Melanie Smith & Dieter Hartmann

Melanie and Dieter helped us buy our first home in Redwood City. It was a very challenging market and we had a very tight deadline and budget. They helped us every step of the way and went above and beyond to find us the perfect house. They make a great team and provide very balanced and well-​rounded insights into potential homes, neighborhoods, sellers, and prices. Definitely recommend them to any potential buyers in the Bay Area!

Dieter and Melanie helped us purchase our first house in San Carlos six years ago, then helped us upgrade to a new home this past year. Two purchases and a sale later we can honestly say we wouldn’t consider working with another agent.
We initially met them as first time buyers — and they did a great job educating us on the process, familiarizing us with neighborhoods that fit our criteria, what to look for in disclosures, and ultimately walking us comfortably through the bidding and closing process.
We kept in touch for six years and pinged them often about the market, for advice on home improvement, and referrals for handypersons. When we were ready to upgrade last year, they prepared us thoroughly for a much more competitive market. My wife and I were much more picky this time, but Dieter and Melanie were patient and 100% supportive of us through a full year of open houses (40 or so?), four failed bids, but finally an exciting pre-​emptive offer that went through successfully. They really hustled in this crazy competitive market to make us successful buyers. Then they turned around and worked their butts off to get our old house sold within six weeks of the purchase of our new home. Can’t say enough about how much confidence they gave us through it all.
Unlike other «big» realtors, they don’t pass you off to assistants — they are personally there every step of the way. If you want a great track record, personal attention, and a great feel for the mid-​Peninsula market… you should definitely consider Dieter and Melanie!

First met Melanie Smith at an open house around the corner from our home on Carmelita Drive… and she was probably the first real estate I’ve ever met who blatantly insulted a potential buyer, making a snotty remark about «which side of Carmelita» I lived on. Also, she completely ignored us as we entered the home (which was not crowed in the least at the time) and then suggested that «she didn’t see us walk in.»
For all Melanie knew, I had a number of friends/​relatives with suitcases full of cash who couldn’t wait to get into a home in San Carlos… but unfortunately, she is the last person I would ever recommend they do business with.
«Be not inhospitable to strangers lest they be angels in disguise.»

As first time home buyers in a challenging market, Melanie & Dieter got us up to speed and well positioned to make a purchase. They let us go at our own pace and were thorough in their analysis of the market and the individual homes we viewed. They’ were good at identifying the ‘pigs with lipstick on’ as well as the homes with a lot of upside potential. If there was an item at a home that made them a little uneasy they knew the right person to ask for a second opinion. They were very respectful of our preferences and never tried to push boundaries even as our search continued for many months. When we found homes we were very interested in they struck the right balance between encouragement and caution to make sure we were making a well-​informed decision. Working with such a strong team gave us confidence in our decision and I don’t think I can overstate how important that is for such a large commitment.
We’re moving into our home with the expectation that we’ll be there for a great long while but if anything were to change and we were to find ourselves in the market again, we’d definitely go back to Melanie & Dieter.

Thank you for doing such a fantastic job, searching, locating and negotiating our home purchase. Your help and guidance has been greatly appreciated. We are all very excited!

We recently bought our first home with help from Dieter & Melanie, and can’t recommend them enough! We had been living in the Bay Area for about a year, & always knew we wanted to buy. Tough market to buy in, but we weren’t deterred. Had friends and relatives in the area & knew roughly where we wanted to look, but didn’t have a realtor connection. Before asking colleagues & others, we headed to Unilocal.
You never know if a good review will translate to as good of an experience for yourself, but after sorting through some mid-​Peninsula realtors we came across Dieter & Melanie’s great reviews and gave them a shot. (Truth is, we actually had a phone convo with another highly-​rated Unilocal agent & it was just ok.) We liked the fact that a married couple would be helping us (a young married couple). Seemed logical.
Initially, I met with Dieter & Melanie while my wife was out of town — a test run of sorts. They were really friendly, super knowledgeable, & not pushy. Was a mutual interview, really. I wanted to see if I felt comfortable with them, & they wanted to make sure they could serve our needs. Best reality of working with them is you get two opinions. Sometimes the exact same, sometimes a little different, but really makes you feel like it’s genuine advice vs a realtor telling you whatever it takes to close a deal & move on.
The whole process only ended up taking about a month before we closed on our house, but the entire experience was awesome. Truly a fun time. Dieter & Melanie bring a lot of personality to the table, & make you feel super comfortable. From the first open house road trip we went on, we always trusted them completely to find worthwhile properties, provide solid advice, & make the experience really productive & efficient. When it came to making an offer & eventually closing, they walked us through every step & always had every document diligently prepared for us. Actually shockingly light-​lifting for our first home purchase. Dieter & Melanie also worked directly with our third-​party mortgage broker, which really made our lives easy.
We ended up in a great house in a great neighborhood, in what was actually an area that we hadn’t known about (but Dieter & Melanie were very confident would be a good fit & a solid investment). We knew from day one that we were going after a home requiring a bit of fixing, & Dieter connected us with all of his recommended contractors (paint, electrical, floors) & managed our work schedule. Above & beyond!
That’s really it. USE THEM, USE THEM! You won’t regret it — unless you’re really intense or hate sound advice, in which case that’s too bad. But Dieter & Melanie are a fantastic team, & made our house search a perfect experience. Tell them Dave & Sali say hi!

