First Pacific Real Estate

Ricky is a fantastic realtor. He helped us throughout the buying process and beyond.
First, before even we started looking at houses, Ricky helped us understand the different types of homes that were available. He talked to us about the market, the loan process, how offers work and the legal process of putting in an offer.
Second, when started looking for houses, Ricky helped us understand the different types of homes, such as Eichler and traditional. Ricky took us to see many of these houses, both good and bad ones,
so we understand what to look for and what to avoid. For example, he would point out issues in foundations, bad roofs, termites, etc. In particular, I commend that Ricky took the time to accommodate our schedule by meeting us during lunch breaks, evenings, and weekends.
Third, when we were ready to make the offer, Ricky helped us understand the disclosures. If you haven’t seen these before, it is difficult to make sense of 150+ pages of material that comes
with each house. He also helped us talk with banks and mortgage officers to establish a loan. Ricky also helped us find a home inspector to check out the house we wanted to bid on.
Fourth, during the home buying step, Ricky helped us tremendously. He talked with our mortgage officer and the seller’s agent. All of this helped us secure our loan. He kept us in the loop and reminded us when to make the initial payment, when to schedule the inspections, when to buy
and deliver appliances, and how to deal with our apartment lease. With Ricky’s help, we could get a home with no hassle.
Finally, after moving in, Ricky is still helping us. When we got our property tax bill, Ricky helped us to understand it. He told us who to contact to get it corrected. He helped us understand the different appliances and plumbing and so on inside the house. He is just a call or text message away and we know he will always help us when needed.
With so much help that he has given us, we are glad to have Ricky on our side. Thank you Ricky!

Ricky has so many positive attributes in a realtor that makes you wonder where to begin.
First, he is a true professional who guides his clients in a systematic manner through the steps in a real estate transaction. For a first time homebuyer like us, this is really important. He dissected the process into small steps and moved us through the process in a hassle-​free way.
Second, he genuinely cares for his clients and does not pressurize you in any which way to make a deal happen. You can be assured that Ricky is vouching for you and your happiness only. In addition, Ricky shields you from all unnecessary pressure imposed on him by the other party in the transaction or their realtors. In this current age and market, this is a rarity.

Third, as a person, he is naturally optimistic and has a can-​do attitude. During our search, we used to come across numerous occasions when we would ask Ricky’s opinion about a particular remodel or change. Rather than focusing on what is not possible, he would always focus on what is possible and provide options that would fit our needs. Also, Ricky being in the real estate market for a long time has a vast network of professionals whose expertise we can lean on. Starting from roofers to carpenters, you can count on Ricky to provide you with the right references.

Last but not the least, Ricky has immense patience. We have really lost count on the number of houses we made offers on and got rejected. In each and every case, Ricky’s enthusiasm didnt drop and his demeanor didnt show the slightest hint of fatigue. Finding the right home is hard, for it is where you craft your dreams for the future of you and your family. Without someone like Ricky on your side to ease the pain, it would be next to impossible to land a home in a very competitive market like ours.
Thank you Ricky, for helping us. For anyone out there, who is in need of a good realtor (actually a mentor/​friend for life), Ricky is THE guy !!

