I can’t say enough good things about Mary. She helped us find our dream home and went to great lengths to assist us in our search. Her many years of experience served us well and her familiarity with many different areas helped us narrow down our search area. She was kind enough to go traipsing through the Santa Cruz mountains with us and up to Woodside as well before settling on San Jose. She was very patient with us and didn’t pressure us into a home, location or price range. She supported us from start to finish and when we eventually sell our house, we will call Mary!
Shannon Cath
Sold a single family home in 2016
July 2016, 5/5 star Google+ review
Mary Pope-Handy is a responsive, knowledgeable, and thorough real estate agent with a keen sense of the market and strong industry contacts. As a second-generation real estate agent, buying and selling homes is literally in her blood. As a result, she has extensive knowledge of the area and really knows what she is doing, and how to get things done.
We have known Mary for more than 10 years and have just completed our fourth transaction with her: two home purchases and two home sales. Both sales generated multiple bids, and this last transaction, the sale of our home, was conducted while we are living overseas. We are again thrilled with her excellent service, guidance, pricing recommendations, and of course, the closing price.
We are very particular with our service providers and do not give praise or recommendation lightly. Giving someone our repeat business means we have received impeccable service. Mary is truly in a class above the rest and we look forward to engaging her the next time we buy or sell a home.
Elisa Bartolo
Sold a Single Family home in 2016 for approximately $2.0M in Saratoga, CA.
3/10/2016, 5/5 star Yelp review and Zillow review
We recently decided to move out of the Bay Area and were lucky to choose Mary to help sell our house in Los Gatos. We were juggling the closing of our next house too which made the timing more critical. Mary helped us through the process and made sure it was an amazingly quick and smooth process. We ended up accepting a competitive offer from a great family, and Mary really exceeded our expectations in helping generate interest and juggling multiple offers. Would happily recommend Mary to friends looking to purchase or sell!
Sold a Single Family home in 2016 for approximately $1.825M in Los Gatos, CA.
4/25/2016, 5/5 star review on Zillow
How to buy a home with good schools:
1: Save for down payment
2: Call Debi Merchain to get pre-qualified (she works with Mary)
3: Call Mary
4: Get pre-approved with Debi
That’s it! Mary will take care of you the rest of the way.
We found Mary when I googled for “living in Los Gatos”. Mary’s blog popped up on pg 1. If you visit it, you’ll find deep insights into the area’s housing market. Every question you have has probably been answered in one of her articles. Mary specializes in Los Gatos, Saratoga, Cambrian, Campbell, Almaden & San Jose.
What it’s like to work with her? First you call, then you meet up. It’s a good idea to have your pre-qual ready for the 1st meeting, so you know your budget. We picked Debi as our lender because she works in the same office (Sereno Los Gatos – see why that’s important below). I called Debi in the morning & met Mary in the afternoon. When we met Mary, she already had my pre-qual from Debi. After Mary, Debi dropped by to start our pre-approval. It was nice to do everything in one place because we have kids.
Anyway, if you think Mary is cool & she thinks you’re cool, shake hands & the hunt is on! You visit open houses as usual, but with Mary like your guardian angel. She points out things you never noticed. She gives you insights for each house, the neighborhoods & the market. When we visited houses without her, we emailed her the address & she would reply with her thoughts. If we said we were serious, she would zoom to the house, then send us a detailed review.
Soon, you’ll fall in love with a house. And it is in the “making an offer” stage where Mary’s strengths shine. As you know, being a buyer sucks here. It’s always a multi-buyer scenario, houses go fast, prices are crazy, you compete with cash buyers, etc – so you need every advantage to win.
So how do you make the sweetest offer possible? Put yourself in the seller’s shoes: you want 1) as much $ as you can get, 2) smooth/fast transaction, and 3) some guarantee the sale will close. Of course, there’s 4) wildcard of a good letter, but usually the first 3 things must be there before your letter matters.
Here’s how Mary & her team help with the 4 items above:
1) To know what to offer, you need a good estimate of how much the house will sell for. I call Mary our “oracle” because she’s been at this since 1993. Her mother was a Los Gatos realtor too. She knows it inside & out, and you can see from her blogs – she’s all about facts & research.
2) Mary’s Sereno group is a one-stop-shop. Everyone trusts each other to meet tight deadlines with no surprises. There were times we couldn’t catch Debi, and Mary could just walk to Debi’s desk. You need speed in the Bay. We made offers where the deadline was 2-3 days after the open house. Mary worked her butt off & they went smoothly; no drama. As a plus, the bank Sereno works with owns the appraisal company. So you get good appraisers for your loan, which helps with 3) below
3) The most attractive offer you can make has 0 contingencies. This reassures the seller your deal will go through, because you have skin in the game. And the #1 contingency is appraisal contingency. Because in a market where buyers bid above list price, it’s hard for the seller to trust the highest offer if it has appraisal contingency. But, it’s the riskiest contingency for buyers (especially 20%-down buyers), because you need more cash if the house appraises low. To manage this risk, you need a special agent who can accurately appraise home value. The less cash you have, the less room for error. Estimate wrong & 1) you won’t have cash to close the deal & goodbye 3% deposit or 2) you pay too much. As a testament to Mary’s accuracy, we won with a no-appraisal-contingency offer above list price & the appraiser had no trouble valuing the house at exactly the amount we offered.
