Client Testimonials

Gene Marine / 1740 Rose Street, Berkeley
I can't believe that six months ago, I didn't know Barbara Hendrickson from Amelia Earhart. She was recommended by my attorney, for which I owe that lady a great deal. It took only half those months for Barbara to go from hired agent to professional associate and pleasant acquaintance to valued colleague in a joint venture and finally to a special niche as a newfound friend.

And along the way, of course, she sold my house-quickly, professionally, skillfully-guiding me through the tangled rain forest of esoteric requirements and dismally tedious details that seem inevitably to go with the process, and making it seem easy. All of which she did without ever condescending to my ignorance or showing the slightest impatience with my occasional incomprehension. A wry sense of humor, an impatience with stupidity and an astonishing attention to detail all made it that much more pleasant.

In my own field I am a professional, and I think respected as such. And as such, few things give me more pleasure than to watch at work a thoroughgoing professional in another field. That was much of the pleasure of watching Barbara at the intricate and often tedious job of selling my house. She is a pro all the way-and a pro is just want I wanted, and what I would think any seller would want.

Lanny - Out of State Seller / 1633 Portland Avenue, Berkeley
Barbara did an outstanding job.

I selected Barbara to represent us as the listing agent on a house that we had owned for just over a year in Berkeley. I was quite concerned that the market would not treat us kindly and that we might have to hold it for an extended period. We did not live in California which made understanding the local market a challenge.

Barbara accessed my needs and selling criteria and proposed a sales plan to accomplish the desired results. The plan included upgrading some items in the home, painting, yard work, cleaning, staging, and open houses under an aggressive time schedule. She coordinated the entire project, including the bids. On each item, including the sales price, she would call with options and I would ask her for her professional recommendation which I went with 90+ percent of the time.

Barbara has a real desire for fairness. There was never any doubt in my mind that she represented our interest. She is an extremely hard worker and does exactly what is needed when is comes to getting things done.

The end result was that we sold the home rapidly with multiple offers, at a fair price in a tough market and the buyers got a great, upgraded, sparkling home.

Nathan Friedkin / 1415 Keoncrest Drive, Berkeley
In the wake of the recent sale of our 3 bedroom family home in North Berkeley, I'd like to share my experience of working with our realtor Barbara Hendrickson. This was the first time that my wife and I attempted to sell a home. Despite our reservations concerning the state of the housing market that we were entering into, we scheduled an initial meeting with Barbara after reviewing her impressive website, justsellmyhouse.com.

Once Barbara starting talking with us, it didn't take long before we were won over by her candor, positive energy and direct approach. We emerged from that first conversation with a clear understanding of what we would be facing and feeling like we were in capable hands and that we would be guided through a process fraught with many variables by an expert in her field who has achieved a remarkable track record of success and longevity and most importantly, who wasn't afraid to tell us what we needed to hear rather than what we wanted to hear.

Throughout the different stages of selling our home, Barbara was always patient and extremely responsive to our many questions. In the middle of a very turbulent real estate market, we sold our home quickly and were delighted with the purchase price.

Simply put - there is no substitute for the life experience that Barbara brings to her realtor-client relationship. Smart and self-assured, she possesses the kind of real confidence that can only come from a career spent closing hundreds of home sales.

I can't recommend Barbara enough as a realtor who has truly seen it all, knows how to convert her experience into efficiency and will keep her (and your) eyes firmly focused on the prize.

Rick Spielman and Valerie Otani / 406 61st Street, Rockridge
"Barbara Hendrickson is a wonderful realtor and I am writing to sing her praises. In choosing someone to steer you through such an important and complicated transaction as selling one's home, one should ideally rely upon a person of high ethical standards, deep real estate experience, "street smarts", fierce work ethic, flexibility, and overall good judgment. It also helps - no, it is essential - that one genuinely likes one's realtor, for there are lows as well as highs in this (as in any) relation, and it is good to have a core of goodwill and friendship at the center of it all. All of these conditions are especially important when one sells one's home from a distance - as we did, selling our home in North Oakland while living in Portland, Oregon.