I wanted to invest in rental property 10 years ago. My objective was to buy property at a bargain, sell it in a couple of years and realize equity profit.
Although I already had own home at the time, purchasing investment property was new to me. My biggest concern was that prices of rental property at that time were at their peak. I was worried that I would not realize any equity profit at all down the stretch. Ricky completely saw me through the entire process. We found a duplex (good neighborhood) that I liked and made an offer on it. I was up against another bid but Ricky worked with the listing agent to assure a winning bid. To top it all, our winning bid was 10% lower than the asking price. He also helped secure financing that fit my investment objectives to a tee! My monthly payments were low and affordable.
After 2 years I decided to cash in on my investment and sold the duplex. At first I was worried about the price I would get and how long it will take to sell. Investment property is not easy to sell as Residential Homes. Ricky gathered data from recent duplex sales in my area. He showed me a range of sale prices. To allow a quick sale; and hopefully, multiple offers he suggested we go with the price in between the lowest and the average. I did, he sold the duplex in (1) week of 102% over listing price. Isn’t that awesome! The duplex sold at 116% over its original purchase price 3 years ago.
Then 7 years ago, I decided to sell my house. My intention is to downsize and simplify my life. Ricky sold the house in 2 weeks and very hard to choose from bids coming left and right. His evaluation was spot on as the house sold for the amount as he validated.
Last year I decided to purchase another home, this time as a legacy for my daughter. It took us a while to find the right home as we were purchasing during an extreme seller’s market with a lot of competition from other frustrated buyers and cash offers. Our offer was based on the analysis Ricky did; we won over the other buyers and closed escrow without a hitch! I know this house will be the one that my daughter will grow with her own family inheritance.
I have used and will continue to use Ricky as my realtor because he is an honest person; always dependable (even I call him very late at night) and knows the Bay Area real estate market as well.

In early 2013, I became very interested in real estate investing — specifically, remodeling homes and holding as rental property. I needed someone who knew the market and how to find properties within my budget. Ricky reached out to me through a posting and to date, has helped me with my first two real estate investment properties. As I was completely new to this indu-​stry, Ricky provided the guidance and confidence I needed.
–Ricky is always available and quick to get back to me with any question, no matter how big or small the question may be.
–Ricky is confident with himself and provides good analysis to help me make a decision.
–Ricky will help with conflict resolution if I have any issue during the closing or negotiation of the transaction. He even pitched in from his own commission during a closing when the broker forgot a cost which I did not agree with.
–Ricky has many contacts in the «housing upgrade/​renovation» market and knows the right people when it comes to closing deals and and knowing the right places to go.
–We made many offers, many visits and Ricky was always there at every one of them.
I look forward to continuing to work with Ricky and grow our relationship further as I continue to increase my portolio as an investor.

My wife and I started house hunting in the bay area in Jan 2012. We knew it was going to be a very strenuous and demanding task. We needed an excellent realtor to get our dream house. We
interviewed a few realtors and went on house tours with them. We were impressed with Ricky because
he seemed extremely knowledgeable about houses, neighborhoods, schools, home valuation, short sale/​foreclosures, multiple offer situations etc. So we decided to go with him exclusively to more open houses.
The more time we spent with Ricky, the more comfortable we got with him. He helped us a lot in understanding houses and the tricky bay area real estate. He would always walk us through the different features/​shortcomings of the house. He also guided us through remodeling ideas for many houses. On our request, he also brought along his handyman friend on a couple of house tours to help us get estimates on remodeling costs. If we were very interested in a house, he would take a few hours to do very detailed camps for us. This helped us walk away from some houses that seemed over-​valued and bid on them if the price seemed right.
All in all, we put offers on 4 houses. We lost the first two because of multiple bid situation. We had some inspection issues on the third one. Eventually, we lucked out on the 4^th house and we were able to close. Everything went smoothly including inspection, 2 appraisals, mortgage and the eventual close of escrow. We moved into the house last week and are very happy with our purchase.
Ricky set up a personalized web site on MLS for us with our search criteria. So we would get notifications about houses matching our criteria right away. This web site was almost as good as Redfin, and a lot more personalized. Since this data is coming directly from MLS, its 100% accurate and current.
Ricky also recommended a Wells Fargo mortgage broker to us, and we decided to go with him as well since he gave us very competitive rates. The two of them work very well together which is extremely important to ensure everything happens smoothly between the offer acceptance and close of escrow.
Ricky was always available by phone or email, even at very late hours in the night. I don’t remember a single time in the 4 months that we spent working with him where he did not pick up my call or did not get back to me right away if I left him an email/​vmail.
I would highly recommend Ricky to all home buyers out there. He really cares about his customers and goes the extra mile. He is very friendly, reasonable, down to earth and extremely professional. Sure there were times when it took some time to get our thoughts and feelings across, but that’s a part of any business transaction
Thanks Ricky for helping us in getting our dream house.