The Dawn Thomas Team

I bought two houses and sold three more with Dawn over the last decade. She is the BEST! She gives every client her best work, every time. Her team members are stellar, always going the proverbial extra mile to make sure that every detail is perfect. In my last transaction with her, I was moving out of state, so I was not available to handle any of the details. Dawn and her team did EVERYTHING.
I knew my house would sell quickly since it was in Santa Clara, and we agreed on a price that made me giddy and my knees weak. And then came the «are you sitting down» moment: My house sold for $ 111,000 over the asking price. Now that’s an awesome negotiator!
I highly recommend Dawn and her team!

Dawn Thomas is a phenomenon.
Dawn’s performance far exceeded what we’ve experienced previously in real estate professionals. She is very smart and an excellent negotiator who knows the market thoroughly. She has uncommon insight into people and their motivations. Her vast knowledge of complementary disciplines such as property renovation and construction, finance, insurance and her network of connections and resources enables timely advice and services for moving quickly to take advantage of opportunities.
Unusually technology-​savvy for a real estate professional, Dawn exceeded our expectations for efficiency enabled by modern mobile devices. She documented our meetings and walk-​throughs in near real-​time and e-​mailed summaries immediately after. She provided rapid responses to inquiries and quick electronic conveyance of documents for electronic signatures. I was able to review, initial pages and sign documents within a few minutes of receiving them on my iPhone.
Dawn arranged for excellent professional still photography as well as a video beautifully portraying the property. (See examples on her website.)
Dawn Thomas would be first on our list for future real estate transactions.

The Dawn Thomas Team was successful in selling our Menlo Park home within ten days at 33% above the asking price! Now while we realize the market is hot, we credit the eight offers we received with Dawn’s combination of skillful marketing, having a broad network through Sotheby’s, and her demonstrated skills in negotiations. We interviewed three agents before selecting Dawn. We were impressed with the manner in which she was prepared for our initial meeting with a clearly defined calendar of when it would be optimal to place our home on the market; a thoughtfully prepared marketing plan; and good, solid information on comparable properties on the market in our neighborhood for pricing. Dawn is very personable and fun to work with, which really made the arduous and emotional process of selling our home so much easier. Dawn and her team provided excellent resources, such as the names of creative home stagers, photographers, movers and home inspectors to make every aspect of the sale process go smoothly. What really matters most, though, is on the date the offers were due, Dawn worked hard with each of the agents for the offers to negotiate the very best and clearest offer possible. We consider ourselves very fortunate to have found both an exceptional agent in Dawn Thomas, and a caring and trusted friend!

Dawn helped me find my home six years ago and then helped me sell it recently. She is an awesome realtor and makes both the buying and selling process easy and transparent. She is detail oriented and manages the process beautifully. She negotiated a great deal for me as a buyer – and six years later, did an amazing job ensuring my home sold for a premium price. I highly recommend her for any real estate need.

We used Dawn and her team for buying our first home in Bay Area. As an engineer and data scientist, I was hoping to have the bay area home prices model figured out in a few months after we started looking early Jan of 2014. Come July, I was finding it really hard to make any sense of list price v/​s sold price for areas in South Bay. I knew by this time that critical component to getting a home (high demand due to low inventory and so many millionaires around you), would be to know the right price for a given property! This also helps avoid the heartbreak of losing out on bids as my friends did! Here’s where we decided to use Dawn and her team to help us guide through the process.
Dawn is very assertive in her communications which we liked, she also recommended contractors, roof experts, plumbing/​electrical inspectors — all the people you would need to make an informed judgement about the price of the house. She also recommended us a loan broker who was fantastic!
Dawn and Erin were very prompt in their communications with us. There are many unknown to the buying process which they through their years of insight were able to help us. At no point did we feel pressured to buy a property, she let us decide if we’d like to bid on a property and assisted (but never forced us to that number) in determining the winning bid price.
Buying a house can be a topsy turvy process but having Dawn’s team manage that for us was HUGE for us! Thanks to Dawn and her team, we are ready to move in next week in our dream home :)

I was in a certain situation, taking over as power or attorney of a dear friend whom owned his home in PaloAlto for 50 plus years. He had reached the time in life where assisted care was necessary. The idea of parting with his home was not an easy decision to present to him. Dawn and her team played such a pivotal role in assisting me to convince him of this transaction. The asking prices was selected by Dawn and before it was published we received an offer far exceeding the asking, of course we accepted. This action meant there would no need for an open house and strangers peering through an 83 year old mans life and history.
The entire sale went perfect in every detail. We can not thank Dawn and her team enough for a perfect representation and bringing my friend approximately over half a million dollars more than anticipated.
Thank you The Dawn Thomas Team

