Testimonials

Very thankful that Samia was referred to me by a family friend! To say it's been a tough market for buyers lately up and down the SF peninsula would be an understatement. Fortunately, Samia was able to help me at every step along the way on the hunt for my first home. During our first call, she told me how she liked to be thorough with everything she did. She sure wasn't joking! Whether it's a feature of the 2nd bathroom of the 7th house you visited 3 weekends ago, the traffic flow on any given street at any time of day, or a quick note about pipes that need to be replaced that was buried on page 104 of 289 in a disclosure packet, she always knows the details. Samia constantly made things easier for me throughout the entire house-searching, offer-making, and escrow-closing process. Can't make the window for an open house? She'll get you in another time. Lengthy, confusing disclosures? Sh…

Very thankful that Samia was referred to me by a family friend! To say it's been a tough market for buyers lately up and down the SF peninsula would be an understatement. Fortunately, Samia was able to help me at every step along the way on the hunt for my first home. During our first call, she told me how she liked to be thorough with everything she did. She sure wasn't joking! Whether it's a feature of the 2nd bathroom of the 7th house you visited 3 weekends ago, the traffic flow on any given street at any time of day, or a quick note about pipes that need to be replaced that was buried on page 104 of 289 in a disclosure packet, she always knows the details. Samia constantly made things easier for me throughout the entire house-searching, offer-making, and escrow-closing process. Can't make the window for an open house? She'll get you in another time. Lengthy, confusing disclosures? She'll walk you through them. Your insurance company can't offer you coverage because the house has a wooden roof. She'll have an alternative before you can even ask why the first company couldn't insure you! Run into a last-minute snafu during escrow? She'll get to the bottom of it! Although we didn't succeed with our first offer on a house (or the second, or third, for that matter. As mentioned above, tough market!), going through the process instilled a lot of confidence in me that Samia would get us to the finish line and do it the right way. She was never pushy about going outside of budget to win a bidding war and was always available to strategize on what to do next. She's extremely responsive, timely, and resourceful and I can't imagine how this whole process would have gone without her expertise. When we finally crossed the finish line on a fantastic house, Samia did not disappear. I recruited a few friends to help with some Uhaul loading and unloading and she brought us pizza! I mentioned wanting to replace a patch of grass with artificial turf and she referred me to a landscaper within literally 10 minutes. She followed up a few days after closing to make sure I was taking advantage of the benefits of my home warranty and getting my locks rekeyed. As competitive and chaotic as today's housing market can be, it's easy to become stressed and overwhelmed by the process. Seeing the way she operates and how she alleviates that stress for her clients, it's no wonder Samia has been in the business for so long. I very strongly recommend working with her!

My wife and I engaged Samia to help us find a new home on the SF peninsula in early 2022. This was during the height of the recent housing craze when houses were routinely going for hundreds of thousands of dollars above asking. We had a deadline and we were worried it would take months and months to find something, so we knew we needed a real expert. We're so happy to have worked with Samia. It was only a few weeks before we had an offer accepted on a house that met all of our requirements (location, square footage, beds, baths) at a good price. Samia even managed to get us a substantial credit against closing costs, which felt like a huge win in such a crazy market. One big highlight was Samia's breadth of knowledge. She always seemed to know the answer to every question: how each aspect of the real estate industry worked, how to strategize about offer amounts, and what the seller was …

My wife and I engaged Samia to help us find a new home on the SF peninsula in early 2022. This was during the height of the recent housing craze when houses were routinely going for hundreds of thousands of dollars above asking. We had a deadline and we were worried it would take months and months to find something, so we knew we needed a real expert. We're so happy to have worked with Samia. It was only a few weeks before we had an offer accepted on a house that met all of our requirements (location, square footage, beds, baths) at a good price. Samia even managed to get us a substantial credit against closing costs, which felt like a huge win in such a crazy market. One big highlight was Samia's breadth of knowledge. She always seemed to know the answer to every question: how each aspect of the real estate industry worked, how to strategize about offer amounts, and what the seller was likely to be thinking in each situation. She was also incredibly communicative and empathetic: not just answering us quickly, but often anticipating our concerns and needs. We would absolutely recommend Samia to others, and we plan on working with her again the next time we're looking. Five stars!

