The Art of the Deal
              Client Reviews

 

The first thing I would tell you is that everything you’ll read in these reviews about Melanie was true for us.  She has a true talent for staging a home for its best appearance and has a great approach to marketing your home in ways that are targeted to the right buyers and is cost effective.  She did all the work herself and is an excellent communicator and problem solver. 

Our sale was a bit of a challenge as we went off on a three week overseas trip to South America while the house was being negotiated for sale with multiple buyers.  Melanie was in constant email and telephone contact and even set up an iPad app where we could review and initial and sign off documents whenever we had an internet connection.  We signed off all the paperwork and closed the sales deal while eating lunch in a South American airport! 

Melanie is not only a top professional in real estate but is also a joy to work with. No matter what the issue or concern she always had an idea on how to solve it and a positive upbeat attitude.  I enthusiastically recommend Melanie to anyone who wants a professional who is tops in her field and someone who operates with the highest levels of integrity.

Steve Newberry
CEO Lam Research

Seller - Saratoga
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Melanie has helped us buy and sell homes in the Los Gatos/Saratoga area over the last 15 years.  The most recent was 3 weeks ago.  Without a doubt, she is really strong. Now, since a lot of people say that about Melanie, let me give you some specifics that differentiate her services:

·         She worked to build a 'strategy' on when to sell and how to price our home.  She explained the plan, got our agreement and stuck to it.  We sold in days.

·         She coordinated pre-marketing inspections to provide prospective buyers with full transparency on the property.

·         She has a very strong resource network that she brings to the transaction.  She helped to source structural inspectors, pest inspectors and pool repairs and covered all of the details in the transaction.

·         She made sure we were informed of the transaction's progress and that we understood our options in each decision making process.

·         She's involved in the transaction.  On many days Melanie was at the house managing inspections, checking on contractors and driving the process along.  When contractors fell behind, they got a call from Melanie.  She did research with the city and the permit process.   All of these provided valuable assurances with us that the purchase (and sale) were in good hands.

My thanks!
Reed Hornberger
Global Vice President - SAP Business Products

Seller, Saratoga and Buyer, Los Gatos
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Kudos to Melanie Kemp at Coldwell Banker in Los Gatos, CA. Meeting her was fortuitous for us.  Melanie guided us through the sale of our home in Saratoga only to just as easily transition us into a smaller home in Monte Sereno.  She is always an advocate for her client, honorable, knowledgeable, and very tenacious.  She has exquisite taste and an encyclopedic knowledge of both construction and tradespeople.  We relied on Melanie for all aspects of our sale, purchase and move.  She completely supervised and directed the staging of our home which ultimately was responsible for selling it. She reads people clearly and treats them in a very natural way, gaining their confidence and resulting ultimately in a sale.  Her uncompromising desire for the very best quality always served us successfully.  She is the best in the business. We demanded a great deal and she never failed to rise to the occasion. The results speak for themselves.

Marcia Ratner - Seller, Los Gatos and Buyer, Los Gatos
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Melanie Kemp sold our house in Monte Sereno.  It was a contemporary home on a sloped lot.  She hosted about 15 open houses and had lots of follow up showings.  She was eager to work with clients and offer possibilities to keep them interested.  Her list of contractors and tradespeople was solid and they were able to help with electrical issues, moving, staging, appraising, or just handyman issues to help throughout  the whole process.  She was always professional and very prepared.  Melanie is sharp and tenacious and someone you would want on your side.

Diane and Dave Toole – Seller, Monte Sereno
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I was absolutely dreading the prospect of selling the family home in Los Altos and finding a decent place at the coast.  A friend recommended Melanie Kemp and I tentatively scheduled a meeting.  (I understand now why almost all of her clients are from referrals.)  Everything has been a whirlwind since then.  Melanie not only brought in an astounding 44% over list price (which made it possible for me to retire), but also powered through two really difficult buyer situations to find me an unbelievably beautiful beachfront home at Sunset Beach (only 14 hours later).  I was totally skeptical of the process going into this but Melanie laid out exactly what she was going to do, educated me on the process and documents, took the extra time to make sure I wasn't freaking out, then, time after time blew me away with all that was accomplished.  I felt like I had won the lotto. 

Four abilities stand out that really made a difference for me 1) she accomplished everything she promised (and then some) 2) she has this remarkable ability to match a personality to the right house 3) she has a cadre of appraisers, inspectors, contractors, accountants, trust attorneys all with lots of experience, integrity and professionalism and 4) she has an eerie ability to read and make people feel realistically optimistic and comfortable.

