Ludovico Mazzola

Working with Ludovico (and his team) was a pleasure from day 1. He is honest, has a very strong work ethic, and is excellent with his communication skills. They kept me informed and in the know throughout the whole listing process, and were on it when it came to responding to my inquiries and keeping me up to date. In addition to this, he is a very nice guy and super easy to get along with. His expertise and knowledge of the San Francisco market is also outstanding.
I would definitely recommend working with Ludovico for any Real Estate transaction in San Francisco.

My experience working with Ludovico has been exceptional. When I
decided to sell my condo in San Francisco, I contacted 5 realtors
(based on their Unilocal reviews). I was most impressed with Ludovico, and
decided to list my condo with him. Ludovico not only made the most
professional impression, he was also very attentive to my constraints
and needs, and I felt he really cared.
And indeed, I wasn’t disappointed. Ludovico did an excellent job
promoting and advertising my property, and although it took a while to
sell, I never felt he is not giving my property his full attention.
Ludovico also helped me with finding a new home. We found a property
that I liked quite quickly, and from the initial offer, till closing,
Ludovico did an excellent job making sure everything is on schedule
(title, loan, inspections, reports) constantly communicating with all
the parties involved.
Ludovico is also very knowledgeable, which made me feel at ease
throughout the process. And he is also one of the nicest people I
know.
I worked with several realtors over the years, and he is the best one.

We used Ludovico to help us find a beautiful place in San Francisco.
His knowledge about the San Francisco’s real estate market is vast, including in depth knowledge of building and their history, including any issues with HOA, build quality or other information that one should know to make a informed choice. He educed us what to look for and to keep in mind to balance the HOA dues with the potential long term value and ease of renting the place if need to.
After a short time we felt comfortable with our sense of the market situation in San Francisco and we were ready to dive in backed by our new found understanding of the situation.
We had great times cruising the city lead by Ludovico. We saw many places that gave us more understanding of the wide variety of properties from high rises to converted warehouses that were turned into large open spaced lofts.
Going from our first meeting with Ludovico to closing seemed to have gone by in a blink of an eye and I couldn’t imaging having a smoother real estate experience than the one we had. I heard many horror stories in the past from other people who’s house hunt dragged on for ever. In our case though it seemed like smooth sailing from the start to signing on the dotted line.
We now are the proud owners about our new home in the greatest city of the world.
I would truly recommend Ludovico to anyone who has the need for a real estate agent with deep knowledge of the market and the patience to take you smoothly through the process.

Ludovico is fantastic. He first showed me lots of places to get a feel for my tastes. Over several months, that gradually transitioned from looking at properties broadly to focusing on types that would resonated more with me. He was very patient and never pushed me to make a decision rashly.
Ludovico’s knowledge of the San Francisco housing market is also pretty terrific. He can give you a good sense of what neighborhoods and characteristics of properties work well when returning to the market down the road.
Ludovico has also been very attentive after we closed. He helped arrange a locksmith, a handyman in for the few odds and ends, and communicating with the seller on some small outstanding issues, and just generally helping the post-​deal process move along.

I was introduced to Ludovico by a friend with the intention of finding a rental house in SF. Without taking any commission Ludovico worked through his network to try to find me a place.
While that was going on I found the *perfect* house that I’d want to buy and asked him to help me get it.
Even by San Francisco standards, this was a difficult process. Ludovico helped me through every step of the 2-​month closing process and more than once saved the deal from falling through.
Ludovico is a force of nature. It’s not an exaggeration to say that without him I would not own the house that I do today. He worked, effectively, ²⁴⁄₇ for several months, more than making up for the deficiencies of others, to make it all happen.
As an added bonus, Ludovico is one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. I can’t speak highly enough about him both professionally and personally.
There are a lot of real estate agents out there who are simply a commission engine, where they shuffle some paperwork to walk away with their bonus. Until meeting Ludovico I though they were all like this. I can safely say that he more than earned every penny. I’ve recommended him without hesitation to all of my friends who’ve been looking for homes and fully intend to use him again when the time comes.

