Real Estate in Oakland, Berkeley and Piedmont, California » Testimonial

Selling my Parkwoods condo in Oakland CA

Brian Santilena — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 00:07:11 +0000

I found Brian when I was thinking about selling my Parkwoods condo a couple of years ago. I talked to him about it and decided that I would wait another year or two before putting it on the market. I asked Brian to keep in touch. He contacted me periodically to see if I was ready to sell and when I finally was ready I was happy to list it with him. I was extremely nervous about selling in such a down market, especially because I was carrying a mortgage and my monthly rent in Manhattan (not cheap!). I thought it would take at least 6 months to sell. How wrong I was! We had two offers in a matter of weeks and ended up accepting the second offer. I was a bit worried about selling my California condo from New York but Brian took care of everything for me and was always available to answer any questions or address any concerns. He was an absolute pleasure to work with and I’m so glad I chose him!

Jamie Eberling

About Brian Santilena, Realtor

Brian Santilena sells real estate in Oakland – Piedmont – Berkeley, CA – Department of real estate 01244612. Brian Santilena is one of the top real estate agents in the Oakland – Piedmont – Berkeley markets. He is a member of the Oakland Board of Realtors, the California Association of Realtors and the National Board of Realtors. Brian practices real estate in Oakland – Piedmont and Berkeley CA since 1998. He aggressively helps home buyers and home sellers who are looking to buy or sell real estate and Oakland homes, Piedmont homes and Berkley homes. See what some of his home selling and home buying clients have to say about working with Brian. He is with Pacific Union Real Estate at 1900 Mountain Blvd. Oakland CA 94611. He works in many neighborhoods in addition to Piedmont, Montclair, Rockridge, Upper Rockridge, Glenview, Trestle Glen, Crocker Highlands and many more areas and homes for sale. Brian is a licensed contractor and is listed on Real-Estate-Agents.com . If you are specifically interested in homes for sale in Rockridge and homes in Upper Rockridge, please take a look at Brian’s Homes In Upper Rockridge website.

Selling our Piedmont CA home with Brian Santilena

BrianS — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 00:05:56 +0000

Marketing homes for sale in Piedmont CA since 1998.

View homes for sale in Piedmont CA here.

I think Brian Santilena did excellent work, in every way, helping us sell a home in Piedmont, and the end result was impressive. Brian promised from the start that he would act as the project manager for obtaining contractor bids on necessary repairs and staging, and he delivered on his promise. Brian knows many good contractors, gardeners, repair people, and so forth, to tap for such work. Brian also knows how to plan such work within the budget available. Our house looked great when it went on the market, and we received several offers immediately.

Brian used web-based marketing, as well as more traditional newspaper features to advertise our home. I was very impressed with the quality of that work. It proved very effective.

Brian also is excellent at handling or arranging the technical matters related to contracts, inspections, disclosures, offers/counter-offers, and escrow. His capable use of electronic documents, with electronic signatures, sped our process nicely. His clear explanations for everything happening allowed us to make good decisions, even when time was tight.

Overall, Brian was just exactly the person we needed to prepare our house for sale and to get it sold. He was a delight to work with. He completely understood the value of the neighborhood added to our house. He knew what type of buyer would be attracted to the place, and he succeeded in getting the attention of those very buyers, and in presenting the house to them in a winning way. My experience working with Brian Santilena was very fine.

Mike Higgins (Attorney at Law)

About Brian Santilena, Realtor

Selling our home in Montclair Oakland CA with real estate agent Brian Santilena

BrianS — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 23:27:03 +0000

Marketing homes for sale in Oakland CA Montclair district by Brian Santilena.

Comments from home sellers of 6800 Colton Drive, Oakland Montclair CA 94611

We worked with Brian to sell our home in Oakland as part of a relocation process. Having moved to another city, it was important to us that our agent have not only a pulse on the Oakland market trends, but more importantly the diligence to keep on top of these trends and keep us informed remotely. We made the decision to work with Brian because he instilled in us the confidence that he could deliver on this goal.

What we were pleasantly surprised to find, however, was that Brian was also committed to tailored service. His responsiveness and communication made us feel as though we were his only client. Most importantly, Brian approached the business as a partnership – we aligned on goals early, determined the best strategy to achieve these goals, and then executed on the strategy. He is the consummate professional and having worked with others, we can say with a high level of confidence that there are very few agents who will provide the level of service we received. If you’re considering buying or selling a home in Oakland, you would be well served to work with Brian.

Francis & Nicola Idehen

About Brian Santilena, Realtor

Buy a home in Alameda CA with Brian Santilena Realtor

BrianS — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 22:23:41 +0000

Words directly from Yelp review 6/20/11

“This was the third home I have bought, and the second I have purchased in the Bay. I have worked with many other Realtors in the past, and Brian is by far the best. What other realtor will would crawl under a potential house to get a look at the foundation for you? No one, trust me. He made the process as painless as possible. Would recommend Brian to anyone looking to buy a house in the Bay.” Clare L.

