Why Work With Karen Starr and Brenda Schaefer?

Here's what our satisfied customers are saying about us:

Anastasia Levitansky

My wife and I were looking for a home in the East Bay, and being that this was our first home purchase in the Bay Area, we knew we needed an experienced Realtor who could help us navigate such a competitive and fast-moving market. We initially started by going to open houses, meeting different Realtors, and exploring our options. That’s when we met Anastasia Levitansky at an open house, and we instantly connected. Once Anastasia became our Realtor, she immediately dove in—helping us understand the market, explore different neighborhoods and opportunities, and navigate the entire process. She helped us get outside of our comfort zone and see possibilities we probably wouldn’t have considered on our own. Anastasia is intelligent, detail-oriented, extremely communicative, patient, and diligent. Most importantly, you can tell she is genuinely passionate about helping her clients find the right home, not just any home. Throughout the process, we always felt like she had our best interests in mind and was there to guide us every step of the way. For anyone looking for a Realtor in the Bay Area, we would highly recommend Anastasia Levitansky. We are incredibly grateful for everything she did to help us find our home.

James P

18 August 2026, 04:35 AM

Jack Burley

Jack did a great job representing us throughout our lengthy Berkeley home search and all the way through this purchase. He is hard working, knowledgeable, responsive, a great communicator, and an all-around nice guy. He understands the local market and the quirky in's and out's of the housing stock here. We're lucky we worked with him.

17 August 2026, 23:01 PM

Regina Jacobs

Regina was phenomenal! After we first contacted her, she immediately got back to us and already had a plan. She was always available via phone, text, email, came to see us multiple times in person (even though we are way out of the area of clients she normally represents), etc. And she always did this in an appropriately timely manner. Regina's market knowledge was critical in purchasing our home - she had clearly done her research, so much so that her original offer recommendation was accepted, even though the offer was below the original asking price, was countered, and there were other offers. We got the home for exactly what we wanted and what she recommended. We had a lot of financial constraints that she patiently helped guide us through to make the offer stick. Regina's professionalism is unmatched. When we started casually looking for a new home, we met many other agents in the process. None of them could match what Regina offered us on a personal level. She was timely in her responses, respected our financial limits and what we wanted in a new home, and met us our level for what our family needed. What stands out about Regina is how our family felt that she always had our family's best interest at heart. It felt as though she was invested in the process as though it was her and her own family buying this home. What also stands out was how willing she was to help us find the right mortgage people for us and how willing she was and still is to refer out what we want to do with our new home after we closed. She has helped us map out a plan to make upgrades, giving us realistic timelines financially. Even though this is our dream home and we plan on living here probably the rest of our lives, if we ever decided to buy again we would only use Regina. Hopefully, she won't retire before our three children buy their homes because we certainly want her to represnt them! Thank You, Chris, Rebekka, Christopher Jr., Madison & Joshua Williams

Chris Williams

16 August 2026, 23:41 PM

Teresa Lee

Teresa was my realtor for my first home purchase. She worked with me for over 5 months to navigate the complexities of first-time homebuying while the market was going through some big swings. We toured a lot of places together during this time until I found the perfect one. I also appreciate her for recommending an excellent loan advisor and making the process seamless. I learned a lot from her and won’t forget that she sat through hours of disclosures with me to make sure the house I bought was the right fit. I don’t expect many realtors to help their clients with the commitment and can do attitude that Teresa has. She was great at setting expectations for buying in the East Bay and crafting a winning strategy. I am very grateful that Teresa was on my team.

Victoria N.

14 August 2026, 16:13 PM

Adrienne Krumins

Very responsive, energetic, and communicative, understood the market and how to get things done fast

13 August 2026, 17:29 PM

Patrick MacCartee

Like many people, I had developed a fatigue and mistrust with agents who tell you what you want to hear, but put in the base minimum effort and treat you like a number on a ledger. Patrick stood out immediately as someone refreshingly different. He sold my house in Oakland, and there was no hesitation in working with him a second time to buy a place in SF a year later. He knows the area, the community, the market like the back of his hand. He genuinely loves people, and will be invested in you and your family finding the best possible future home that fits your unique needs. He has a diverse background with a strong understanding of business, marketing, and finance. Above all, he's real, he's honest. He will break things down in ways that everyone can understand, he listens and is willing to take on any challenge in front of him. To top it all off, he's got a joyful personality with a great sense of humor, making the entire journey fun.

Chris

13 August 2026, 16:30 PM

Unhei Kang

Unhei was very knowledgeable about the local market and gave great advice to this first time homebuyer

Chris Metinko

12 August 2026, 00:49 AM

Jack Burley

This realtor established a concise plan that resulted in the house being optimally prepared for the sale. First, they identified what elements would be necessary to revise, in order to maximize the sales price. Next, they brought in skilled specialists to perform the necessary rehab work. Their stager was excellent and captured the personality of the house. Finally, they determined an ideal listing price, obtaining multiple bids and a final sales price that was 11% over the listing price. We could not have had a better outcome and highly recommend this realtor for a superior sales experience.