Bottom line, Melanie has a genius for very effective multitasking so that no opportunity or detail even comes close to falling through the cracks.  And, most importantly, she was absolutely relentless and brilliant at the Art of the Deal, taking out the worry and confusion of the process by constantly keeping me informed of progress daily (and sometimes hourly when things started moving fast), and leveraging every bit of her long experience.  Like I keep telling friends who couldn't believe what happened with the resulting sale and the new beach house: "She's the Real Deal."  

Kerry Swanson - Seller, Los Altos and Buyer, La Selva Beach
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Melanie handled the sale of our Los Gatos property as only a true professional can. We got the price we wanted and the sale was completed in a reasonable time frame. Melanie was there from start to finish advising and organizing everything from landscape design, staging, inspections and on down to the necessary repairs. Her marketing skills and experience left no stone unturned.  She uses only the best pros for staging, photos, virtual tours, newspaper ads and brochures. All of our open houses were well attended with enthusiastic buyers. Once the offers were in, Melanie was a tenacious negotiator who skillfully got the buyer to agree to our terms. We had a glitch or two in escrow and Melanie never batted an eye, she just took care of business in a professional manner and we closed nearly on schedule. 

Jeanne and Gordon Duncan – Seller, Los Gatos
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Melanie Kemp was THE best Realtor I could have ever hoped for.  I have bought and sold houses before and not easily impressed by realtors in general.  My house was very "unique" and targeted a niche audience.  I listed it 2 years ago through another agent and it sat on the market for 6 months without 1 offer.  I live out of state and Melanie independently arranged for and supervised landscaping, cleaning, staging, floors etc. so that the house showed beautifully.  She was personally at my house holding open houses both days on the weekends and had to work with some difficult situations with tenants.  In less than a month she had multiple solid offers. She is driven and successful and I feel very fortunate to have found her.  I will use her again and recommend her to anyone.  

Sue Neale-May – Seller, Los Gatos
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Melanie just helped us find our dream home and we couldn't be more pleased!  We were only in town for less than a week and she was able to organize dozens of showings so that we could make the most of our time and get a feel for the market.  She was extremely efficient, thorough, and an absolute pleasure to be around.  She made this process seem more like vacation than work. 

Once we found the home we knew we wanted she was AMAZING.  Her can do attitude as well as binder full of contacts allowed us to close in record time.  No one thought that we could possibly arrange all of the necessary inspections as quickly as she had promised.  They ate their words.  Melanie impressed us on all levels, but the way she handled the negotiating process and closing was spectacular.  While Melanie is very sweet and kind, it was her pit-bull sized attack on the negotiations that blew us away.

There's something extremely comforting about having someone that knows every trick in the book on your team.  We went back to the East Coast completely confident that Melanie could handle anything thrown her way. We highly recommend Melanie as both an agent as well as a local tour guide!  She's fantastic...and we feel very lucky to have met her.  

Lara Kellog and Cas Anderson – Buyer, Los Altos Hills
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Melanie was the agent for the sale of my Saratoga home and the purchase of my Los Gatos home.  Results matter and the sale yielded the highest $/sq ft of any home in the neighborhood and the purchase was 10's of thousands less than what the seller said was their lowest acceptable offer.  Simply put, Melanie knows her business and makes the right decisions that yield the best results. Equally important, through each transaction she kept the process flowing and on time, often keeping the other agents honest.  I heartily recommend Melanie for your real estate transaction. 

Philip Bernosky – Seller in Saratoga and Buyer in Los Gatos ________________________________________________________________

Though I had heard many stories of high end Realtors listing properties and then turning all work over to assistants, this was never the case with Melanie.  She answered every phone call and every email from the trustees, attended every showing, participated in every conference call, and personally worked with every buyer's agent.  Along the path of our journey there were many times when another Realtor might have delegated tasks or responsibilities, but never did this happen.  We hired Melanie and we got Melanie.  This is in stark contrast to reports of several friends who have sold houses in town over the last years. 

Melanie is an artful negotiator who represented our interests with keen insight, integrity, and professionalism.   She guided us through every step of the way through the many details that need tending when a house is under contract.  She vigilantly shepherded the deal to keep it on track.  Her many years of experience, depth and breadth of knowledge and dedication made all the difference in bringing about successful closure to our transaction. 