It was a stroke of very good fortune that my husband and I ended up sharing a table at an outdoor concert in Sonoma last April with Dawn Thomas and her husband. Fast forward four short months later, and these life-​long East Coasters found we needed to relocate from Washington, DC to the SF Bay Area. Immediately we thought of Dawn — lucky for us that the only realtor we happened to know in the area was one that we quickly came to appreciate as being one of the very best, anywhere.
Dawn Thomas is the consummate professional: knowledgeable, efficient, organized, dependable, and responsive. It is very apparent that Dawn truly loves what she does. Additionally, she is personable, sincere, and genuine. Dawn worked tirelessly to shepherd us through the bid process to escrow, and she kept all the other involved parties on track. Due to the Mountain View real estate market, escrow was set a quick 16 days from the date of the accepted offer. It was an intense schedule further complicated by travel that put my husband and I separately in different time zones at times; nonetheless, Dawn made sure it all came together. She has earned our utmost respect and admiration. We cannot endorse her highly enough!

When we decided to take a plunge into this highly competitive and crazy bay area real estate market, we wanted to be represented by the very best. After speaking with several real estate agents, we decided to work with Ellie and Dawn. Right after our first meeting, we felt completely at ease since all our questions were answered to the best of our expectations. We wanted to work with the very best because bringing more money to the table to compete with all cash buyers was not a viable option for us.
They are extremely professional, courteous and quick to respond. Any time we needed an opinion, we got an honest answer with no bells and whistles.
They bring decades of experience, are always to the point, and perhaps the best negotiators we have had the pleasure of working with. This is especially important since working with an experienced real estate agent can make all the difference and help save on tens of thousands of dollars.
We would be getting keys to our first home this week, and it would not have been possible without Dawn and Ellie actually walking us through the entire process and guiding us where necessary. Any time there was a deviation, they would quickly step up to make sure our interests were protected.
Our home buying process was made simple, fun and stress free. If you too wish to take the stress out of your home buying, I would highly recommend working with The Dawn Thomas Team. They are by far the best!
Thank you Dawn and Ellie!

Before listing our home for sale, we interviewed several Real Estate agents. Upon meeting Dawn Thomas, we knew we had found our ideal representative. We immediately appreciated Dawn’s friendly personality, finding her intelligent, articulate, approachable and possessing a great sense of humor. After listing our property and proposing her sales strategy, Dawn guided us through the process of pre-​sale preparation, providing us with an impressive list of contractors (general, painters, staging, inspectors, landscaping) that were excellent. There is also a mutual respect between Dawn and the contractors she recommends since quality is key… if they don’t produce, they don’t work on Dawn’s team.
During the sales process, Dawn was great, proving her extensive knowledge about all aspects of the real estate process along with savvy negotiating skills, to help make the process a smooth one. We were also appreciative that, from the time we listed our home, until all the loose ends were tied-​up after the sale, Dawn was always available to us. She was prompt in returning calls, answering texts and emails, which helped quell the inevitable anxiety associated with selling ones home. In closing, we would recommend Dawn Thomas and her team without hesitation. The sale process of our home was seamless and pleasant.

My wife and I were referred to Dawn by a realtor who handles the northern part of the Peninsula. We were interested in several neighborhoods along the Peninsula: San Carlos, Redwood City, Burlingame, Los Altos and Mountain View. We worked with Dawn on Los Altos and Mountain View.
I was impressed by Dawn from the beginning. She’s very technologically sophisticated and works around the clock: she and I traded text messages at 7am, phone calls through the afternoon and emails at night. Her level of dedication made the whole experience a lot easier and made me feel more confident that we weren’t making any mistakes. My wife had bought a condo before, but I was a first-​time homebuyer and Dawn made me feel a lot more confident. At one point, she and I sat in her office for 90 minutes one night going over every line of every disclosure from a property we were interested in.
I’ve worked with other realtors and also have used online real-​estate sites extensively, but one thing I really liked about how Dawn worked online was that she setup the property searches by school district rather than by neighborhood. My wife and I have a 9-​month-​old and school districts are of paramount importance. This simple thing – searching for properties within school districts – never had seemed possible to me before. She just did it right off the bat and this was exactly what we were looking for even thought we never knew it.
Even though I’ve only been through the buying process once, being a buyer in the Bay Area is a rough spot to be in and Dawn was really a huge help. What I especially liked is that that she got even tougher with the listing agent once we were into contract. As our inspections were done and issues came up, she dug in her heels and got the problems resolved. It was very impressive and made me very happy to have chosen her.
We first met with Dawn in July and settled on North Los Altos as our «dream» neighborhood. My timeframe was to be moved in a year and, amazingly, the first house we saw was ultimately the one we ended up buying. Escrow closed six weeks after our first meeting, due no small part to her putting the screws to the lender and to the listing agent. In our first phone call, she said that her job was to «protect» my wife and me. She did that.
While I hope never to have to go through house buying again, if I had to, I would go back to Dawn. As an added plus, she tolerated me quoting «Glengarry Glen Ross» to her over text messages at 7:30am.

