Alain Pinel Realtors

Wow! I did one day of temp work in this office and I am impressed.
I am referring a friend to this office to assist with her first purchase because I know she will be in good hands!
Although I was only there for a short amount of time, the level of professionalism and warmth from the front desk person Khor, to the office administrator Suzanne to the VP Ron was infectious.
Every agent that walked in was equally as professional and warm. I couldn’t beleive how positive, caring and hard working these folks were. Buzzing around working hard with purpose but maintained a big smile on their faces!
What I found out is that Alain Pinel is privately owned, so you get that old time personal touch that is so often lost in big corporate America. I felt the wonderful energy there and you will too.
When you pull behind the curtains and get a behind the scenes look at how a company works, sometimes you realize it’s not all it’s cracked up to be, but not with this company. I saw behind the scenes and they are even more then what one would expect. Very impressed!
Highly recommend this fantastic office.

I am writing to express how happy my partner and I are in having Galina Erneta As our realtor for the sale of our property at Woodlake.
This was a troublesome sale as the property was returned to us from the tenant in very poor condition. Galina’s help in restoring the property to one that would be desirable to a purchaser is very much appreciated.
She helped us in many ways.
She gave advice regarding which of the many improvements we could make would be the most effective in increasing the value of the property.
She was tireless in finding competent and willing contractors to make the improvements, and in helping us avoid contractors who were not adequately credentialed. She protected us from one contractor who promised a single contract for all of the improvements, and then provided a very expensive contract for only a small part of the improvements we intended to make.
When we did find a good contractor she helped fine tune the contract to include many things that would be considered extras
We especially appreciated your assistance and advice in preparing Architectural Applications needed to make the improvements to the property.
To summarize, Galina spent many many hours doing whatever was needed to prepare our property to be sold. We hoped, all along, that she would be the realtor who sold the property as we wanted her to be rewarded with both parts of the commission.
We were especially concerned with being sure that we made each and every disclosure that was appropriate. Galina guided us through all of the documents that were used to make these needed disclosures. We felt very strongly that the monthly newsletters from Woodlake should be included with the disclosure documents, and Galina made sure these documents were included even though Woodlake was not intending to include them.
Galina asked for, and received, an excellent sales price for our unit. We received as much as was paid for a much larger and beautifully remodeled unit.
Our price was $ 10,000 higher than that of another unit with the same floor plan.
We simply did not expect to receive the price Galina negotiated for our property.
It is clear that her salesmanship has increased the sales prices, and, therefor, thr real value of other properties as well as ours.
We spoke with two other realtors before selecting Galina as our realtor. The price we sold for was almost $ 30,000 more than other realtors suggested as a sales price if the property was in excellent condition.
It was apparent, when we interacted with the staff at Woodlake, that Galina enjoyed a great relationship with these people.
Her sincere enthusiasm and her amazing energy resulted in our property being turned into one that captured an excellent sales price.
We are very grateful for her impeccable professionalism, and her unending efforts on our behalf.
Galina will be the realtor for my personal residence when it is sold.

If you want the absolute best Realtor to represent you on either side of the transaction, Galina Erneta is whom you want on your side. After we lost my husbands mother earlier this year, we were faced with the daunting task of preparing her condo for sale. This was an emotional task and a financial necessity. Additionally the unit still had many of its original 1960’s features that were screaming for an update. Quite frankly we didn’t know where to start.
It was then that Galina entered our lives. Having lived within the Woodlake community for over 20 years, Galina knew everything there was to know about the complex. She had fabulous contacts with all the trades and got great licensed contractors, painters, carpet installers and bath and counter refinishers to work with us at wonderful prices. The unit looked absolutely fabulous on the day it was to be shown. We never would have gotten there so quickly on our own and we would have easily spent two to three times what we did to make the unit marketable. This was above and beyond anything we expected from a Realtor.
Galina’s marketed the property exceptionally well and she showed tremendous capability when the offers were received. She thoroughly scrutinized every contract and found multiple flaws in the way many were written that did not protect us, her clients. She insisted that potential buyers be fully vetted so there would be no unwelcome surprises at close. I really appreciated this professionalism, as I knew we were in the best hands with Galina. She is also wonderful at negotiating a top price.
I almost didn’t hire Galina because of a previous review on this site. When I think of what a mistake that would have been, I am truly glad that I went with my gut. I now consider her not only a great Realtor, but a personal friend.