Every Buyer is different. Thay have different wants, levels of experiance and personalities. I try to listen between the words and determine exactly what a buyers “needs” are. Sometimes they don’t even know what their needs are. I’ve been selling homes in the Oakland Hills CA, Alameda, Piedmont and Berkeley since 1998 and after hundreds of transactions it is still one of the most fulfilling experiances to hand the keys over to someones new home. Regards, Brian S.

Take a look as what some of Brian Santilena’s past clients have said about their working experiance with him or view some of his homes for sale in Oakland CA.

About Brian Santilena, Realtor, Oakland – Piedmont – Berkeley, CA – Department of real estate 01244612. Brian Santilena is one of the top real estate agents in the Oakland – Piedmont – Berkeley markets. He is a member of the Oakland Board of Realtors, the California Association of Realtors and the National Board of Realtors. Brian practices real estate in Oakland – Piedmont and Berkeley CA since 1998. He aggressively helps home buyers and home sellers who are looking to buy or sell real estate and Oakland homes, Piedmont homes and Berkley homes. See what some of his home selling and home buying clients have to say about working with Brian. He is with Pacific Union Real Estate at 1900 Mountain Blvd. Oakland CA 94611. He works in many neighborhoods in addition to Piedmont, Montclair, Rockridge, Upper Rockridge, Glenview, Trestle Glen, Crocker Highlands and many more areas and homes for sale. Brian is a licensed contractor and is listed on Real-Estate-Agents.com . If you are specifically interested in homes for sale in Rockridge and homes in Upper Rockridge, please take a look at Brian’s Homes In Upper Rockridge website.

Buying our Lincoln Heights home in Oakland with Brian Santilena

agentevo — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 23:34:57 +0000

Working with Brian was one of the best part of our home buying process. He not only made us feel comfortable and well-informed about the process but was also very proactive about everything. As first time home buyers, we never got nervous because he managed the communication well and never overwhelmed us with too many details at once. We were very impressed with how he looked at the everything from our perspective and understood our needs. He has a Real Estate 101 seminar which was very helpful to us. No matter where he was, he was always just a text message away=peace of mind!

He has a good network of references and was able to point us to the right people for getting estimates for repair etc. He also assissted us with things beyond his call of duty like going the Oakland building dept. for checking out building permits etc.

Bottomline is, if you are looking for someone who is nice as well as efficient (which is a very hard combination to find by the way), you want Brian. We highly recommend him to anyone looking to buy or sell a house in the area.

If you have any question about buying or selling a home in Oakland, Piedmont or Berkeley CA I would be happy to answer any of them. Please feel to contact me directly. Have a great day.

Selling our family home in Oakmore with Brian Santilena

agentevo — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 20:29:18 +0000

I can’t say enough good things about my experience working with Brian in the sale of our Oakmore home. He had the very difficult task oforganizing major repairs on our house as well as the usual painting, staging and marketing preparations. Brian had only 4 months to have the house on the market and once it was listed, it sold within 10 days! In this market, that is amazing not to mention that he also had to work with getting the home owner of 36 yrs…….me……..out of the house!

Being a former Real Estate agent myself, i was very much aware of every aspect of Brian’s excellent service. He was highly organized,very knowledgeable about the local market and the difficult economy and his contracting skills were invaluable. It was a relief to put the contracting work necessary into Brian’s hands. His referrals were excellent and very fairly priced plus he was always coming by the property to check on the progress.

Most impressive, were Brian’s communication skills. He was so professional in handling two sellers in different locations, as ours was a divorce situation. He had to communicate fairly to both parties, which he did almost daily. He sent all the reports and work being done via email and used e-signatures, which kept us both equally informed throughout the process. He immediately and professionally addressed any concerns either one of us had and guided us to the very best outcome. Without Brian, we would not have sold our house immediately nor had such a positive experience. He never dismissed any of our concerns but instead addressed them calmly, patiently and honestly, for which I am very grateful!

On top of all this, he is so very nice to work with!

I have recommended him to SO many people and will continue to do so.

Thank you, Brian!

Libby Cholerton

First time Buyers in Oakland CA Upper Rockridge

BrianS — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 00:18:30 +0000

My wife and I have been in our new house for over a month now — and we are still raving about our experience working with Brian. Throughout the entire buying process, we found him to be very professional, incredibly knowledgeable about the local market, objective and insightful on the properties and process, and quite personable too. We highly recommend Brian as a Realtor in the Oakland / Piedmont / Berkeley areas.

