Caren Horstmeyer

You will not work with a better real estate agent than Caren Horstmeyer. She is not only super smart and savvy about Marin real estate, but she also takes the time to truly understand her clients’ needs and wants. Her warm personality, inherent design/​architectural sense and fierce understanding of real estate market trends make her a top-​notch real estate agent. It is truly a pleasure to work with her on the sale of my home in Kentfield. Her communication skills are great, she always kept in touch and stayed on top of all approaching deadlines and appointments. It was a sincere pleasure working with her.

Working with Caren is sheer joy. Even when the pressure’s on, she is enthusiastic, quick and easy to get along with. I would work with her again in a heartbeat, because I know she’s good and will get the job done right, whatever it takes.

I started working with Caren in June 2009. I had a little money saved and after being a lifetime renter and because of the tax credit incentives to buy, if I was going to buy, it was now or never. Because I was determined to pay 20% down, I still couldn’t afford much in the Bay Area. To add additional problems, I am partially disabled and consequently needed to be in either a ground floor, single level unit or in an elevator building and cannot do any DIY projects, so fixer-​uppers and single family houses with all their attendant exterior upkeep were out of the question. On top of all this, even though I was pre-​approved by my own bank for a loan far in excess of what I was actually willing to spend, my bank balked at funding loans in condominium complexes it had originally funded in the Bay Area (oh, how much better off the country would be if these banks had been as cautious in 2006 and 2007).
Even though my purchase was small by Marin County standards, not once did Caren ever make me feel I was small potatoes or too much work. She not only showed me numerous properties, but put in lots of extra work to find a lender who wasn’t suddenly gun shy about loaning on condominium properties.
With Caren’s help, I made an offer to buy a short sale property in mid-​October 2009. The seller’s bank accepted my offer in mid-​December, but because of problems created by the seller’s banks, didn’t close until mid-​February. When asked, Caren even agreed that this was the most difficult short sale she’d ever handled. But as difficult as this short sale was, and as difficult I was as a client (and I can be difficult), Caren stuck with me and we got it done.
I don’t know if I’m doing Caren any favors by recommending her for difficult, low profit deals, but she did a great job for me and I am now a happy first time homeowner.