4) Mary has been in the biz so long, it’s like she has eyes/ears all over town. She sniffed out things like how desperate a couple may be because of the offers they’ve lost; she knows how different agents (your competition) like to work, etc. Any info Mary can ethically get to swing the odds in your favor, she does.
As a bonus, Mary has a rep for being honest & nice to work with. Because of that, you might notice sellers root for you & try to help you win because they prefer working with Team Mary. And Mary is well-connected in her ‘hood. For instance, the agent we bought from used to work with Mary’s mother!
Anyway, if you’ve read this far, why not give Mary a call? Buying our first home was a rollercoaster. It was scary at first, but then we found Mary. Now we agree there’s no way we could’ve gotten the same result without her – it would’ve been like fishing in the dark with sharks, & we would have gotten less for our $.
But thanks to her, it was a pleasant adventure & I’m now writing from our home sweet home. We don’t know how long we’ll be here. But one thing’s for sure: when it’s time to sell our home, we’ll call Mary!
Aaron N
Bought a Single Family home in 2015 for approximately $1.35M in Cambrian Park, San Jose, CA.
9/11/2015, 5/5 star Yelp review and Zillow review
Mary is just fantastic. She has an intimate knowledge of the market in the south bay and individual neighborhoods specially in the Cambrian and Los Gatos areas. She also blogs frequently about real estate trends and new developments in the area.
She helped us buy our first home. She was dedicated to make sure we find the right house, but we never felt being pushed into a deal. She is extremely responsive, very detailed oriented, and very friendly and great to work with.
Sarah B
Bought a Single Family home in 2015 for approximately $1.825M in Los Gatos, CA.
12/22/2015, 5/5 star Yelp review and Zillow review
Mary helped us buy our home in Los Gatos and was incredibly helpful and resourceful each and every step of the way. Having moved from Canada earlier this year, we were completely new to the buying process in CA. We certainly could not have found the right home so quickly without her guidance. She is highly knowledgeable about the local real estate market and guided us through the entire process.
Mary is an amazing agent who provided us all the support we needed and more! She is extremely knowledgeable, responsive, patient, a great negotiator and very well respected in the community. She made the buying process much simpler and helped meet all of our requirements (school, commute, budget, community).
In addition to being a highly experienced agent she is also an amazing person to work with – always friendly, extremely honest and open, informative and very quick to respond. I don’t have enough words to describe just happy we have been with Mary as our agent, she is simply incredible. I would highly recommend Mary to any buyer or seller!
Bought a home in 2015 in Vasona Junction, Los Gatos, CA 95032.
10/19/2015, 5/5 star review on Zillow
It doesn’t get any better than Mary Pope-Handy!! She was my agent when I bought my house 20+ years ago & I wouldn’t even consider using another agent when I was ready to sell!! She was very patient with me, extremely knowledgable about the market & with the process, as well as extremely honest & ethical. She was willing to work with me on my terms & always told me what to expect & when.
Katie Rall
Sold a Single Family home in 2015 for approximately $1.1M in Cambrian Park, San Jose, CA.
1/14/2016, 5/5 star Yelp review and 12/24/2015, 5/5 star Zillow review
From my time real estate blogging, I know a lot of real estate agents.
Mary helped me sell my house in Sunnyvale just a few weeks ago. I got a higher price than I was expecting and the transaction was indescribably smooth.
You can’t put all the things she does on the back of a business card. There were literally 50 or 60 things that seem minor, but are really the gears and oil that move the engine.
Simply put, she improves everyone in the transaction: buyer and seller become more stable, the other agent benefits from her experience and connections, escrow gets the details perfect the first time, and (of course) she gets prospects in the door.
Don’t let the number of Yelp reviews here fool you. She has 5-star clients all over Silicon Valley. So she knows the market segments inside and out.
And best of all, she makes it look so easy.
Steven L
4/13/2015, 5/5 star Yelp review
Mary is an amazing realtor. She is very knowledgable and will not steer you wrong. We have bought and sold with Mary 5 times. She always did what was in our best interest and was very patient when we were stressed out. You won’t regret going with Mary for you real estate needs.
Kelly B
4/21/2015, 5/5 star Yelp review
Mary did a very good job of working with me and my wife to sell our home. This was a remote sale, so was a bit of a challenge for all. Mary was extremely helpful in walking us through all the paperwork and making sure that our sale went smoothly. i would highly recommend her.
Rick S.
