Zephyr Real Estate

This review is for real estate agents Rob Rogers and Ken Eggers. They recently listed and sold our Mother’s home in Ingleside Terrace. As soon as we had our introductory interview, we knew that Rob and Ken were the agents for us. They were true professionals. They answered all of our endless questions with patience and humor and kept us informed of all aspects of the selling process. They had solutions for any problem that appeared. They diligently worked to secure a selling price that was far beyond our expectations. We highly recommend Rob and Ken to anyone that is looking for honest and knowledgable real estate agents.

We had a wonderful experience with Justin Palmer at Zephyr.
As a first time home buyer it was extremely important for us to find someone that was knowledgeable on the housing market in SF and all the steps needed to find our perfect home. He asked the right questions, gave the right advice, and listened to what we wanted. Justin really provided a terrific experience from start to finish. When we decide to sell our home or buy another property there is no doubt he will be getting our call.

Steven Gerry is hands down the best realtor that I have ever worked with. He has been handling my real estate needs for 6 years in San Francisco. His kind nature and take-​charge attitude made me feel confident that he was the right person to help me make the biggest investment of my life.

My family had first met Rose Pali in 1989 when she first helped us to list our beautiful 84 year old Edwardian, 3 level home. Rose helped us how to best show and stage our home — complete surprise and simply as a friendly gesture. She was quickly able to locate numerous buyers which led to a quick and profitable sale. Since, Rose has helped our family sell or buy several other homes — thru as recent as Jan 2012.
So happy to now be settled in Westwood Park.
Rose has become «Family» over the years. We will always look to her as family since she had quickly recognized our humor, style, space requirements, as well as our desired locations but also had unending patience. Rose also knew us well enough to steer us away from unattractive listings so as not to waste time on those that potentially fit.
We will always be grateful to Rose for her drive, availability, encouragement — sheer caring and love. Rose will always be a part of our family. We hope you will be lucky enough to enjoy the same…- Phil R.

Guys are jokers. I once went in to ask for a form to make an offer and the person I talked to started making up really interesting stories about how that was impossible, as if the piece of paper was (a) in any way valuable and (b) something I couldn’t find somewhere else.

When we decided to buy a place in the city we felt pretty lucky that our mortgage broker referred us to Gary Small. After we met it was obvious that he is knowledgable about real estate trends in San Francisco, and we felt like we were working with a real pro. His efforts to keep us fully involved during the process made us feel at ease. We already had a property in mind when we met with him, and it was because of Gary that we had a smooth transaction. Gary had the forethought to include items in our offer that didn’t even come to mind for us, and he was smart about the location too; he steered us away from a unit that we liked by outlining drawbacks of the location that weren’t even on the radar for us. Pretty rare that you find an agent who is working for you post sale, but ours continued to make sure we got exactly what we paid for post escrow. It wasn’t easy, but working with the other agent and the property developer Gary helped us cross every item of our punch list (and at no cost to us). Feeling secure that you have an agent who is looking out for you when you are making such a huge investment is important, and Gary fits the bill. He’s our ‘go to’ guy for everything real estate in San Francisco.

This is a long overdue review for Gary Small at Zephyr.
What can you say about a real estate agent who brings you muffins, cookies and rugelach for your meetings… stands by you and feels your pain as you negotiate the good the bad and the ugly of San Francisco real estate transactions… who possesses not only one of the sharpest minds for the business, but one of the largest hearts… If I could give Gary 10+ stars, I would.
Gary…is…simply…the…best.
Thanks Gary! Love our condo and we couldn’t have done it (and kept our sanity) without you.

I’ve been reading some (non-​yelp) sad things about Zephyr. Gotta counter.
We bought our house in the outer sunset 7 years ago almost after the bubble, but not quite. damn! Dianne O’Connell was our realtor and she was amazing. We were new parents and got evicted. Even then, we told her we were hoping to find a house in town for about ½ mil. WAH?! Yep. But she searched everywhere and found us a bunch of stuff. She gave us good, non-​judgmental, non-​advice that really helped us. She showed us what stuff was bad about some of the real stinkers.
Of course, we went over our budget (doesn’t everyone who buys in SF?) but not by a lot. And seven years later, we still love our home. And of course, it’s worth way more, now. But we’re not leaving. I would recommend Dianne to anyone who’s buying or selling. She’s a real gem.

