Success Stories

Why Clients Love Working With Us!

We are incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to help so many clients buy and sell in Lamorinda and the surrounding Bay Area


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Case Study: The Original to Modern Transformation

The challenge: Our clients wanted to sell the home they had owned for many years, but it needed updating to get it to be move-in ready.

How we helped: We helped the sellers apply for Compass Concierge to cover all upfront updating costs. We then created a detailed plan and schedule to update the home and complete needed work to maximize the sellers' investment. Our team did a full overhaul to transform the home to be move-in ready for new buyers. This included landscaping and new fencing, removing old wallpaper and painting, updating the kitchen with new counter-tops, hardware and appliances, refinishing hardwood floors, new lighting throughout the home, new sewer line, pool repairs, staging and so much more!

The Results: The home showed beautifully and we had over 100 people at the open house. We sold the home for 40% and $605,000 over asking with multiple competitive offers! It is one of only a few homes that have sold at $1000+/sqft in Moraga the whole year.

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Case Study: The New Community

The Challenge: SummerHill Homes, a large builder in California, approached us to help promote their luxury new home community in Moraga. The community wasn’t appealing to local families and Lamorinda buyers as they had hoped and the builder brought us on as the local experts to help. 

How we Helped: We worked closely with the SummerHill Homes team to create a full strategic plan using our local expertise to make the community attractive to Lamorinda buyers. We helped design the marketing and messaging for the community, staged the homes to appeal to local buyer trends, took extensive professional photos, videos and drone shots, promoted extensively through our marketing channels, created fun and engaging events to bring new buyers, and kept the Lamorinda community updated on progress. 

The Results: The momentum we generated completely sold out the community. We created a sense of excitement with local buyers and we often hear how much local clients love living in this wonderful new community.

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Case Study: The Inherited Home

The challenge: Our client inherited a family home with many years of personal belongings and was feeling overwhelmed. 

How we helped: We helped create a plan to sell and clear all of the items with estate sales, local sales, donations and haulers. We agreed on a budget and a recommended home prep plan and timeline and got to work scheduling our vendors. We had our full team on the job with landscapers, tree trimmers, painter, handymen, electricians, cleaners, pool repair-men, designers, stagers, inspectors and more. The home looked unrecognizable and incredibly fresh and inviting when we went to market.

The Results: We received multiple offers and the seller happily accepted a no-contingency offer well above asking.

Darcy

We are writing to express our appreciation for the excellent service we received from one of your brokers, Elena Hood. Elena represented us not only during the purchase of our new home in Moraga, but also for the sale of our previous home in Walnut Creek. Elena worked tirelessly on our behalf in both transactions and we felt that our best interest was always forefront in her mind. She was very professional and thorough in all of her dealings with us, and went above and beyond the usual level of service on many occasions, for example, she was always available to us for any question or concern we might have had; and she still makes herself available even though the transactions have both been successfully completed. Also, she spent many hours helping us to stage our home and make it appealing to a large number of buyers, and partly as a result, the house sold in just over a week. Because she was so efficient with all of the “little details”, we were able to concentrate on our own jobs and never felt overwhelmed by the simultaneous purchase and sale. Elena’s integrity and experience were also extremely valuable to us. Though no real estate agent can, or should, tell clients what to do, we relied on Elena’s advice to help inform many of the decisions we had to make. Her motto “There should be no surprises in real estate.” is one that we identified with and that she carried through on. And her knowledge of the real estate market (particularly in Moraga) was key in the screening of potential homes and neighborhoods, the pricing of our previous home, and finally in the purchase of our new home. We felt we could trust Elena, and she certainly proved worthy of that trust. ln summary, we were very pleased with the representation that we received from Elena, and enjoyed working with her on a personal level as well. We will be recommending her to our friends and family. Please pass our gratitude on to her and feel free to use us as a reference for Elena at any time.

Anda A.

Elena helped us sell our home in Moraga during the COVID pandemic and fire season. We couldn't have done this without her. It was absolutely amazing working with Elena. There are few professionals in any domain that I would trust as much as I trust Elena and her team. Elena works with many vendors that will clear their schedule to help get a home ready for sale quickly and work with sellers in their timeline. Elena's whole family helped with the sale. The amount of personal touch and personal dedication as well as business acumen and expertise Elena brings to any real estate transaction is tremendous. Elena is on top of every detail that impact the home and the transaction. She knows exactly what matters and what doesn't and how to solve any type of problem or snag that may arise from any angle, whether it is a detail in the home, or the market. She's deeply aware of macro and micro factors and helped us navigate our sale during this very difficult time we all live in. She is also fun to talk to, very patient, and a wonderful person.

Buyer

We connected with Anya at an open house and were impressed by her warmth and knowledge of the market. When we decided to engage someone to help us look for our first home, Anya immediately came to mind as someone that we wanted to work with. Our confidence in her was not misplaced. She was there every step of the way to provide us with guidance and to teach us about the home buying process. Once we identified the home we were interested in, Anya took the lead to coordinate the home inspection and diligence process. Even though we were looking to buy a house in a very seller-friendly market, Anya helped us navigate towards a home that we are very excited to live in and negotiated a fair deal. Anya provided us with the right mix of guidance and market intelligence while not trying to push us in any particular decision -- she focused on our priorities, but also gave us an understanding of typical market practices. We were very happy that we engaged Anya and would highly recommend her and her team.

