Judy Richardson – Red Oak Realty

I don’t write many reviews, but after everything Judy did to help my girlfriend and I purchase our first home, I felt like this was the least I could do to show my appreciation.
Judy met with us at a 2 bedroom/​1 bath house that I saw on Trulia, and she reserved time before the open house so that we can look at the property, dive deeper into what my girlfriend and I were looking for, and introduce us to the realities of buying property in the Bay Area (e.g. how a 2 bedroom/​1 bath single family home would be WAY out of our budget even though the list price was in our budget). At no point was Judy rude, condescending, or pushy. She was patient, understanding of our needs, and worked with us to find the right types of homes we could afford and in neighborhoods we felt comfortable in.
In the end, she found the perfect home for us, helped us write a compelling offer, and helped us close on the property. So if I could, I would give her 10 stars because she really was perfect to work with.
Thank you so much, Judy!

Judy Richardson is a dream agent with an impressive array of skills. She has all the expertise you’d expect in the best agent, but also amazing knowledge on things like neighborhoods, current market trends and quirks, and the structural integrity of houses. (I have fond memories of her climbing into crawl spaces with a flashlight to double check inspection reports.) She is a consummate professional with a network of top quality folks who make themselves available at a moment’s notice when a second opinion is vital before a bid. She is warm, attentive, flexible and patient. Did I mention incredibly honest and direct? She paid close attention to what we wanted, found places to match our personal aesthetic and budget, and negotiated with our best interests as a top priority. We achieved all of our goals, in a ridiculously difficult market, and we credit Judy with the win.

Judy went above and beyond when structural issues came up as a concern for a house I was interested in. Not only did she make time to be present at all inspections on my behalf until my questions were resolved, but she leveraged her extensive network to get me trusted professionals onsite to look at the property. She was my champion in an intimidating first home purchase with her honesty, availability and care. She also sent me an delightful bottle of champagne upon successful close of escrow =]

Judy is amazing. We recently sold our house at 25% over the asking price and it was all due to Judy. She understands that timing is everything in bringing a house to market and she is a genius at establishing a timeline from the very beginning of the relationship and making sure that everyone involved sticks to it. She also brought a team of suppliers into the project who understood what was needed and did an incredible job. Her experience and knowledge of the market and long-​standing relationships with suppliers, other realtors, and financial and insurance professionals really made the entire process go much more smoothly than we feared. Judy kept us informed at every step along the way and always had an alternative suggestion when there were unexpected developments. She is 100% professional, experienced, and unfailingly positive and we could not have been in better hands.

You cannot go wrong with Judy. We just succeeded in buying a home in Elmwood, and we could not have done it without Judy. Judy was incredibly invested. She is very knowledgable — about the entire home-​buying process as well as about the many issues that come up in inspections — or that she identifies herself. At the same time, she also does a lot of research. Judy is well-​connected with many other realtors, contractors, inspectors, etc., and she uses her connections to gain knowledge and gather opinions. Thanks to Judy, my husband and I felt confident in all the tough decisions we had to make. We could totally trust that she would not let any stone go unturned or any detail slip through the cracks. Judy is really hard-​working, reliable, flexible, and a really lovely person.

Judy is the best real estate agent we have ever worked with. We have been looking for our first home for about 8 years. We worked with a few other real estate agents but never clicked with them. We have never regretted working with Judy. We learned quickly that she knows her stuff. She just helped us close on THE most impossible deal, a defaulting property in probate in Piedmont. We know she is entirely competent in regular market deals, but we had to bring her a weird off-​market deal. She went way beyond what we ever expected out of a real estate agent. She was instrumental in making the entire deal work. We had to work with a seller who had a lot of problems and she helped him overcome huge hurdles to actually make it to the finish line. She was always a step ahead and able to spell out our options clearly. Judy is completely on top of it, fully engaged, very hard working, trustworthy (confidentiality was critical in this situation!), bull****-free, and awesome company. I will absolutely work with Judy again, and I strongly recommend her to all of our friends.

It’s been two years since Judy helped me purchase my first home. When the time came this summer to look for something bigger, I called Judy to help me navigate the uncharted waters of selling and buying. Judy helped me sell my condo and buy a house simultaneously, which is so amazingly stressful, I do not have the words to describe it. Of course, Judy handled the entire ordeal with the aplomb of a seasoned professional. I trust Judy. Literally, in these monumentally important decision making processes, I trust Judy with my future. I look to her for guidance, for reassurance, for hand-​holding, for honesty, and for advice. Judy is an expert in her field. She is highly respected in the community, she is savvy, and above all she *cares* about her clients. Again, I cannot recommend Judy highly enough.

