Red Oak Realty

Buying a house in the Bay Area has become almost a mission impossible with the increasing home prices and competition. When my wife and I first started the home buying process we were embracing the exciting times ahead and full of excitement. Slowly over the course of 6 months of searching our excitement turned into defeat, disappointment and overwhelm. After looking all over the Bay Area, viewing almost 60 homes and putting down 10 offers with no luck, we finally decided to start looking in the East Bay. That’s when we met Maya. Maya was completely responsive to our housing needs, financial requirements and timeline for finding a home. Even though she was working with several other clients, it felt like Maya was walking beside us from day one.
Maya found us a beautiful home that we loved. As we were preparing the offer she gave us great tips. She was quick moving and amazing with the whole process so we were very hopeful and quite convinced that we would get it, but unfortunately our offer, yet again, didn’t get accepted. However Maya was determined to find us a home.
A few days later Maya found us another home, we looked at the house that Thursday evening, loved it even more than the one prior, placed our offer on Friday and were notified on Saturday that we got the house! This felt like the miracle we had been waiting for, but really it was Maya’s persistence, dedication, knowledge and energy she put into being our real estate agent.
We highly recommend Maya to anyone who is really ready to buy. Out of the three real estate agents we worked with, Maya was the most on top of everything and willing to help us in any way she could. We owe living in our beautiful home to the work, heart and wisdom that Maya has about the East Bay real estate market and the home buying process.

We bought our house ~2yrs back and still absolutely LOVE it. Gillian and Patrick are consummate professionals, know the business and the Berkeley area inside and out, are super responsive via email/​phone/​text. I’ve been most impressed with their great network. I’ve often sought their counsel on how to approach home improvements/​maintenance/​repairs and he always has thoughtful (and quick!) recommendations for reputable business people. Can’t recommend Gillian, Patrick and Red Oak highly enough.

My wife and I are thankful to have met Heidi Long and to have had her as our buy-​side agent.
As a first time home-​buyer we were unfamiliar with the home purchase process. To further challenge the home buying process, we were looking to buy in the Bay Area, (specifically, Berkeley) currently one of the most competitive and expensive markets in the U.S.
Our criteria for a new home was 1) location, 2) living space (size) above X 3) fair price. With these criteria in this competitive market, we realized soon after starting our search that it was going to be almost impossible to pull off… And we considered stopping our home search and to continue renting indefinitely.
With Heidi’s advice and guidance, we were able to purchase a home that met all of our criteria. And she went the extra mile to make it happen. We honestly don’t think we could have pulled it off without her as our buyside agent.
We strongly recommend Heidi to anyone seeking an honest, experienced and professional agent in the Berkeley area.

I have known Heidi Long since 2008, when I purchased a home in Berkeley on my own for the first time. Heidi is very knowledgeable about the Oakland-​Berkeley market and has cultivated wide-​ranging connections with colleagues throughout the East Bay. She kept me on track and focused throughout a very arduous negotiation process. In 2012, she and her business partner, Dana, helped me market and sell the Berkeley house while and buying a condo in West Oakland at a great price. It was complicated but they helped me stage my own home with capable tradespeople, while shepherding me though the financing and closing of both sales. I think the world of Heidi and would recommend her to anyone who needs a kind and honest yet tough-​minded agent to help them navigate the highly competitive housing market in the East Bay.

Marsha Quick helped us this year navigate the crazy real estate market to find the perfect home. Having worked with Marsha to buy our first home in the area 20 years ago, we knew that she was knowledgable, trustworthy, warm and helpful.
All those things remain true, and in addition, her incredible depth of experience in the East Bay market makes her second to none at translating what you are looking for into feasible houses to look at. She knows the various neighborhoods inside and out. While always following your lead, she can help you understand the pros and cons and enable you to focus your search. Even if you start out, as we did, with a «let’s look everywhere!» approach.
Marsha is always patient and upbeat, even through a long house search, and is also an expert negotiator for you when you are ready to make an offer.
While Marsha was away on a well-​deserved vacation, her colleague Jeanne Lengsfelder stepped in and was wonderfully helpful. She had been thoroughly briefed by Marsha, and is immensely knowledgeable herself, so working with her was seamless.
You could not do better than to work with Marsha Quick and Red Oak.

In August of 2014, we worked with Red Oak Realty to find our new home in Rockridge. We interviewed a dozen firms, with Red Oak making the final cut-​of-​two. They won out because of their team-​approach to working with their clients.
We’ve got Art «Voice of Experience» White — the manager and the guy with all the deep experience in the industry. He was able to help calm our nerves about the very jumpy market, and seemingly odd behavior we’d seem from selling agents.
Then there was Kim «Dash» Markison, who did all the legwork, taking the time to quickly learn exactly what we were looking for and showing us around the candidates. Then, walking us through the disclosures and other details.
Lastly, was Grace «The Closer» Bishop — the agent that everyone knows gets the deal done. She worked with the seller to get our bullet-​proof-​but-​not-​highest offer a fair hearing, and eventually to close!
Red Oak lead us quickly to a Win-​Win-​Win transaction in a crazy market!

