Michele Harkov – Alain Pinel Realtors

Michele was enormously helpful in our house hunt. Her efforts not only helped us quickly close on a great home, but she also saved us a significant amount of money. She negotiated very well with the seller, which saved us much more money than we expected and even got the seller to fix a couple of small items a couple of months after the sale closed. Before, during, and after the transaction, she has been extremely helpful, in providing advice, market insight, assistance with handling the transaction, and recommendations for service providers. I very highly recommend working with Michele!

I’m in the in-​house lender for Alain Pinel in San Mateo and have worked with Michele on many of her deals over the last 3+ years. Every single one of her clients has been well prepared for this tough market and VERY happy with Michele. This market is so competitive and Michele’s negotiating skills has enabled her clients to get their offers accepted more times than not. Sometimes it takes buyers multiple offers to finally get into contract, that is not the case if you work with Michele. She sets realistic expectations and helps you stay within your budget. I would highly recommend her to any customer of mine!

I have been working with Michele as a vendor over the last 10 years and I have nothing but positive things to say about her.
Over my 12 years of working with realtors, I have determined that the best ones are the ones that treat their vendors the way they treat their clients. As an inspector, I have to sometimes be a deal breaker to some transactions. Michele would never ask me to compromise anything during any part of my job. This shows me her strict ethics and high moral standards.
I also find Michele to be one the friendliest, yet most professional, that I have to deal with, and trust me, I work with many high demanding Realtor. She expects excellence, and because of her, I try to always go above and beyond for her.
Anyone working with her will tell you the same thing. All her vendor feel the same.

Michele is nothing short of amazing and I would recommend her hands down to any friend or family member looking to buy a home on the Peninsula. We worked with Michele for six months while looking for our house in Redwood City. She helped us find our first home in very challenging conditions — we had a very tight budget and we were buying in a very hot market. She went above and beyond the call of duty in all phases of the process.
First, she took the time to meet with us several times at our home to educate us about the home-​buying process, the Peninsula market, and to get to know what we wanted in a home. She explained the inner workings of the real estate market in a very clear and concise way, which made us feel educated and in control.
As we looked at houses, Michele took time to understand our (often changing) requirements, and she made sure we were aware of any possible home that could fit those needs. We were demanding clients who called her very frequently, and she always returned calls promptly and made us feel like we were her top-​priority clients even though we were surely looking at places in the bottom of the price range for her client list. But she was also always very respectful of our personal space and decisions. She is a delight to be around, and she even bonded with our child and played with him while we did our meticulous walks around a house.
She was a tireless advocate for us as we faced numerous multiple-​bidder offer situations. She spent many hours writing up offers for us and then helped us through the emotional roller-​coaster that ensued during this process. She also lined up contractors for us at several houses we bid on so we could better evaluate the home price based on potential fixes. When we found the home that we ultimately purchased, she was a shrewd negotiator and managed to save us thousands of dollars (in a sellers market!).
But her service did not stop there – she took care of all the details from the time we signed the initial contract through closing. She helped us through the financing process, even negotiating with lenders on our behalf, and made sure everything was lined up for the closing and even got us a lower quote for pest and disclosure work. She also introduced us to several contractors, electricians, etc. for our expected remodel project (she has an amazing network in the area) and even met people at our home when we could not make it.
In short, the level of service that we received from Michele was beyond anything I could have expected and we are sincerely going to miss seeing her on a regular basis!