Sylvia Barry
Coldwell Banker Realty

Building Life-Long Relationship One Person at A Time - Starting with You!

Larry Brackett (CEO), Noreen Smith (CFO/President) – Frank Howard Allen Realtors

Sylvia - You have been working so hard and have a great attitude considering the challenges in the market. So proud of you that you fought and sold 6 Anthony Court. You will do well in the coming years and each challenging transaction will make you a better agent. Spiro is really in your court and very proud of your accomplishments. Keep up the good work.

Fondly,
Larry Brackett, Noreen Smith

Larry Brackett (CEO/Owner), Noreen Smith (CFO/President) - Frank Howard Allen Realtors We wanted to say congrats on all your recent listing activity. You are doing a great job in a difficult real estate year. We appreciate your team player attitude and feel fortunate to have your work ethic on our team.

Fondly,
Larry Brackett, Noreen Smith

Ronna Somers, General Manager, - Frank Howard Allen Realtors

Dear Sylvia:

Please accept my heartfelt congratulations for being Frank Howard Allen Realtors Founders Award Winner!  What an honor, and it couldn't have gone to a worthier person!  I have never known a harder worker or a more dedicated person to the causes of education in Novato.

I couldn't be happier that you are our 2009 Founder's Recipient!

Fondly, Ronna Somers, General Manager

The Davorens

Sylvia was the listing agent for our Wildhorse Valley Home in Novato. This was the third house I have sold, and I have never before been satisfied by the performance or service of our Real Estate Agents.

Sylvia was confident and professional throughout the process, including giving us expert advice in getting our home in shape for the sale, establishing an asking price, working the market to develop interest, and ultimately an offer. Sylvia encouraged us to list at a price that was $150,000 more than we expected to get, and worked her network of local agents to confirm and reinforce the pricing strategy. She particularly shined once we had an offer, quarterbacking our negotiations throughout the process with confidence, intelligence, and an uncanny ability to read the motivations of our buyer and her agent. Ultimately she got the initial offer up to within 1% of our asking price, and held the line after inspections harder than we would without her advice. In the end, Sylvia’s added value more than covered brokers fees that usually would have pissed me off. I recommend that you hire Sylvia as your agent, and more importantly, trust her instincts and advice. You won’t be sorry.

Sylvia also worked with us to find our replacement home. Although we ultimately bought outside of the area, Sylvia’s research and follow-through on any property that we were interested in was beyond what I have come to expect from a Real Estate Agent. I actually felt guilty that we did not close a home with her after she had put in so much work helping us in our search, but Sylvia never looked disappointed. She was all about providing a service, and making sure that we were happy at the end of the transaction. She even gave us advice in closing on our property with another agent, and offered to look over the paperwork if we were concerned. This woman is a professional!

Trish H. (Interior Designer)

Dear Sylvia:

Thank you for ALL of your HARD work … The countless hours your spent on open houses as well as being the site for ALL the brokers showings & inspections.  You went above & beyond the call of duty – from jumping in & helping with staging to negotiating the very best deal.  You did a fabulous job and I wouldn’t consider hiring anyone but you for my real estate needs.  Your industry knowledge is impressive & it serves us well.

I look forward to seeing you listed as THE TOP AGENT in CALIFORNIA!  It is an understatement when you say “Sylvia Cares”. 

My very best to you,

Trish

Magtoles (Architect) and M. Del Rosario (Nurse)

We would like to thank Sylvia Barry for her painstaking effort and instinctive talent as our realtor for the past 2 years searching for a house that we can afford.  She had been faced with the most uncooperative realtors of sellers and going out of her way to keep them on their toes to make time-critical transactions moving and giving us up-to-date information on matters that needed our attention.  Her persistence and patience on focusing us on the main goal has made it worthwhile to rely on a competent realtor who gets the job done, specially in short sales.  We appreciate all her efforts and recommend her to anyone seeking a highly reliable professional realtor. "

Magtoles and M. Del Rosario

Robert D Swanson, Architect

I used Sylvia Barry for the recent sale of my home at 2197 Vineyard Road, Novato, California.  I had observed her previously at some of her open houses and liked her persistence in aggressively pursuing her home sales. Her photographs were done in a very professional manner and showed my home well to potential buyers. People even came from other parts of the bay area after reviewing her website to her open homes. When offers were presented, I felt she reflected on them in an honest and fair manner, not just to make a sale for herself.

I would highly recommend her to anyone planning to market their home. You will get a professional who will handle the sale with vigor and do everything possible to make your sale happen. If you
have any questions, you may phone me at 760 699-5867.

Tricia Huebner and Joe Greenwald (Coaching and Training, IT Professional)

Dear Sylvia,

Joe and I would like to thank you so much for your help this past year.  We sincerely appreciate all that you did to complete the short sale of our Novato condo.  As we look back on 2008, we are so thankful that we contacted you to help us.  With everything that is happening in the real estate market these days, we felt extremely fortunate and lucky to have been able to sell our condo and avoid foreclosure.  I know many other people have not been as fortunate.