Gail Alberti – Seller, Atherton ________________________________________________________________

We are delighted with the recent sale of our Saratoga home.  We were referred to Melanie from friends who've used her a number of times, and we've been very pleased! Her 30+ years in the business really shows.  On top of guiding us through a complex maize of legal paperwork, her resources for inspections and contractors were invaluable and her marketing materials were very high end from colorful brochures, mailings and virtual tour to advertising.  We got a huge bump from the staging and landscaping improvements she coordinated.  And what a difference.  Our home was nice before, but she added the finishing touches that helped us generate multiple offers and the highest sales price that's ever been recorded in our neighborhood. 

Most invaluable, however, was her understanding of the contract, all the disclosures (it's overwhelming!) and the delicately handled negotiations with our international buyers and their agent.  When it was all said and done, she got well over list price and negotiated a free month of rent for us after the sale! There's a lot at stake here.  I wouldn't want anyone else in my corner when it comes to buying or selling my home. 

Karen Bernosky, Seller in Saratoga
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Melanie handled a very difficult sale and purchase of a new home for us with professionalism, warmth and determination.  She had to deal with a buyer’s agent who didn't know what he was doing and a mortgage broker who almost caused our deal to fall through. Were it not for her expertise and tireless work, we would not have been able to sell our property.  (It was common to see nightly, weekend and vacation e-mails from her to other agents and loan officers).  She has 37 years of experience and it really paid off in the staging and interior design expertise, the constant updates through phone calls, emails and text messages, very professional signage and marketing materials, professional photographers and video tour, extensive internet exposure through the biggest search engines, thorough review of contracts and the negotiation process, and connections she gave me with excellent finance resources. I can't recommend her more highly. She is truly a class act! 

Nathan Jones, Seller, Los Gatos and Buyer, San Jose
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With the process of selling or buying a home comes a certain degree of stress, or so I'm told.  Melanie has been our champion for four real estate transactions over the past twenty years and has taken on the stress of that process for us.  Stress free is perhaps not possible, but with Melanie, it's as close to stress free as it gets.  Attention to detail and professionalism is what Melanie is all about." 

Bob Anderson, Seller, Cupertino and Buyer, Los Gatos
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I first met Melanie on the other side of the negotiating table when she was the listing agent.  I was a buyer with my own agent.  When it came time to sell my home, I told my wife I wanted her on OUR side of the table this time!  It was a great experience." 

Tom Noghrey - Seller, Los Gatos ________________________________________________________________

There are several reasons why I’ve asked Melanie Kemp to represent me in 8 real estate transactions over the past 26 years.  She quickly understands what I'm am trying to accomplish, she has an in-depth awareness of the available properties in the Los Gatos/Saratoga/Monte Sereno area, she doesn't waste my time, and she aggressively represents my interests during negotiations.  Furthermore, Melanie is meticulous in her attention to the details of the whole transaction and goes above and beyond the call of duty to help me facilitate a quick, painless close.  I highly recommend her, and I plan to use her for all of my future real estate transactions.

Stephen Walters – Seller, Saratoga and Buyer, Los Gatos
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Look no further - Melanie is THE BEST! We've bought two homes and sold one with her and couldn't have been more pleased each time with her professionalism, courtesy and responsiveness.

As a seller's agent, she is an expert on staging a home, setting an appropriate price for the market, and SELLING your home to prospective buyers. In a buyers' market, our house was on the market for only one week and sold for more than the asking price!

As a buyer's agent, I can't imagine "going to battle" with anyone else at my side. She knows all the right questions to ask and is a tenacious negotiator on her clients' behalf.

My family has been working with Melanie for over 20 years now... We recommend her to everyone we know and they've all been as thrilled with her service as we are. 

Jeff Anderson – Buyer and Seller, Saratoga and Buyer, Campbell
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Twenty-five years ago we needed a Realtor to help us sell our home fast.  A family member recommended Melanie to us.  She sold our house within three weeks.  We were so impressed with her professionalism, energy and vast knowledge not only about real estate matters but also about home design and contractor referrals.  Luckily she kept in contact with us so in 2012 we asked her to sell our Cupertino home.  She sold it within two weeks with multiple offers.  After that she helped us look for our perfect home.  We are so happy with our new home and we got it in no small part due to her wonderful negotiation skills.

Throughout all the transactions we always felt that Melanie's top priority was our best interest.  She kept us informed of every detail, always trying to make things easier for us.  She is personable (great smile), efficient and reliable.  We highly recommend Melanie to anybody looking for a great real estate professional.

Maria Perez – Buyer and Seller(twice), Cupertino and Buyer, Morgan Hill
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