Brian’s deep knowledge of the area, combined with his background as a contractor, proved invaluable to use during the house hunting and final decision-making process. This part of the Bay Area is amazing in how the age of a house can easily range between 10-100 years and, during those years, how many “handy man” repairs have been done (or neglected). Brian was able to guide us through each house objectively and quite accurately with what it needed, what was potentially hidden beneath a lovely staging job, and provide several options to consider for bringing the house to how we wanted it. Brian was also quite insightful in highlighting aspects about each property that were more about the personal fit for us, such as characteristics for that block of the neighborhood and how the “flow” matched up to what we were looking for.

From the very beginning, Brian set our expectation that he wanted to help find “the right house for us.” He proved it by helping us make our final decisions with as much information as possible, providing objectivity on the pros and cons, and patiently working with us through our innumerable questions. We love our new home and thank Brian for making it a great experience.

Jarret Cooper & Neda Burapavong

Brian Santilena, Sr. Sales Associate and top real estate agent with Pacific Union Real Estate, representing home buyers and home sellers in the Oakland Hills, Berkeley Hills and Piedmont California marketplace since 1998. He is a Realtor, Certified Residential Specialist(CRS) and is highly knowledgeable in real estate for sale in the Oakland, Piedont and Berkeley California.

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First time Buyers with Brian Santilena

Brian Santilena — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 18:11:36 +0000

As a first-time home buyer, I really appreciated Brian’s insights and honesty. He was always patient and worked with my husband and I for over a year to get the home that suited us best. He readily pointed out pros and cons for each property that we visited, even highlighting issues that we had not considered. Whenever we had a question, Brian went out of his way to find us the answer in a timely manner. We couldn’t be happier with Brian’s performance and are loving our first home!

Charles and Meredith

Selling our home in Oakland CA with Brian Santilena

BrianS — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 19:42:57 +0000

Dear Brian,

My wife Virginia and I wanted to thank you for the wonderful handling of our home sale transaction. We are both in our 80’s and having recently moved into an assisted living facility it would not have been possible to get the results that we did without your assistance. Our home was on the market for a full year, with two different Realtors before we met you. Your guidance of preparing the property, marketing and negotiations got us more than we expected. In fact $22,000 more than we had the property listed for with the prior Realtor.

Virginia’s stroke, my Parkinsons and our children living out of area, we know that we put a lot on your shoulders. You did more than you needed to do on several occasions and did it in such a way that we felt comfortable and taken care of. You really went above and beyond.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Our very best,
Mike and Virginia Madajian

Buying a home in Oakland’s Oakmore district with Brian Santilena

BrianS — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 18:09:55 +0000

I met Pete after he contacted me via my website. He was interested in the prospect of purchasing a home. He didn’t know the details or the process so we sat down together for a “Buyers 101″ together. We went over every aspect of the Home Buying Process. Pete left the meeting fully informed with all of the information necessary to begin evaluating the mere possibility of purchasing. We looked at several homes and even wrote a few offers. We found one in the Oakmore neighborhood of Oakland. The home wasn’t perfect but after negotiating hard, inspecting thoroughly and getting some contractors to give advice on future improvements, they decided that this was the house for them.

Here is what they had to say about working with me:

My fiancee and I decided it made sense to buy a house rather than rent. Though I had owned a home before I was not at all familiar with the real estate process or even the terminology.

Pete Levine

I can’t recall exactly how I got Brian’s name. I think I was web surfing and found his site. I found it helpful because it discussed the different neighborhoods in Oakland. At that point I wasn’t sure where to look – what the neighborhoods were like and where we coul find a house we would love as well as afford.

On his site he mentioned that he offered a complimentary intro to real estate discussion — real estate 101 he called it. This was something i needed. I didn’t have a broker yet. Wasn’t sure I needed one or what a broker actually did.

Brian’s presentation covered a lot of information and clarified terms I was unfamiliar with him. He was very familiar with the East Bay (grew up in Alameda) and also with the current real estate market. He was able to answer my questions and I liked him. He was knowledgable and savvy. He is a former contractor and knows about home construction.

I decided that Brian would be my broker and we began our home search. We weren’t limited to any particular list. Yes, Brian sent us listings based on a discussion of our needs and how much we could afford, but we told him about homes we found ourselves.

Going out to look at homes with Brian was very informative. He could make assessments about work that might be needed and why a ‘bargain’ price or fixer-upper might lead to problems down the road

We found a house we liked and just when we decided to make an offer we had to leave town. Brian was fantastic in coordinating inspections in our absence and getting us all the information. We were pressed for time but I never felt pressured. I was a novice but I knew I was in good hands. He also helped us with referrals to a loan agent and home insurance.

Brian was also able to negotiate for us with the seller and save us thousands of dollars.

I recommend Brian as a trustworthy and knowledgeable real estate agent. He won’t try to sell you a house. He’ll present you with the facts that will enable you to make that decision for yourself. I am very pleased that he was my agent.