Time to Come Home

We can't recommend Sarah enough! She's kind, down-to-earth, and full of experience and connections - and she helped us buy a home we love in a neighborhood we didn't think we'd be able to afford. Sarah will be honest with you about how certain houses may or may not align with your budget, but she'll also let you take the lead if there's a property you're interested in that feels like a stretch. We offered one house that we thought we had a shot at and were outbid quite a bit. But the next house - the one we now own - initially seemed out of reach until we read the disclosures with Sarah and realized it needed some repairs that turned off other buyer...

Sarah was incredible to work with. We purchased our first home with her, and she made it a great experience. Always answered our questions either by phone, email, or text. Was available whenever we needed her. Going in we did not think buying a home would be this easy. Sarah made the whole process very enjoyable. Her knowledge of construction and knowing what to look for in both new and old homes proved to be extremely helpful for us. Highly recommend and will definitely work with her in the future!

My husband and I had a phenomenal experience working with Sarah to purchase our first home. What stands out about Sarah is her in-depth knowledge of foundation, repairs, roofing, etc. I was so glad to have someone so knowledgeable on my team in my search for the ideal home. Whenever we viewed a home, she would fairly point out the potential problems, concerns, and foreseeable repairs that came with the place, which I really valued. Her husband is a contractor and she has absorbed so much important knowledge from him, as well as from her years of valuable experience, that makes Sarah a knock-out realtor. My husband and I work long hours with an often...

We just bought our first home with Sarah who was professional, highly responsive and had great knowledge about the local Berkeley/Oakland/Albany markets. She consistently went above and beyond to help us find our home, and we cannot recommend her enough. From the very beginning of our working relationship, Sarah impressed us with her professionalism and expertise. She took the time to really understand what we were looking for in a home and used her knowledge of the local market to narrow down the search to properties that met our needs and preferences. Throughout the home-buying process, Sarah was always available to our questions and concerns. She...

As first-time buyers, we knew very little about the entire process, except to feel very apprehensive about our prospects in the uber-competitive East Bay market. Sarah's incredible wealth of knowledge, insight, intuition, skills, and hard work turned us from nervous know-nothings into proud homeowners in just under 2 months! In that time we visited 10+ houses, often for multiple hours exploring every nook and cranny, each time learning so much about what to look for when evaluating a home. When we were considering an offer, she wrote diligent notes on the disclosures to make sure we understood exactly what we'd be getting and how to put that into co...

We so appreciated working with Sarah as our real estate agent. Her knowledge of construction allowed her to point out important aspects of homes that we wouldn't have thought of, which gave me more confidence. She was also a solid partner: transparent, high integrity, and reliable. Our home-buying process ended up shifting over time, and she rolled with the changes. It's hard to say enough positive things. She was a solid partner, and we are very thankful and lucky that we worked with her.

From the first moment we met Sarah, we vibed. Sarah is honest and a realist which we very much appreciated. She really knows and understands Oakland and is very attuned to the overall economy not just the real estate market. Sarah also has a wonderful bedside manner. This was our first time selling a house and needed (a ton) of handholding. She graciously answered every question— even when we knew we were getting annoying. She was super responsive and really went above and beyond— whether it was jumping on a quick call or answering late-night emails. She also has an amazing team who helped get the house "list-ready". If we weren't leaving Oakland we...

Sarah is an A+ realtor! Not only is she so knowledgeable about the Bay Area housing market, she understands construction (her husband is a contractor). Between looking over disclosures and inspecting a potential home with her client, she will point out noticing that might be missed by the untrained eye. She is genuine and will help you determine if a house is a "can of worms" or a good opportunity. Sarah has impeccable people and communication skills. Sarah is extremely well-regarded and has built positive rapport with several realtors in the area. When it was time for us to put in an offer on a home, she knew the style of the seller's realtor and h...

This might be the hardest review I've ever had to write - it just isn't possible to put into words how thankful we are to have met Sarah and Ellie. Before meeting the Ridges, my partner and I had been actively looking for our first house for over a year and had made 8 failed offers, never even hearing back from the sellers. When we decided it was time for a change, we wanted to be 100% confident in the next realtor we worked with, so we interviewed 6. Sarah blew us away with the depth and breadth of her knowledge about real estate and construction, her enthusiasm, and her candor. Two weeks later, we were in contract on a house we absolutely loved, w...

