TESTIMONIALS

If I could give Jodi 10 stars, I would try to give her 11. While Yelp can become bogged down with misinformation or disgruntled customers, I want to wholeheartedly attest that Jodi was everything we needed in an agent before we even truly knew what that was. I'm struggling with how to wax-poetic about her without it coming off as hyperbole. My husband and I grew up in the Bay Area (SF and Marin, respectively) and by the time we were ready to leave our incredible, rent-controlled apartment and get into the housing game, we were mortified by how much it costs to own a home here. So we entertained the idea of moving away. We were in the housing market in WA and let's just say, we had many lessons learned. One huge lesson being: how critical it is to have an agent that understands what you're actually in the market for. Four months and thousands of dollars squandered pre-inspections later, w…

If I could give Jodi 10 stars, I would try to give her 11. While Yelp can become bogged down with misinformation or disgruntled customers, I want to wholeheartedly attest that Jodi was everything we needed in an agent before we even truly knew what that was. I'm struggling with how to wax-poetic about her without it coming off as hyperbole. My husband and I grew up in the Bay Area (SF and Marin, respectively) and by the time we were ready to leave our incredible, rent-controlled apartment and get into the housing game, we were mortified by how much it costs to own a home here. So we entertained the idea of moving away. We were in the housing market in WA and let's just say, we had many lessons learned. One huge lesson being: how critical it is to have an agent that understands what you're actually in the market for. Four months and thousands of dollars squandered pre-inspections later, we decided to cut our losses and accept our fate as life-long renters in Oakland. Because I'm a masochist, I continued to stalk Redfin and Trulia to see 1) what could we afford here 2) in what neighborhood 3) and also homes totally out of our price range so I could dream. That's how I found Jodi. She was the listing agent for a dreamy, completely remodeled Craftsman for a price tag we would never be able to afford. BUT I was thoroughly impressed by the attention to detail. It's hard to describe, but when you are in That Zone; the Spending Every Spare Moment Torturing Yourself on Redfin Zone, you've seen enough listings that you are now numb to price, to the wow-factor of Matterport, and become adept at reading between the lines. Whatever it was, something stuck out and upon reading her bio, she mentioned something about "helping her clients make a solid financial investment" and that really struck a chord and I contacted her to see if she'd be willing to take us on as buyers. We never had a negative experience with our WA agent, but there was always something missing. She was focused on getting us "the house of our dreams" and helping us to craft the most compelling offer and how much can we offer in bridge-monies? Nothing bad, but no value-added, in our books. Our meeting with Jodi was a game-changer. Sure, we discussed our wish lists. But more importantly, she broke down for us the financial side of ours investment. The Pros and Cons of a single-family, condo, and multi-family units. She had a stack of real properties for us to peruse. That helped to take the discussion out of hypotheticals and very much into "these are the kind of properties you can get and this is how that will affect and benefit you financially." It was very daunting for us to even fathom a multi-family unit, but after consulting our CPA, it all checked out. We started working with her in April 2017 and closed on our property in late June 2017. We weren't in a rush, so we knew we would wait for The Right One and she found us a gem. Two houses on one lot. It wasn't even on Redfin, just totally off of everyone else's radar but hers. We got in at asking. Kept all our contingencies. And because of that, we were able to ultimately get it below asking. Now keep in mind, we were braced for the 20+ people at an open house, multiple-offer, 20%+ over-asking, hard-money, dogfight that we experienced in WA. One part pure luck, one part Jodi. Without her, we would never have found this unicorn-listing. That, along with her excellent communication, cool-headed negotiation, and a stellar team that helped us close on time. I mean, come on. Eleven freaking stars. Believe the reviews, she's the real deal.

I spoke and dealt with other agents in buying a home in Berkeley for me and my family, and chose to work with Jodi. I do commercial real estate acquisitions for an investment company and have an MBA in real estate/finance, so have experience doing this. In the past when I have worked with residential brokers I have noticed a lack of financial understanding, which is a limitation that can hurt a buyer of a personal home or an investment property, but not so with Jodi. She gets it, impressively, both from a financial perspective as well as interpersonal, which means that she was smart and excellent in negotiations on my behalf. As we brainstormed negotiations, I felt I was talking to a peer colleague at my firm, she knew all the angles in the issues and dealt with them diplomatically with the other side, as well as with me. Dealing with this for years in my job, I could tell that Jodi was …

