Leif Jenssen, Charity Ankrum, and Tamir Mansour – Red Oak Realty

Thanks to Leif, Charity and Tamir as my wife and family just received keys to our new home this week. We had the good fortune of working with Leif over 11 years ago to buy our existing home too. We’ve stayed in touch with him and Charity and Tamir over the years as our household needs have changed and they have been more than just realtors, but also helpful, trusted, and experienced advisors in providing guidance on our existing home to enhance its value and what homes on the market might best fit our needs. We have always felt they were in synch with our architectural tastes, neighborhood wish list and residential needs. If you need a realtor that is very experienced, highly accessible and extremely professional (and easy to get along with), they are the team to work with.

Embarrassed to say that I’m writing this review 6 years after working with Leif and Charity to buy our home! Their skill and expertise was really reassuring to us, since we were first-​time homebuyers and really intimidated by the process. They put us at ease and advised us so well, we were able to buy the first house on which we made an offer! We have recommended them to several friends since who have also been really please with their services. I would never work with anyone else. We’ve been doing some renovations recently and Charity continues to be so helpful in recommending contractors etc. for us.

Leif, Charity and Tamir are a great team! As first time home buyers, they walked us through the process and helped us evaluate the homes we looked at. Our home search took a whopping two years and they were available for countless early Saturday or Sunday mornings to show the homes we were interested. They especially did a phenomenal job with walking us through the offer process and when our offer was finally accepted, taking us through closing. They handled much of the logistics themselves and were always available to get us in to the house for whatever reason. By the time we finally got the keys, our 18 month old daughter kept asking to go see «Tamir’s house». A lot of things came together to get us into this place and they were a big part of it. We would recommend them for anyone looking for a home. They have so much knowledge and expertise and are really a joy to work with.

This team is the best! We worked with them to buy our first home and recently worked with them again to sell our home. In between that time they helped find houses for my brother, my cousin and my parents. They are super fun to work with, but most importantly, they really get the job done! We always felt supported and like they had our backs through the whole process (and it can be a long, challenging process these days). They have a special talent for pricing, sprucing your house to get the most bang for your buck and negotiating. I couldn’t be happier with the experience we had working with them.

While its my view that the mechanics are not overly complex, there is a lot to think about during a home purchase, particularly when doing it for the first time. I’ve found it’s an art and cadence that varies based on location and stakeholders involved. Accordingly, selecting a river guide for the process can be a tricky exercise. Our selection criteria to qualify folks were as follows: (i) reputation /​volume of homes transacted, (ii) technical acumen around market and contracts and (iii) fit with our style. In order to source good candidates I called three title companies and four mortgage brokers to seek out recommendations. With a list of nearly ten solid realtors at hand I qualified four for an in person interview. All four were VERY qualified and local.
The positive points of differentiation for us were Charity’s style, the team operated under Leif’s leadership and Red Oaks reputation in the surrounding area where we were searching. Subsequent to our selecting the team at Red Oak, we worked closely with Charity and then Tamir, who counselled us through the offer process and escrow. Full disclosure, my wife and I never met with Leif, however, I would suggest that both his and even his mother’s (who sold real estate in the area for quite some time) fingerprints were seen throughout our experience.
Charity: Charity was always very responsive and engaged. I consider myself high maintenance and she dealt with my queries real time with thoughtful responses. She made herself available for private showings including one Saturday afternoon where we saw nine houses in one day all across town, which we asked for and would not recommend in hindsight. Nevertheless, she was quite happy to see a variety of houses with us to get a better sense of our needs and wants as we refined our search. While on site at listings she also very hands on with the properties poking and prodding as well as being aware of her surroundings noticing nuances of the house and lot that suggested longer term considerations. In addition, she took time to honor good craftsmanship and highlight where shortcuts had been taken. While Charity kept up with my demanding tempo, she was concurrently very patient with my wife who is more of a contemplated decision maker. Lastly, I would add she has a strong sense for the surrounding areas all the way down to the strength of a particular PTA, not just the proximity to the closest organic market.
Tamir: Don’t let his chill demeanor fool you. He has a structural mind grounded in hands on experience. At one stage we found ourselves under a house together, despite his bum knee, where he pointed out considerations prior to seeing any disclosures. Subsequent to receiving the disclosures and pre-​inspecting the property I found myself hearing and reading a second time many of the points Tamir had raised in our initial tour. He also has some special bidding tactics that in the end helped us differentiate our offer, which I’ll let him tell you about.
In the end, we felt the support of the full team and successfully purchased a piece of property that we are beside ourselves about. The team was always very considerate of our objectives and never pressured us even down to writing our successful offer. In fact, they saved us from ourselves in that regard, helping us to write something less than we were budgeting, but within single digit thousands of other offers. This was our first home and the largest transaction of our lives to date. Accordingly, we took the process very seriously and committed not only bring our own ‘A game’ to the table, but also to partner with others that would do the same. Our successful purchase experience was very much a collective effort and due in no small part to the reputation and wisdom of the team at Red Oak. It was a pleasure to work with them.