This review is for Rich Macario from Alain Pinel Realtors. Rich represented my wife and me in purchase a house at San Mateo. Rich is no doubt an expert in local real estate market. As a buyer’s agent, Rich was very honest and gave us invaluable suggestions. During home inspection, Rich accompanied us and was very patient. Although we eventually didn’t buy the house, we enjoyed the great experience with Rich.

My friend told me he bought his dream house in Hillsborough and thank me for referring a great realtor, Claire Zhou, to help him get the house at a handsome price. Claire has helped me and quite a few of my friends to buy and sell multiple properties over the years. She impressed us with every single case and we know it is not a coincidence.

This review is for Mary Ellen Curtis of APR in San Mateo. She has a terrific work ethic, highly professional and committed to achieving a successful transaction. Mary Ellen’s attention to detail and thoroughness gave us great confidence. We would highly recommend Mary Ellen for any real estate needs — she knows how to get the job done and is AS GOOD AS IT GETS! Vicki & Gene

This review is for Alison Jaghab out of Alain Pinel of San Mateo. We rented a room from her for our daughter and being that Alison is a realtor and having her tell us how professional she was, that we were going to be ok. Well how wrong could we be, on the day we moved out Alison snuck out of the apartment so we could not do the walk through, she said she was too busy. However ten minutes after we had left she said she had done a walk through with her mother. Thank god we took detailed photos as we moved out. After 21 days I went to her place of work and left a letter informing her I would take action unless I heard from her. She called and said I would have receipts for cleaning by close of business, I never received them, what I did get was an email from HIP housing to say that she was keeping the deposit and a call from the police to say that I could not trespass at her place of work. This is a 40 year old woman who is a piece of work and as a realtor should be held to a higher standard, there is no professionalism here let me tell you. BEWARE!
There are laws set out to protect tenants and as a Realtor I would have expected Alison to have adhered to them. Such shameful behavior and obviously no ethics at all and this is a realtor. We expected to be treated with respect, our deposit and rent was paid on time but I should have guessed something was wrong when I asked for a receipt for the deposit and she got very angry and refused to give one to us. My daughter lasted three months.
I am not giving her any stars, my rating for her is zero.