Barbara deserves the score "superlative" in all of these categories. She is patient when she needs to be - I believe it was at least four years between the time we first made contact with Barbara and when we finally decided to put our house on the market; fast and efficient when the time comes - namely, closing the deal; extremely competent; experienced with and knowledgeable about the neighborhood of our home; and, above all, easy to trust and a pleasure to work with. When she kicked into high gear and was in frequent contact with us, sometimes several times a day, she was no less pleasant than when there was little pressure and no time constraints. She got things done! But It was always in the most professional and friendly manner.

One final point -- and this regards her abilities as a "pro". Barbara is expert in the crucial domain of setting the price. It is an extremely important factor in successful real estate transactions, for the seller obviously wants a "good price", but simultaneously does not want the property to languish on the market, making it increasingly difficult to sell. Barbara is truly skilled in this area, and probably explains why she is such a successful realtor. In our case, we are happy with the sale price of our home, and yet Barbara managed to get it within just three weeks of its listing - in this market! (And we know that the buyers are pleased, as well.) I am glad we listened to Barbara's advice. And I am sure we listened because we had come to appreciate deeply her friendship and professionalism.
Thank you, Barbara!

Bernhard Schmidt and Karen Schwelm / 1964 Hopkins Street, Berkeley
"When we needed to sell our first house, we thought we needed to interview at least three realtors, and we had already seen two that we liked. We liked the friendly Red Oak logo that we saw everywhere in our neighborhood, and so we explored their website and clicked on the list of agents.

Barbara Hendrickson's name linked to her own web site "justsellmyhouse.com". What a joy! A bright, friendly site that spoke for itself with the right amount of very useful information without the need of any unnecessary hype! Hmm, we thought, that could at least be fun to explore further. I send her an e-mail, and received an answer within 15 minutes, apologizing that she is in a meeting and didn't answer earlier! OK, I thought, she is not beating around the bush, is she? So we met a few days later, and Barbara quietly walked around the house with a big smile on her face.

It became quickly apparent that she understood our situation completely: why we had bought this house, what we liked about it, why we were selling it, and to whom the house might appeal to. Her enthusiasm was infectious from the beginning on, and over time we learnt to deeply appreciate the thoroughness of her preparation instructions, her wide-reaching network of inspectors, contractors, gardeners, painters, stagers, and colleagues, and lastly her skill in negotiations that quite frankly left us in awe!

It was beautiful to watch the wheels of experience and care work together in such focused unison. And most of all: the entire process was fun from beginning to end. Barbara gently nudged us along when we were getting off-track, but knew to give us room when we needed it, and was always cheerful.

She turned a dreaded, stress- filled endeavor into a fun, not-to-be-missed, and utterly rewarding experience. We feel thoroughly privileged to be her clients."

Steve Bundy/Claremont Court, Berkeley
More than 25 years ago, Barbara helped my former wife and I acquire our first house in Berkeley. Last year she helped us sell that house in connection with our divorce and helped me buy a house, as well.

Barbara is smart, hardworking, patient, and well prepared. The house she helped us buy in 1984 was a great success. Barbara's work in helping us sell it in 2009, in a down market, was even more impressive. Barbara worked very closely with use in getting the house ready for sale. She had multiple expert resources available to perform every needed element of repair, replacement, painting, cleaning and staging. All did an outstanding job at reasonable prices. By the time we were done, the house was essentially in flawless condition. She gave us canny pricing advice that reflected a lot of input from fellow realtors. As a consequence of her strategy, we received multiple offers about 7% above asking price within a week after we put the house on the market. Barbara then successfully negotiated an additional premium from the high bidder. I believe that the result, in terms of price and ease of transaction was the best possible in that market.

Barbara as also terrific in helping me find a house. My own sense of my requirements and budget was quite loose at the start. Barbara patiently took me to a lot of houses that weren't right but allowed me to develop a much more sophisticated sense of what I wanted and what I was willing to pay. After much searching, we found a house in a great neighborhood in Rockridge-Temescal that had the right number of rooms in the right configuration and had been languishing on the market. Barbara was very helpful in figuring out the issues that had prevented the house from selling. She then helped me devise a bidding strategy that ended up getting the house for some $40,000 below the already reduce asking price with no competing bids. About three months ago I ran into the realtor who has been on the other side of the transaction - a very experienced and respected figure in Oakland realty. He remembered the deal ruefully, describing the transaction as "the last true bargain in Rockridge".

