As my neighbors and as a pervasive presence in the real estate market in Berkeley and Thousand Oaks, I turned to you for guidance and assurance in my decision. Your depth of knowledge and innate sense of market position and conditions were invaluable to someone who has never been through the process of selling a place they love and needs trusted resources to explain and smooth the way.
In you, Ira, I found a marketing wizard with a profound understanding of, and enlightened approach to, technology and how it can be best-used in the presentation of property.
On the opposite side, I found your thorough understanding of the morass of paperwork, city ordinances, and all things official, Carol, to be truly comforting, and the time you spent reviewing and expanding on documents and their purpose enormously helpful.
But most of all, I valued working with you both because you are consummate professionals who go out of your way to make sure the sometimes-onerous business of selling is as calm and straightforward as possible. And you do it all with realism and unfailing good cheer. You obviously enjoy doing what you do, and your enthusiasm shows in every interaction with clients and colleagues alike.
As I write this, on this last night before relinquishing ownership, you are in the house putting up a fire alarm to fulfill a last-minute request from the buyer. I cannot thank you enough for making my life as easy as it could have been made during a period of high stress and doubt. I made the right decision to sell and hired the right people to help me. ( more ... )
I wanted to take a moment to tell you how good it is to have you as my real estate agents with the hope you will share this with others. Having bought a house with your help a few years ago, and now, selling a house in the depth of the real estate recession, I have had a chance to work with you in many different settings and feel I can comment on a relatively full range of your roles.
When I decided we were going to move in 2009, in the heat of the economic fires of the time, you were truly empathetic to my concerns as I struggled to decide how to proceed. You provided information to compare renting versus selling. When I decided to sell, you again made the process so efficient and successful. You identified key things to do to make the house most appealing for the sale, again quantifying things to compare those costs against the possible gains. You arranged all those preparations that we agreed upon so that I only needed to write a few checks. You kept me posted on every step of the preparations of the house, the development of a wonderful website that made the house look spectacular. On the first week of open houses, in the midst of this economic crisis, we not only had several serious offers but they were above our asking price
Through all of this your good humor, range of knowledge of real estate in general and the Berkeley area in particular, makes me wonder why one would want to use anybody but you for buying or selling a house. (more ...)
Suddenly owners of two homes and responsible for two mortgages, we needed to sell our Albany home quickly and for the best price that the market would provide. Once again, Ira and Carol led us through the process with creativity and expertise. They produced a beautiful flyer with full color digital images of our property. They put up a gorgeous web page with photos, disclosure documents, and a glowing description of our property.
At first we were concerned by the low offering price that Ira and Carol suggested for putting our home up for sale. Ira explained how this price would generate a lot of interest, bring in multiple offers, and lead to a quick sale.
We were so happy when we received 5 offers after only one week on the market, with the best offer nearly 21% over our asking price! If we ever again need to buy or sell a house, we hope to be lucky enough to work with Ira and Carol Serkes, and we heartily recommend their services for your real estate needs.
With sincere gratitude to Ira and Carol. (more ... )
(Note: Michael and Mary referred us Sam and Kavita Ernst who bought a home from us too!)
We used Ira and Carol Serkes to buy a house in North Berkeley in June 2001 and more recently to sell it in May 2003. Simply put, they stand head and shoulders above every other real estate agent we have used in the past. We have complete confidence in their real estate skills for both buying and selling homes. (more...)
How
can we adequately express how pleasant it was to work with
you both? You were, from the first time we met, completely
reliable, intensely involved, and exceedingly competent
in each step involved in the sale of our Berkeley home! (more...)
Michael & Andrea Scharff
670 Santa Rosa, Thousand Oaks, Berkeley
Ira
and Carol were wonderful to work with. They answered the
phone when I called, or called me back the same day. They
called me with updates on what was happening. They actually
were present at the open houses that they had. Unbelievable! (more...)
Joan Trombley, Residence Club
5858 Ocean View, Rockridge, Oakland
At
all times we have found you to be professional, caring,
informative, and fun to work with! Additionally, my dad
is 83 years old, so you have been particularly helpful
to both us in helping my dad through the transition of
the sale of his home of 49 years. (more...)
Cindy Sparhawk & Edwin Wester
676 Santa Rosa, Thousand Oaks, Berkeley
The
following letter is in enthusiastic support for utilizing
your expert real estate services.
As you know, we interviewed three other potential real estate agents
who, though competent, did not demonstrate the level of expertise that
you did, nor did we feel the personal connection that we felt almost
immediately with you. (more..)
Emily and Kevin Ahlvin
829 Carmel, Albany
Before
meeting you, we had bought a sign For Sale By Owner, and
wanted to sell our house by ourselves. After attending
your seminar at Nolo Bookstore, Berkeley, we were convinced
that an established marketing agent like your team would
be the way to go (more...)
Samuel Ho and Mary Cheng
1620 Richmond Street, El Cerrito
We
needed a real estate agent who would be understanding
of our needs, knowledgeable of the area, market, and
effective in bringing the sale to closure in a short
period of time.
We turned to a family member who had retired from the real estate business,
for references. With no hesitation and with absolute confidence he recommended
the Serkes... the Berkeley experts... who will take care of all your
needs! Now we owe both the family friend and Ira and Carol Serkes team
a great deal of gratitude! (more...)
Mary Fonseca & Bill Gonsalves
2010 Prince Street, Berkeley
I
have had quite a few real estate dealings both as buyer
and seller, and I can confidently say that Ira and Carol
are knowledgeable and give sound advice. They respect the
fact that the client is the ultimate decision maker regarding
every aspect of the transaction.(more...)
Amjad Noorani, Chiropractor
2542 Hillegass, Berkeley
We
are writing this letter to inform any party interested
in buying or selling property to avail themselves of the
knowledge, experience, expertise and professionalism of
Ira Serkes and Carol Serkes. We have gone though the emotional
roller coaster of selling our residence of more than twenty-six
years and from our perspective we can certainly advise
anyone who is selling or buying property to utilized the
capabilities of Ira and Carol Serkes. (more...)
John & Sara St. Simon
697 Colusa Avenue, Thousand Oaks, Berkeley
Please
allow us to express our heartfelt THANK YOU for your
wonderful job obtaining an astounding offer toward the
sale of our home in Rockridge (Oakland CA) recently!
Working with you two presents a unique opportunity for home buyers/sellers.
One that can best be described through the old cliché of… “Two
for the price of one.”
The combination of Ira’s masterful, Internet/tech-savvy marketing
and Carol’s astute analysis and administration of the details of
the entire sales process has produced results, exceeding our highest
expectation. (more...)
Todd & Mary Ryder
5442 Broadway, Rockridge, Oakland
We
live about 50 miles away from the property and our daughter,
part owner of the property, lives in the building. Ira
listed the property and brought in multiple offers in
a couple of days after the realtors tour. We would recommend
Ira and Carol Serkes for the real estate service needs
with full confidence (more...)
Chok Chokkalingam
2300 Parker, Berkeley
It
is hard to find a real estate agent that actually returns
phone calls and takes care of their clients like you
do . Your responsiveness and professionalism will definitely
earned many referrals from me. If you ever need a reference,
have them give me a call (more...)
Glen Zamanian
2317 Carquinez, El Cerrito
Connect with us online!
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CA Bureau of Real Estate License Numbers – Ira Serkes 00936453 Carol Serkes 01143916