We really owe Dawn Thomas and Lisa Lyons a review. We had a really good experience when we bought our house last year. Lisa was our agent. She was on top of things and very easy to work with. We had a lot of challenges with the sellers and their agent. But Lisa was there for us every step of the way. The seller did not move out after we closed and got the keys. We had movers scheduled but had to cancel at the last minute because of that. To make matter worse, the seller left a bunch of crap and trash behind. Lisa helped us escalate the matter. They finally sent someone to remove the trash. Dawn and Lisa felt bad that the house was handed over to us in a mess so they offered us a house cleaning service. World class service!!! We were very impressed.
In the nutshell, Lisa and Dawn really went out of their ways to help us get our house. Lisa did an amazing job representing us and negotiating on behalf of us. Lisa was also very responsive to emails, texts, and phone calls. It gave us the impression that she is very professional, responsible and reliable. After we moved in, Dawn continued to send us cards and emails. It wasn’t like, we got your business now and you’re on your own! This team is a keeper! Dawn even sent someone over to personally deliver a holiday gift last year. We will definitely go back to The Dawn Thomas Team Inc should we ever buy or sell another house. We have recommended Dawn and Lisa to all our friends who are looking to buy a house. We highly recommend Dawn and Lisa.

Can’t say enough about Dawn!
We found a home we loved before actually locking down an agent to represent us but when we called her with our 11^th hour request to make an offer, Dawn was super responsive and on-​call the entire way, even though the offer was due in under 24 hrs.
She has an intimate knowledge of neighborhoods (Mountain View and Los Altos is where we were looking) and has connections to financing and other realtors which helped unblock a lot of potential pitfalls.

We have been in the market for a house for the last 1.5 years and were working with a different Realtor until March 2013. We lost out on offer after offer in this ultra competitive SF bay area real estate market.
Pretty depressed and without any hope, me and my wife decided to look for a new Realtor who can help us get the job done and best represent us with the conditions at hand and just not tell us bring more money to the table to compete with the cash buyers in the market. We spoke to a lot of Realtors before we narrowed up on one as this time around we wanted to make sure we worked with only the very best.
lets face it guys in the real estate industry especially given the current market scenario — Success brings Success! and we can very proudly say — Dawn Thomas is the best. Period !
We just got the keys to our first home yesterday and we couldn’t be more happier! We owe this completely to Dawn Thomas from SiliconValleyandBeyond.
Dawn is one of the best negotiators I have ever seen.
Absolute professional, crisp, clear and always to the point.
Transparent about everything and extremely quick to respond.
Email/​call her about any request and you will be amazed at how fast and perfectly things get done.
Absolutely non pushy and doesn’t try forcing you into picking a house to get the transaction completed. Represents her clients best interest.
She patiently gave us the time to look and find what we liked and fit our bill. Once we gave her the word go that we liked a house and wanted it,
Dawn will take care of the rest. Its as simple as it gets!
Ask her for her opinion about something and you will get a straight honest answer about what she felt every time.
I can seriously go on and on. to cut the story short. if you are serious about home buying and want to be represented by the best of the best out there, just go talk to Dawn!

We recently moved to the Bay area from Texas and were looking for a good Realtor to help us. Especially since the Bay area market was very different from that you would have in other cities/​states.
We contacted the Dawn Thomas team and we had Lisa Lyon speak to us. She was very knowledgeable about the market and made the whole conversation very pleasant. We decided to go with Lisa and are very glad we did.
Lisa is very patient and easy to work with. She knew what our wish list was but also was good at reminding us that what we would get in Texas is not going to happen here but she will help us find the right happy medium.
Our first weekend home hunting we looked at several homes. One home made us feel like oh this is home. So we decided to put in a offer and after several days of waiting for the sellers our offer was accepted. Lisa made the whole process for us as painless as possible. She was always on top of everything even though she must have so many other clients to work with, she never made us feel we were not a priority.
We are now in our new home and as you have with any old home, we are having the joys of doing minor renovations. Something we said we were would be happy to do to make the home our own.