I spoke and dealt with other agents in buying a home in Berkeley for me and my family, and chose to work with Jodi. I do commercial real estate acquisitions for an investment company and have an MBA in real estate/finance, so have experience doing this. In the past when I have worked with residential brokers I have noticed a lack of financial understanding, which is a limitation that can hurt a buyer of a personal home or an investment property, but not so with Jodi. She gets it, impressively, both from a financial perspective as well as interpersonal, which means that she was smart and excellent in negotiations on my behalf. As we brainstormed negotiations, I felt I was talking to a peer colleague at my firm, she knew all the angles in the issues and dealt with them diplomatically with the other side, as well as with me. Dealing with this for years in my job, I could tell that Jodi was truly a professional and that I could trust her to advance my side as well as I could. This makes things much easier, much less work, and less problematic as a buyer busy with other life issues, and is a boon when you find someone like this to assist and protect you. Jodi also quickly understood what I was looking for, and didn't waste our time with irrelevant properties. Each one she mentioned got closer and closer to the best fit. This is a psychological astuteness that is also very valuable and gets overwhelmed in other brokers by their desire to flood you with options and get something closed. Jodi provided sales and rental comparable transactions, driving me to see them, so I quickly could understand the market and make an informed decision. Jodi found me an excellent property that hit all of my main wish list items, got me in the door, and dealt with a very difficult seller. I tried my own referrals for mortgage financing and found them disappointing. I then tried Jodi's referral of Tom Nitsan at MPR Financial, and he was excellent and extremely helpful. This took months since I'm living in SoCal and Berkeley and Bay Area is a market with many buyers. In a funny way, I'm mildly surprised to see that Jodi has reviews from other people during the same time frame, only because I never sensed that she was distracted by other clients and other jobs. It honestly seemed like she was available and responsive any time, and always looking for what would work for my search. I want to be clear that from a professional standpoint, I have some experience assessing brokers and as above I would recommend Jodi highly. But to end with reference to the even more important things and perhaps the most telling thing, in getting to know Jodi I am thankful to say I would also consider her to be now a friend. She's a smart, caring person and parent, a person of ethics and substance. I look forward to staying in touch with her even without buying or selling anything. And if I do want to buy more, I will definitely trust Jodi with my search and closing.

I can't recommend Jodi highly enough. She makes sure she understands your wants, priorities, price point, even personality, then gives you all the information you need to make an informed decision. And when it's gone time, she is on it! In our very first (virtual) meeting, Jodi stood out from all the other agents I interviewed. I provided all the Realtor® I reached out to with our estimated price range and potential neighborhoods in Berkeley and Oakland we were interested in, and Jodi came to our first meeting with an online report, customized for us, that showed recent sales in the neighborhoods and price range I'd sent her. She talked me through why various houses went for what they did, and the ways we could get more for our money depending on what our priorities were. She seemed very focused on making sure that we not only found a house we loved but made a sound investment as well. S…

I can't recommend Jodi highly enough. She makes sure she understands your wants, priorities, price point, even personality, then gives you all the information you need to make an informed decision. And when it's gone time, she is on it! In our very first (virtual) meeting, Jodi stood out from all the other agents I interviewed. I provided all the Realtor® I reached out to with our estimated price range and potential neighborhoods in Berkeley and Oakland we were interested in, and Jodi came to our first meeting with an online report, customized for us, that showed recent sales in the neighborhoods and price range I'd sent her. She talked me through why various houses went for what they did, and the ways we could get more for our money depending on what our priorities were. She seemed very focused on making sure that we not only found a house we loved but made a sound investment as well. She also seemed very familiar not only with different neighborhoods but even individual streets! The market had gotten wild just as we started to look, but Jodi was great at setting expectations for us and making us aware of the various challenges of getting a home here (teaser pricing, pre-emptive offers, no contingencies, fast closing, the "charm" factor, etc.). She also leveraged her network to get us updates (sometimes changing overnight!) about the expected sale price of homes we were interested in. Thanks to Jodi, we ended up not bidding on a couple of other houses that started out seeming reasonable but ended up going way out of our price range and had more costly disclosures than the home we ended up purchasing. Instead, we freed up our time and emotional energy to pursue other houses, and ended up getting the first house we bid on! We couldn't believe it given some of the horror stories we'd heard from friends and coworkers about bidding fatigue (people giving up, buying homes they didn't love, spending extra just to be done, or buying in a different city than they'd hoped). Jodi was super responsive in prepping our offer and helping us respond to the counter-offer from the seller (as was the mortgage broker she recommended to us). She also asked us great questions that ended up making us feel so much more confident in our decisions, like would you be sad to lose this house at X price point? We started working with her in January, had our offer accepted on March 1, and were moved into our new home the first week of April. And since closing, we have only continued to feel the love from Jodi. Thank you for everything, Jodi! It was a pleasure working with you and we'll be forever grateful that you helped us get our wonderful first home. We wish you all the best and hope many awesome clients come your way!