I met Robin Kingsbury through word of mouth, as someone that can make an appraisal for commercial property. This was not an easy task but Robin took it on. Like the true professional he is, if he did not have answers, he knew where to find them. I retained his services as my realtor, following his advice to the letter and he sold the commercial property in record time, and for the price I was asking. I have residential properties I want to sell, and looking to purchase a new home. I can count on Robin to handle this with same outstanding expertise and am looking forward to working with him again. Kudos for his job well done!

Heidi Long helped my family for over a year, in our process of moving from San Francisco to Berkeley. She took the time to get to know us, and navigate the East Bay market. She was always available to discuss questions, concerns, and life in general. To our benefit, she strategized when writing the offer to purchase our lovely new home. We couldn’t have managed without her professional advice!
During escrow, when Heidi was away over the holidays, her colleague, Emma Morris, stepped in without skipping a beat, which involved contingencies, loan approval, and challenging negotiations. They are both outstanding real estate agents, and I highly recommend them– as a caring, intelligent, and experienced Red Oak team!
I recommend that you take a minute to check out this cool Red Oak video:

Really a pleasure to work with Marsha Quick. She helped us and sold our home in Albany. She’s very easy to chat with, clearly knows her profession’s ins and outs, and always look after her client’s best interest. Highly recommended!

Jeanne Lengsfelder and Marsha Quick helped me to sell my first home in Berkeley.
The whole precess went so well, and stress-​free.
They work really hard and they are so responsive. Everything went as they said, and I am now so educated on real estate huge thanks to them. I don’t know much about real estate, but I have a vague idea how complicated and stressful it was when I bought my first house two years ago. I had such a hard time buying the place, I was expecting a lot of pain when I decided to sell it. Then I met Jeanne and Marsha, and after the whole process, I was like, ‘that’s it?‘
They made the whole process look so easy, but I am sure it really isn’t. They are just good real estate agents. Not to mention they are so educated and experienced so they know so well about the market.
They know right people to contact, and right things to say to the right people.
Big thanks to you, Jeanne and Marsha!

The process of selling our house in Berkeley has been very smooth. This is due to the professionalism of our agent, Arlene Baxter. Not only has she guided us through the process of getting everything in place for open house days, but likewise through the paperwork involved. Her use of paperless DocuSign has made it much simpler to get all the necessary documents signed without having to go to the office each time. Her guidance, support, and professionalism has made this difficult at times process a very pleasant one. I am glad we had Arlene as an agent and recommend her when you need to either buy or sell a house. If you want a professional and pleasant trip, get Arlene.

We were lucky enough to find and work with Grace Bishop from Red Oak Realty over this past year. Like you, we found Grace on Unilocal — of course! So here’s the deal, our experience while working with Grace was incredibly exceptional. Really, she rocks! Grace is a true professional and an exceptionally lovely person. We found working her responsive, honest, friendly, knowledgeable and very in tune with what we were looking for in a new home — even in this competitive Bay Area market. If you are seeking a real estate agent/​partner that is knowledgeable about the East Bay real estate market — in my opinion there is no one better to work with that her. I know her website is
if that is helpful to check out what she is up to. She is a wonderful realtor and person too.

We recently worked with Billy Karp and Jimmy Reina of Red Oak Realty. We couldn’t have asked for a better team. They are both seasoned professionals with decades of experience, and we found that nothing was too much trouble for them, both in terms of visiting properties or explaining technicalities. If you’re looking for experience, patience and affability, this is your team!

Stacey Merryman helped us find and purchase our first home in a housing market with low inventory and multiple bids. We were looking for a single-​family home in Oakland and Berkeley. Stacey had street-​to-​street information on neighborhood pros/​cons and gave us tips on what to look for and avoid in purchasing a home.
The home she found for us was within the lower end of our price point which is almost impossible in this market where homes are going for 50k-​100k over asking.
Thank you Stacey for being our advocate and helping us keep our wits in this wonky housing market! We love our new place!

This review is for Barbara Hendrickson, (Realtor) — Many know Barbara as a top producing listing agent, representing sellers. We, on the other hand, had the luxury of working with her on the buying side of our transaction.
As clients, we were very peculiar about the specific location and style of the house that we wanted. For 6 months, we worked closely with Barbara and finally purchased the Berkeley house that we absolutely love. Our buying experience was intense and nerve-​racking at times. However, Barbara kept us calm and on track though the whole process. This clearly demonstrates that Barbara is not just an amazing realtor; she makes dreams come true.
Barbara’s immense knowledge of the local Berkeley market and 33 years of real estate experience proved to be invaluable in helping us identifying and closing the deal. Plus, this was not a usual «straightforward 30-​day escrow — We spent four months negotiating, and re-​negotiating with the seller. Barbara masterfully helped us navigate through the entire process with skills, patience, professionalism and a work ethic that few can match. Whenever we asked, Barbara usually responded within minutes, even late at night! When it came to time for actions, Barbara’s speed, efficiency and diligence were simply top-​notch — With only a couple of days for inspection contingency, Barbara mobilized her network of professionals within hours to look thoroughly at the property and consequently she negotiated more seller credits than we were hoping to get!
Having worked with numerous real estate agents over the past 10+ years, we know that Barbara Hendrickson has the level of experience that we can always count on. In fact, the best compliment actually came from the seller’s agent after we bought the house — «you are so fortunate to have the best real estate agent in Berkeley working with you». Thank you, Barbara!

