The BloomHomes Team at Bay Area Portfolio - KW (Stephen Bloom)

Stephen and Robin are real professional realtors and understand the process well, including the special laws/rules/regulation imposed by the Alameda county and the city of Oakland. They were able to take my 2 sons through the purchasing process, explain each stage, and help them make good decisions and move quickly when the opportunity presented itself. They were also able to identify some opportunities even before they came to market and give us head start. Stephen is really easy to work with. He is calm under pressure and always have a good, informed answer even in the most stressful stages of the purchasing process. He is always available for advice, he is very responsive and on the other hand he is not pushing you to make a decision... you feel that you are in control and the decision is yours. My family’s relationship with Stephen continued even after we were done with the purchasing process. He helped us find contractors and handy men to help remodel the homes and was happy to share his experience on renting out properties when we considered such options. Overall, we feel that we got a comprehensive end-to-end service that came in a very friendly package.

We just purchased our first house and would not have managed to become owners without Stephen?s good humor and expertise.  We were surely not the easiest clients, in that we are very risk-averse and had narrow constraints regarding price, public transportation, neighborhoods, bedrooms, and just about everything else.  As first time home buyers, moreover, we were very much aware of what a big step it is to enter the housing market these days. 

Stephen understood what we wanted and also taught us how to evaluate the houses we were looking at. He toured numerous houses with us, reported on many more we did not see together, and walked through the couple that we especially liked multiple times. As much as he made it a priority to learn what we liked and what we didn?t like, he also helped us to understand where it was smart to compromise (moldings) without giving up what really mattered (location). He taught us, above all perhaps, not to be unduly swayed by the newly remodeled kitchen, for which one clearly pays a premium!

When we found the right house, Stephen sized it up with us. He even crawled under the house to explain the state of the foundation! He then worked with us to put together an offer with which we felt comfortable and that also had a real chance of getting accepted. He was terrific at communicating with us during the negotiations and clearly aggressive in pitching us and our bid to the sellers.

In this respect, and in getting the closing accomplished, Stephen?s contacts in the real estate industry were crucial. He gave us great recommendations for a variety of lenders. In the end, our preapproval from a well-respected local lender helped our offer stand out.

Once the offer was accepted, Stephen arranged thorough inspections with roofers and other contractors. He made sure that the seller was doing what was required for the transfer of property. Everything went smoothly?from the general inspection to the appraisal to the signing to the loan funding.

For anyone who is looking for a home in this market, making things go smoothly is obviously not to be taken for granted. Stephen helped us close the deal and was an invaluable source of information, wit, and support throughout the whole process. Overall, we cannot recommend Stephen Bloom highly enough.