About Grace Bishop

The house was presented very well to the market, we were blown away by the website, photos, 3d walk-thru, etc. And of course the help navigating through challenging offers and bad offers that broke down to finally land in a good place was fantastic.

Grace was incredible! Just as she was almost 10 years ago when we bought another Berkeley home with our son and daughter-in-law. This time she (and Kim!) were extremely responsive as we struggled to put together a winning offer for a home we absolutely loved, while we were on vacation in Duluth, Minnesota visiting my brother and his family. They helped us pull together the documents we needed to justify a funding package, and guided us about offer amounts so we were able to get a bid submitted before the offer deadline, which occurred while we were on a plane on our way home. They were both proactive in guiding us to extremely helpful and flexible p...

Our experience with Grace Bishop and Kim Markinson was nothing less than excellent! Right from the start, Grace was down-to-earth and professional at all times when working with us on the sale of our mom’s home. She was clear from the get-go on the path we were about to embark, and was receptive to our wishes and feedback on the process, even if they differed from her, as we moved along. Both Grace and Kim were quick to respond and available to answer any questions, always leaving us feeling safe with the process. Grace guided us through the initial phases, the home repairs, the house photos for the MLS and the final listing. Kim was both kind and a...

Once again, Grace and Kim provided my family with excellent advice and thoughtful consideration in selling our house. We recommend them highly. Thank you ladies.

I had the pleasure of working with Grace Bishop both when purchasing my home and again later when it came time to sell. From start to finish, she was professional, knowledgeable, and incredibly effective. During the home-buying process, Grace took the time to understand what I was looking for and guided me through each step with clarity and confidence. Her deep knowledge of the market, sharp instincts, and honest advice helped me feel secure in my decisions and ultimately led to a successful purchase. When I later decided to sell, there was no question I would turn to her again. She approached the sale with the same energy and dedication - acting qu...

Probably the best thing I can say about Grace is that she makes me wish I was either buying or selling a house all the time. Before moving back to Northern California, we'd had our share of experiences with Realtors who were solid, very good and not very effective. Grace raised the bar tremendously, starting when we first relocated from Philadelphia to Oakland in 2011. First some background: Redfin was all the rage in 2011 when we were looking to move back to California, and I figured we could use it to buy our house and skip the standard Realtor fees. Fortunately, a Bay Area architect who came to look at a place with me because we had some hopes of...

Grace is a great agent -- knowledgeable and market savvy while also down to earth and easy to communicate with. I've bought two houses with Grace and am currently selling the first house with her--while my price point isn't high, you'd never know it from the gold star treatment I get from Grace. Plus working with Grace you get the perks of the efficient and comprehensive Red Oak system.

I wish there were 10 stars to give Red Oak's Grace and Kim! They are the gurus of East Bay real estate - professional to the hilt, knowledgeable enough to write a book, highly responsive, kind, patient and most of all, always got the job done! Fantastic teamwork with delightful people. Thank you for getting us into a home we'll love in this crazy Bay Area market. Highly recommend! All the best, TC

I could not have asked for a better home buying experience, working with Grace Bishop. This was my first home, and from the get-go, Grace was able to explain each step in the process and arm me with the knowledge I needed to navigate the road ahead. She always answered any questions I had quickly and thoroughly, and routinely went above and beyond to get me anything I needed. Apart from being professional, Grace was kind and never hesitated to lend me her advice and expertise. I don't believe I would have been able to close on the home that I did without Grace as my agent.

We recently sold our house with Grace and it was without exception a truly positive experience. We had been burnt by a previous experience and working with Grace restored our faith that there are awesome, honest, caring and diligent realtors out there. Grace was thorough, experienced and strategic through the sales process. We were definitely anxious sellers but Grace was very patient and responsive which was what we needed. I would recommend Grace to a friend. TJ and Natasha

The buying and selling of houses are intense life experiences, evoking emotions and requiring ample support. Realtor Grace Bishop's confidence and composure was precisely what we needed to make countless decisions. During our family's year-long journey for a more fitting house Grace's expert knowledge of the housing market, her referral to an exceptional loan officer and her paced guidance, provided us with the foundation we needed to make an accepted offer on a cosmetic fixer house, located in a seemingly never-affordable-to-us neighborhood.Grace had keen insight on how best to prepare our house for the biggest sale. Her list of referrals for every...