Sold a Single Family home in 2015 for approximately $875K in Cambrian Park, San Jose, CA.
10/13/2015, 4/5 star Yelp review and 5/5 star Zillow review
Mary has helped us sell two homes and buy one. She is a highly professional realtor. For me one of the highest recommendations that I can give is that she does what she says she will do. She is easy to work with and kept us informed every step of the way. You will not go wrong if you choose her to help you buy or sell a house.
Ruth C.
4/29/2015, 5/5 star Yelp review
Mary is no doubt the best realtor! She is extremely knowledgeable and professional, and also well connected in the real estate industry. She helped us get our dream home in the multiple offer situation a few months ago. She guided us through every step of the process and was always willing to make extra efforts to ensure smooth transaction. Besides being a true professional, she is also the nicest, most considerate, giving and loving person! I highly recommend Mary!
Lin W.
4/12/2015, 5/5 star Yelp review
I have had the pleasure of working with Mary for many years. She is one of the sweetest & honest realtors I know. She knows the real estate market inside & out & she has always been “on top of her game”. I highly recommend Mary for any real estate transaction you might be considering.
Duane S.
1/14/2010, 5/5 star Yelp review
Mary Pope Handy was an amazing real estate agent!! I found her at random on the internet and contacted her to help me buy my first home. She was incredibly friendly, knowledgeable, and professional. Mary guided me through the home buying experience and answered every (sometimes dumb) question I had along the way. She really made the experience manageable and helped me to buy a wonderful home. I would recommend Mary as a realtor without question.
Tanya B.
1/7/2010, 5/5 star Yelp review
Mary helped us purchase our first home 15 years ago. After enjoying that home for many years, we were ready to upgrade. Mary helped us find and purchase our new home, as well as sell our original starter home.
Mary is very professional. Her knowledge of areas and the market really helped us. We had an extensive wish list, which Mary understood, and helped prioritize. We did compromise on a few details, but we love our new home, and wouldn’t have found it without Mary’s help.
Wendy Garrison
Sold a Single Family home in 2012 for approximately $1.35M in Almaden Valley, San Jose, CA.
5/27/2014, 5/5 star review on Zillow
Mary has helped us through multiple transactions, both as Buyers and Sellers, since we bought our first home in 2002. She’s been amazing every single time. Most recently we sold our house in Feb/Mar of 2015 in San Jose, and she guided us smoothly through the transaction, which was a little bumpy due to some issues on the buyer’s side. I cannot recommend her enough! She’s simply incredible. She’s incredibly responsive (She must sleep with her cell phone!) as well as being more than willing to answer questions even when we weren’t active clients.
Kylar
Sold a Single Family home in 2015 for approximately $675K in Santa Teresa, San Jose, CA.
3/12/2015, 5/5 star review on Zillow
Mary is the best agent I have ever worked with. She is honest, and willing to go that extra step to make sure your transaction goes through smoothly. She is also very easy to work with. I highly recommend her for both buying and selling a home.
We just sold our second home with Mary and, again, I highly recommend her. She is very professional and is so easy to work with. She does what she says she will do, which means a lot to me. She is also an exceptionally nice person. You can’t go wrong choosing her to buy or sell a home.
Sold a Single Family home in 2015 for approximately $825K in Downtown, San Jose, CA.
5/27/2014, 5/5 star review on Zillow
I had the great pleasure and fortunate luck to have Mary Pope-Handy as my agent to represent me in selling my townhome is South San Jose (95123). I had interiewed 4 agents prior to meeting Mary. A very good friend of mine heard that I was disappointed in the agents I had interviewed and he suggested that I meet with Mary.
I was so impressed with her upon our initial meeting that I signed with her on the spot. She was so prepared, knowledgeable, experienced and personable. This is a killer combination in my book in an agent.
She did a wonderful job representing me and looking out for my interests. Her expertise and experience sold my home very quickly and was prepared to solve any hiccups that came our way.
My house closed on April 1st…no joke and I was able to move to the next step in my life. When I decide to purchase my next home, I have Mary on speed dial. I also consider Mary not only my agent but my friend.
Side note: Ann O’Farrell is also a peach and they work flawlessly together.
Thank you Mary Pope-Handy.
Sincerely,
Sheila Galuppo
Sheila Galuppo – Seller
San Jose (Blossom Valley) April 2014
Mary sold my Los Gatos house recently within a short time. Her selling approach was much more organized, thorough and realistic than other agents I talked to. She possesses in depth local knowledge, is honest, sincere and hard working. Her communications were precise,responses were swift and always prompt at meeting times. If you are looking for a trustful, knowledgeable and thorough agent, Mary is the one. I highly recommend Mary Pope-Handy.
(High end sale at appx $2.525 million in late 2013)
Scott C.