So that is Barbara. Knowledgeable, connected, and hard working with great bargaining skills. If you are selling, she will maximize the price. If you are buying, she'll make you a smarter shopper and a better bargainer. I recommend her highly.

Giovanna Brennan/Blake Street - October 2009
Almost a year ago, I was reluctantly preparing to take on the duty of executor for our best friend's estate--mainly his house --when a couple of native Berkeleyan friends recommended I call Barbara Hendrickson. She is pro-active and persistent, they said, but also sensitive and kind.

I soon had my own words to describe Barbara's style: effective, reliable, thorough and fun! Minutes after my first call, Barbara called back and we went for a first look at the property, an old Victorian beauty with good bones that had missed years of maintenance and TLC. Barbara pointed out both the encouraging and the challenging items and immediately took charge. She made herself a spare key and arranged for a team of experienced realtors to come take a look and offer comments and recommendations.

Barbara then prepared a detailed report, outlining the various marketing options and related strategies and the order in which we might approach them. As the executor, I wanted to work closely with both the beneficiary and the attorney for the estate, so as to eventually reach a consensus decision. Barbara gracefully and appropriately kept all three of us informed.

Although Barbara had agreed to supervise basic restoration such as sanding, painting, repair and more, and had actually collected estimates for such work, we eventually decided to first go on the market strictly as is. Barbara hired the cleaners, gardeners, window washers, and took care of the repair work required by law. She marketed the house with honesty as regarded the many warts, but also with enthusiasm for its charm and value.

We had 20 plus offers, plenty of opportunity to choose the best fit for our situation: an all-cash, no contingencies offer that closed in 3 business days. Given the current market, the difficulties to secure loans and the particularly needy state of the property, we all felt we got a very good deal.

Throughout the process, Barbara was patient in answering my many questions; she also was graceful in nudging me back to task through the frustrating delays. I feel lucky to have enjoyed Barbara's ability to produce solid results coupled with her very personal approach to business.

You guessed it, I recommend Barbara without reservations.

Dorene/Liberty Street - October 2009
I just sold the house that I grew up in but had not lived in for many years. Being a first-time seller in a crazy market, Barbara was like my own personal Sherpa-guide through the process. She had improvement suggestions and the crew to do it. Staging, marketing, contacts - she had it all. She guided me through all the paperwork and answered all my calls and e-mails. Reassuring me the whole way. My mantra was "Don't panic, Barbara's on it". The house sold for more than the asking price and in only one day - amazing!!!

Gary Ginstling
Thank you so much for helping us in the sale of our home in Oakland. We couldn't have chosen a more difficult time to put our home on the market; yet throughout the process your guidance, expertise and experience helped us make the right choices and ultimately enabled us to close on our home during a very difficult economic climate. Your years of experience in the Bay Area real estate market made a significant difference and allowed us to make a number of strategic decisions that certainly paid off for us. If we had more houses to sell we would certainly use Barbara!

Connson and Jason Locke
Barbara Hendrickson represented us when we bought our first house, and we were so pleased that we hired her to sell the house as well. As first-time buyers, we benefited from Barbara's extensive knowledge of the local market. Her expertise landed us the first home that we bid for - while our friends were repeatedly bidding on homes and losing out to other buyers.
As first-time sellers, we were even more grateful for Barbara's experience, integrity, and professionalism. Despite an increasingly soft housing market, we sold our house after only two weeks, while other houses on our street remained unsold for months. Barbara's judgment was excellent regarding which improvements and repairs needed to be made and which should simply be disclosed. And she saved us money with her list of contacts that provided quality work at a reasonable price. Barbara went beyond the call of duty. She agonized with us over paint colors, attended meetings with the landscaper, and supervised the preparation of the house after we left town. We highly recommend Barbara. Particularly in the extremely challenging Bay Area housing market, you need the help of a professional of her experience and calibre!