There are a lot of absurdly good things written about Ludovico on Unilocal,and I’m here to say that they’re all true.
Buying a home is a scary process both emotionally and financially. And if you want to make sure the whole thing is done right, you either need to spend an absurd amount of your time managing the details, or you need to work with Ludovico. He handles all the details and converts a scary process into a frankly rather enjoyable one.
Everything said about his honesty, caring, knowledge and attention to detail are true, so I’m not going to dive as deeply into those as others have. But if there’s one quality of Ludovico on which I can touch that other reviewers didn’t cover well, it’s that I felt that he treated my money like his money.
Picking the right place for you is largely a touchy-​feely kind of process — you’re making tradeoffs between dozens of variables, all moving independently of each other. Ludovico does a great job observing you observe the property and figuring out what you really want. This is fantastic. Emotionally I left the process feeling good, like I’d found the right home for me.
But outside of the emotional aspects, there is also a financial aspect. Your home is both where you live and an investment in which you tie-​up what is often a substantial amount of your net worth. Worst yet is that financially realtors are really not incentivized to care about this part of the process. I did not at all feel like this was the case for Ludovico. Under his lovable exterior is a shrewd businessman, as fierce as I try to be, always there to help make sure the financial details of the property are as sound as the emotional ones. And so financially I also left the process feeling good, like I’d found the right home for me.

I’ve started and restarted this review so many times that even Unilocal has stopped asking me «what’s the scoop» on Ludovico. My problem is fitting all the great things about Ludovico into a short enough review that people will actually read it! (I get a little wordy sometimes). Here’s my attempt to describe all the amazing things about Ludovico in a nutshell. I already know there’s no way I can fit everything — so you should just get in touch with Ludovico personally :)
A little background… my bf and I worked with Ludovico for almost exactly 1 year — we started off thinking about a 2 br loft/​condo in SoMa and ended up buying a ²⁄₃ br condo in Noe Valley, which is our dream home and everything we didn’t initially realize we wanted! I am so happy with working with Ludovico that I refer him to anyone thinking about buying/​selling a home in SF (and no, I’m not getting paid).
These are my favorite traits about Ludovico:
— Honest —
I’ve worked with several realtors in the south bay with my parents, and I never felt like I could completely trust any of them to tell me the truth — if we were unsure about a property, we always still felt pressured to buy. Not so in Ludovico’s case! In fact, he’s done the opposite and warned us to be careful with certain properties. There was one property my bf really liked in SoMa. We were considering putting down an offer, when Ludovico sat us down and explained that the building was ~50% developer-​owned, which is a red flag to many lenders (they don’t want one individual to own such a large portion of the property, in case they fall into default). In addition, parking was leased. Basically, Ludovico told us he would do whatever we wanted, but he wanted us to be very cautious if we decided to move forward with this property. We decided to hold off, and looking back, I’m very glad we did so.
— Knowledgeable —
The situation above also shows Ludovico’s knowledge about the home-​buying market. Perhaps more savvy buyers know about lending issues and leased parking, but we certainly didn’t, and he was happy to teach us about these details. Ludovico’s also very familiar with all the different areas in SF and was able to talk to us in detail about what the buyer market looks like in different neighborhoods. He’ll even walk into a home and point out the specific type of redwood used in the floors — he constantly amazes me with what he knows! Also — he gives good advice. We put offers on three homes — the first two were really competitive and we paid the price for not really listening to the advice he gave (i.e. go in with your highest offer, get the contingency periods shortened, etc). Anyway, it worked out in the end when we finally took his advice and bought our home :)
— Detail Oriented —
So, I’m a very detail-​oriented person. I love to plan trips and organize them down to every last transfer. But, this makes it difficult for me to delegate things to other people, because, come on — I can always do it better! However, Ludovico is one of the few people I’ve found who is even more detail-​oriented and organized than I am. When I found things I noticed about houses that I didn’t think anyone else saw — Ludovico saw them too. When I found properties that I thought he hadn’t seen — he had seen them. When I was curious about one of the homeowners of a house we really wanted and found some interesting tidbits online — Ludovico knew those too! And that’s not even getting to the offer process, where everything was scheduled, organized, and easy. One example was scheduling the contractor’s inspection right when we made our offer, so that if our offer was accepted, we’d hit the ground running. In our case, we had a 2 week close (already aggressive) but were done with all the inspections within 2 days of having our offer accepted!
— Caring —
I don’t know how to say this without sounding cheesy. But, with Ludovico — you really felt like he cared that we found the house we loved. We worked with him for a year — not for his lack of skill, but mostly because we were picky and didn’t take his advice in some of the more competitive offer situations. During that time, we never felt like Ludovico was tired of us or didn’t believe we’d ever actually buy a house (which we even started hearing from our parents). Instead, we got regular emails from him every week with property descriptions, a list of open houses he recommended we check out, occasional calls to see how we were doing, and when we found something we liked, he’d rush across the city to come see it. Even after we’ve closed and moved into the new house, he still checks in on us and helps us with furniture store recommendations, contractors, etc.
Okay. This turned out not so brief at all. But I hope it was helpful! If you’re even considering buying/​selling a home in SF, do talk to Ludovico. I can’t say enough to recommend him. He is great!