Samia was terrific! We began the thought process of moving from Boston back to the SF Bay area about a year ago. We love the Bay Area for many reasons and had hoped to get back someday. We had been in Boston for over 13 years, and it was not obvious to us that we could afford a house if we moved back. Moving back to California appeared to be, and turned out to be, one of the most complex things that either myself or my wife Teri, had ever done. We were very fortunate to meet Samia, and her help in dealing with the complexity was irreplaceable. We love her, and cannot endorse her more strongly. Here's an itemized list of specific things that Samia did for us: 1. 3 House Hunting Trips - We did not even know whether we could accept the job offer to move us to California. Even being from Boston, which is in the top 5 highest priced real estate markets in the US, we were concerned that we had…

Samia was terrific! We began the thought process of moving from Boston back to the SF Bay area about a year ago. We love the Bay Area for many reasons and had hoped to get back someday. We had been in Boston for over 13 years, and it was not obvious to us that we could afford a house if we moved back. Moving back to California appeared to be, and turned out to be, one of the most complex things that either myself or my wife Teri, had ever done. We were very fortunate to meet Samia, and her help in dealing with the complexity was irreplaceable. We love her, and cannot endorse her more strongly. Here's an itemized list of specific things that Samia did for us: 1. 3 House Hunting Trips - We did not even know whether we could accept the job offer to move us to California. Even being from Boston, which is in the top 5 highest priced real estate markets in the US, we were concerned that we had been priced out of living on the peninsula. On these 3 trips, Samia showed us about 30 houses. Almost every one of them sold in less than a week, and we all knew that that would be the case. The point was to identify the real price of houses out here since all the good ones are highly overbid. 2. Samia set us up with Lillian Montalto, our real estate agent in Massachusetts. Our house in Newton, MA, was the first house that I ever owned, and I had all sorts of questions on how to sell our house. Lillian and Samia are good friends and have known each other for a long time. Like Samia, Lillian is a real professional and we greatly appreciated her guidance through the process. She immediately chose a date to list the house, which set the schedule for getting the house ready. The project of decluttering, and fixing up the house went very well, as we worked hard, and employed a contractor that Lillian introduced to us, who did a great job painting inside and outside, and fixing lots of things, like doors that would not close properly. We first met Lillian in April, the house went up for sale on June 1st, and we sold it in 6 days for $70,000 above the Zillow estimated price. 3. Samia connected us with Andy Block, of OPES Advisors, who got us through the finance process quickly so that we could bid on houses. 4. Because of the complexity of buying a house in the SF Bay area, we chose to get a rental property on a 3-month lease. We needed to get a property in the school district that we intended to have our kids in, and a property that would allow us to have our dog and cat with us. Samia found Park Place in San Mateo for us. It turned out to be a very nice apartment, with a great pool. It worked out perfectly for us. 5. Samia knows San Mateo very well. She first met Marilyn, the lady from whom we purchased our house, a year, or so before we purchased it. She is a nice lady who lived in the house for over 40 years. She did not have major work on the house to drive a higher price. She valued highly the quick and hassle-free process of selling her house and was happy to get a price that funded nicely her move to a retirement community. Samia understood her very well and knew the price that she would be happy with. Samia also encouraged Teri to write a letter to Marilyn, where Teri did a great job of stating what a nice house it is, and how it could host the lifestyle that we were looking for. Before meeting Samia, and having scared ourselves by looking at too many listings on Zillow.com, we had the belief that a house in the Bay Area would be twice the price of our house in Newton, MA, and that it would be 2/3 the quality. The house-hunting trips were critical to educating us on what we could get. The early conversations with Andy Block were critical in helping us to understand what we could afford. We came to understand our budget would be from 1.5 to 1.9 million dollars, and that we could afford this. We were very fortunate in that we got our house at the low end of our budget at 1.5 million dollars. This was the first and only house that we bid on. We got it all done in the 3-month window set by our lease at Park Place in San Mateo. Although our new house is a little smaller than our house in Massachusetts, in many ways, it fits us better, and there is no doubt in our mind that we have upgraded. Taking on such a complex project requires you to find some real professionals to guide and advise you. We found one in Samia, and she was wonderful. We love her and are very grateful for what she enabled us to do.