This is more about Su Dickey out of APR in San Mateo. You know some realtors low ethics. The other agent Claire Zhou I dealt with is not bad, but that will probably be a last option. I managed to get a decent deal because I knew the market very well. So sale was troublesome but I could manage.
These folks don’t help the buyer. Su and Claire talked me into leasing the home back after a sale for a couple of months, which I did for a low rent and had a $ 500 deposit — all for goodwill. The seller vacated the home and the home was not clean, the garage was very dirty. I spent more than $ 500 to clean it all up. The story gets a twist now.
On the day of the seller vacating, my father passed away and had to go out of the country for 3 weeks. When I came back I saw the state of the home asked my agent (Claire) what needs to be done about the deposit. She said the seller did not ask for the deposit back, so just get the home cleaned.
About 4 months later in December, the seller probably fell short of cash for Christmas purchases and figured she get back money from me. The seller said she talked to Su Dickey and was suggested to take the matter to the small claims court stating that I did not respond in 21 days. Here is the email that the seller sent:
— — — — — — — — -
«Jxxxx Hxxxxxn
Feb 6
to me, Sue, Claire
Murali,
I contacted Alain Pinel realtors. According to the rental agreement you were supposed to return our security deposit within 21 days of termination of our occupancy and within that time frame you were to provide any receipts for costs incurred for any repairs that we were responsible for between close of escrow and the termination of the lease. The rental agreement does not specify that it was to be professionally cleaned. If you continue to disregard the terms of the rental agreement then I will have to consider taking the matter to small claims court.
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True there is a rule that you have to respond in 21 days. But one cannot overlook the death in the family. And I asked the agent after I came back on what to do and what did the seller say. So clearly there is an ethical line that one crossed here in giving such recommendation. They all knew I was at the funeral of my father and yet pursued to take this to the court.
I just paid them back but they stooped below dignity to take a death as a reason and extort money. Before buying from that seller again, make sure you have each and everything in writing and never trust the seller.
There is another agent Alexandria Sasha Sklyar at APR in San Mateo who was trying to push a tenant on to me who had bad credit. I had a number of phone calls and emails from Sasha pushing me to the client in spite of me pointing to questionable credit history. I have proof of that as well.
I think APR in San Mateo only want to sell and make money. They have least ethical value.
Two things
— be aware of these folks when dealing with real estate in San Mateo /​Foster City area. There are a lot of good agents around.
— Never rent back to the seller. If you do, write everything clearly what they are supposed to do upon vacating and get their signature. Take photos at every opportunity.
I am updating now because APR is threatening me to sue in the court for false allegation. I provided the proof above and removed some language that could be offensive. But the facts are real and a big company like APR can bully individuals into suing in the court if you give bad remarks. That is the land of the free!

This review is for realtor Galina Erneta at Alain Pinel. I went to an open house hosted by her in a recent weekend. I believe she is one of the worst behaved realtor I have ever met. I would give her 0 star if there is this option.
After she leant that I did not have an agent yet, she kept asking me to hire her as buyer’s agent. She told me she would be a great negotiator and get the best deal for me from this seller. I then asked her questions about the house. She had very little knowledge about the property or the neiborhood. She does not even know what the elementary school is.
I decided to check out the house myself, but she kept following me and selling her service. I could not even get a quiet second to look at the house myself, so I told her I would talk to her later after I inspected the house. She then became offended, and said she had right to follow me during the open house. Since she stayed very close to me and won’t stop talking, I felt really uncomfortable and have to leave right away.
Whoever is the seller for the house, made a terrible mistake by hiring this agent to hose an open house. She had very poor manner, was rude to the buyers, and had very little knowledge about the property or neighborhood. All she does in the open house is trying to sell her service to the potential buyers, without working for the seller who is entitled for her service. I now understand why she needs work desperately. I will never hire a realtor like her.

I thought I’d dedicate my celebratory #200 to our realtor Rich Macario:
Here I am, looking out over the pacific ocean in *our* house. Yup. The same girl who swore she’d never own property is now the proud owner of a gorgeous house complete with ocean views, a yard, and even a resident banana slug (go UCSC)!
How’d we do it? Rich Macario, that’s how. Above and beyond anything else, he was extremely patient and flexible with my husband and my nearly opposing approaches to home-​buying. Within a very short time, he had an excellent read on our spontaneous versus paranoid viewpoints, which led us ultimately to this insanely beautiful and comfortable house, from which I now write.
More than being a good people-​reader, Rich was quite knowledgeable throughout and advised us well so that we could package appealing offers (without breaking our budget) that would actually get noticed and be taken seriously. In this troubled home-​buying market, Rich helped us navigate the offers, the loan process, and the inspections, all remarkably smoothly. Our escrow period was superbly calm and mellow — just like Rich.
I would absolutely refer Rich to friends (just as he was referred to us) who are looking to buy a home in the bay area. Easy to work with and, jesus, did you catch that sunset over the ocean tonight? I did. Right from my dining room. Lovin’ it.
Buyer’s remorse? Not yet. So far, it’s all buyer’s rejoice!