Gra

Grace and Kim were the best and made selling our condo easy and painless. They kept us up to date on all of the activities. Selling was made easy by this team.

We worked with Grace and Kim to sell our house. It had been about 20 years since we had sold our last house and we really needed the help. Grace and Kim let us know exactly what we needed to do in order to get the best price for our place. They worked with the workers who updated the place. Helped us get the best stager around. Since we had already moved out of the area they kept track of all of the work, inspectors and workers for us. We were able to do everything virtually which really helped us. All in all they made the whole process easy and fun.

Grace and Kim helped us find a home that we love. They are the best! Grace has a great knowledge of the market, an extensive network, and knows how to close the deal. After several unsuccessful offers with other agents, we turned to Grace and she helped us find our home shortly after. We finally have a great home, with a view, and we have our Sundays back! Thank you, Grace!

I hardly ever review anything on Yelp - but I have to make an exception here. I don't know what I can add to her already exceptional reviews, except to say that Grace really is a unique and utterly exceptional person in the world of real estate. She's helped us purchase two homes and sell one, and in every case has gone above and beyond. Our most recent purchase and sale were particularly hectic, having to be negotiated partly while we were on another continent (!), and Grace handled it all with unbelievable patience and capability. We got outstanding results with both, and neither deal would have gotten done without her.I can't recommend her highly...

My home search started Jan 2019 with one realtor looking for a house in the Bay Area. As a first time home buyer the task of finding a house felt daunting and unattainable especially as the end of the year grew closer. Almost an entire year looking for a house and I still didn't have a better understanding of how to search for a house or go about the process of putting a bid down on a house I liked. In fact over the past year I saw several homes I was interested in but the opportunity time after time passed me by. As someone in their late 20's who had been saving up for many years with a goal of buying a house it seemed like my budget just wasn't fe...

Grace has helped members of our family buy three homes and sell one over the past eleven years. Recently she advised my son as he searched for a home in Oakland and Berkeley. Grace assisted him in evaluating properties, accurately estimating the price that would be necessary to compete for a given property. Her suggestions were spot on in writing a winning bid, and she and her assistant Kim helped my son navigate escrow and meet all deadlines in a timely fashion. Since the sale they have remained available to answer questions and recommend contractors to perform repairs. Grace is experienced, dedicated, friendly, and kind. Kim is also a professional...

Grace and Kim - we cannot tell you how much we appreciate everything you have done for us. Moving across the country with two kids during COVID to start a new job was immensely stressful and you both took a significant portion of our concerns off our backs. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you! Not to mention, you originally found the house for us and then sold it for significantly more less than a year later! Who does that?! You have been the best to us. I'm so glad my cousin connected me with you and I hope we stay in touch. Grace, we will miss your daughters as our sitters and hope they are thriving despite the lockdown challenges. We will miss you all!

Grace Bishop and Kim Markison were my realtors. They helped me in an off-market sale to purchase a house that I leased for many years. This was a delicate transaction that required expertise and human understanding. They were professional, courteous, prompt and skilled. I always felt I was in good hansd and getting sound advice and that alleviated mountains of stress. Couldn't have done better.

I recently sold a 1 bedroom condo in Berkeley with Grace Bishop and Kim Markison, and I cannot recommend them enough. I contacted Grace after reading her positive Yelp reviews (on multiple Red Oak Yelp entries for some reason), and am so happy that I did.This was my first time selling a property, and this condo was in my family for 23 years, so it needed some TLC/repairs/landscaping. Grace and Kim took the time to walk through everything with me, starting with what items I should repair/paint/refinish to get the most for my money. Next, they recommended some cosmetic landscaping, and they worked directly with their landscaper (they met with him pers...

Where to begin! Grace and Kim helped my wife and I find our first home, working closely with us every step of the way for almost a yearlong search. Their knowledge and patience through the whole process was incredible and made us feel empowered, even in the highly competitive and expensive East Bay market. When we finally did have our offer accepted on a home, they were both amazingly efficient and communicative through all of the many steps and piles of paperwork. I cannot recommend Grace enough for anyone looking to buy or sell, truly a top notch professional who looks out for her clients best interests wherever they're coming from.