Los Gatos (fall 2013)
Mary was my realtor helping me to purchase my home in Cambrian in 2012. Mary started off the process by assessing my likes and needs for my new home, then she gave me an enormous overview of the current market situation which showed her in-depth knowledge and expertise. She makes sure that you as a buyer understand the home buying process and know what to expect. No surprises. What I really appreciated most was Mary’s honesty and sharing her expertise when looking at houses on the market. Mary made the whole house buying experience very smooth and enjoyable. She truly cares about her clients, manages the whole process extremely professionally and is a true real estate expert.
5/27/2014, 5/5 star review on Zillow
We have had the experience of worked with Mary in both buying and selling our house in Almaden (buying in 2008 and selling in 2010). From our first meeting with her when selecting buyer’s agent we were both impressed on her knowledge, experience, dedication and personality. She was able to help us finding our house in excellent location, great schools, community and right style. After our relocation back to Europe she helped to sell our house in challenging market situation. She helped us with staging of the house, gardener, inspections, title company while we where 10 hours away of her on a different timezone. Based on our experience we can strongly recommend her as experienced, professional, dedicated agent who knows the market very well. We have had a pleasure to learn to know and work with her!
closed Jan 2011
Harri and Sanna-Riikka
San Jose (Almaden Vally – Cambrian Park)
We were very fortunate to have worked with Mary. Her knowledge, experience, and lots of patience helped us find our dream home.
Our house buying experience was quite unique on more than one count. First of all, we were looking for something, we thought, did not exist. Location, age, condition, schools, and the right price were our must-have requirements. To make things even more interesting, the house we had been waiting for came on the market 7 days prior to our well planned (and pre-paid) vacation to New Zealand. When we decided to make an offer, we were ready to cancel our trip and concentrate on the purchase. However, Mary convinced us that we can manage to do both. She was right! With Mary’s GREAT help we got all the inspections done within few days and signed all the paperwork electronically from New Zealand. I think my favorite part of this experience was using a public computer at one of NZ airports to sign contingency removals 🙂 Given our remote location, we had to do a lot of correspondence via email. Mary would always reply right away with thorough responses, suggestions, useful information, and different options for us to consider.
We definitely recommend Mary as a Real Estate agent. She knows the market really well, she is very polite, very punctual, and always a pleasure to work with!
Leo & Anna
San Jose (Cambrian – Almaden)
My sister, my brother, and I appreciated all your efforts and hard work in selling our mother’s house. You performed above and beyond all expectations. Your knowledge, professionalism, and dedication, along with your hard work, resulted in the timely sale of our mother’s house. You were also present and available every step of the way during the process. We could not have accomplished the sale without your help and the efforts of your assistant, Martha. We enjoyed working with you both very much throughout this process. Thank you, again, from our family.
closed 2012
Donna A.
San Jose (central – downtown)
Over several years Mary sold three of my rental homes in San Jose, California. They were all 1031 exchanges that are, as we know, considerably more complicated transactions than normal ones. With her support and knowledge on my side all three went through smoothly. I would recommend Mary’s services to anyone. She has a warm personality, is a hard worker, and exceeded my hopes and expectations every time.
Karen Scarvie
Sold a Single Family home in 2004 for approximately $550K in Blossom Valley, San Jose, CA.
1/14/2011, 5/5 star review on Zillow
I spent a couple of years following the real estate market, interviewed several realtors and evaluated multiple models before I found and chose Mary. Her personality, communication, solid execution and depth of experience were the main deciding factor. I knew first about Mary through her website, later when I was ready, we met in person. There is an incredible wealth of available information in her website and blog. Technology is part of our lives, note that in the past I met with Redfin, consider other think forward means. Through my eyes the future of a real estate agent is the aggregation of knowledge that he or she possess, relationship with their clients and partners combined with use of emerging technologies opportunities can be accelerated, in some cases is a competitive advantage or necessity. My pace was her pace, my communication was her communication, we became a seamless integrated team covering the full spectrum. Mary’s passion, technology savvy, commitment to her clients is visible in every action, from offer strategy through post closing. If I can say one word to describe Mary is “experience”, she delivered the experience in every step to ensure our mutual success. The end result is that I purchased my first home, first offer with my first realtor on a short sale property. Mary, thank you again for what you have done, forever will be a profound impact in my life.
Wilson A.
San Jose (Cambrian Park)
My husband and I started looking for a home in Los Gatos while living in Marin County. I had never been to Los Gatos or the surrounding areas and knew that we needed help from a realtor who not only worked in town, but lived there as well.
I found Mary’s website and contacted her after seeing how incredibly in-depth her website is. She was able to identify our needs right away so we were able to eliminate several towns and hone in on what we wanted in a neighborhood and home.
Mary’s knowledge of the market in Los Gatos was extremely helpful in our process of choosing which homes to make offers on and which ones to pass over.
We actually had our heart set on one home because of its location close to downtown, but as soon as Mary saw it she said that the floor plan was awful and didn’t suit our needs as a family. And she was right!