There are a lot of delicious restaurants, sullen baristas, and tragically hip spots to Unilocal about in this city. I joined Unilocal to recommend Ludovico.
Ludovico is an excellent agent. He’s knowledgeable, fastidious in everything he does, and a consummate professional — yet he is also warm, patient, and sincere.
After getting a sense of what I was looking for, Ludovico tailored our search accordingly. He also suggested a few properties I probably wouldn’t have considered on my own, which ended up being really helpful as my preferences evolved. He was totally low-​pressure, didn’t impose his opinion but offered it at the right times, and provided a lot of useful information about specific things to look out for.
When I got into contract, I had a short escrow period that coincided with a busy time at work. Ludovico took care of all the logistics and closing matters (my were there a lot). As I had gotten to know him and to trust his integrity, I was completely comfortable with him handling things. He made sure my rights were protected and went out of his way to make things easier for me, turning what could have been an arduous, stressful process into something eminently manageable.
I would wholeheartedly recommend Ludovico to my friends and family (and to Internet strangers). He is someone you’d want on your side.

Ludovico is the single best service provider I have ever interacted with.
I worked with him from Jan ’10 to May ’10. The quick summary is he works 24/​7, has unlimited patience, and most importantly, helps you find your dream home at a dream price.
I saw 30 – 50 properties with Ludovico, in many different neighborhoods (from SOMA and Noe to Presidio Heights). Ludovico had intimate knowledge of every neighborhood, building, and even the other brokers. Throughout the process, he developed a detailed understanding of my taste and price comfort zone.
Ludovico has a lot of fabulous qualities. I’ll give a couple of examples, and would be delighted to serve as a reference for anyone who has additional questions.
First, early in the process, I thought I had found a place that was perfect for me. However, the price seemed high and the situation seemed complex. I decided to put in an offer. When the counter came back, Ludovico put together a significant analysis convincing me NOT to buy the property. His analysis made it very clear that I would likely lose money at any price higher than my offer. … In retrospect, I am completely thrilled that I didn’t purchase that place. I have never heard of a broker providing all the facts such that a willing buyer rethinks his decision; Ludovico saved me a LOT of money. This is a testament to Ludovico’s desire for his buyers to feel like they got a great deal.
Second, after I eventually purchased a house, Ludovico has spent countless hours dealing with permitting issues, helping me with contractors, understanding what improvements are consumption vs. investment, etc.
I can honestly say I would not have found the perfect place without Ludovico. Please contact me if you have any questions.

My wife and I recently moved to SF and were looking to purchase a home in the city. It was a top priority for us to work with a real estate agent who had a deep knowledge of the San Francisco neighborhoods and we were very fortunate to have found Ludovico.
Ludovico grew up in the city and his expertise the neighborhoods we were considering helped us zero in on a short list of homes quickly. Once we had our short list together the offer and inspection process went very smoothly thanks to Ludovico. He has a great feel for how to negotiate deals which I especially appreciated.
Throughout the process Ludovico provided an exceptional level of service. One example: when we were told there was a problem with an old outstanding building permit for the home Ludovico offered to meet me at city hall to resolve the issue, and this was even after we closed on the home! Ludovico is a great agent who helped us close on a home we love, and I would recommend him highly.