Raul and Mia Posada
We had such a good experience working with Barbara that when it was time to move again, we didn't have to think about it, we just called Barbara. Again, she came through for us. Since we were moving out of the state, she handled much of the preparations for getting our house ready to put on the market. She went above and beyond, handling the painting, remodeling, staging and landscaping. We knew we could trust Barbara's judgment, which helped ease the stress of selling a house from a long distance. Once on the market, we could not have been happier with the results: 5 offers after one week of marketing. After some skillful negotiations on Barbara's part we received well over our asking price with an offer that closed two weeks later.

Jim and Michaelle Van Meter
We are very pleased with Barbara Hendrickson and the great job she did selling our house in Kensington. She not only negotiated a great price for us, but made the transaction painless....she managed the entire transaction from pre-listing to close while we were living in Colorado. Moreover, the sale had some additional complexity as it was part of a 1031 tax-deferred exchange, and was an old house with some need of repairs. A lot could have gone wrong, but did not, since Barbara was on top of all the details.

We also found her to be very responsive, and she always followed up and provided clear explanations. And she was fun to deal with!!

If we were ever to do a property transaction in her area, or if my friends were to do so, we would contact Barbara first. We are thrilled with the results and the process.

Kathy
I am so happy in my new home! It has been such a wonderful and positive experience to work with you, and Cindy too, on this project. The idea of selling my special Berkeley home where I have lived for the past 30 years, and buying a smaller replacement property that I would like as well and feel just as comfortable in seemed almost impossible to me when I first called you last summer, but you provided the support and professional expertise every step of the way. Getting my house ready to sell with all the help you provided actually turned out to be a fun project and not the chore I was dreading. It was a quick and profitable sale.

I was very pleased to find out that you were just as good at buying houses as you are at selling them. You were so patient showing me house after house and encouraging me to keep looking when I thought I would never find that special new place. I'm sure I would not be in this wonderful new home with its beautiful garden today without your professional magic. I am very grateful and I want you to know how much I appreciate all you have done. Thank you!

Frederick Hertz
I write to express my enthusiastic endorsement of Barbara Hendrickson as a real estate agent in the Oakland Berkeley area... As any of her clients can tell you, having Barbara as your agent is a tremendous asset. As a real estate attorney ... I can strongly endorse Barbara as an excellent agent. Barbara has her client's interest in mind at all times, she is willing to work diligently to meet her client's needs, and she knows how to represent her clients in the challenging Bay Area property markets. Her focus on her client's needs and her knowledge of the local area makes for a wonderful combination of skills and concerns. I would be happy to talk with anyone interested in hiring Barbara as their agent, either as a seller or a buyer.

Caroline & Raja
We began seriously looking for a house last winter. Several months of roller-coaster emotions later, we found a wonderful house that Barbara showed to us on a grey, rainy morning ...she made sure that ours became the official back-up offer when the second buyer backed out, and then several weeks later, when we truly got lucky--the accepted offer bailed at the very last minute and our offer finally was accepted--she made sure that we got the house for less than our original offer.
Luck and Barbara--that's all you need to buy a house...

Alex
I contacted Barbara Hendrickson when I was first looking for a house and she was very helpful throughout the process. She helped me to look objectively at the market and do some comparison shopping to know what I was getting. She has a great feel for the east bay housing market and knows the right questions to ask.

Raul
My wife and I were looking to buy our first home in the East Bay but we didn't want to go it alone... Barbara's name came up.
We were told that in addition to being very experienced she was a tough, no-nonsense business person. Barbara drove us all over the East Bay to view what seemed like dozens of open house showings in our price range. She stayed patient with us and was full of suggestions for selecting the right home. She is so well-connected that we never had to do any searching on our own for inspectors, electricians, plumbers, contractors, etc.. As first time buyers, Barbara saved us from making costly mistakes.

Mikee
My husband and I began looking for a house in San Francisco. After prodding from some friends, we contacted Barbara just to see what the East Bay had to offer. Barbara's expertise and familiarity with the area helped us find a great house with everything we needed -- easy commute to the City, great school for our kids, friendly neighborhood. After selling us on the area, she tirelessly searched out our house (and we are quite picky!). Through it all, Barbara was remarkably patient with our first-time buyer jitters -- carefully taking us through each step, always having just the right questions and answers for us. I look forward to working with Barbara again.

Barbara Hendrickson