Mary was always available via cell or Blackberry and we always felt that she was providing us with 100% of her time.
We eventually found another home in a great location and Mary was with us through the entire process. She is a very knowledgeable agent and truly listened to our needs and desires and tried to provide everything within her power.
Mary’s relationship with us did not end with the close of the transaction. She has stayed in contact with us and has helped recoup money from the seller’s when it was realized that they didn’t disclose everything on the deal. She has generously given us information about Los Gatos and even provided tickets for our children to attend the annual St. Mary’s Fair.
We feel very fortunate to have had Mary as our agent and would hire her again in a second.
Lori & family – relocating homebuyers
Los Gatos
“Now, with a few months behind the sale of our home and move, we’ve had time to realize how valuable and what a pleasure it was to have you at our side. We have sold five homes over the years and, in our experience, your reliability, professionalism, information tools use, and knowledge are the highest. In addition to these, your personal care for our family and the transitions involved in moving only deepened our confidence in you. You can be certain that we would call upon you again. Please feel free to have any person considering your representation call me.”
Martin & Lorraine – relocating home sellers
Los Gatos
“We met Mary by responding to one of her many marketing campaigns. She came out and gave us some good direction on the market and home values in our area with no pressure at all. Mary continued to stay in touch with us for the next few years, providing us valuable real estate info through e-mail and her newsletter. We finally had everything in place to relocate and Mary was great to work with through the entire process. She was there when we needed her but did not bother us needlessly. She took on all of the coordination and management of the sales process. I find Mary to be a bright, ethical, and knowledgeable real estate agent and enthusiastically endorse her to others.”
Summer 2007 (Sold locally in Cambrian Park neighborhood of San Jose, closed long-distance)
Jennifer & Dave – sold with Mary Pope-Handy
San Jose – Cambrian Park area
We turned to Mary to help us buy our first home. We met her at an open house of another property, and she made such an excellent impression on us – both professionally and personally – that after talking with her for a while we decided to work with her. We did not regret this decision.
Mary is very experienced, and she knew exactly what are the main issues we need to pay attention to. As first time buyers, we definitely needed all the help we could get. She explained every process in detail, was always available for communication (even very early mornings/late nights), and always with a lot of patience. Her advice helped us save thousands of dollars!
Mary is such a nice person, and we felt like we’re going through this process with a friend, not with an “agent”. We really could see she has our best interests in mind. We would definitely turn to Mary next time, and we recommend her whole-heartedly to our friends and family.
(We viewed houses in the San Jose district known as Cambrian Park, and they selected one to purchase near the Los Gatos border.)
Buyer Couple (prefer to not disclose names)
San Jose (Cambrian Park)
“Mary’s knowledge of the San Jose market for both buying and selling really paid off for my wife & I. We were only in San Jose for 1 1/2 years, but was able to find a home for purchase with Mary’s help, and then was able to sell the home in 6 days–unbelieveable!!!. We sold the home due to my job being restructured, thus we returned to Colorado. I can’t say enough about Mary’s knowledge, competency and ability to react quickly.”
Bought fall of 2005, Sold in early 2007 (as buyers, we considered Silicon Valley real estate all over the 85 corridor, from South San Jose and Santa Teresa to the Blossom Valley areas of San Jose)
(When they purchased, we viewed all kinds of San Jose and Silicon Valley real estate, including houses and townhomes in these districts: Evergreen, South San Jose, Blossom Valley, Cambrian Park.)
Ernie & Phoebe (long distance buy/sell)
San Jose (Blossom Valley)
“Ms. Mary Pope-Handy acted as a buyer agent for us. She worked closely with my family for over four months, and finally she found a house that my wife loves!
“Mary is an outstanding Real Estate professional. We bought our fifth house. By far, she was the best, the very best I have ever seen. She is prompt, diligent, courteous, considerate, has an in-depth knowledge of real estate market, and its trends, has an impeccable integrity, and a great memory and is very thorough when it comes to details.
“I have witnessed the above characteristics in her while she was helping us buy our last house in Alamaden Valley. I will definitely ask for her guidance again.”
Dr. Shahin Gerami, SJSU Faculty
Manoucher Brahman, Retired VP February, 08,2007 (We viewed real estate all over Silicon Valley, including Campbell homes, Cambrian Park houses, Almaden Valley neighborhoods, and Los Gatos single family homes.)
Shahin & Manoucher
San Jose (Almaden Valley)
“Mary Pope-Handy helped me thru an emotional sale. I was forced to sell my home this summer and she was very supportive thru a long remodeling process and then through the sale. She was always there to give advice on changes that I was contemplating, and I must give her credit since the house sold for asking price in only three weeks!
Mary often anticipated my questions, especially during the closing process and kept me informed of everything that was going on every step of the way. I would have no problem recommending Mary as a selling agent. I think she did an outstanding job!”