Negotiating this crazy real estate market was scary! Eight offers… twenty-​two offers!!! Judy stayed calm, kept us calm, and, got us through. Our daughter and her family are now enjoying their wonderful new home in Redwood Heights thanks to her. We are so grateful for her guidance and expertise in getting through a complicated process. She worked very hard in safe-​guarding our interests. It pays to have a veteran of Bay Area real estate on your side!

My fiancé and I were totally lost in the Oakland home buying process before we met Judy! And we are SO thankful for finding her! She gave us the perfect amount of guidance in order to find our first home and we are so pleased. She was very flexible with our busy schedules, was honest in her advice, and worked so hard to help us close quickly. As new homebuyers we didn’t know what we didn’t know and so Judy was a great resource to guide us through it all — beginning to end!

Judy is PHENOMENAL! She is amazing at what she does. We worked with her previously to purchase a home. This time around, she helped us sell our home, and it sold within a week thanks to her expertise. I cannot praise her enough. She was a fantastic listener, answered all of our questions, guided us through the process, and advocated for us whenever necessary. Judy is honest, patient, and fights for you. I have recently dealt with another realtor to buy a home in another area, and it made me appreciate Judy even more. I still call her to ask questions about the home buying process because she is so knowledgeable. Judy is second to none and is truly exceptional. You will be lucky to work with her.

I cannot offer enough praise for Judy. As first time home buyers in the crazy Bay Area market, my husband and I felt pretty overwhelmed. We were originally working with Quicken Loans for our pre-​approval, and Redfin for our searches, but after requesting information on a property, Judy happened to give us a call. I was so new to the market, that I hardly knew what questions to ask. She picked up on this, and offered to meet with us for an hour and a half to give us a run down on the whole process. We gained more understanding in that time that we had gathered in ages reading articles on our own. She ultimately gave us confidence that she was very competent and would walk us through every step of the process. We decided to work with her, and took her suggestion to get our loan through Commerce mortgage, who Red Oak often partners with.
Fast forward a month an a half, and we had the great pleasure of getting our keys from Judy on our beautiful first home in San Leandro. Judy truly was there for us every step of the way. She was extremely responsive via email (and I send a LOT of emails), she researched comps and helped us put together a competitive but fair offer, she advocated for us with the seller, she secured cheap, or free yet thorough home inspections and then walked us through them, and finally she helped us renegotiate some money back at close to cover the necessary repairs.
While I mentioned she is a great realtor, I should not neglect to mention that she is also a wonderful lady. She has nothing of the slick salesman, but is kind, warm, and down to earth. Without Judy, we would have lacked both the knowledge and the confidence that transitioned us from renters to homeowners.

I had a really good experience with Judy. She started with a discussion of what we were looking for and used that to help me see the advantages and disadvantages of some of the places I was looking at. She knows a lot about houses! And she’s really easy to talk to and she listens. One of the houses I looked at was taking bids on a Monday and we decided at the last minute to bid on it and she got it all done and DocuSigned to me on Saturday night, even though she was taking her kids to the zoo that day. The lender she works with was great, too, I got preapproved in a couple days.