Zephyr McSnottiass handled the sale of our Bernal Heights building back in the dark ages.
They were condescending and mean and talked to us like we were idiots.
I kicked them out of my apartment more than once.
Once the building sold we were, OF COURSE, promptly evicted.
Everything worked out just fine when we found the BEST SF flat in the Western Addition.
(NOPA to you newbies — meaning anyone who came after 1990).
We didn’t have the best credit or that much of an income, but we were the «cutest most delightful couple» the landlady had met in,
well, I believe she said EVER
(after the divorce a few years later, another landlady said almost the exact same thing to me, so I’m pretty sure the cute was all me —
I’m just sayin’).
I won’t tell you what the rent was: cough-​850-​cough:
but it made us swoon and swear to eat beans and rice
for oh… a week at least.
Those were the days, my friend: when a cute and artsy
(read destitute) couple could get a 2 Bedroom Edwardian Flat in SF complete with a fireplace and cookie making landlady for less than a thousand bucks a month.
I am NOT making this up.
Oh, and we had four cats and my husband was a rock and roll musician and she still rented to us.
THAT is how cute I was.
UPDATE 2÷24÷06:
I remembered that they let Rocket Dog Rescue hold adoption days in front of their offices.
Me and ZuZu Belle spent many sunny sundays with them in the summer of 03.
Two more slightly begrudging stars.

I would do a zero star if I could!
We chose Zephyr as the company to use to sell our house because they really seem to be so well networked and do a great job marketing properties. Well, that’s where the competence ends!
We’re currently stuck with what has to be one of the most unprofessional, incompetent agents in this city!!!
We spent about $ 25k — paying off a tenant, painting, staging, etc — even went out of town the first week to give her free access to the place… and got nothing in return!
1) she wasted a ton of time trying to match up her client with another Zephyr agents client — the people were so obviously not a good fit for the property… so we lost about 3weeks with her messing around trying to be the super double agent (seriously, if you’re going to whore yourself out and do both sides, at least be competent at it!!)
2) instead of sending me emails with potential matches for my property, I was getting emails from her about how one agent or another isn’t as good as she is (ie, we’d saying something like «wow, he really moved that property fast and over asking!» and i’d get an email of «my sales figures are way higher than that other agent, etc») — wtf? like i care — just sell my damn house!
3) we finally had to sit down with her and discuss her half-​assed strategy and mismanagement of the project (seriously though, if anyone is the asshole here — it’s me… I PICKED HER! I have only myself to blame!!)
4) so, we finally get an offer after 1.5 months and our sit down. buyer 1 offers $xx, and my realtor tells me that the buyer is not flexible and can not budge at all in the price (ummm, ok, i realize i’m not a trained pofessional here, but wouldn’t it be kind of stupid if the buyer said «hey, here’s my offer — but just to let you know, i’ve got another $ 40−60k to kickin if I need to» duh!!!). so then we get buyer #2 that places a bid just a touch lower. my husband and I literally had to spend about 2 hours back and forth on the phone with her telling her to counter the buyers at more money… again, wtf???
now, here’s where my fav book ’”Freakanomics” comes into play. might seem like common sense, but they had a blurb about realtors and how when you think about it — their cut if you get an extra $ 20−60k is marginal — we’re talking $ 600−1200…which is nothing compared to the chunk they get for selling something for $ 1mm or more. so really, it just benefits them to close the deal quickly, make their commission and avoid delays and possible back outs.
it’s just so aggravating that i just can’t get a deal brokered without all the b.s. of «oh, your best interests are my priority. i am willing to do whatever it takes.» bs!!!
and as much as i would like to reveal the name of this über-​lame agent i have, unfortunately i am still in contract with her and can not. just be leary of any giggly bubbled headed agents out of this office!
**oh, and to be totally fair — she did do a really great job marketing the place with a website and great photographs. but she is a terrible sales person — insecure and an amatuer.