Working with Grace and Kim was a wonderful experience. Purchasing real estate is an intense emotional roller coaster. They were with me every step of the way. I am so grateful for all the support, guidance and expertise they provided.

Grace has helped me purchase two homes and has been responsive, knowledgable, and willing to show up for multiple inspections. I just closed on my home and there were multiple concerns post offer and Grace was quick to contact the seller and get things resolved. She also has DocuSign, which really saved a ton of time in signing documents. Grace really knows the Berkeley, Albany, Oakland, and El Cerrito areas especially and I highly recommend her as an agent.

I have worked with 4 realtors in the past decade and I truly wish I had just worked with Grace. We worked with Grace to sell our house in Berkeley and she was just fabulous-she had great referrals to a variety of people to help us get the house ready to sell, she was clear about process and all that we could do to prepare our house without being pushy, she was very detail-oriented (which is essential in a realtor), and it became clear that other realtors respect her and trusted her (which helped us get $120,000 over our asking price). And she is also easy to talk with, calming when things are stressful, and just good people. I have no hesitation in ...

We cannot recommend Grace Bishop highly enough if you are in the market to buy or sell a home. When we decided to buy in October 2010, we knew two things: we wanted to move quickly, and our first call had to be to Grace. She was incredibly supportive and helpful throughout our search. Within two weeks, we got a crash course on the inventory and market conditions in our desired neighborhoods, looked at over two dozen houses, found our home, and made an offer. We closed (on time) a month later, at the end of November. Grace was in touch with us daily--responding to our calls or emails, suggesting new properties that fit our criteria, encouraging us to...

Grace and Kim really came through for us in the end. The market had turned by the time the house came on the market and it didn't sell immediately. They worked hard to dig up and follow any leads and that finally led to a sale at a price we were happy with. We would highly recommend them.

We recommend Ms. Grace Bishop of Red Oak Reality as a superb real estate agent, in the strongest terms possible. Grace is a personable, well-organized and very effective agent who has an outstanding record and who did an excellent job of marketing and selling our property in El Cerrito, CA. We learned of Grace as an outstanding agent for the East Bay from an agent whose territory centers on Davis. When we met Grace, we knew she was the right person to represent us in selling our El Cerrito house. In every respect, our expectations were met or exceeded. Grace first gave us a list of house updates she recommended to improve the appeal of our house. Th...

If you are in need of a real estate agent, you should call Grace Bishop at Red Oak Realty. We met with Grace while trying to decide whether to sell or rent a house that had been in the family for 60 years. When we decided to sell, Grace and her assistant, Kim, set us on the right path. At Grace's suggestion, the proper inspections & updates to the house were made. When the house went up for sale and after just 2 open houses, we received 4 offers that far exceeded our expectations. Grace was very professional, informative, very knowledgeable and very easy to talk to. We highly recommend Grace Bishop and we would not hesitate to call her again.

The only downside of closing on our new home is that we don’t get to hang out with Elic every other weekend. He has been so thoughtful, diligent, and it always felt like he had our best interests in mind. We had so much fun touring houses with him, learned so much about the market and the area, and despite the fact that we practically lived on Zillow for 6 months and thought we knew every property available, it was Elic who found the perfect house for us. We’re very grateful for his help and are recommending him to everyone we know.

Grace Bishop was the best referral I have ever received! She performed and delivered above and beyond all my expectations. I was a first time buyer with little knowledge of how the real estate industry truly worked and my time and flexibility to traverse through this unknown world was limited by my profession. Grace was focused, knowledgeable and able to point me in the direction of what I needed to do to educate myself as well as was accommodating, patient and kept her word as to what she could do for me. Buying a house is a complex endeavor that triggers many emotions, engulfs a good portion of your life and can be overwhelming. Grace can break it...

Grace and Kim were just terrific in a very stressful situation. They worked hard to get our family the best price possible.

Grace and Kim were awesome. They are very knowledgeable, experienced, and meticulous. They were very patient with us throughout the whole stressful process. Great communication and very responsive. They had lots of resources to schedule in short notice inspections and knew where to look to find damage we would not have known about otherwise. We would definitely work with them again.