Jodi is an exceptional Realtor®, and frankly, one of the most seasoned and knowledgeable pros I have met. My experience working with her was phenomenal, and I wholeheartedly recommend you reach out to her if you are in the market. I contacted Jodi last year for help with buying a home in Oakland or Berkeley. This was roughly a 6-month search, due to some unusual complications on my end and the challenging nature of the market. Jodi was thoughtful and completely engaged throughout the search, using an initial interview to gauge what I was looking for and then throughout the process offering suggestions about neighborhoods and forwarding additional listings and that I hadn't considered, along with comparables and market research. If I had to pick my favorite thing about working with Jodi, it is her absolute honesty. She never hesitated to give me her unvarnished opinion about a property, a…

Jodi is an exceptional Realtor®, and frankly, one of the most seasoned and knowledgeable pros I have met. My experience working with her was phenomenal, and I wholeheartedly recommend you reach out to her if you are in the market. I contacted Jodi last year for help with buying a home in Oakland or Berkeley. This was roughly a 6-month search, due to some unusual complications on my end and the challenging nature of the market. Jodi was thoughtful and completely engaged throughout the search, using an initial interview to gauge what I was looking for and then throughout the process offering suggestions about neighborhoods and forwarding additional listings and that I hadn't considered, along with comparables and market research. If I had to pick my favorite thing about working with Jodi, it is her absolute honesty. She never hesitated to give me her unvarnished opinion about a property, at least twice encouraging me away from properties I was considering and would have regretted purchasing if I had made an offer. At times she reached out to her past East Bay clients to pull their hyperlocal perspective on neighborhoods and even specific streets. It was an absolute relief to know that I could always rely on her honesty and judgment, seasoned by her contacts and exceptionally deep understanding of the Berkeley and Oakland real estate scenes. Moreover, while Jodi was more than happy to arrange tours, I'm the type of person who is also constantly checking new listings and visiting open houses on my own. Every listing agent that asked who was representing me recognized Jodi's name, and many mentioned that they'd worked with her in the past. This was again a huge relief, and a testament to her professionalism, experience, and work ethic. I eventually entered a contract on a property Jodi suggested I see, with a ton of potential in a great neighborhood, and which should be an excellent long-term investment. Jodi was likewise a dream to work with during the offer. While I'm sure her time is at a premium, she was always fully available and efficient in driving the process to completion. We easily closed on time, and I honestly think I lucked out in a great neighborhood I would probably otherwise have been priced out of. Post-close Jodi has remained as available as ever, answering my random questions and leveraging her network to provide recommendations on contractors, electricians, and so on. If you have the opportunity to work with her as either a buyer or seller, please do so. She is one of the top Realtors® in the Berkeley and Oakland scene for a reason, and working with her is truly as good as it gets.

I found Jodi through a Yelp search and decided to contact her as she seemed to have such glowing, whole-hearted reviews. It was the first time selling property to me. A couple of single-family homes I inherited from my dad, one of which had been my childhood home. It soon became apparent that I was in great hands. I had been impressed with the many testimonials by those who had inherited property and entrusted the entire sale process to Jodi without even setting foot in the area. And she was indeed quickly able to take the wheel. Jodi is well-connected and, was, on short notice, able to pull in various people that could be trusted to do great work. What would have been overwhelming for me to deal with personally - a makeover that, among other things, included painting both the inside and outside of my childhood home and required scaffolding the entire exterior of the building - was made …

I found Jodi through a Yelp search and decided to contact her as she seemed to have such glowing, whole-hearted reviews. It was the first time selling property to me. A couple of single-family homes I inherited from my dad, one of which had been my childhood home. It soon became apparent that I was in great hands. I had been impressed with the many testimonials by those who had inherited property and entrusted the entire sale process to Jodi without even setting foot in the area. And she was indeed quickly able to take the wheel. Jodi is well-connected and, was, on short notice, able to pull in various people that could be trusted to do great work. What would have been overwhelming for me to deal with personally - a makeover that, among other things, included painting both the inside and outside of my childhood home and required scaffolding the entire exterior of the building - was made stress-free and simple by her complete handling of it. (Her partner, Eric, oversaw the on-site operations and was lovely to work with as well.) Though Jodi handled everything and exercised her qualification to make the decisions I needed her to, I never felt left out of the processor that the sale was no longer within my control. She kept me closely updated and I always felt consulted appropriately and very much given the space to take things in whatever direction I desired. The sales went very well. Both of the leading offers exceeded expectations. And there was no doubt in my mind that it was owing to Jodi's exceptional skill. Not only does Jodi clearly possess significant knowledge and acuity when it comes to the real estate market; she brings a wonderfully thoughtful touch to her work, operating, always, with presence and deliberation. In a process which, I learned, can be so rife with delicate matters - and involve a variety of parties with conflicting/competing interests her measured and listening approach helps guide all involved toward a mutually beneficial conclusion. She is a truly talented mediator, collaborator, liaison. By the closing of the sales, I realized that with the initial Yelp search, I had been choosing so much more than a real estate agent, rather, someone who would function, over the coming months, as a companion and confidante. What a stroke of good fortune that it turned out to be Jodi Nishimura!