November 2006 (This is a funny pocket of Silicon Valley real estate as it’s on the border of west San Jose and Campbell)
Steve (sold long-distance)
San Jose (Campbell border)
“We recently sold a home with Mary Pope-Handy. We learned from her how she approached real estate, her ethics, and the type of clients she preferred to work with. We would highly recommend Mary Pope-Handy to anyone looking for a competent, hard working agent (and who isn’t?). We started the transaction as agent/client, and have ended up friends.”
*Shirley & Bob just sold a second home with me in Scotts Valley and were happy to have their earlier endorsement repeated here. As Bob said to me recently, “The biggest endorsement is that we hired you again!” -November 2006
Robert & Shirley – hired Mary Pope-Handy twice
San Jose (Cambrian), Scotts Valley
Mary is the best agent we have ever had! We have bought and sold homes in four different states, and this transaction was one of the best. Mary is very easy to work with, she is very professional and, most of all, she does what she says she is going to do! Actually, she goes beyond that because she makes sure that everything gets done correctly (even things that are the responsibility of the other agent). We have the highest regard for Mary, both as a great person and as a wonderful Realtor.
(These clients first sold their house in downtown San Jose’s Vendome area, which is near Japantown, and later purchased another home not too far away in the Japantown district of downtown San Jose. We viewed properties in other parts of Silicon Valley too, including the Shasta-Hanchett area.)
Ruth & Michael – hired Silicon Valley Realtor Mary Pope-Handy twice
San Jose (downtown, Vendome)
We’ve lived in the bay area for over 8 years and had previously considering purchasing a home but being first time home buyers we had been tentative and uncomfortable with the process. We found Mary on the web and initially corresponded via email. We were very pleased with her quick, honest and informative responses that we took the next step and decided to meet Mary in person. The initial meeting went very well and we were impressed with Mary’s knowledge and helpful advise especially with location, schools and our children’s safety. Once Mary had an idea of what we were looking for she was willing to preview houses for us and even considered things that we may not have thought to look for. We found a great home in Blossom Valley and Mary was present and willing to answer questions every step of the way. She scheduled inspectors and waited for the inspectors for us to minimize our time away from work. Mary was always available by phone or email and still now, 3 weeks after we have moved in, she remains in contact with us and offers her help as we become accustomed to being home owners. We never felt pressured or as if we were just clients to her. She is personable, honest and caring and we’re confident that she saved us money at every phase of the process. We could see her genuine happiness for us when we closed on the home and we highly recommend using her to buy or sell a home.
(We viewed homes in various areas of San Jose, but the part of Silicon Valley they liked best was close to the foothills and we found them a great home with a huge lot on a nice cul-de-sac in the Santa Teresa and Blossom Valley areas.)
The Nunes Family – 2006
San Jose (Blossom Valley/Santa Teresa)
My wife and I live in San Jose, and lived in an apartment after we were married. When we decided to buy a house (this would be in the spring of 2002), a friend of ours recommended Mary to us. We didn’t have a clue how to start, but Mary guided us through from the very beginning, that we should get approved for a loan first and the like. Then she traipsed all over the county, looking at houses for us, and wasn’t afraid to tell us when a house probably wouldn’t be a good idea, suggestions on neighborhoods, distances to the freeway, school districts and pretty much everything. Once we did find a house(May/June of 2002), she again stepped us through every bit of the process, the complete home inspection, the warranty, everything.
She also was constantly available, email and cell phone to answer any questions we had, and especially to reassure us. She also was very very flexible as to when she could help (since I was usually not available till after 5pm, or on the weekends.)
Then this past summer (2005) we sold our first house and bought another, and she was even better. The person who bought our house used a real estate agent who had just gotten his license, and often he wasn’t sure or didn’t understand the processes and documents, and Mary had to guide him AND us through the whole thing, but it ended up fine thanks to her hard work (and the other agent didn’t do much, so she had a lot more work than she probably should have had.)
Then buying our current house this summer: the sellers were a pain. They didn’t want to do the little things to make it easy, they only offered a small commission, and other issues. Mary was the one who dealt with all the little inconveniences to make it easy – even running all the way to our house several times to get documents signed and out as quickly as possible.
And here’s one last thing: When we moved in, there were some holes in the linolium underneath where the old people’s washer and dryer were. As soon as Mary saw them she was on the phone to make sure that they knew that they were responsible for paying to fix them! AND when the people didn’t hire cleaners to clean up after they moved out (even though they said they would) – Mary came over with her kids and helped us clean the whole house!
She has always gone extra extra miles to make sure that we were protected and make sure that we understood everything that was going on, and doing what was best for us, even if it meant she had to do extra work, or take a smaller commission (which happened on BOTH the houses we ended up buying.)
I can’t say enough good things, and I know how scary it can be, every time, not just your first!
(We viewed real estate all over Silicon Valley’s west side and they settled into a neighborhood in the Evergreen and South San Jose area.)