We met Grace almost 20 years ago when we were looking to buy our first home. We were walking down Solano Ave and as we passed by the Albany Red Oak Realty office stopped to look at the listings in the window. Grace came out to see if she could help and even though we were not qualified yet, she took the time to explain the process and put us in touch with a lender that could help. We kept in touch and within 6 months we were ready to go!The market was really competitive at that time so we made a few offers made that didn't materialize but one evening she gave us call to see a home that had just come on the market. When we walked through the front do...

A RAVING, GLOWING REVIEW FOR GRACE BISHOPBuying a condo or a house is significant, because let's face it, what we're buying is a home, our place to live, our own private sanctuary, our space. Grace Bishop proved to be my dream catcher. First, she listened carefully to my comments as we searched the preliminary properties. Grace was attentive...sharp, quick, smart, perceptive. She listened to my words, watched my reactions and efficiently gathered the data, sized up my taste and began to find the the kind of streets I liked, the architectural design that turned me on, my love of high ceilings, my need for flooding light. But that was just the beginni...

When I began my search for a home, I was terribly nervous about finding MY home, where I could live happily for years. After the first long afternoon of touring homes and leaving because it just didn't feel right, Grace pulled up to a house that had just gone on the market the day before. I fell in love with the house immediately and we placed a bid on it the next day. Twenty other offers came in on the same house and I lost it in the bidding war. Grace and I began our search again, only to discover that my dream house had come back on the market. Again we made a bid and were beat out by another offer. Again we continued to look at other houses on t...

This past autumn, I had the great pleasure of working with Grace Bishop and her wonderful team at Red Oak Realty when they helped us sell our home in the El Cerrito hills. I found Grace and Kim and the rest of their staff to be absolute professionals from the first moment I entered their office on Fairmount Ave until the moment that our home sale was finalized. Grace truly loves helping people buy and sell homes! She is a big fan of architecture and design; she is incredibly detail oriented; and she is a true problem solver with a positive can-do attitude. Throughout our home-selling process, we learned that no question or concern was too big or too...

We just bought our first home with Grace Bishop, and our home buying experience could not have gone any smoother. As someone who is very experienced, super organized, and easy to work with and talk to, Grace is someone we wouldn't hesitate to recommend. When the day eventually comes for us to move again, we'll definitely be calling Grace again. Grace has a lot of experience and it shows. She is great at working with first-time homebuyers. She did a great job at orienting us to the process, helping us with selecting lenders, insurance, and explaining the quirks of the East Bay housing market. Her knowledge of the market was remarkable. It seemed that...

Grace and her assistant Kim are an amazing real estate team! From start to finish, I felt well taken care of. Grace was a recommendation from my previous real estate agent in San Francisco and after our first meeting, I knew she was the right fit for me and my working style. Grace and Kim are detail oriented and efficient, and I found them easy to partner with in finding my new home. Whenever I had a question, either Grace or Kim got back to me very quickly. The market in Oakland, Berkeley, and Lamorinda is crazy. That said, if you (the buyer) invest time staying on top of listings using an app like Redfin, you can leverage your agent to see the pro...

As first time home buyers, we were referred to Grace through a friend. We were pre-approved for a loan that was less than what we had wanted, but Grace never once made us feel like we couldn't find our perfect house. Grace was extremely professional right from the start. It made a difference that she asked us many times over the course of the 2 years searching to tell her the details that we liked about houses that we saw, so that she might keep an eye out for houses that would fit us. My husband and I are very particular, and Grace had the patience to help us find the right house. She took the time to talk us through all of the details. We made an ...

Grace Bishop is an outstanding agent. Over the past 6 years, she guided us with patience, expertise, and determination through two home purchases and one home sale. Grace has earned our complete trust and respect every step of the way, and we cannot recommend her highly enough to others looking to buy or sell a home. Our first purchase was a condo that suited our needs perfectly. We were completely new to the real estate market, and Grace made the whole process quite simple for us. We spent five happy years there and welcomed our two children into our family, which led to the need for a second search. At that point, we faced an increasingly competit...