Ludovico is awesome. Seriously, I can’t imagine a better broker. He is very attentive, thorough and works hard to find you exactly what you are looking for — without pressure to put offers down when you aren’t ready or bid more than you are comfortable paying.
My wife and I looked at over 50 houses with him, and he showed up with the same amount of preparation and readiness on the 50^th as on the 1^st. He is extremely knowledgeable about San Francisco real estate, specifically the Noe Valley, Mission, Castro, and Corona Heights /​Buena Vista Park areas. He listens EXTREMELY carefully when you tell him your likes and dislikes (even calling for feedback on places you see without him) and zones in based on that information to find you the perfect property. The analogy I like to use is to Pandora radio: after each thumbs-​up and thumbs-​down, he adjusts the search and focus area based on each new piece of feedback.
When we did put offers down, Ludovico helped walk us through the process thoughtfully, as this was our first time buying a house, and he made sure to cut through all of the jargon and strange procedures that SF requires of house purchases.
Although we hope not to move for a while, we’d definitely use Ludovico again, and we’d recommend him to anyone looking to purchase property in San Francisco. Ludovico not only helped us find the ideal house — he was fun to work with, professional to a T, and someone we could trust with such an important life decision.

My boyfriend and I recently purchased a property and felt enormously fortunate throughout the entire process to have Ludovico represent us. It is with no exaggeration that I say it would be heavenly if all people in the service industry were as pleasant, competent, and conscientious as Ludovico. I wish Ludovico could do my taxes, service my car, and be my doctor. Alas, he has chosen to be a realtor, and you could choose no better realtor than him.
Like other agents who have similarly stellar reviews on Unilocal,Ludovico locates attractive homes for sale, has encyclopedic knowledge of the ins and outs of San Francisco real estate, and does extensive research to determine the value of properties. But, there have been several specific instances where Ludovico has proven to be the cream of the crop:
(1) After investing much of his own time in helping us prepare bids and counterbids on a property, we learned that strict and recent changes to the mortgage-​lending rules effectively prevented us from buying the property of interest or any other property for that matter. Despite this devastating news – which would have caused most other realtors to walk away and tell us to jump off a cliff – Ludovico was unflappable. He not only stood by us but was instrumental in finding a good solution to a problem that many had told us was impossible. In this otherwise harrowing situation, he gave new meaning to the term «cool under pressure», and we are so grateful to him for that.
(2) Our property is a new construction, and even after we took possession, Ludovico has been very involved in ensuring that the developer addresses the few remaining issues. Ludovico, who has already been paid for representing us and has plenty of other clients to help, is just as invested in our happiness now as when we were his clients.
(3) Since realtors get paid at closing, they have a huge incentive to get to the closing table as quickly as possible. Despite this fact, Ludovico never rushed or pressured us into any decision; instead, it was frequently Ludovico who stressed that we should hold off on a decision until we felt totally comfortable with it. To be clear, he also is very strategic and understands the importance of timing in real-​estate transactions, but he insisted that our comfort-​level with a decision trump all else. It became quickly obvious that Ludovico is one of the few realtors who realizes that it is in his own best interest to operate in his clients’ best interests.
(4) When we were looking for a property, we talked about our experiences with co-​workers, and they were all stunned to hear the amount of time and attention we were receiving from Ludovico. Across the board, all of the people we know who have purchased properties in the area said their realtors barely gave them the time of day and that it was always a struggle to get their realtors to spend time showing them properties or discussing issues with them over the phone. We had the exact opposite experience with Ludovico — he was available to talk whenever we needed his advice, and he was always happy to meet with us in person to either look at more properties (when we were still trying to decide on one) or to investigate specific aspects of the property we eventually chose. I don’t know anyone more responsible and responsive than Ludovico.
Though we are very glad to be living in such a wonderful home now, it is sad not to be dealing with Ludovico on a regular basis because it really was such a pleasure. An enthusiastic five stars for him!

Ludovico helped us with a very complicated apartment hunt and did a great job. He’s honest, straightforward, bright, articulate and knowledgeable. Perhaps of greatest importance, we always felt that Ludovico really had our best interests at heart and that we could trust his advice knowing that it wasn’t self serving.
Ludovico is thorough and hard-​working, but he’s not a high-​pressure guy. His approach is generally to give you all the information helpful to your decision, offer his judgment if asked, and execute accordingly. Finally, Ludovico’s a really nice, erudite person, and it’s nice to spend time with him. Anyway, definitely recommend Ludovico very highly.