(We’ve done three Silicon Valley real estate transactions together now: a purchase and sale of a home in Cambrian Park in San Jose, and a purchase of their current house in the Evergreen and South San Jose area called Silverleaf.)
Tom – 2005 – hired Realtor Mary Pope-Handy twice for Silicon Valley real estate needs
San Jose (Cambrian & South San Jose)
Update:
Mary has acted as our Realtor since buying our first house in 2002, a total of 5 transactions total, as both buyer’s agent and seller’s agent. Her knowledge of the area, market trends and all the little gotcha’s is amazing. She’s incredibly responsive (usually within minutes!) In February 2015, she helped us sell our house in San Jose and navigated us smoothly through the process, despite having some bumps in the road from the buyer. Even when we weren’t active clients, Mary was always happy to field questions from us about anything real-estate related. I cannot recommend her highly enough. Your first and only stop for a Realtor in the bay area should be with Mary.
Tom B.
3/12/2015, 5/5 star Yelp review
“Hiring Mary Pope-Handy to sell our Father’s home was the best decision I made all year. Mary made fixing up and selling my Father’s house as painless and smooth as humanly possible. She stayed in constant communication with us by phone, email and fax throughout the entire process and made excellent recommendations every step of the way. She is an expert in every sense of the word and I give her my highest and most appreciative recommendation. Thank you for everything Mary!”
(Sold a home with Marjorie in the city of Santa Clara.)
Marjorie (sold long distance in 2005)
Santa Clara
“Mary was extremely helpful to my family and me as we recently sought a new home for my mother-in-law. Mary is very customer-focused, is well-attuned to market conditions, is detail-oriented and communicates well with her clients. It was a pleasure working with Mary, from start to finish.”
(Home purchase – condo in Santa Clara.)
Dan – early 2005
Santa Clara
(Note to my manager.) “My name is Serdar and my wife and I just recently purchased a home with the help of one of your agents, Mary Pope-Handy. I just needed to write to you about the great experience we had working with Mary. Her professionalism and candor helped us survive the hectic South Bay housing market and find our ‘dream home.’ Since we were kind of new to the area, she took the time to educate us of the various neighborhoods and helped manage our expectations. I truly enjoyed every minute of our house-hunting trips with Mary. I plan on recommending her to everyone I know as well as working with her on our future home purchases.”
(We considered homes in several parts of San Jose and Silicon Valley and they ended up really loving one house on a quiet, tree lined street in the Willow Glen district of San Jose.)
Serdar & Shannon – early 2005
San Jose (Willow Glen)
“Mary and I had corresponded via e-Mail for quite a while before we made a decision to sell our home in Los Gatos California. I was impressed by the professional tone of her communications and that she provided good data without pressing the sales pitch. As soon as I met her in person, my instincts were validated. She came across as straighforward, genuine and very knowledgable. What I like most is that she didn’t insult my intelligence by walking me laboriously through every single page of data like same real estate sales people had.
It didn’t take us long to select Mary as our Selling agent – we were not disappointed. She acted with complete integrity throughout the process. I should explain that she had 2 major challenges in this whole transaction:
1. My husband, who initially was not in love with the idea of selling our home and practially freaked out at the idea of people actually coming in to view the home. She handled him with tact and humor – a great example of her people skills! 2. Our house was located in a good area but next to a freeway which didn’t make it easy to sell. She helped us establish a realistic price, played up the strong points in her advertising and really took pains to mitigate this obstacle. Consequently, the house was sold in just over a month at a price acceptably close to the listing price.
In addition, Mary facilitated all the necessary inspections and reports and provided many additional services to help us complete the move out of our house. (She even commandeered her husband to help dispose of some of old paint cans from our garage!). We were on a very tight schedule for closing escrow etc. and she manouevred the process flawlessly.
From start to finish, I was consistently impressed with her level of professionalism and service so consequently, I would not have any hesitation in recommending her services.”
Judy & Ian
Los Gatos
“As a homeowner and part-time real estate investor since 1964 I have occasionally needed the services of a real estate agent. I can state, without reservation, that Mary Pope-Handy is far and away the most thoughtful, informed, thorough and helpful agent I have worked with. If we could clone the perfect Realtor Mary would be our model. I recently reminded her that her initials M.P.H. also stand for ‘making people happy.’ She has made me very happy time and time again.”
Karen – 3 homes sold
San Jose (Blossom Valley / South SJ)
Mary knows the real estate business. She excells at every aspect of a home sale: property preparation, staging, seller protection, advertising, closing, and getting the best price. She is conscientious and works very hard to get the job done efficiently. I give her my highest recommendation.
Rob C.
Rob (sold long distance)
San Jose (Cambrian Park neighborhood)
“From the very first instant I began searching for a real estate agent, Mary Pope-Handy shone through. At first it was the expedient way she got back to me, and every time we communicated, she left no questions unanswered and NEVER left me waiting.