11 August 2026, 23:57 PM

Annie Walrand

Annie was dedicated to helping me sell my house. She made me aware of the solvable faults in my house and how to correct them for the best sales result. She arranged for a wonderful stager and a contractor to present the house in the best light. She arranged for inspections and kept me unto date on all the paper work etc Annie helped us buy the house in 2005 and I could not have asked for a better person to help me sell the house in 2026.

Elizabeth C. Gordon

8 August 2026, 17:54 PM

Leonore Deaton

Leonore really helped us figure out the particularities of Oakland market and helped us navigate the home buying process as a first time home buyer. We had a quick process but she made herself very available from beginning to end! She is a pleasure to work with and I would highly recommend her!

Alex

7 August 2026, 23:40 PM

Marianne Scott

We worked with Marianne and Lindsay about a year ago when we moved to California and started our search for a single-family home. Buying a home in the Bay Area can be daunting, but they supported us from start to finish. As a mother-daughter team, they offered a great combination of market knowledge, consistent communication, and realistic feedback on our expectations. We actually interviewed with three different agents before deciding to work with them based on their experience. Being new to the area, it was also super helpful that they introduced us to a great general contractor whom we have been working closely with for the past several months.

6 August 2026, 21:52 PM

Patrick MacCartee

Patrick used every bit of knowledge and skill to make sure our offer was the most attractive and assure we would get the house of our dreams. He was able to navigate our sometimes opposing needs in a professional manner and I would absolutely recommend him.

Randall E. Brewer, Trustee

5 August 2026, 21:50 PM

Shelly Flynn

Shelly is in a class of her own. She works tirelessly. Shelly brought our offer to the seller by 11pm on the same day we were told there was a midnight deadline. She chased every email, phone call, and left no stone unturned. She does all this with good humor and tons of personality. Shelly goes above and beyond what you believe someone will do for their job. Clearly, there is much care, concern and well meaning that goes into all her consideration.

Mathew Julian Lamb, Rachel Anne Holloway

5 August 2026, 14:10 PM

Jennifer Bauer

We had a great experience selling our house with Jennifer. Our situation required more logistics than usual because we were selling our house while living abroad, and were unable to be there in person. Jennifer is a great communicator and managed everything about the sale with professionalism and patience. We couldn't have done it without her.

4 August 2026, 18:17 PM

Laura Arechiga

Laura has an incredible grasp on the Berkeley Market. She also is incredibly knowledgeable when it comes to identifying issues in disclosures as well as how to mitigate them. Even after closing Laura offers her time to assist with connecting us with reputable people in her network for any of our housing needs. I cannot recommend Laura enough!

4 August 2026, 15:22 PM

Anja Plowright

Strong recommendation for Anja Plowright and team. From initial introductory call to handover of keys, Anja, Emma and Rena delivered seasoned professionalism, deep market knowledge and friendly rapport. As a team, they are able to be very responsive whether by text, email, phone or seeing a listing in person. In a very competitive and sometimes complex East Bay market, our effort was surprisingly smooth and quick, many thanks to Anja, Emma and Rena.

3 August 2026, 22:57 PM

Sheila Sabine

July 19, 2026 To Sheila Sabine: We want to express our gratitude for all your hard work and attentiveness in the sales of our duplex in Oakland. The multitude of hours (!) you have expended, your knowledge and professionalism, your trustworthy advice and your accessibility at all hours, resulted in a very favorable sale of our property. In addition, we feel we have gained a new friend. Many thanks to you (here’s hoping you get SOME personal time back!),

Stephanie Rhoads-Bickham

1 August 2026, 20:22 PM

Jennifer Jones

Choosing Jennifer as our agent was a key move in our home buying process that proved to be one of our best decisions. Her command of professional communications and project management adeptly lead us through the entire process. Buying a home proved to be one of the most stressful projects in my life. Not only was Jennifer there to advise and consult, but always available to talk us off a cliff. Her knowledge of the real estate market and its customs, process, timelines, and procedures gave us the confidence and support we needed to make it over the finish line and beyond. Her advice was always spot on and correct. Thank you Jennifer for being such a pro!

Jeric Wilhelmsen

30 July 2026, 17:53 PM

Brenda Schaefer

Brenda was an incredible guide through the housing market. As a first-time home buyer, she made sure every step was clear and introduced me to all the different minds involved in the process. During my home-buying journey, she provided me with many personalized options that each would have been great for me, and my offer was finally accepted on one that I would have normally never have imagined obtaining. She wrote offers quickly, communicated perfectly, was able to sell "me" as a buyer to the sellers, and was an extra set of eyes on tasks that were my own responsibility. I had spoken to some real estate agents in the past who were "meh", but I would recommend Brenda to absolutely anyone!

FY

29 July 2026, 23:57 PM

Patrick MacCartee

Patrick is a master negotiator, and I'm still not entirely sure how he pulled our purchase off. He read the other side better than they read themselves — figured out what actually mattered to them, what didn't, and shaped our offer so it won without us overpaying for the privilege. Then came the detail work: he caught things buried in the disclosures I would have skimmed right past, tracked every deadline, and never once made me chase him for an answer. "Great negotiator" is the easy compliment. What really got us the house was how completely prepared he was before he ever picked up the phone.

28 July 2026, 17:01 PM