Catherine Gortner – Catherine Gortner Properties

Cathrine is the most professional realtor we have ever worked with and both my wife and I would highly recommend her if you are planning on selling your home. Her knowledge of the area and selling skill was most impressive. Additionally she was very attentive to our personal needs and was keen to follow up on all issues related to the sale. Catherine implemented the use of a professional stager, creating strong appeal to buyers eventually maximizing the sell price of our home. Catherine was also very capable in negotiating on our behalf as she was able to get multiple offers on our home which led to a significantly higher sell price than what we had listed for exceeding our expectations.
Thank you Catherine for making this experience so very positive! You are the best!

I strongly recommend Catherine Gortner as your prospective realtor; Catherine represented our property for sale.
I first met Catherine when my wife/​I were looking for a home to purchase; and she represented another seller. I was at her property when the video was to be made that day; and Catherine was surveying the property for last minute fixes — for example, she noticed that one of the lights was out; and asked for it to be fixed asap. While I was there, the seller was also there and thanked Catherine for her efforts and mentioned how they appreciated her staging results. I was impressed with her attention-​to-​detail, as well as how she coordinated the different moving parts of a sale (e.g. the stagers, the video person).
When the time came for us to sell our home; we asked Catherine to represent us. She knew the right resources/​personnel (e.g. painter, carpet installers, gardener, stagers) to get our home quickly ready for our sale (~ 2 weeks of prep time). Throughout the process, Catherine was responsive using multiple methods of communications (e.g. email, text). Our home ended up selling with multiple offers and an at-​the-​time record home price by square footage, with which we were very pleased.
When we looked for a realtor, we were looking for someone we could trust and properly represent us, as well as our property. We believe we found the right person in Catherine.

My sister and I sold our deceased parent’s home, and listed it with Catherine. The estate was cash poor so we weren’t able to make needed repairs and chose to sell ‘as is’ Catherine provided professional home staging with furniture as part of her fee, leaving us with only the task of emptying the home of its contents and minor upkeep. It looked like it was interior decorated by a professional designer. And the virtual tour was gorgeous. We almost didn’t recognize our home. Apparently there were over 50 groups each day at the open houses Catherine held. She also had the disclosure package and inspection reports prepared ahead of time. She listed it for about 10 days, and advertised a date for my sister and I to review offers. We got 16 offers total, 11 which had no contingencies. Almost all were well over asking. But Catherine didn’t stop there for us. She got the top half of dozen offers to increase their offer prices even further. So she negotiated a sale price of 3.3% higher for us which more than paid for her commission and then some. The home didn’t even appraise for the sale price but all the top buyers had enough cash to make up the difference, including the buyer that bought our home.
Catherine could have stopped with staging and marketing our home and the 16 offers, and we would have been happy with the top offer out of the 16. But instead, she took that extra step and negotiated even more for us to get our sale price 3.3% higher. Catherine cares and seems to really enjoy negotiating for her clients. She also worked diligently with the buyer’s agent to make sure we were able to close the sale very quickly, which was very important to us. From the time the house was listed to the time escrow closed was only 30 days, due in no small part to Catherine’s hard work.

Catherine helped us sell our house in East Palo in the summer of 2014. She gave us wonderful advice about what improvements to invest in as we prepared the house for sale, then she staged it beautifully, and finally brought multiple offers to us from prospective buyers. We ended up getting an offer well above our asking price and I give Catherine the credit for that. I’m happy to recommend her.

Wow! What a quick, professional, successful job Catherine did for us! For years, due to lousy previous experiences with Realtors, I had been dreading having to work with a Realtor when the time came to sell our home. But working with Catherine was truly a pleasure. Two of our neighbors recently sold their homes with Catherine and they both highly recommended her. As soon as we decided to sell, Catherine came to our home to help us prioritize the preparation (decluttering, repairs, painting, etc.). When we requested recommendations for assistance (repairs and painting), she offered contact info for excellent contractors. When we had questions about the disclosure process, she provided excellent advice. She took care of the staging, competently guided us on pricing, and provided excellent marketing materials (brochure and virtual tour). Showing the home and the negotiations proceeded very quickly and went off without a hitch. We highly recommend Catherine as your Realtor!

