Mark Hardwicke

Mark is a gem — he has the rare combination of experience, knowledge and integrity that is difficult to find in the world of real estate professionals. Plus, he is down to earth, has a great sense of humor and amazing Zen-​like patience. Mark has been an invaluable asset, both for my own home in Berkeley and more substantial real estate ventures for the company I manage. Mark goes the extra mile and provides exceptional service — there are few brokers of his caliber.

Nothing short of outstanding! We are so thankful that when my wife and I decided to sell our home we had Mark there to guide us through the entire process. The advise he gave us on what improvements we should make to the property before putting the house on the market proved to be invaluable. He struck a perfect balance between returns on our home, time expense and our general sanity. He made every effort to keep us up to speed on the process from start to finish and was there for any question or concerns we had. He is part sells man part therapist. We really couldn’t ask for anymore in an agent. He is professional in every sense of the word, but also he will put your mind at ease through his humor and warmth.
Cannot recommend him more!

Mark’s 5 star ratings aren’t hyperbole – he really is great.
Case in point: I had a situation that could best be described as a «charity case,» but Mark totally rose to the challenge and kept it positive from the get-​go. Said challenge involved selling a condo in a building tied up in a protracted construction defects law suit.
Mark walked me through the disclosure forms and advised me to write a seller addendum, which he helped edit. He also kept my expectations in check, which is important. I never felt like he was a cheesy salesman out to make a buck (sadly, I’ve seen this before from other realtors).
As I mentioned to him, I wouldn’t hesitate to work with him again or recommend him to friends and family.
Oh, and he’s a dog person! Gotta love that!

I’ve known Mark for over 15 years. When I decided to sell my east bay hills home, I called Mark. I listened to Mark and Mark listened to me. Through each step of what turned out to be a very quick transaction, Mark kept me completely informed. The results were way beyond my expectations. Understanding market conditions and how to present a property was key to selling a house in the bay area. I am extremely pleased that I selected Mark as my real estate broker. i would recommend Mark Hardwicke in a heartbeat!

mark is awesome and i completely recommend him. i went to him to initially with a modest but workable budget, then my situation changed and i have a completely unreasonable budget. … and he was warm generous and honest with me through the entire experience. i was also TERRified! i am single and a bodyworker (not exactly the high income type) and i was spending every penny i had to make this happen. and while i can’t say i was my best every minute of our time together, he was always his. without ever being even a little impatient. and for a longggggg haul. thanks to mark, i am now a very happy homeowner. (plus he has a back-​up career as a soap maker. … how cool is that :)).
go with mark. and feel free to ask him my number if you’d like a personal conversation.

Mark was recommended by a friend and helped us find our first house in Berkeley. He was friendly and had a sense of humor that helped us relax during a very stressful time in a very competitive market. He took the time to get to know us and thus did not waste our time on houses that were obviously not going to work for us. He also kept an open mind and the house we ultimately bought (second one we bid on) was one we would not have found by ourselves, we probably would have passed it by. I would recommend him without reservation!

Mark is wonderful to work with. He is very professional, yet warm and comfortable
with a great sense of humor. He has helped us with two purchases, both went extremely well. He is realistic and will be honest and direct. We would not work with anyone else. We highly recommend him.

Mark is the perfect combination of knowledge and patience. We contacted him about 3 years before we moved to Berkeley from the east coast, and would see a few houses each time we were in the bay area for work. When we finally moved here in 2011, we stepped up our efforts, and found a house within a few months. He never showed any impatience, and was always perkily helpful answering our questions. He seems to know the agents in the area, and gave us some insight in many cases with whom we were dealing. Even after the sale, he checked in with us often to see how it all was going. We love him!

We love Mark! Mark worked with us so patiently to find our dream home, and after many convolutions ((solely from our side), we found it. Mark has the rare combination of humor, tenacity, professionalism and encyclopedic knowledge of the business that make him the perfect real estate agent. Since the purchase of our home 3 years ago, we’ve remained friends with Mark and have recommended him to friends of ours, all of whom have had the same experience that we had.

We began working with Mark a couple of months ago after having no luck with one of the limited service online realty companies. We spent a few months looking with the other company, so we did not experience his patience, area knowledge or great temperament during most of the searching, but we wish we did. The other company was pushy and did not understand our needs, and we did not trust them going into the offer process. Mark was totally different.
Mark has a thorough and deep understanding of the unique Berkeley housing market. We were very comfortable working with him and trusted him in the negotiation process. We offered quite a bit under the listing price, which had already been reduced. Both Mark and my husband thought I was out of my mind by offering so low, but he happily presented my offer to the seller, and stuck by me for the next 3 weeks of price negotiation. This was not a foreclosure, it was not a short sale and was not a run-​down property. It was a trustee sale with several family members to appease.
I truly believe it was because of him and what he told them about us as buyers that made them settle in our comfort zone instead of sticking in theirs. Then when it came to them waiting on our financing, he was great at appeasing the other side after about a month of delays. Mark was always positive and upbeat, always trustworthy and professional.
Today, we got our keys. :)
Hopefully, he will still be around when we are looking for another set.

As first time home buyers, my husband and I were completely ignorant of real estate transactions and all of the hoops we’d have to jump through to ultimately purchase our first home. We decided to start by interviewing 3 Realtors. The first Realtor was late to our meeting and tried to get us to increase our budget for our home… uhmm at the end of the day I am paying the bills, so no thanks. The second Realtor (whom has great reviews on Unilocal) was also terrible. While she was more knowledgeable than the latter, she took forever to return our calls and get back to us on properties we were interested in buying… about 3 – 4 weeks in one case. She had clients looking at million dollar properties, so we were evidently on the back burner. Forget her.
Then Mark came into the picture. What a relief! While most Realtors run away once you tell them you’re interested in foreclosures or short sales, Mark stuck with us the entire time. He’d make time to see us and show us properties in a drop of a hat and was always very professional and kind. One of the first homes we fell in love with needed tons of repair, so much that now I realize we would have lost ourselves. While most Realtors push you into buying anything, Mark was kind and advised us not to buy the house. As someone who’s worked on fixer-​uppers, I know he knows the kind of strain that would have had on our relationship, let alone the hundreds (possibly) of thousands of dollars this home needed to make it structurally sound. After some months, we found our first home. This house needs tons of work too, but it is much more manageable for my husband and me. Our home was a short sale, and we’re so glad that Mark was able to guide us through everything. He had a response to all of my questions, even those not related to real estate (such as advice for a good dog trainer). He really went far and beyond, and even came to visit us a few months later to see how we were doing.
You can’t go wrong with Mark. If you want a reliable professional Realtor that some day you may even consider a friend, call Mark. He’s fabulous.