My girlfriend and I recently purchased a property and felt enormously fortunate throughout the entire process to have Ludovico represent us. It is with no exaggeration that I say it would be heavenly if all people in the service industry were as pleasant, competent, and conscientious as Ludovico. I wish Ludovico could do my taxes, service my car, and be my doctor. Alas, he has chosen to be a realtor, and you could choose no better realtor than him.
Like other agents who have similarly stellar reviews on Unilocal,Ludovico locates attractive homes for sale, has encyclopedic knowledge of the ins and outs of San Francisco real estate, and does extensive research to determine the value of properties. But, there have been several specific instances where Ludovico has proven to be the cream of the crop:
(1) After investing much of his own time in helping us prepare bids and counterbids on a property, we learned that strict and recent changes to the mortgage-​lending rules effectively prevented us from buying the property of interest or any other property for that matter. Despite this devastating news – which would have caused most other realtors to walk away and tell us to jump off a cliff – Ludovico was unflappable. He not only stood by us but was instrumental in finding a good solution to a problem that many had told us was impossible. In this otherwise harrowing situation, he gave new meaning to the term «cool under pressure», and we are so grateful to him for that.
(2) Our property is a new construction, and even after we took possession, Ludovico has been very involved in ensuring that the developer addresses the few remaining issues. Ludovico, who has already been paid for representing us and has plenty of other clients to help, is just as invested in our happiness now as when we were his clients.
(3) Since realtors get paid at closing, they have a huge incentive to get to the closing table as quickly as possible. Despite this fact, Ludovico never rushed or pressured us into any decision; instead, it was frequently Ludovico who stressed that we should hold off on a decision until we felt totally comfortable with it. To be clear, he also is very strategic and understands the importance of timing in real-​estate transactions, but he insisted that our comfort-​level with a decision trump all else. It became quickly obvious that Ludovico is one of the few realtors who realizes that it is in his own best interest to operate in his clients’ best interests.
(4) When we were looking for a property, we talked about our experiences with co-​workers, and they were all stunned to hear the amount of time and attention we were receiving from Ludovico. Across the board, all of the people we know who have purchased properties in the area said their realtors barely gave them the time of day and that it was always a struggle to get their realtors to spend time showing them properties or discussing issues with them over the phone. We had the exact opposite experience with Ludovico — he was available to talk whenever we needed his advice, and he was always happy to meet with us in person to either look at more properties (when we were still trying to decide on one) or to investigate specific aspects of the property we eventually chose. I don’t know anyone more responsible and responsive than Ludovico.
Though we are very glad to be living in such a wonderful home now, it is sad not to be dealing with Ludovico on a regular basis because it really was such a pleasure. An enthusiastic five stars for him!

My husband & I met Ludovico at an open house in early 2009. We weren’t looking to buy; we were actually just looking for remodeling ideas. Ludovico was very forthcoming in sharing all of the information he had re: good contractors, design ideas, etc. He offered to do a walk-​through of our house with one of his colleagues with no strings attached. Ludovico gave us an assessment of what work would add value to our home and what work might not give us a return on our investment. He also gave us a sense of what our home is worth. Again, we were not considering selling at this point, so Ludovico really went out of his way to help us, and we really valued his input into our renovation ideas (many of which we completed).
A few months later, we happened to find a place that we fell in love with and decided to buy quickly. We had less than five days to make an offer. Ludovico’s help was invaluable. He works with a great team at Vanguard (Michelle Balog & Cristian Flores), and they all worked tirelessly through the weekend and days leading up to the offer date to make sure that (a) this was a good idea, (b) we could afford it (which was very uncertain), and © that our offer was very strong. Though it wasn’t in his own best interest, he actually advised at one point not to make an offer unless we could get a certain loan commitment, because he was worried that we could possibly lose a non-​refundable 10% deposit; we really appreciated that honesty.
Ludovico helped guide us through a very complicated real estate transaction. We bought a house that was a probate sale requiring court confirmation. We won the first round, but could have been outbid by anyone in court. Ludovico did everything he could to make sure that we were well-​prepared for our day in court. At our hearing, Ludovico and his team came to support us, and we walked away with an amazing house at a great price.
My husband and I are now working with Ludovico to lay the groundwork for selling the house we just moved out of (even though we probably won’t sell for a while). Again, Ludovico always takes the time to answer our questions, he gives us advice which is in our best interest, and he’s just a pleasure to be around. He brings in members of his team when appropriate and draws on their valuable experience as well.
How many people still want to have dinner with their real estate agent after a purchase/​sale and would invite him to their baby shower? We do!