Catherine did a marvelous job of selling my home. Starting with the expert
advice on staging (which comes as part of the package, not an additional
charge!) my home, the company that she hired to do a wonderful video tour of
the home capturing all the unique features and fantastic daytime and evening
views of the city, to the professional brochure on high quality stock that
was present in the home and at the curb. Everything that presented my home
was top drawer! This attention to detail, I felt brought in top quality
buyers and ultimately the offer that sold my home. Though my home was set
up as an equestrian property, she concentrated on the larger executive
market, in order to «cast a wider net» of prospective buyers. This singled
her out from the other 4 agents I interviewed before selling and brought a better selling price for my home.
The most important part of Catherine’s skills however were in the
negotiations with the buyer and their agent and with me. There were
sticking points and Catherine was able to negotiate between them and myself
so that in the end we all felt like the deal went well for both parties. I
am happy with my sale and the new owner is happy with the home he always wanted in the country.
I referred my neighbor to Catherine and she sold his home only 2 months
after mine closed. He was counseled by friends to do a FSBO, and after
discussing the pros and cons of using an agent, he listed with Catherine. He
is very happy with the outcome.
I have bought and sold over 11 homes in my life. Catherine ranks as one of
the top agents I have dealt with in this process. I have seen the good, the
bad and yes, the ugly of agents over my time and she is one of the best.

I honestly feel that a lesser experienced Realtor would not have gotten me in to my first choice of homes as a first time home buyer!
To start from the very beginning, I interviewed two Realtors who both told me basically the same thing; that what I was looking for, in my price range, was going to be very difficult (if not impossible) to get and that they really weren’t interested in helping me as it wasn’t a good return for them. When I explained this to Catherine, she said well yes, it may be a challenge, but I’m willing to give it a go if you are!
And so was the beginning of a fantastic experience with Catherine! The home I ultimately purchased had over 32 offers and despite my not having the preferred 10−20% down, she was able to negotiate with the sellers and demonstrate that I was a well qualified buyer purchasing well within my means. She also went above and beyond creating comparable sales analysis for the appraiser to ensure my townhouse was valued most favorably. Catherine explained every step of the process and really held my hand through the entire purchase, for which I was most grateful.
Upon closing, Catherine provided great resources for some improvements I wanted to make prior to moving in, such as flooring contractors and painters. And, knowing I was Catherine’s client, they took very good care of me! A huge load off for someone not at familiar with home improvement and dealing with contractors.
Aside from her considerable professional attributes, Catherine is a caring person who I felt really gave her all in helping me through a very stressful process. She was genuinely thrilled when we realized that I was in fact going to get the home that I really wanted! Should I have need in the future, or should anyone ask for a reference, I would for certain contact/​refer Catherine immediately, no doubt about it!

A few years ago, we sold our first home and purchased a new home in Mountain View through Catherine Gortner. Her knowledge of the market and assurances throughout the selling process really helped us to feel confident. In fact, our home sold right in the estimated timeframe she had projected.
Since we had purchased our first home directly from a builder, we were unfamiliar with buying a home on the open market. She patiently walked us through each step of the process, made herself available for viewings, and offered us valuable insights into how to best present an offer. She also went above and beyond in researching zoning regulations, and ultimately tracking down all the construction permits on our new home in order to assure that all additions were up to code. She insured that we had all comparable sales information in our new neighborhood and that the appraisal process was a smooth one. There were multiple bids on the home we purchased, and we believe that it was her due diligence that encouraged the sellers to accept our offer.
We love our new home, but if we do move again in the future we would most certainly rely on Catherine’s expertise to help us find another house. There are a lot of real estate brokers out there, but very few excellent ones. She is one of the excellent ones.