Seth Franklin- Everyone Deserves a Nerdy Realtor! - Berkeley, California

Natalie K. L.

Three words. BEST REALTOR EVER! No seriously. If you need a realtor who is thorough in everything he does, a great communicator AND funny? Seth is your guy. Although house hunting was an emotional roller coaster, Seth truly made it as easy and enjoyable as possible. My husband and I are first time home buyers, and we had no idea what was ahead of us. But Seth held our hands as much as we needed him to and really made sure we understood every step of the process. Not only was he great at providing us with information on homes but he is also very well connected to all kinds of trades in the east bay area. Anytime we ran into a home that had some type of issue such as a leak or sewer lateral (which was quite often) Seth already had a guy on speed dial just waiting for our “ok” to check it out. I would HIGHLY recommend Seth to any first-time homebuyer who has no idea where to begin or a seasoned home buyer who is ready to get a home sold or bought. Seth is the best and I truly can’t say it enough!

Brian K.

Seth helped us buy our first house in the Summer of 2023. We did not know Seth personally before deciding to work with him. He was one of several agents recommended by friends.

If you are looking for an agent, you should work with Seth. He is very good at his job.

One of my concerns, when finding a buyer's agent, was about misaligned incentives; a buyers' agent makes the most money, per hour worked, if he gets you to buy a house quickly and pay as much as you can for it.

But Seth never rushed or pressured us. Ultimately, he helped us buy a house, in Berkeley, well under our budget, and (somehow) well under its appraised value. It was our second offer. Put otherwise, Seth clearly promoted and advocated for our interests.

This being our first house, before working with Seth, we did not know what a real estate agent did. Here is what Seth did for us:

1. Provided a mountain of information about the process.

2. Advised us on neighborhoods to consider.

3. Sent listings.

4. Met with us (outside of normal working hours) for tours.

5. Carefully reviewed the ~50 pages of documents provided by sellers, for any property that interested us; he alerted us to red flags, and provided the total move-in cost of necessary repairs.

6. Analyzed recent sales, and estimated the probability of a successful offer at various prices.

7. Wrote offers (another ~50 pages of documents per property).

8. Recommended, and then coordinated with, a contractor for an emergency railing installation required by the house appraiser, after our offer was accepted.

9. Coordinated documentation and communication with the sellers' agent, our loan provider, and the escrow company.

In essence, Seth handled everything except choosing the house. We feel very lucky to have found him.

Sara H.

We bought our first house last Friday with Seth as our realtor and couldn't have had a better experience. We are expecting a baby in November and wanted to buy before the baby arrives. Seth held our hands (not literally of course with COVID), gently explained how this incredibly complex process works, and helped us to strategize a winning bid on our very first offer within 4 weeks of beginning our search. We are thrilled with our beautiful new home in Montclair, Oakland and moved in a couple of days ago. Seth is kind, warm, highly professional, exceptionally knowledgeable, well connected, fun and funny, patient and extremely thorough. He is a person of integrity; we found his advice to be sound, his judgement to be excellent, and we felt that he always acted in our best interest. He knows the Easy Bay market very well. We emphatically recommend Seth as an amazing realtor and encourage you to reach out to him if you are thinking of buying or selling

Dharan C.

Seth is a delightful agent to work with!
I just closed and moved into my first home in the US, thanks to Seth. He is meticulous and knowledgeable with all things home buying related. He did a thorough job of helping me understanding daunting disclosure packets, title documents, insurance options, local laws, and provided a detailed review for each house that I was interested in. He is proactive in addressing any part of the process from doing background checks on inspectors, home loan agents, contractors etc. Even after Close, he still continues provide referrals when I need them.

He made the job so easy for me as a buyer. I am super glad that I chose to go with Seth as my agent and will continue to do so next time I'm in the market. As an added bonus, he has a charming sense of humor and also provides good food recommendations in the Bay Area!

Luz D.

We met Seth at an open house and even though we were not interested in that house, we were so impressed by his professionalism and communication skills (and great sense of humor!) that we decided to work with him as our agent. Seth was awesome all through the process. Seth is thorough, strategic, very diligent and a true pleasure to work with. He was extremely responsive and very good at guiding us every step of the way. Even when Seth had to travel for a few days, one of his colleagues at Red Oak (Leslie!) seamlessly picked up and was just as amazing. The whole process took about 5 months but he never got impatient with us or lost faith that we would eventually find the perfect home.
The process of buying a home is definitely not a simple one and having someone with integrity that you can trust is invaluable. We highly recommend working with Seth to anyone trying to navigate the highly competitive Bay Area real state market!

Nick V.

First off, I hope that Seth will forgive us for the delay in writing this review. We closed a couple months ago and we have been super busy moving and setting up our beautiful new home! But even as I write this, I know he will, because he is just simply that type of guy. He never made us feel pressured at any stage of the process. From selecting a realtor to looking at properties to writing our offer letter, he was patient and thoughtful every step of the way.

All in all, Seth was an absolute pleasure to work with. He was always SUPER responsive, and even when we were asking basic questions he was kind, compassionate, and funny. He guided my partner and I through all the complex paperwork and was a fountain of knowledge.
Once we figured out what house we wanted, he provided us with detailed step-by-step emails on everything we needed to do. He’s been in East Bay realty for a long time and knew many key players in the game. Most importantly, he was able to leverage his personal relationships to make sure we were well-informed about everyone involved in the process and verify their reputability—from our mortgage broker to the contractors doing the inspections to the listing team. Ultimately, we got our first offer accepted and negotiated a below-list price!

Finally, maybe the most clutch thing he did was to help us avoid an attempted wire fraud. By following his instructions on verifying the title company info, we were spared sending thousands of dollars to scammers! Thank you so much, Seth!

P.S. — A big thanks to Jordan Lento, as well! Also a member of the Red Oak team, he worked in tandem with Seth to close the deal for us. They were truly a dynamic duo!

Kyle E.

Seth Franklin...is...awesome!!!

This is now my second 'deal/transaction/home moment' I moved through with Seth being the batman to my robin. Seth is approachable, wicked smart, friendly and an all-around good human.

For those that don't know Seth, the warm natured spirit who ROCKS the rainbow suspenders is about as real a Realtor, Dad, community leader as one can get.

I was able to sell my condo through Seth's strategy in the exact timeline we were shooting for. He was present every step along the way and was incredible with his follow through and keeping me updated no matter what.

Vanessa D.

The reason we currently are first time home owners is because we made the wise decision to work with Seth.

We are 100% sure that without Seth’s communication skills, advocacy for us and honesty about the market, we would not have a house.

He is kind, funny, and extremely responsive. He patiently answered all of our first time home buyer questions and knows the intricacies of our particular market extremely well. We highly highly recommend him.