We decided to entertain the thought of buying a home, after relocating to and renting in the area for three years. We’d rented here and there and that helped narrow the search down but we were still looking in areas we’d never lived so we really needed someone who had a familiarity with the Silicon Valley. In our past housing purchases we were in areas we knew like the backs of our hands and really led the search, but that just wasn’t our situation here. Based upon Unilocal,I emailed a brief intro letter describing our situation to Dawn Thomas. I received a response from her within hours recommending we work with Lisa Lyons.
We’re certainly not the typical Silicon Valley high-​rollers (though of course spent more than our wildest dreams on a home — and we’re from Southern California so it’s not like we aren’t used to higher home values), but we did not feel like we weren’t getting top notch treatment. Lisa was available when we were able to shop. And despite initially stating we could be flexible, in the end I suddenly had a new inflexible job schedule and flaky childcare which meant we not only were occupying weekend time but dragging along two children on every touring.
When it came down to making an offer and then going back and forth and back and forth and back and forth (okay, you get the idea) then the inspections and inspections and quotes and quotes, she was really helpful. There even came a crucial time where my husband was out of the country and I’m at this new job not able to leave so she was finding and meeting inspectors and contractors for us. Including when one cancelled on her the morning of the appointment — she found another who could come. She also helped with some of the more delicate negotiating (meaning the sellers kept wanting more and more and more!) and supporting us when we finally said «No more!» We did not feel pressured to pay more than we wanted, buy something we didn’t want or agree to something we weren’t comfortable with.
She even accompanied to signing the papers at escrow — this was our third home purchase and the first time anyone had done that, the final walk-​through and met us at the new home for the key hand-​off.
We have now been in our new home for 4 months and are still as thrilled as can be.
THANK YOU!

I bought my second home on dec 2012 and I hired Lisa (who works for Dawn Thomas) to represent me. Looking back, I had the most unpleasant and frustrating home buying experience that I could have ever imagined.
Every step of my home buying experience was a disappointment. Lisa only showed me 4 homes, and I immediately felt the pressure from her to buy something right away. When I said, I wanted to stop looking and wait for prices to go down, she told me that prices are just gonna keep going up. This turned out not to be true, because a few months after I signed the sales contract, more homes went up for sale that would have been a better fit for my budget.
But nevertheless, since I already signed the sales contract, I kept my word and moved forward with the sale. In the next few months while my home was being built, I became more and more frustrated with the process. Lisa verbally promised me she was going to be there for me throughout the entire process. But after I signed the sales contract, I was on my own.
They claimed on their website that they know a lot of good contractors. But when I asked Lisa for help to find contractors to fix my other home so I can rent it out, they referred me to someone who charged too much and delivered sub-​standard work. Eventually, I had to find contractors on my own, to fix the damage created by the contractor that Lisa referred.
During the building process of my home, I found myself in a constant battle with the builder. I would find holes on the floor, leaks on the wall and cracked materials. I had to fight my way to get these things fixed. When I asked Lisa for help, she would show up at the site with her IPhone and just send text messages to her other more important clients. She did not seem interested to be there at all.
The close of escrow also became a bad experience. At one point, I asked Lisa to get an extension, because I wanted to visit my friend who was very ill. Lisa’s response to me was that I cannot delay, close of escrow just because I want to go on vacation. Well, I did not plan on my friend getting sick.
The irony of it all, was that close of escrow still got delayed by two weeks, because there were problems with my loan. Lisa went on vacation and left me to handle the close of escrow by myself. Unfortunately, the home inspection
revealed a list of 10 items, that needed to be fixed or addressed, but since Lisa went on vacation, Dawn said she will try to help. But none of the items did get fixed.
Dawn made excuses, by saying that after I signed the sales contract, they are not obligated to help me in anyway. So the question is, why did Lisa say she will help me through the entire process, when she had no intention of doing so? I told them from the very beginning that I was very busy, and I need their help. If they told me in the beginning that I was going to be on my own, I would have never signed that sales contract. I would never have hired Lisa or Dawn to represent me, if I knew they were not willing to do any work themselves.
The bottomline is, I feel that this team only wants you to sign the sales contract as soon as possible and get their commission. They do not understand the concept of working for your client to earn their commission. In the end, I did most of the work by myself. I took so much time off from work to handle the paperwork myself.
The experience was stressful and kept me up at night with worry. What’s even worse is, inspite of all my efforts, Dawn and Lisa pushed the blame on me and told me that it was my fault that things went wrong. They did not want to accept any of the responsibility themselves.
Buying a home should be a happy and fun experience. Unfortunately, The Dawn Thomas team made my experience something I truly regret. I never wish to work with this team again. This team does not have any honesty or integrity. I will never refer them to my friends or coworkers. I hope that no one else out there who worked hard all their lives to save their money in the hopes of buying a home, would ever have to go through the same experience that I had to go through.