After 8 years of looking for a house, we met Grace and found our house. For whatever reasons, our bids with other agents got close but never were accepted. Grace got us our house on our very first bid together. If only we had found her sooner! Grace understood our needs and our limitations right away and seemed to really get what we were looking for. She asked all the right questions and made us come up with some tough answers. Just one month after working together, we had our house and 30 days later, we moved in. Grace was our fearless leader throughout the home buying process. From negotiation tactics to mortgage and inspection help, we literally ...

After 8 years of looking for a house, we met Grace and found our house. For whatever reasons, our bids with other agents got close but never were accepted. Grace got us our house on our very first bid together. If only we had found her sooner!Grace understood our needs and our limitations right away and seemed to really get what we were looking for. She asked all the right questions and made us come up with some tough answers. Just one month after working together, we had our house and 30 days later, we moved in. Grace was our fearless leader throughout the home buying process. From negotiation tactics to mortgage and inspection help, we literally c...

My name is Jessica King and my husband, Phillip, and I were looking for a house, half heartedly, starting in October 2009. I contact Grace, as she and I went to elementary school together and had reconnected a few years back. I figured, if a friend can't be honest, trusting, available and good, what kind of friend are they? Well, true to form, Grace came through!!! As I said, we started looking for homes in October with the intention of it taking a long time. Well, we started looking at the wrong time. There was NOTHING out there. Grace was about to go on maternity leave and had us contact one of her collegues. Out of all the homes that we saw, only...

We will always be indebted to Grace for helping us through the complex, emotional but ultimately rewarding experience of buying our first house! We first met her more than three years ago at an open house in our neighborhood . we were immediately struck by how her name reflected her calm demeanor, unlike many realtors we'd met . and developed an immediate rapport. Soon we were talking about how much we liked the house we were renting, so Grace suggested she drop by to get a better sense of who we were and how we lived. While we weren't in a position to buy at the time (the market was overheated and we didn't make enough money to get in), we continue...

It was a pleasure to work with Grace Bishop of Red Oak Realty. Once we decided to sell, we wanted to move quickly to take advantage of the seller's market. We interviewed several agents that had been recommended by friends, and at the end of our interview with Grace (and her Associate Kim Markison) we knew she was the one we wanted to work with. Her calm demeanor, efficient approach, and obvious familiarity with the market in our neighborhood made the decision easy. Less than a month later, our home was on the market a, beautifully staged, artfully portrayed on a website, and able to attract many potential buyers. She referred us to several professi...

If you're anything like us, you're terrified of entering the red hot Bay Area housing market. When homes looking like haunted houses can list for over a million dollars, what is a hopeful home buyer to do? We'll give two anecdotes to describe what made Grace (and her awesome associate Kim Markison) stand out during our search. We took several years to find our perfect home, and during that time Grace gave us numerous estimates of how much she thought each house would sell for and what a reasonable bid might be. At one point we wondered: How accurate were these estimates? We've heard stories of agents inflating numbers to increase both their commissi...

Grace and Kim were amazing. They were with us through every step of the process and were true advocates for us. Thanks to Grace's skill, network and knowledge of the local market, we were able to secure a bidding win for our beautiful first home. Kim and Grace helped us connect the dots during the entire pre and post purchase process and were very responsive and knowledgeable throughout. I would highly recommend this team!

I used Grace as my realtor to buy my house in Oakland. It was because of her advice and guidance that I was able to successfully place my winning bid against five other offers. She was fantastic, and should I ever need to buy or sell another house in the area I would use her again. Not only is Grace knowledgable and professional, she is a genuinely nice person and friendly as well.Do you need a real estate agent in the Oakland/Berkeley general area? I do not hesitate to recommend Grace Bishop.

Grace and Kim helped sell my family's house in El Cerrito hills in early spring 2017. This was truly a team effort with a very successful outcome. For example, the house was in need of significant renovation before it was put on the market, and Grace was instrumental in finding and managing expert contractors who transformed it into a spectacular home that sold quickly. Grace and Kim were professional throughout the process, everything went on schedule, even during record-setting rains, and the closing was the easiest ever. The team's detailed knowledge of the neighborhood was key to the successful marketing of the home. I would highly recommend int...