Burt Tsuei

We have been working with Burt for 5 months and finally succeeded in buying a home we love. Burt has been everything that we could have asked for in a realtor. I would highly recommend him.
We loved Burt for the following reasons:
* Breadth and depth of knowledge.
We were looking at a pretty wide area on the peninsula — from San Carlos/​Belmont up to South San Francisco/​San Bruno. Pick any neighborhood that Burt takes us to see a home in, he would be able to give us a ton of details — history of the neighborhood, typical floor plans/​home sizes, school quality, pros/​cons of the neighborhood, nearby neighborhoods, etc. He is very experienced and detailed oriented. When he sees a home with us, he would be able to quickly spot subtle issues like water damage, sloping, workmanship of remodeling, etc. From his extensive experience as a realtor as well as owner of investment property, he gladly offers advice on what repairs are urgent or not, what are the big ticket issues, and ball park figures for repairs/​upgrades/​remodels.
* Professionalism and work ethic.
Burt is very dedicated. He took us to see homes pretty much every weekend for a span of several months. He made himself available to us over phone/​text/​email for any questions that we had. When it came to making offers, he didn’t just write up an offer and sit back. He always did the homework of talking to the seller agent multiple times before and after the offer deadline, in order to get us as much information as possible about the potential competition. Just as another example, one weekend Burt had a high fever, yet he still powered through as we asked him to submit a counter offer and subsequently do a cancellation of contract.
* Trustworthiness.
Last but not least, trustworthiness is probably Burt’s biggest value. He was very transparent and objective in giving his opinions on things like issues with a home, the value of the home, market trends and potential bidding competition. With respect to the bidding, he did not pressure us at all. We had bid on somewhere between 5 and 10 homes in a short span of a couple of months and lost every time to higher bidders. Throughout that period, Burt never once pressured us to ratchet up our offers. He reiterated that we should bid whatever price we felt comfortable with.

We found Burt through Unilocal and I would agree 100% with all the other great reviews.
Throughout the past one and half year Burt worked with us showing us homes and writing a lot of offers for us. We were finally able to buy our home in the fall of last year. (Sorry Burt this review is long overdue!).
From the very first meeting we were very impressed with his knowledge of the housing market in the area and professionalism. We have worked with a few realtors before but a lot of them are like sales guys trying to close the deal ASAP. Burt is exactly the opposite. Even when you like the house he will point out all the negatives (along with the positives) to make sure you are fully aware of what you are getting into.
He is also very knowledgeable about remodeling and other construction projects. More importantly he would give us a ballpark of what it would cost to get the house fixed. On one occasion since he was not very sure about the costs, he brought in a contractor to get us a rough estimate. This was even before we had decided to put in the offer!
He would encourage us to put in as many offers as possible, while never pressuring us to bid higher than we were comfortable with. A lot of times he knew we would not have much of a chance with the offer we made but he did not have any problems running with it and giving it his best shot! On several occasions he personally presented the offer to the seller when he could have just emailed it.
He was also very responsive anytime we sent him a text or an email. And sometimes when we could not connect over the phone he would immediately call back. When he was away on vacation, he would make sure there was somebody filling in. For e.g. he worked with us on an offer barely 48 hrs after his daughter was born! On another instance, he was up until 12.30 AM writing an offer for us, and the next day instead of just sending the offer out, he confirmed with us to make sure we hadn’t changed our minds! He thoroughly went over all the offers and confirmed with us every time before he was ready to send it out. He would give us an estimate of what the offer should be to at least get a counter. He always wanted to get us a good deal, even in this market.
Even during and after close of escrow, Burt continued to help us by recommending property inspectors and contractors for home improvement projects etc. A realtor like Burt will be very hard to find and we could not recommend him enough.

I solely relied on Unilocal reviews before first contacting Burt. It turned out to be a good idea. I sent an email from his website and the reply was prompt. He emailed me first and then called me in one day when the email went unanswered. We had a ten minute chat and in that time he answered all my questions. In fact, he gave a lot more information and also followed up on email. He knows what he is talking about and does not hesitate to tell you if something has its cons and you are only seeing the pros, probably.
Overall, a positive experience that will make us go back to him when we plan to actually start looking for a house, next year.