We were really lucky to find Catherine Stern at Red Oak. As first time homebuyers, we didn’t know much about how the real estate market worked, especially around Berkeley. Catherine listened to what we wanted and had several houses ready for us to view on the very first meeting.
We ended up liking one so much that we made an offer. Her expertise was extremely valuable here; there were lots of other offers, and Catherine knew what to do to make ours the most attractive.
We were able to close in 20 days, which still astounds me. She had a house inspector lined up the day the offer was accepted, and also had various contractors come in to give estimates on work needed (we were able to take these estimates to the seller to get the price lowered). She stayed on top of all of the people involved: the loan officer, the title company, the inspector, the contractors, the homeowners insurance agent, and us.
We can’t say enough good things about Catherine. She was always on time, and responded to calls and emails extremely quickly. If we’re ever in the market for another house in the area, we will contact her without a moments hesitation.

Review of Jose Fernandez of Red Oak Realty.
Jose served as our buying agent for a period of two years. During these two years, we made about 12 offers (all rejected) until our most recent offer which was accepted. Jose was perfect during all aspects of our first house hunt. He is extremely knowledgeable about homes, their condition, the amount of work that would need to be done, the buying process, contract strategy… and was patient with our lack of knowledge as first time home buyers. Not once did i ever feel pressured into making an offer, or offering an amount above my comfort level.
Jose was also flexible with my work schedule, and would take time out of his week and weekend to show me homes.
I couldn’t be happier with the service we received. I could go on about the other various good qualities of our agent, but leave it at 5 stars.

Letter of Recommendation for Barbara Hendrickson
Red Oak Realty — Berkeley, CA
January 13, 2011
In the wake of the recent sale of our 3 bedroom family home in North Berkeley, I’d like to share my experience of working with our realtor Barbara Hendrickson. This was the first time that my wife and I attempted to sell a home. Despite our reservations concerning the state of the housing market that we were entering into, we scheduled an initial meeting with Barbara after reviewing her impressive website,
.
Once Barbara starting talking with us, it didn’t take long before we were won over by her candor, positive energy and direct approach. We emerged from that first conversation with a clear understanding of what we would be facing. We felt like we were in capable hands and that we would be guided through a process fraught with many variables by an expert in her field who has achieved a remarkable track record of success and longevity. Most importantly, we knew that Barbara was that rare realtor who wasn’t afraid to tell us what we *needed* to hear rather than what we *wanted* to hear.
Throughout the different stages of selling our home, Barbara was always patient and extremely responsive to our many questions. In the middle of a very turbulent real estate market, we sold our home quickly and were delighted with the purchase price.
Simply put — there is no substitute for the life experience that Barbara brings to her realtor-​client relationship. Smart and self-​assured, she possesses the kind of real confidence that can only come from a career spent closing hundreds of home sales.
I can’t recommend Barbara enough as a realtor who has truly seen it all, knows how to convert her experience into efficiency and will keep her (and your) eyes firmly focused on the prize.
Sincerely,
Nathan Friedkin

Barbara Hendrickson at Red Oak Realty is a great real estate agent. She was recommended to my wife and I by a couple that we hold as the gold standard of business savvy so we had high expectations. We got what we expected. Barbara is energetic, focused, and detail oriented. She is direct to a fault. She is long established in the area and her experience shows in how quickly she can help you find the property and come up with the winning offer. I know for a fact we would not have won our bid if we were submitting it with somebody else. The huge amount of paperwork was efficiently handled by Barbara and her office — no last minute craziness, no funny business.
In retrospect I realized she frequently knew what we wanted better than we did. We’ve been in this house, our first, for two years now. It’s been great.

This review is specifically for our fabulous Realtor, Marjorie Sperber! We hired her in May to help us with the sale of our 1926 home in Berkeley and could not be happier with the results!
Marjorie has been in the real estate business for many years and her expertise and knowledge of the market was invaluable! She knew exactly how to price and market our house, all of which resulted in our getting great offers in spite of a dicey housing market.
I was amazed to see how in the end, it really boils down to a game of poker, and Marjorie has this part MASTERED!
In addition to being a great Realtor, Marjorie is just a pleasure to work with. She’s supportive, accessible and honest as the day is long! Can’t recommend her enough! :o)