Your willingness to help us navigate the short sale process and take on this challenging situation is a tribute to you and your commitment to clients.  You gave us great confidence (and relief) as you took control and worked directly with our lenders to get our petition for the short sale accepted.  Then, through your diligent efforts, successfully put our condo on the market during a difficult time.

You were always there to answer questions and we appreciated your sincere concern and advocacy for us with the lenders (and buyers).  I know it took a lot of work and time on your part and we really appreciated it.

We would gladly recommend you to any of our family or friends.  We sincerely believe that without your efforts, we could have not been able to successfully complete the short sale.  As in the purchase of our condo in two years earlier, your help was invaluable.

Thank you again for your help and your commitment to us.  We wish you a very successful 2009.

Most sincerely,

Tricia and Joe

Suzanne and Bruce Carmel (Teacher and Broker)

Sylvia - Much thanks for your expert real estate advice.  You helped us close the escrow as well as moral support.  Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage is lucky to have you!                                              

Warm regards –

Suzanne and Bruce 

Langston Harris (IT Professional)

My wife, Cindy, and I have recently contracted with Sylvia Barry as a representative for the sale of our home at 49 Dowitcher Way in San Rafael, California. 

Sylvia worked diligently to market and to complete the sale.  We have been extremely satisfied with the results of her efforts.  She was instrumental in obtaining a great price (more than we expected) and very quickly, as well.  Additionally, we found her to be very easy to work with and formed a close association during the time we spent together.

We highly recommend Sylvia as a realtor who truly cares about providing good service to her clients

Kim Stephen Braun (IT Professional)  

I first met Sylvia Barry when I interviewed her for a Project Manager position at the Insurance Company I worked for.  We worked together for several years afterwards until we went separate ways.  When I decided to sell my house and move to Arizona, Sylvia told me that she had become a Realtor and would love to represent me.    

She brought the same skills I had admired when she was a project manager to the job of real estate sale person. Thoroughness, attention to detail and follow through, making sure everyone did their jobs correctly and on time. There is an incredible amount of contractual requirements and paper work

Involved in selling a house. She made sure all the forms were prepared correctly and signed by all the necessary people. She also added the here-to-fore unknown to me skills of a home decorator, making suggestions as to how we could make our home more attractive to prospective buyers.

All in all, the home selling process was made much less stressful by Sylvia’s skill and competence. When we got eight offers, seven over asking price, she suggested we take the best two, and ask one of them to be a backup offer. This turned out to be very foresightful, when our first offer fell through. We had already made an offer on our dream house in Arizona, and would have lost it if Sylvia hadn’t been prepared.

I would highly recommend Sylvia as your Real Estate Agent. She is honest, hardworking and very competent, the best I’ve worked with.

Tom and Pauline Tong

We met Sylvia Barry during our first open house when we tried to sell our property in Novato by ourselves.  Many realtors came out to meet us, but Sylvia stood out in the crowd.  She was pleasant, straightforward and unassuming.

After we realized that we needed professional help to sell our property, we hired Sylvia to represent us.

Sylvia sold our house within two weeks.  Through her hard work and persistence, we received multiple offers for our house.  Sylvia guided us through the paperwork with patience and she was thorough.  While the loan application and house appraisal was processed, Sylvia made numerous contacts with the buyer’s agent and loan officer on our behalf.  She displayed honesty and integrity.  She never pressured us into any deal with which we were not completely comfortable.  In the end, we were completely satisfied with the process of selling our house.

We have no hesitation to recommend Sylvia to you and are looking forward to have her represent us again in the future.

Miscellaneous Comments

* We had to get the house appraised again so I can re-finance.  It is now $779K.  Thank you for helping me find this house.  By the way, my mother’s neighbor is planning to sell their house; I told them that they should use you.  I am going over this weekend and I will tell them about you again. 

* Sylvia: I really appreciate your ownership, professionalism and customer-oriented approach towards this. Sorry that you have to deal with pressures from both sides. I am planning to not just reimburse your expenses, but as I mentioned, give you a very well deserved commission and more.

* I want to said thank you very much for providing so much information. I'm deeply appreciated. I'll keep you in mind for my friends who are interesting in buying or sale real estate in Marin. I think you are very knowledgeable and resourceful about the real estate business.

* I will say that I have had several experiences with real estate agents and you are our favorite. We appreciate the information, communication, and quick responses...... We need an agent as diligent as your are in this area.  I hope you can help.

* I just wanted to thank you one last time for helping us get our wonderful house. We are loving it so much and it means so much to be there this holiday season....

* So I mentioned that I have a great agent if she ever needs one......  I also had two showers, one for baby and one for bridal.  All these occasions are best to rave about you.  I even gave two of your cards away.