It is difficult to describe how incredibly fantastic Burt is at his job. He will go above and beyond for you to make sure you get a good deal and are really happy where you end up. He is organized, knowledgable, flexible, savvy, honest, direct, transparent, reliable, communicative, and thoughtful.
A previous agent we had worked with seemed to care very little about us because our budget was small potatoes in comparison to his other clients. With Burt it was like night and day. He took the time to tell us what his philosophy is when it comes to helping people find what they are looking for, and he made sure we knew the ins and outs of every area we were looking at. He took us to tons of places and let us come to our own conclusions about what we liked and disliked before sharing his own concerns both from the perspective of a homeowner and from the perspective of what would increase or decrease the resale value down the road. But no matter what he never pressured us one way or another. He even told us to set our expectations that we wouldn’t be buying anything for several months because he wanted to make sure we didn’t rush into something we would regret. You really won’t find the level of customer service he provides anywhere else.
The house we ended up buying is absolutely everything we could have hoped for and more. We are so happy there and I think we will probably live there for a long time. But whenever the time comes to move, we will DEFINITELY call Burt again.

When I started to search for a home in the Burlingame, San Mateo, & Hillsborough area… I immediately searched Unilocal for the best agent for the area. Burt’s profile really stood out and the reviews were stellar; I immediately gave him a call and was immediately impressed by his professionalism.
Several months later, I bought a new home in Burlingame with Burt’s help. I would strongly recommend Burt to any of my friends and family without hesitation.
To me, 3 things really stands out about Burt:
1. You can trust him. He unfailingly always gave me his honest opinion, even if it wasn’t easy to hear. There were numerous opportunities where he could have given me advice to close a deal faster. He never took the easy way out, encouraging me to put in a lower offer when he felt that it made sense.
2. Super knowledgeable about the Burlingame, San Mateo, Millbrae, and Hillsborough areas. Every piece of his advice was consistent with other sources and what I observed myself.
3. Most professional and objective agent I have ever worked with (I’ve worked with a total of 4 now).
Make sure you reach out to Burt when you’re looking for a home in the mid-​peninsula… you won’t regret it.

Having worked in the real estate industry for many years, I have always respected Burts’s professionalism, ethics, and sincere dedication to his clients.

Burt Tsuei is a gift from the realty Gods. My wife and I live in Daly City and we own a duplex. This is my first home purchase. The Daly CIty location is difficult to get a handle on because of the swings in the realty market. Burt has educated us on our local market and has offered invaulable knowledge and recommedations as to our next step in our home purchasing strategy. Burt is always courteous and proffesional. He has come to our home and offered great suggestions on how to improve our property value. His honesty on what to renovate, repair, or replace is straight talk that I respect and value. Any time I’ve sent him an email or left a voicemail he responses within 24 hours if not eariler at times. We recommeded him to a friend that was selling her home and she was very pleased with the sale brokered by Burt. Honestly, if you want a great Realtor I can guarantee you will not find a better one than Burt Tsuei!