I was selling a home from quite a distance and there were a lot of stressful issues to deal with, as well as legitimate concerns and fears. She was on top of everything before I even had to ask, and I felt a sense of comfort from her from the beginning.
Her professional manner, together with her honesty and hard work, enabled me to get through the selling of my home with minimal amounts of stress and I feel she guided every step in a manner that gave me confidence I had chosen the right person.”
(Mary’s note: Steven had a wonderful and unusual home with a fantastically huge garage/workshop/extra parking. Agent networking really helped to sell this home above and beyond what just the MLS alone could have done.)
Steven (sold long distance)
San Jose (Cambrian Park)
“Mary was a strong advocate for us. She knows her business and kept us informed at every step along the way. Besides being very friendly and easy to work with, she is a real pro! I would not hesitate to recommend her to anyone selling their home.”
Michael
Los Gatos real estate sale
“Mary’s conscientious effort and follow-through were very appreciated every step of the way. From the listing of the house until its close and even after, Mary has remained accessible and responsive to our concerns.”
(Sold locally, closed long distance)
Stacy & Steve
Los Gatos home sale
“Mary was committed to providing excellent service and professional counseling, especially a deadlines approached and unforeseen circumstances arose. She worked tirelessly with us on many occasions, through a weekend or into the evening, to follow up on an opportunity or to assist during the escrow. Most importantly we never doubted that our interests were her first priority.”
Michael & Juli – 2 sales (bought and sold)
San Jose (South SJ) & Los Altos
“Without a doubt, Mary went well above and beyond our expectations. What has impressed us the most is the way that she consistently communicated with us and the many things that she did after the sale of the house. We have been truly impressed with Mary’s professionalism her knowledge of real estate and the market and her strong work ethic. Besides all of this, Mary is just plain a very nice person!”
Mark & Patricia
San Jose (Cambrian Park)
“Mary’s professionalism and the manner in which she handled everything that arose was commendable. She kept me informed and offered assistance for any matter in which she could make this transaction much easier for me. She seemed genuinely concerned about my welfare. During the difficult situations that occurred with the sale of my home, Mary was reassuring, providing information which instilled confidence that everything would be cleared and settled.”
Sold locally, closed long distance
Rosemary
Sunnyvale house sale
“In considering the many things Mary Pope-Handy did to further the closure on my property I would have to rate her conscientious follow-through as outstanding. It was not an easy sale to bring to fruition due to the fact that there were several people involved on the buyer’s side. It was a purchase made by the father of the interested party with two other Realtors working on behalf of the buyers. This made for complications. This was my first contact with Mary Pope-Handy and she served as my representative in this sale. I had the added problem of an unexpected broken ankle..this meant she had to fill in for me in many instances as I was pretty much bed ridden. It turned out that I chose the right agent. She did an excellent job on my behalf. Mary was dilligent right down to the end of the transaction. She so impressed me that I will use her for consequent property sales and or purchases without hesitation and I will recommend her to others needing a top notch realtor. As a former school Principal I am accustomed to evaluating performances and Mary went to the head of the class in this regard.”
Kathryn
San Jose (Cambrian Park)
“We chose Mary to sell our house when we decided to leave California and move to Virginia. The week that the first open house was to take place, we flew to Virginia to search for our new home, knowing that things were in good hands with Mary. We were in Virginia only a few days when 9-11 happened, one of the planes hitting only miles away from where we were staying. Obviously distraught, and stuck in Virginia since all planes had been grounded, we relied on Mary to keep us abreast of our house sale. We worried that the market would fall apart, that no one would come to our open house, and that we would be stuck with two houses on opposite ends of the country! Mary was incredible. She answered each call and e-mail immediately (and there were many!), kept us up-to-date on potential buyers, and calmed our fears. It was Mary’s wonderful responsiveness that really helped us get through that very difficult time.”
(From September of 2001 – a crazy time to sell a house!)
Jan & Robin – sold long distance
San Jose (Cambrian Park)
“Mary is worth her weight in gold. We felt that we could not have had a better REALTOR® representing us in the sale of our home. Our home was sold in two days and at full price!!! Mary was honest, straight forward and beyond reproach. She was always available and was there when things got a little hairy. Mary even took us to the airport. But the best was when she had someone come in and clean the house after the movers left. We recommend Mary highly!”
Joe & Trudy
San Jose (Cambrian, Los Gatos border)
“Mary Pope-Handy’s knowledge of the needs of her clients has enabled her to become a highly respected Realtor. She helped me find a home that fit my needs in a very short period of time. It has been a pleasure working with her.”
(We worked together on three transactions within Silicon Valley – a sale of a condo in central San Jose, the sale of a house in west San Jose along the Campbell border, and the purchase of a house in the Cambrian Park district of San Jose.)
Joyce – sold 3 homes (2 listings, 1 purchase)
San Jose (Cambrian, west SJ, Central SJ)
