Diane Southworth

Bottom line: Diane got us into a Berkeley Hills, 3/​2, with a view and a yard for our dog, for well within our budget. I think that speaks for itself!
More details: We looked in the Berkeley/​Oakland market for 6 months with Diane. We were referred to her from a trusted company that we work with regularly, so we knew from the start she would be good.
The way we worked things was as follows: Diane had automatic listings sent to us through the MLS. We used things like Redfin as well, and we visited Sunday open houses. If we saw something we liked, Diane was often available to do a private walk-​through with us within 48 hours, often she’d come out and meet us on a Sunday evening, which was amazing due to our work schedules. We walked through approximately 15 – 20 houses with Diane, put in 5 bids, and ended up with a fantastic house after Diane smartly recommended we take a back-​up position and the primary buyer fell through– we never would have snagged the house without her recommendations! This is a vicious market at the moment, so although the above info sounds like a lot of work, we actually got a house faster than many of our friends.
Diane does tell it like it is … and that is exactly what you want: no sugar-​coating. She will tell you if she thinks a house is a money pit, or if the neighborhood could be an issue for resale. She’ll be honest that it is a part-​time job trying to buy a house in the East Bay, and that it is exhausting, and she will keep your spirits up when you are ready to throw in the towel. I learned so much about home maintenance and how to pick out problems with houses just by spending time with her. Diane also makes you hire the ball-​buster pest and general home inspection guys (when you are lucky enough to keep your inspection contingency). It’s a little more expensive, but it is remarkable how some inspectors avert their eyes, and Diane wants you to know EXACTLY what you are getting into with a house. I could not thank her more for the push to use the best people!
We ran into a couple of small snags during closing which I felt warranted a ½ star reduction (which ends up being ⁴⁄₅ stars on Unilocal), but that’s probably fairly standard when dealing with real estate.
In conclusion, she knows how the market works here in the Bay Area (multiple bids, low-​ball offer price points that cause bidding wars, fast turnover, low inventory, lots of no-​contingency offers and cash offers … your basic nightmare), and she knows what it takes to prep a house for staging, showing, and sale. I would want her to be my seller’s agent if we do ever sell this house. I would of course use her again if I am in the market to buy here.
Highly recommended!

Diane recently assisted us with the sale of our house and I couldn’t be more pleased with her! She is professional, knowledgeable and above all, trustworthy. She truly has her client’s best interests at heart. Diane can come off as a bit «matter of fact» on occasion. Don’t be put off by that! When things start moving they have to move fast. Then Diane gets into her business mode and she gets stuff done. Her being matter of fact is her hustling on your behalf! She is a super nice person and she is also very savvy. She hooked us up with a great stager (Ken McHale Design) and an excellent painter. Selling a house is a complicated, difficult thing to do. Diane kept the whole process moving along. She knows the market and she knows her stuff. Any future real estate transactions that I have will be handled by Diane. She’s just that good.

Diane knows the East Bay like the back of her hand. She’s incredibly easy to work with, very responsive, and couldn’t be more knowledgeable about ins and outs of this crazy market. She helped us to buy AND sell our Oakland home for an amazing, AMAZING price. She’s also really fun to ride around with and look at property :)
Thanks Diane!

We had a great experience with Diane. We weren’t feeling too optimistic finding a home in this market, but with Diane we found a wonderful home in a wonderful neighborhood for a reasonable price. She helped us every step of the way and was wonderful to do business with. Highly recommended!

We really couldn’t be happier with Diane. She is a stellar real estate agent and absolute gem of a person. My wife and I had been searching for East Bay homes in a seller’s market for two years before we found Diane.
For each home that we looked at together she gave us a straight opinion, never tried to sell us, and more than once advised us to look no further on a sketchy listing. We felt instantly comfortable and quickly grew to trust her insight and vast knowledge of the Bay Area market. Three months later we purchased our first home and absolutely love it!
Highly recommended! Personable, knowledgable, honest, patient. Everything that you could possibly want in a real estate agent.

We met Diane as we were planning to make a cross country move from Connecticut to California. She was exceptionally straightforward, highly knowledgeable and patient, and took time to help us understand the Bay Area housing market. She spent time getting to know us so that she could have a good idea of what we needed, and she was right on target! She helped us find the perfect home and did it with a smile. We have worked with realtors for two other homes and she is truly second to none. We highly recommend her to anyone who wants a savvy, insightful, and dedicated real estate agent in the Bay Area!