I was looking for one thing — a deal. My wife was looking for one thing — a nice kitchen, a backyard, a safe neighborhood, great schools, a walkable area, an open feel, a nice flow, lots of space, 3 bedrooms or more … OK, maybe that’s not one thing, and maybe I wanted those things also, but paying for them here in the SF Bay Area (especially in Burlingame, San Mateo, or Millbrae) just seemed to be the opposite of a deal. A ripoff.
Burt was very patient with us as we toured 50 or more homes over a span of 2 years. We really felt so safe with him that he would babysit our children as we would look through the home. He got to know us well — our likes, our dislikes, and our showstoppers. He was extremely honest, even pointing out negative aspects about homes we liked even though it meant we would lower our offer or even walk away.
He predicted the price on almost every home extremely well and gave us an opportunity to put our offer just above the rest one on the homes we really liked. He put us in the running and even got us a few nice counteroffers (his strategy is to bid just enough to get the counteroffer, thereby never way more then what it takes to get it done). We didn’t take a few of them, though, because the market prices were just out of control and we just couldn’t get ourselves to overpay by that much. Burt didn’t push us in one way or another but just presented the facts (which I sincerely appreciated).
But then came that one home. He did some research and found out the home happened to have motivated sellers. He knew we would like it, and he knew it would sit just long enough for the sellers to consider a fair offer. He figured out our competition for the home, also. We waited until just the right time to submit the offer, and POW! We got it! And with a couple of minor contingencies also!
He also helped us out with the loan process, recommending the person we ended up using who helped us secure a fantastic loan at below-​market rates.
We are now all moved in with our kids. We got the nice backyard, the safe neighborhood (Easton Addition), the nice kitchen, the great schools (Burlingame), the walkable area, the open feel, a nice flow, lots of space, and 3 bedrooms. The best part is that we got THE DEAL we were looking for! We couldn’t believe it, but in the middle of the hottest real estate market we had ever seen, we were actually paying under the market for a great home!
To say that we got lucky would be an understatement. However, we do believe that to some extent you make your own luck. Burt made us lucky.

My husband and I have recently returned from a stint abroad and we were looking to find our first home in the SF peninsula and/​south bay area. Burt has been honest with us from the get go that his specialty lies in the peninsula area, not the south bay. This earned Burt one extra point with us as we have come across greedy realtors who are only interested in our money and refuse to let us have representation outside of their locality. They do this by asking us to sign an exclusivity agreement with them. Not so with Burt. Not only did Burt suggest we find a local realtor to help with our house search in the south bay (with him representing us in the peninsula), he even went the extra mile to help us with 2 properties in the south bay that we were interested in prior to finding a local realtor to represent us. Despite knowing that there’s a chance we might end up buying in the south bay, Burt never treated us differently, he always gave us his 100%. He is very patient and has strong work ethics. Being a property investor, he is also very knowledgeable about how much things would cost to fix/​upgrade as he works closely with a team of contractors for his rental properties. Although we were elated to finally win a bid on a house in the south bay a few days ago, the experience was marred with a little regret as we were really hoping that we could find a property in the peninsula instead so Burt could receive his due. Thanks for everything Burt. We would definitely look you up again if we’re in the market for buying in the peninsula area.

Wow! You will never be able to find a more honest, hard working, ethical and amazing real estate agent! Burt has helped on looking at homes, real estate questions, purchasing… you name it and he is your guy! He is incredibly knowledgable and truly guides you through the very stressful process of real estate!

Burt was our agent for buying a house in the Bay Area and he worked with us non stop to find the house we wanted. Through several months, and numerous offers he guided and let us through the housing purchasing process.
Burt was instrumental in showing us the ins and outs of the housing market and really gave us great insight into how everything works and what the best strategy was to purchasing a house. He was also able to predict with great accuracy most of the houses selling prices when we lost ours bids which was extremely helpful for us on the bid of the next house. He was also very honest on what a house needed and what was bad about a house.
The best part with working with Burt is that he is very patient and we never felt pressured to do something we were not comfortable with. During our experience we have interacted and met so many bad realtors that would say and do almost anything for our money. As a result we were just happy we had Burt on our side.
We definitely recommend anyone looking In the Bay Area to have Burt as your realtor.

Burt is definitely not your average Realtor! As first time buyers, it took almost 2 years for us to close on our home — and through the whole process Burt remained engaged and enthusiastic. He was always on time to any planned meeting. Burt is also very responsive to emails — this sounds like a small thing, but it means I never had to follow up with phone calls which can sometimes be inconvenient in my line of work as I’m often in meetings during business hours.
When it came to writing offers, Burt was very efficient and gave us great information so we could decide how high to go. In a competitive market it is very important to stick to facts and not let emotions take over.
In summary, I would recommend Burt to any buyer and/​or seller without hesitation. I truly believe he is the best in the industry.
Keep up the great work Burt!