Buying a home can be an overwhelming process, especially when you're looking for the perfect fit for your family. But we had a great experience working with Sarah. From our very first meeting, Sarah impressed us with their deep knowledge of the real estate market. She guided us through every step in our journey, from understanding our needs to getting us the keys to our new home. Her guidance not only made us feel secure in our decisions but also enlightened us about aspects of home buying we hadn't considered before. Sarah is highly professional, knowledgeable, and fun to work with. She helped us through negotiation and closing all the way through....

Sarah helped us buy our first home - and she was exactly what we needed. As a first-time home buyer, especially in the Bay Area, there are so many things about financing, construction, and the home buying process itself that you just can't know everything about. Sarah was very hands-on - looking at all the cracks and crevices of a home and guiding us through how to examine the condition of a home. In the Bay Area market, buying a home with no contingency is common, so having Sarah there gave us the confidence to choose a home and the leg up we needed. She has a strong network of professionals (including her husband) to help walk you through the home...

Buying a home in the Bay Area is a daunting process, but Sarah makes it as easy as possible! As first-time home buyers, it was important to me and my partner that we have a capable real estate agent. Sarah is that and a whole lot more - she possesses decades of experience and a broad professional network. She invests quality time with her clients and shows deep care for her work. We learned so much from Sarah about how to navigate the market and spot potential issues or opportunities on listings. Her construction knowledge is extensive, which is invaluable in such a competitive market. Perhaps most importantly, she steered us when we needed it and h...

Sarah is the best! She worked tirelessly to help us find our dream home in Berkeley and was so caring through the process. We felt confident we were in good hands from day one working with her. We never felt rushed and Sarah took the time to look at every nook and cranny of the houses we looked at together, even crawling on hands and knees to get a good look at the stuff that good paint couldn't fix. We trusted her when she said "Don't walk, run from this house" and also trusted her when she ultimately helped us land a house we are just thrilled about. Sarah, thank you 1000 times over. I often forgot Sarah had other clients, because of her absolute ...

Sarah is an excellent realtor. She is very knowledgeable about Berkeley and the quirks of the residential market here. Plus, she is fun to work with and very responsive. Highly recommend!

How do I say thank you to this wonderful realtor? My husband died and I was not in a position to continue to own my home. My husband and I had operated a home inspection business, so we had known Sarah as a very reliable realtor and had worked with her before. When Sarah heard that Dave had died quite suddenly she stepped forward and wanted to know how she could help me. I explained my situation. I am an older woman and she just did everything to start the sale of my home. She had an offer on it before she even had an open house. She went ahead with it. the open house to get more exposure. The house sold immediately and over the asking price. I want...

We were so lucky to have Sarah guiding us through the sometimes rocky sale of our home. Her knowledge and experience were always on display and she was quick to respond and lend a hand with anything that needed to get done to make the sale. Highly recommend!

We were lucky enough to find Sarah during our search for a home in the East Bay. Sarah was tireless in her efforts- driving out multiple times on short notice to see a house with us. She is incredibly knowledgeable about the market and has a deeply intuitive feel for what we would need as a family. She was also really knowledgeable about the more functional aspects of a house- e.g., what needs redoing, what damage is structural vs cosmetic, and how long might a renovation actually take, which helped us have a realistic sense of what move-in costs might look like. With Sarah's help, we were able to secure an off-market home from an off-market listing...

Sarah helped us buy our house in Berkeley six years ago, and she was amazing then, helping us get a house we did not think we had any shot of actually buying. When we decided to sell for a job move, we asked Sarah to help us sell. Sarah has honed an uncanny ability to combine knowledge and intuition to get the best results for her clients. She understood our home's strengths and highlighted them, but perhaps more importantly she understood the weaknesses of the property and subtly targeted her marketing to mitigate them. Her marketing materials were top-notch, including a website and a great video. She works incredibly hard and she is thorough and c...

It was a pleasure listing our home with Sarah Ridge. Of the several realtors I contacted hoping to speak with about a listing, she was the first to respond and schedule a meeting at our home to look at it and provide feedback. This sounds like the response you should expect, but it was almost unique as only one other realtor out of 5 that I contacted got back to me besides Sarah. I selected her because of the following factors: 1) She works at real estate full time and has several years of experience; 2) She responded professionally and had a plan the next day for marketing our home; 3) She had other active listings and was also showing to buyers wh...

Sara is a fantastic real estate agent. I cannot recommend her more highly. She is efficient, calm, intelligent, and conscientious. I expected to lose money when selling my house because I had bought it at the top of the market and was selling it after the market took a dive. Sarah's fantastic work resulted in my house selling for $20,000 more than I bought it for. Amazing!