Absolutely LOVED Melanie & Dieter. Highly, highly recommend. They go well above and beyond. Very knowledgeable about all aspects of a home and the selling/​buying process and all the documentation associated. They also have an extensive network of professional service contacts (gc’s, architects, electricians, designers, inspectors, etc.) that they made available to us whenever we had questions. Never pushed, always facilitated and frequently got us into homes in advance of open house days.

We met Dieter and Melanie upon a recommendation from a work colleague, who had a good experience with them in the past. We ended up going with them for our house purchase, and without reservation we are very happy with our experience.
Here are some of the highlights:
1. Great patience with us as first-​time buyers. We had no idea what we were doing, but they never minded to stop, slow down, and explain what was going on. This was very helpful in the intimidating home buying process.
2. Decades of experience with neighborhoods in the Peninsula. Even when we were looking outside of their area of immediate focus, Melanie and Dieter knew the neighborhoods very well.
3. A great eye for value and worth of different properties. They were willing to give us the benefit of their experience in terms of what they thought a house was worth. No sugar-​coating or hard sales job.
4. Tremendous detective work and hard bargaining for their clients. We found (and ended up buying) a property that had been sitting on the market for months. We liked it, but thought the price was too high. Also, some permitting issues were strange (and probably scared off other potential buyers). Dieter put in many hours of effort digging through permits at the city. They put together a great negotiating strategy based on this information that netted us the house for FAR below the asking price.
In short, Melanie and Dieter worked hard for us and always had our interests in mind. We will definitely be recommending them to all of our colleagues and friends who are looking to buy!

We first met Melanie and Dieter when they were representing a house we purchased in Redwood City. It was a last minute rush to get our offer in, and they played it very cool with multiple offers and got every last penny for their seller. They had comprehensive and accurate disclosures and reports, so we felt confident about what we were bidding on.
When we decided to move, we wanted to work with them. Finding the house we purchased took a very long time; we had very specific goals, and there weren’t many houses on the market that achieved them. There were a couple of houses that we offered on, and we are very grateful that M&D insisted we not overspend on houses just because we hadn’t seen much.
When we did finally find the house, they helped us move extremely fast to see it, offer, and had very qualified people lined up for the inspections.
Fortunately we were able to make the purchase without first selling our existing home, but as it turns out that happened pretty fast also. We sold at the bottom of the market, which is always painful, but we were able to get the house listed, sold, and closed in about 60 days, so didn’t have two mortgages to pay.
Over the years they have been very kind and helpful finding different types of contractors for different projects, and if we ever do move out of our dream home, we will look to them for help.

Lest anyone think this is a random review and my experience limited to a single transaction, my husband and I have been involved in multiple transactions with Melanie & Dieter. Some tortured (because of circumstance or seller) and some, like buttah. But every time, things went as well as they did because of the expertise Melanie & Dieter.
Within their real estate partnership they generally fulfill different roles. Melanie is «front woman», energetic and affable, obviously enjoying people. Dieter’s a bit quieter and mans all things technology — website, photos, virtual tours, advertising, and project management when a house needs a little rehab. Make no mistake, they can both do either, easily. They default to what they’re best at and enjoy most, but they aren’t limited in any way.
I’ve referred friends/​colleagues to them over time. I’ve noticed on occasion that a referral’s communication style seems better suited to Dieter over Melanie, or vice-​versa. But not before the agents have noted the same thing. They reverse roles in a heart beat to foster relationship, maintain client ease, and most of all, sustain clean and clear communication with clients.
The intake questions they asked of my husband and me when we did our first deal together were brilliant. Bottom line — they wanted to know whether I was ready to sell a home where I raised my son alone, and where we’d said good-​bye to his father. The house screamed with memories of nearly 20 years. It was a valid question and had me ask myself the same. The answer was a resounding yes. Time to move on. There it was said! Out loud. And they were best possible partners with us. They don’t dodge the hard questions, whether asking or answering.
We live in a home they sold us. It was a mess. We ran from it. Again and again they pointed out its possibilities, reminding us of what was underneath, shining a light on what it offered. We held our noses and took the plunge. Now I live in heaven. We tell everyone the story of how we yelled (yelled, I say) at Melanie for bringing us here and showing us this folly.
Net/​net: Professional, knowledgeable, skilled, results oriented, likable, above all – ethical. I’d be hard pressed to find two other people like them in any profession, let alone real estate. Really – if you’re thinking about selling or buying, at least go meet them. You won’t be disappointed.