We just bought our first home in February with Burt as our real estate agent. We couldn’t have been happier with him. The housing market was intense in the peninsula when we were buying and Burt really helped to guide us along the way. As first time home buyers, we really didn’t know everything that actually went into buying a house. We didn’t realize that there would be so many pages of documents to look through before even putting in an offer. Thankfully, Burt was there to explain everything to us. He showed us the things that were red flags about a house and the things that were more minor fixes. Because the market was so competitive, we consistently had to bid against more than 20 potential buyers. Burt really helped us with how much to bid and luckily we were able to buy our first home on only our 4^th offer.
Burt was great to work with. Here are a few of our favorite things about him:
1. We could call him at any time with a question and he never seemed to mind
2. He responds to emails quickly
3. We would ask him about a house we saw on our email alert and he would be able to show us the house that same day
4. He’s never late (If he’s 2 minutes late, he apologizes)
5. He’s professional
6. He’s always friendly with you but if any other agent or potential buyer is there then he’s all business and fights to get you the best deal
7. He focuses on getting you a house that is also a great investment. Even if it means he earns less commission, he’ll always have your best long-​term interests in mind.
If we were to ever buy a house again, we would for sure choose Burt.

My husband and I have been house-​hunting in the area for a few months, and have worked with a few agents. Burt stands out for his honesty, practical information, and prioritization of his clients’ needs. He listened to us and gave us valuable advice. He helped us realize that we should focus our search in Marin, even though he doesn’t work in the North Bay. We really appreciated how straightforward he is and will definitely work with him if we change our mind and look in the Peninsula.

My wife found Burt Tsuei here on Unilocal.What a winner. He has a fabulous knowledge of the Real Estate business, and also has a great financial background. We worked with Burt for several months. He put us in touch with an excellent home improvement specialist who really did a wonderful job of painting and upgrading to make the house shine. You can’t go wrong if you follow Burt’s advice. He knows what sells in today’s market.
The house was on the market for 5 days and closed in about 2 weeks. It sold for 20% over the asking price.
I would recommend Burt to anyone who wants to sell or buy, as his advice and knowledge provides results.

Burt Tsuei helped us search for a house for almost 1.5 years before we finally purchased our 1^st home in August 2011. Being first-​time home buyers, we constantly bombarded Burt with tons of questions. He consistently took the time to candidly explain things to us and never once wavered from honesty.
Although we visited so many houses, Burt never pressured us at anytime. He would offer the pros and cons for the houses we visited. If we asked for his opinion, he would provide a concrete response. If he felt he wasn’t in an optimal position to answer our question (which was rare), he wasn’t afraid to say so and would seek out an answer and get back to us almost instantaneously.
Burt drove us around to look at houses in various neighborhoods so as to familiarize us with the several different areas on the Peninsula that we thought we might be interested in. We also arranged to meet with him practically every week to check out houses that came on the market.
Burt always made himself available even when he went out of town. For instance, he even took time out to put in an offer for us while he was vacationing in another state!
We took our time to find our home, almost 1.5 years of looking on a daily basis! Yet, Burt unfailingly assisted us every step of the way. Burt is a stellar real estate agent and has proven his financial expertise regarding the varying neighborhoods and houses on the Peninsula.
Burt is approachable and easy to talk to and has always made himself available whenever we had any questions or wanted to visit a house. Burt is highly reliable when it comes to returning our calls and following up.
Burt’s amazing patience, utmost dedication, and immense ability to articulate details really made us feel he is trustworthy and talented as a real estate agent.
Burt Tsuei is superb! We highly recommend him as a real estate agent. We found him attentive, dependable, and undeniably knowledgeable from the start of our house search up until the final day we moved in.
Burt has definitely gone more than the extra mile for us!

Burt is great! Ready and willing to show us any home we asked about. Then, when we had a very non-​traditional sort of home purchase, he did his homework and really helped us figure out the tricky bits. Thanks, Burt!