My husband and I are the proud new owners of lovely home in San Leandro, thanks to Judy Richardson. We met Judy at an open house in Oakland. We noted that she had a warm personality, and was eager to answer our questions and even highlight for us some technical details regarding the property. After we walked through the house, she asked us for our thoughts and impressions. No realtor had ever asked us that. She listened intently to our responses and thanked us for our feedback. At our initial meeting with Judy, she laid out for us in a very clear way the path to home ownership. Judy patiently and enthusiastically covered all aspects of home buying, such as pre-​approval, preparation of an offer, escrow, etc. Judy referred us to Faramarz Moeen-​Ziai of Bank of Commerce/​Mortgage. Faramarz is professional and reliable. Later in the process, it proved to be helpful that Red Oak Realty and Faramarz’s company have a cooperative working relationship. By Judy and Faramarz working together, what might have been a mountain of an obstacle for other people was merely a molehill for us, and was easily surmounted. Judy’s assumptions regarding what houses we would like were 100% accurate. She accompanied us to properties — an experience that my husband and I found to be educational. Our favorite part about viewing homes with Judy was how, with great curiosity, she would seek out a crawlspace to gain access under the house. Judy would not hesitate to get dirty in order to survey the quality of the foundation, the hot water heater, the insulation, etc. We also appreciated how she would point out to us whether the owners had performed a quality remodel, for example, as it related to updating the electrical or bathrooms. As a result of Judy’s guidance, my husband and I became educated buyers. We visited the San Leandro open house on a Sunday, and immediately identified that it was a one-​of-​a-​kind property. Judy rearranged her schedule to be able to join us at the house the very next day. She walked us through the house and pointed out the house’s attributes in incredible detail. She was also candid about several substantive repairs the house might require. Judy made numerous phone calls to the seller’s realtor to gather as much information as possible regarding other potentially interested buyers and the circumstances of the seller’s decision to sell. In less than 24 hours, Judy pulled together a draft of an offer. She made sure to involve us in every aspect of the development of our offer. She encouraged us to write a cover letter to the sellers to introduce ourselves and explain why we love the house. We were a bit shy about doing so, but we trusted that Judy knows what she is doing. When the sellers accepted our offer, they made a point of mentioning that they «loved» our cover letter. This shows that Judy knows how to prepare an offer that distinguishes her clients from the rest of the crowd. Judy lined up at least three very reputable inspectors to evaluate the house (roof, pest, foundation, stucco). Judy invited my husband and me to be present during the inspections. Judy also invited the seller’s realtor to view the stucco inspection. Given that the sellers seemed unfamiliar with such an inspection, it was wise to have the seller’s realtor be present to view the process. The inspectors that Judy lined up identified necessary repairs that were not disclosed in the seller’s disclosure packet. We learned at this point that Judy is a brilliant and savvy negotiator. She knew that my husband and I wanted the sellers to reduce the sale price so that we could afford to perform the necessary repairs that our inspectors had identified. She also knew that we did not want to push too hard in our negotiations, lest we turn away or offend the sellers. Judy involved my husband in the process of creating the perfect offer to lift contingencies, which was aggressive but reasonable. The sellers agreed to reduce the sale price and bear greater responsibility for the closing costs. Judy accompanied my husband and me to meet with the escrow officer, on two separate occasions. Because she was present, she was able to identify that the closing costs were $ 700 greater than they should have been. Judy tirelessly advocated for my husband and me until the problem was resolved. We witnessed how she cares about and defends her clients. When we closed, Judy handed us the keys, and assured us that she continues to be there for us. It felt good to know that she is sincerely willing to help us out if anything comes up. Our relationship with Judy did not feel transactional. She is very personable and seemed to be far more concerned about my husband and me as people than she did about «getting a sale.» From start to finish, everything has gone remarkably smoothly, due to Judy’s efforts. Words cannot express the extent of our gratitude for all that Judy has done for us. We would recommend Judy to anyone who is looking to buy or sell a home.

I met Judy when I went to look at a condo in Berkeley. After realizing it wasn’t the place for me, she sat me down and had a conversation with me about what I was looking for, my preferences, my lifestyle, and other pertinent details. I was immediately impressed by the interest she took in me. She stayed in close touch with me after that, by email and phone, and even took time out of her weekend to show me another property. I was struck by how dedicated she was, even though I wasn’t her «official» client yet. I had a sit-​down meeting with Judy later on, where she basically gave me (a first-​time buyer with no knowledge of how real estate works) a primer on buying property in the East Bay. She was extremely patient and patently professional. I was thoroughly impressed by her knowledge of the neighborhoods and even the micro neighborhoods in all of the East Bay cities. She listens to you and then gives you practical advice based on your preferences and needs. Ultimately I decided that I wasn’t in a position to buy at this moment in time, but if I was, I wouldn’t look any further for a realtor. As soon as I’m ready to buy, I’ll be calling Judy back. I felt totally taken care of and felt that she was the kind of person that would be forthright with you as well as advocate for you in the sale. Plus she’s very kind, down-​to-​earth and super approachable. I can’t recommend her highly enough!

Judy Richardson is a solid, straight shooting real estate agent who doesn’t try to baffle you with jargon, or make something pretty straight forward seem unnecessarily complicated. Or maybe, she’s so good at her job that she’s able to make something that is pretty complicated seem pretty straightforward — I’ll leave that for you to decide.
Unfortunately, our story had a sad ending. We tried (and ultimately failed) to buy a sweet little house that was a short sale. Judy warned us at the outset that the name was a misnomer and we could be in for a long wait before the bank deigned to respond to our offer. Wait we did, but it truly felt like she was right in there with us, feeling all the emotional ups and downs that came with no news, some news and then bad news. She kept us informed along the way and did more than a little to prod the selling agent and short sale negotiator into action when she felt they were asleep at the wheel. All our questions — and there were lots — were met with patient answers and she never moved on until she made sure we understood. If only my 10^th grade trigonometry teacher would have been so thorough!
She was Über responsive through it all — often staying up quite late to accommodate our schedules and to help us get documents in to the lender on time. Her personable manner makes her really easy to talk to — something I’m sure other agents appreciate! If you need an agent for buying or selling, Judy Richardson is your gal.

