that there are awesome, honest, caring and diligent realtors out there. Grace was thorough, experienced and strategic through the sales process. We were definitely anxious sellers but Grace was very patient and responsive which was what we needed. I would recommend Grace to a friend.

Grace Bishop is an outstanding agent. Over the past 6 years, she guided us with patience, expertise, and determination through two home purchases and one home sale. Grace has earned our complete trust and respect every step of the way, and we cannot recommend her highly enough to others looking to buy or sell a home.

Our first purchase was a condo that suited our needs perfectly. We were completely new to the real estate market, and Grace made the whole process quite simple for us. We spent five happy years there and welcomed our two children into our family, which led to the need for a second search. At that point, we faced an increasingly competitive and unpredictable housing market with multiple offers on most listings. Grace was always able to gauge the situation accurately and offer sound advice about how to best position ourselves if we were to make an offer. She kept close tabs on activity and answered our questions, going out of her way to chat after our kids had gone to bed or give us a second look at a home in the early evening. She supported us through some difficult decisions and helped us refine what we were looking for with tremendous patience and honesty. After more than a year of searching, we found the home we’d been hoping for all along and, with Grace’s guidance, were able to put together the winning bid out of 8 offers. We couldn’t be happier and feel so fortunate to finally be “home.”

Selling our condo with Grace was a very straightforward and successful process; she met with us early on and advised us on which upgrades and touch-ups would be beneficial and which were not necessary. We updated our kitchen and took advantage of Grace’s extensive network of specialists to prepare our home for sale (paint, carpet, staging, etc.) for a very reasonable cost. After one Sunday Open Home, we had four solid offers and agreed to one that was far beyond what we’d been hoping for. We attribute this terrific response to Grace’s hard work in promoting our condo with agents and prospective buyers and to her advice with prepping our home so that it would look its best.

Grace’s extensive knowledge of the local market and solid-gold reputation are truly unparalleled in the East Bay. She goes to bat for her clients and is comfortable and tough in the heat of battle. She is a pleasure to work with and thankfully maintains a sense of humor while always staying professional and dedicated to serving her clients. It has been incredibly reassuring and beneficial to have Grace by our side through this process. She is a gem of a person, and we are deeply grateful for her excellent work on our behalf.

Dear Grace,

In behalf of Mark and Helen, I want to express our appreciation for the excellent services which you provided to us in the sale of the house at 1338 Hearst Street in Berkeley.

Besides the oversight you provided throughout the entire process, your advice in setting the sale price and preparing the house for showing had remarkable results. We had not expected to sell the house at such a great price, but certainly your knowledge of the dynamics of selling and buying really paid off for us.

We feel that you were straightforward in your siggestions at every step and that contributed to building confidence in the plan you laid our for us.

We would surely recommend your name and that of your company, Red Oak Realty, to others who are looking for a Realtor to represent them in taking the challenging of selling or buying a home.

Very sincerely,

To Whom it May Concern,

As first time home buyers, we were referred to Grace through a friend. We were pre-approved for a loan that was less than what we had wanted, but Grace never once made us feel like we couldn’t find our perfect house. Grace was extremely professional right from the start. It made a difference that she asked us many times over the course of the 2 years searching to tell her the details that we liked about houses that we saw, so that she might keep an eye out for houses that would fit us.

My husband and I are very particular, and Grace had the patience to help us find the right house. She took the time to talk us through all of the details. We made an offer on a house at one point and did not get it. Grace was thorough with her follow-up and did everything she could to get us that house. Luckily, we didn’t get it, because about a year later we found the house we live in now, and we love it.

When we did find the house we own now, Grace helped us through the process of the offer, negotiations and sale with no stress at all. She was constantly on top of every detail, from appointments, inspections, and meetings, to general inquiries. She made sure we were informed about such things as how our flash water heater works and what to do with our plumbing. She provided us with every detail we needed, to know we were making the right decisions. Grace stuck with us even though our budget was limited, and our expectations frustrating. We always knew she was there for us and would see it through . We’ve recommended Grace to all our friends, and if we ever should look for another house, Grace will certainly be the realtor we call.

Sincerely yours,

Dear Grace:

From the very first you have proven of invaluable assistance in our move to Berkeley from New York State. As you will remember, we arrived with close to zero experience with California Real Estate. Your guidance throughout the entire process was very helpful, especially through the difficulties and challenges. We benefited greatly from your professional experience, deep knowledge of Berkeley, and an excellent network of contact - which continues to this day. Thank you for your referrals during a recent emergency!

We especially appreciated your seeking feedback from us on our preferences, needs and recations to house tours. You scheduled appropriate viewings, communicated our visits to the listing broker, volunteered helpful information/background/considerations, pointed our pitfalls and answered a steady stream of questions.

As with any couple (or family) there were differences in our reactions and preferences. You carefully - and fairly - parsed those gently helping us to narrow down our choices. When the time came to make an offer, your sense of timing and price was excellent. As our buyer's broker, you also inspected our house's interior, going beyond the presentation staging. To our surprise, you found a few shortcomings - but also some architectural gems - that we had missed.

During the due diligence period, you recommended excellent inspectors, contractors, and the structural engineer for seismic retrofitting. You also noticed when we were a bit overwhelmed with contractors (our eyes had glazed over) and assisted by asking the questions we should have; that had the beneficial effect of unsticking the "mute" button - really crucial when big $$ are at stake.

The reason you are a top-performing realtor is because you will "do anything for a sale" - but in the best sense! We find you to be bright and upbeat, as well as discreet, well-mannered, patient, responsive to feedback, thoughtful, and thoroughly professional. You also have the integrity to do the best for your clients. Without hesitation, we heartily recommend you as either a buyer's or seller's broker.

With very best regards and our fondest affection,