A big «thank you» to the fellow Unilocalers who took their time to write such glowing reviews for Burt Tsuei. We decided to meet with Burt based on your reviews.
And so glad we did! Upon the first meeting, we knew that he was… the one.
Months later, when we were finally ready to make the move, we hired Burt to assist with the selling of our old house and purchasing of our second home. As second time home buyers, I can’t begin to tell you how grateful we were to have him on our side during the two transactions.
To start, Burt paid us an initial visit and analyzed our house giving us suggestions to improve its appeal. We took his advice to heart and de-​cluttered the heck out of it. Following the purge, we hired a contractor to paint the interior and exterior, which gave the house a facelift that was much needed. I then Unilocaled a decorator who did an excellent job of staging the place. (I’ll review her in a separate entry.) The day after the house was staged, Burt came out with a photographer to capture the Pygmalionesque transformation on digital film.
Burt did an incredible job of marketing our house. We had a double-​sided COLOR flyer and an online virtual tour. We were thoroughly impressed with the results. Consequently, our house received not one, but two offers in less than a week; and sold by the end of the week.
In the world of real estate, there are factors that you can control and those that you can’t. The difference between Burt and other agents is that he didn’t make promises that he couldn’t keep. He never told us that our house would sell in a week for x amount. No one can predict that, especially in this climate — yet I personally know of two agents who have promised our friends just that; and both of their properties are still on the market… two months later, without an offer.
We appreciated Burt’s honesty, professionalism, intelligence, and level-​headedness. As other reviewers have mentioned, he never pushed us into making a decision. He offered advice only when we asked and did not sway us into making a decision that we weren’t completely happy with. He patiently dealt with my husband and me — often times separately because my husband was out of town a lot. And he never missed a beat, even while he was on vacation in Yellowstone.
I could go on and on. But bottom line: «Burt is awesome!» was a mantra that we kept repeating to each other the entire time.

I was a first time home buyer and I wasn’t sure how to even begin finding a real estate agent. But being the Unilocal fanatic that I am, I ran a search and found glowing reviews for Burt. I met him for an intro and a couple weeks later I decided he was the one and never once looked back.
Much like many of the other reviews, Burt definitely went over and beyond my expectations. Shortly after we began looking at homes, Burt helped me put in my first offer.
While he was on vacation.
I felt horrible about cutting into his vacation time, but he was very professional about it and called me multiple times to make sure I understood the contract and the timing of when things were going to happen. The offer ended up falling through, but his dedication and commitment really had a lasting impression on me.
I also appreciated how upfront he was, he always listed the pros and cons of every home, but never tried to push me in any direction. Even though he was working on commission I could tell that he always had my best interest at heart and wasn’t just out to make a quick buck. It was obvious because when it came time to make any offers, his advice on what price to offer was always based off facts (# of other offers, days on market, location etc) that I could verify for the most part. Also, I felt I could count on him to be on top of everything. When my offer was accepted, he listed out all the key deadlines and worked with me to make sure I met all of them.
I would highly recommend Burt and I will definitely be going to him again the next time I am looking to buy a home.

This is my first review on Unilocal,I typically read the reviews on Unilocal but never feel compelled to write a review until today. I just had to write a review on our wonderful real estate agent.
Burt went above and beyond what we expected and really took care of us. First off, we are first time home buyers and really had no idea what we wanted or what we could afford. It took us almost 6 months to get our place and Burt helped us with almost every aspect of purchasing a home. We often changed our search criteria and price point by jumping back and forth between single family homes, condos and town homes. I think most agents would have been annoyed by our indecisiveness but Burt didn’t mind at all, he met us each weekend and took us to new places.
When it was time to make an offer, he always gave us excellent advice. We made three offers and multiple counter offers before landing our home. Each time Burt gave us great advice on how to negotiate. Due to his excellent negotiating skills, we got our place below what we were willing to pay and below asking price.
On top of that, Burt went out of his way to coordinate with the listing agent, loan agent and title company to make sure everything went smoothly during closing. Burt is a terrific agent and I recommend him to all my friends.