After years of looking for a house with other realtors, I finally met Judy and it took no time at all! She was friendly and efficient and made it SO easy to find the house I feel like I’ve always been looking for. She also took the time to educate me on the several different things a first time buyer should know when buying a home! I couldn’t have asked for more.
She took what I was looking for (price-​range, size, location) and showed me just that… (as opposed to the other agents I’ve used in the past). Not to mention, she’s super easy to be around.
She definitely goes above and beyond for her clients and I truly appreciate having a fully capable realtor.
I HIGHLY recommend her as a great agent and great person.
THANKS JUDY! I love my house!!!

Judy was wonderful! She worked hard for us and made the home buying process smooth. Judy is well versed in the local housing market, is extremely helpful in buying an older home and is techo-​savvy. She worked with our schedules and was always available through email. I loved how personal her attention was and her willingness to make our dream home happen.
When we found the house we fell in love with, it was not going to be a slam dunk. There were ten bids on the house and Judy made sure we were the best offer. She was amazing!
We are extremely happy with the attention and determination Judy put forth to get us into an amazing house. She is funny and easy to get along with which for us, made it a pleasure to buy a house.

It’s hard to sell a house during boom years because everyone is selling; it’s hard to sell a house in a recession because nobody is buying… Here is where the right agent comes in.
We had our condo on the market for 3 months with no results before a friend of a friend recommended Judy with her creative advertising strategies, honesty, professionalism, and desire not to just ‘sell’ but to also help us.
Judy was very helpful, thorough, thoughtful, and hard-​working! She worked tirelessly with HOA and other agents to provide as much exposure to the listing as possible. It was tough, no doubt, to sell our place, even taking into account that our unit was completely updated with total kitchen and bathrooms renovation.
There have not been any sales done in the past 12 months in the building (I am not counting foreclosures or REO sales, which in fact hurt, rather than help the building). Ours was the first normal market value sale in a long time, thanks to Judy!
Judy was there every step of the way: Open Houses, Marketing, dealing with HOA, dealing with Appraser and Escrow officers.
Thank you, Judy!

Judy was extremely helpful throughout the home-​buying process. This was our first home purchase, and Judy helped us understand the steps – from getting pre-​approved for a loan to making an offer to the home inspection, and so on. As we were looking, Judy steered us clear of properties that didn’t match our criteria as well as those that she thought were overpriced.
Once we decided to make an offer, Judy talked it through with us at length – and helped us negotiate counter-​offers until we finally got into contract. We had an issue come up during the inspection process, but Judy helped us get this resolved to our satisfaction (as well as to that of the sellers). Throughout the process, it was clear that Judy always had our best interests in mind. She wanted us to have a house that we would truly be happy living in.
And that’s where we are now – in our new home, which we are thrilled with. We’re grateful that Judy helped shepherd us through what was at times a rather stressful few months. It was all worth it.

In late 2007 we decided to attempt to catch a falling knife, and buy our first house in the Bay Area. Longtime renters in San Francisco, my wife was growing tired of the roll of the dice commute across the Bay Bridge to her Berkeley office, and I was just tired. We decided to do what was once unthinkable — not only buy a house, but buy one across the Bridge!
And then we discovered we were pregnant with our first. When you can’t handle what you already have, take on more. Now we had to think about the eventuality of education.
Two agents were referred to us — the first drove us around the Julia Morgan estates in Berkeley and talked non-​stop about her daughters advanced-​placement courses. Education is important, but so is listening to your clients when they tell you that the price of the home cannot exceed your limit. Julia Morgan?
The second agent was Judy Richardson at Maison Nouveau. Judy talked about not only her experience as an agent, but her experience purchasing homes that required some love (we had expressed our interest in giving some love in order to get more house). She has hired (and fired) contractors, structural engineers, painters and roofers. She’s familiar with the permitting process. And she has children in school. We looked at plenty of houses under our price ceiling, and she never told us it couldn’t be done. As credit dried up through 2008 our loan requirements (handled by a broker friend out of area) got more and more complicated. Through it all Judy was there to guide us through the process.
I’m typing this from our California Modern house in Kensington. Never thought we’d end up in Mayberry, but we love it here. Bay (2 bridges!) views and deer in our yard. Our baby is crying, but when she stops four years from now she’ll go to one of the best public schools in the area. The house is less-​than a fixer and more than move-​in, but it’s ours.
Judy rocks. You’re crazy to use anyone else.