My husband and I have worked with Dawn Thomas and Lisa Lyons on a purchase of our new townhouse after having moved to the Bay Area from New York state. We were not first time home buyers but it was our first real estate purchase in California. It turned out that the purchasing process In CA was quite different from what we had experienced in NY so having a professional, knowledgeable and experienced team, like the Dawn Thomas Team, to stand behind us was a huge advantage.
We have seen a ton of homes during our lengthy search for the place that was just right for us and our dog, we even had a signed contract on one of them, that we eventually had to break. Despite everything, Dawn and her team were extremely patient and understanding throughout the search; they always listened and respected our opinion, were willing to coach us through the process and offer advice.
When we finally found what we were looking for, the transaction was not an easy one that we had hoped for — there were multiple issues that had to be smoothed out on the seller side and it required a LOT of negotiations. Dawn and Lisa did an amazing job representing us, negotiating on our behalf and making the transaction as smooth as possible.
It is also really great that they stay abreast with the technology by efficiently doing all document signing electronically, and by keeping up with their online communication channels, like social media outlets, blogs, etc.
Overall, Dawn and Lisa gained our trust by accommodating our needs and protecting our interests during the whole process. We wouldn’t hesitate recommending them to anyone.

Thank you Dawn Thomas team for making our last home sale the most pleasant experience we could have hoped for.
We have been through home transactions before but never thought it could be done in such a smooth and professional manner.
There were no stones unturned, no surprises, nothing forgotten, hidden, or overlooked.
People going through a Real Estate transaction the first time would never know how hard it can be without a team like Dawn Thomas Team.
We thank you so much Dawn for taking this experience to much higher level.

If you are looking for a real estate team that’s professional, dependable, honest, experienced, and able to negotiate, then you might just find all of those in The Dawn Thomas Team. No, they didn’t pay me to say this.
My husband and I purchased a home in Sunnyvale through Dawn Thomas and her team in May and we couldn’t have done it without her or her team.
As first time home buyers, we really didn’t know what we were walking into. So when my husband and I were referred to them by trusted friends, I knew there was something Dawn Thomas and her team can offer.
The Dawn Thomas Team delivered far more than what I could ask for. They walked with my husband and myself from search to sign and made the whole process smooth and easy. All I needed was follow their lead, sign where it’s needed and the rest just followed.
Along the way, we did have some hurdles from outside influences (namely the lender), and the team just took that and really pushed us forward with all the necessary paperwork all the while carrying a professional and positive attitude.
Pros:
1. Over 25 years of real estate and negotiating experience
2. Deep knowledge of the real estate in the Santa Clara County
3. Honest — she will tell you her honest professional opinion, if you ask
4. She won’t waste your time on houses that are definitely not on your hit list
5. All of her references that we’ve used have performed above and beyond my expectations
Cons:
1. Another reviewer on Unilocal!said that she is and works like a Type A, so if you’re a Type B, it may not work. I would have to agree.
In summary, I am so glad that we had The Dawn Thomas team on my side.

When I decided to look into buying my first home, I asked a couple of friends who had bought places I liked and a good friend recommended Dawn Thomas with true enthusiasm. So I met with her and she impressed me with her professionalism and thoroughness. She asked insightful questions, gave me direct answers to my questions and had helpful resources to guide me through this very complicated process.
I was buying a place with the assistance of my parents who live in Texas and she dealt with this added complication without batting an eye. She even met me at the hospital I work at when i couldn’t get away to sign my first offer. When things got a little hairy with that contract, Dawn stood by me and provided much appreciated guidance. And lucky for me, I ended up in a place I love even better!
Dawn’s team is fantastic and just as responsive and professional as she is. And if you need referrals for any service related to home buying or home ownership, from a mortgage broker to a electrician to a locksmith she has someone she knows and trusts. I would absolutely recommend Dawn and her team to any friends that are looking for a realtor to either buy or sell their home.