My boyfriend and I began looking for our first home several months ago, and Burt totally went above and beyond for us as a real estate agent. In addition to showing us countless homes over the weekends, he did us a huge favor by working with the bank on our loan complications while we were out of the country. We actually had a TON of difficulties with our loan, but Burt steadfastly helped us through the whole process. Anyway, the following is a list of reasons why we loved working with Burt. Really though, it’s so hard to describe in words how great he is, you just have to work with him to find out for yourself!
– Burt is very knowledgeable about San Francisco and San Mateo counties. He drove us around various neighborhoods to familiarize us with the communities, and also shared his thoughts on the appreciation potential of each area.
– If you’re interested in a particular house, Burt will point out possible concerns about the property. This is very helpful because he may bring up things you didn’t consider or were totally unaware of. He is NEVER pushy about selling a house on you. It is really clear that he just wants to help you find a home you’ll love.
– Burt will provide advice about how much to bid on a house. When you’re ready to make an offer he’ll give you a list of recent comparable home sales in the neighborhood. He’ll leave the bid amount up to you, but will provide his opinion if asked. Ultimately he will never pressure you into offering an amount you’re uncomfortable with — he’ll bid whatever amount you wish, even if it’s a ridiculously lowball offer.
– Burt always makes himself available when you need him, and tries his best to work around your schedule. For example, he would meet us on weeknights after work to show us a home or go over paperwork together. We were pretty problematic clients and made numerous late night calls to him, but he never made us feel like we were bothering him. There were a few times he actually worked really late (I’m talking nearly midnight) doing various things for us, such as drafting and submitting counteroffers.
– Burt is there for you every step of the way. He patiently walked us through the abundance of paperwork we needed to sign when making purchase offers; he scheduled and was present for each and every home inspection; he was there when we signed our closing documents. He also welcomed all our questions, and was really eager to answer them too! I think Burt truly enjoys educating his clients, and strives to provide them the best possible home buying experience.
– As if I haven’t already said enough, I also want to mention that Burt is extremely professional and really goes the extra mile for you! Burt calmly and expertly assisted us through all the problems we encountered throughout the home buying process. He handled all our interactions with listing agents, who were sometimes pretty difficult to work with. I really felt that he stepped up to bat for us and always protected our best interests during negotiations with these other agents. As I mentioned earlier, he was also a lifesaver in helping us resolve our loan issues. For us, securing a loan was the most stressful and confusing aspect of closing on our first home, particularly because we added a renovation loan on top of our mortgage. Not only did Burt frequently work directly with the bank on our behalf, he also shed a lot of light for us on the mysteries of home loans. At times I felt like his straightforward guidance and clearheaded advice were the only things keeping me sane during the whole home buying process! He cuts to the chase, keeps things simple for you, and handles everything with the utmost professionalism!

My wife and I were in the market for our first home and Burt was so helpful in walking us through the entire process from beginning to end! We had no idea what we were doing, but with Burt’s experience and patience, we made it through unscathed!
We were pretty specific about the kind of place we wanted and Burt did a fantastic job in finding homes that he thought would fit our preference. It was a scary time for us both, but with Burt’s help, we were confident that we had the best person on our side!
Once we found our dream home, Burt walked us through the confusing paperwork and before we knew it, we were proud first time home owners. We highly recommend Burt as a realtor! He’s professional and will go the extra mile for you! We love our home!

I think we’ve all met real estate agents who try to sell you a home even though it’s not right for you JUST so they can make their quick commission. BURT IS NOT THIS TYPE OF AGENT!
My wife and I spent about one full year searching for our home with Burt so you can tell he’s patient. This included visiting properties several weekends a month and many phone conversations (day and night) to clarify all the questions any first time home buyer would have.
Our home ended up being a short sale so despite his young looking photo you are dealing with a vetted real estate agent. During those intense days and weeks that you are going through escrow you can rest assured that Burt will keep you in the loop, connect you with the right inspectors and make sure you are well informed about what you are signing — page by page.
I respect the fact that Burt is a true professional and have made several recommendations for friends and family to use his service.

If you are a first time home buyer on the peninsula or in sf, you must go with Burt. He is very clear, honest, knowledgeable, responsive, never pushy and is great at explaining the pros and cons of every situation to you. He is so patient throughout the whole process, and let me tell you — there is a lot to consider, as well as a lot of paperwork! if you’re a little nervous about buying your first home (which you should be, especially in the crazy bay area), Burt will not only work very hard for you, he’ll also help to ease your mind. We love our new house!!!