David G.

We connected with Anya at an open house and were impressed by her warmth and knowledge of the market. When we decided to engage someone to help us look for our first home, Anya immediately came to mind as someone that we wanted to work with. Our confidence in her was not misplaced. She was there every step of the way to provide us with guidance and to teach us about the home buying process. Once we identified the home we were interested in, Anya took the lead to coordinate the home inspection and diligence process. Even though we were looking to buy a house in a very seller friendly market, Anya helped us navigate towards a home that we are very excited to live in and negotiated a fair deal. Anya provided us with the right mix of guidance and market intelligence while not trying to push us in any particular decision she focused on our priorities, but also gave us an understanding of typical market practices. We were very happy that we engaged Anya and would highly recommend her and her team.

Amanda D.

We met Anya at an Open House and connected with her immediately, so when we decided to get serious about buying, she was our contact. Anya was great to work with she was always responsive and helped us navigate a very tricky COVID market. As we looked at more properties, she honed in on what was most important to us, and would take the extra step to make sure that homes she showed us met our needs (including driving by to look for nearby electric lines). We really felt that she was invested in helping our family find a home. When we found a great house that met a lot of needs, she helped us to aggressively negotiate to get the home (which I highly doubt we would have otherwise gotten). She also successfully helped us through the entire escrow process, including setting up numerous vendor appointments and helping us to resolve inspection items and issues. We so enjoyed working with Anya, and would recommend her (and the entire Elena Hood group) to friends.

Lior

Earlier this year I had the pleasure of working with your agent Elena Hood in searching for my new home. Now, that I have settled down I finally found the time to seat down and write this letter to you. Elena’s vast knowledge of the market, hardworking ethics and professionalism all combined to be a great asset in helping me find the right property for me. I am very happy with it. This is the third house I have bought in California. Elena spared no efforts in scouting dozens, if not hundreds, of potential properties and showed me those that met my criteria. At no time during the several months of searching I was made to feel pressured to make up a decision. Her expertise and hard work eventually paid off when I found and bought my new house. I would be delighted to recommend her to my close friends and family. Please relay my thanks and appreciation to her for a job well done.

Sathaye A.

We were impressed with Anya's professionalism and her knowledge of the current market when we first met her. We had to move out of town and she had to take over the preparation process of getting the house ready for sale. Prior to that, she had presented us with the marketing plan and showed us the areas needing makeovers. She brought in painters, electricians, carpet installers, window washers, stagers etc. She was the project manager in our absence. It gave the house a new look to appeal to today's buyers. This was done in a short time of two weeks and she did this with total dedication and eye for minute details. She kept us updated from listing to closing. The fact that we received quick offers over the asking price had a lot to do with her hard work and dedication. She is a person with integrity and very reliable. We recommend her with the greatest confidence.

Nabs M.

As we were searching for our new home in the Lamorinda, CA, area, Zillow connected us with Anya Gorman and Elena Hood, local realtors representing Compass. And we are so happy that we got to work with them. Their knowledge of local real estate market, attention to details, and timely follow ups and answers were simply outstanding. From the very beginning of our search, they communicated to us clearly and set the right expectations, guided us on pros and cons of each property we saw, negotiated diligently on behalf of us on our offers, and then guided us smoothly through the whole process when we found our new home. Anya and Elena took great care of us and treated us with utmost professionalism, and we are glad that we worked with them. We highly recommend them and their team for your next home buying or selling needs, so do give them a call!

Buyer

Without any doubts, Elena is the best in the area! She is thorough, professional and great to work with. She is honest and forthright - no games. She kept us informed at every step of the sale and answered every question (and trust me it was not easy, as this was our first sale!). Elena guided us through the whole process, beginning with necessary repairs, inspections, landscaping, staging and sales strategy. She even connected us with the realtor in another state, where we are buying the new house. In addition to that, she was extremely communicative and easy to reach to answer any of our questions at all times. This was a huge help for us, as we seem to always have questions. I recommend Elena to anyone who is looking or buy or sale in Lamorinda area!

Seller

Elena is an absolute rock star when it comes to real estate. She is very professional, knows the area and is amazing to work with. She got painters, landscapers, stagers, junk haulers and movers for us and helped facilitate everything. She helped us get our house ready in just over 2 weeks and it sold in 5 days with multiple offers! If you are looking for a real estate agent that is at the top of her game and really professional - Elena is the one so stop looking! She is incredibly responsive and amazing to work with and from our experience, we can say you will be in great hands. We were VERY happy with everything Elena did for us and would recommend her to anyone looking to buy or sell a home in the Lamorinda area.

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Are you considering buying or selling in Lamorinda or the surrounding markets? We would love the opportunity to be of help. We firmly believe that our carefully crafted program emphasizing extensive hands-on preparation will best serve both buyers and sellers in todays complicated real estate market. How can we help you achieve your goals?
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