We bought our first home as a married couple with Leif and Charity’s help. They were really great — clearly an in sync partnership where they support and rely on each other to do quality real estate work. Ultimately we went through most of our home-​buying process with Charity charting the path. She is down-​to-​earth, smart, quick, driven and fun. The whole overwhelming process felt less crazy because of their honest and connected approach to the housing search. We also never felt pressured to make decisions too hastily, which we really appreciated. We definitely recommend Leif & Charity!

Leif and Charity are the BEST realtors in the whole Bay Area. They are professional in all aspects of buying and selling.(we have done both). Very easy to work with and advocates in every way. A top notch team.

I had worked with Leif in ’98 when he helped me by my first home. When it was time to move on, he was my first call. Now he has teamed up with Charity, and the two of them made an unstoppable pair of advocates for my real estate sale. They helped me organize everything and shepherded me through hiring a painter, a kitchen remodel and landscaping. I wouldn’t have done as much work on the house without their help, and therefor would have had to settle for a much lower price. With their help I was able to realize a much higher sale price!
I really don’t know what I would have done without them!
Hire them and you’ll be happy you did!

They are great! Beyond from their calm, friendly and easy personality, Leif and Charity are very professional. I was fortunate enough to work with them on a recent transaction. Both absolutely engenders a warm feeling from you immediately and follows that up with professionalism. They are both real advocates for their clients and I would highly recommend Leif and Charity to anyone looking to buy or sell in the East Bay!

I cannot express how happy we are to have had Leif and Charity as our realtor team. They were very professional and worked tirelessly to get our house ready for sale. They know Berkeley extremely well and understand the nuances of each individual neighborhood.
It was great to have a team working on our house sale. They split up the work very logically and one of them was always available to answer questions or help us in any way. If something needed to get done they took care of it and always very quickly.
We were extremely happy with the offers on our house and the sale exceeded our expectations. Even after the sale they both followed up with us and our buyers to make sure that every detail was taken care of.
Leif and Charity are also just a pleasure to work with. They bring humor and intelligence to their work. I only wish they worked in our new city so they could help us find a house up here!

Leif and Charity are the best. A top notch team. Nice, friendly and competent – What a rare combination. We live out of the area (Reno) and they made the process as smooth as silk. Thanks again for a «job well done»

Charity and Leif are dynamite! I have friends and family who work with Leif a lot (with rave reviews), but for my home I worked primarily with Charity.
Buying a home in the Bay Area can be extremely stressful, but Charity helped me navigate the market and get into a home that I love in only a few months. She listened to me and gave me good advice along the way, steering me away from bad deals and into good deals in my preferred neighborhood. She makes herself easily available throughout the day, is very patient, and is a wonderful negotiator.
I’d definitely recommend her to friends and family. Thank you!

Leif and Charity delivered beyond our expectations. My husband I bought our first home in the Oakland hills after looking for about 7 months. The market here is competitive, and while it was exhausting and tough, we really looked forward to seeing Leif every weekend.
Leif was so knowledgable and helpful about the structure of the houses, the history, and the market. He took the time to walk us through and drop all kinds of knowledge about the real cost and timing of renovating this and that. They really invested time and energy into getting to know us, educating us, and advocating for us. This is rare. After speaking with friends who used other agents, I haven’t heard of anyone having an experience like ours.
Leif and Charity promised to find us a house we loved, and although there were times we got outbid left and right and I was starting to think we’d have to compromise, they really pulled it out, finding a house perfect for us that we completely love. Even after we moved in they’ve been helpful in answering questions and quick with referrals. I feel so lucky our friends referred us to Leif and Charity, and I truly can’t recommend them enough.

I seriously wish I had a sixth star to give to Charity and Leif. They’re the best agents I’ve ever worked with. They’re fantastic as a team– both of them are funny, easy to get along with, and extremely knowledgable. They’re the kind of people you’d want as your friends, not just your agents.
Charity is a total real estate badass. She knows her stuff backwards and forwards and stays on top of every last detail. Even when things got stressful (and in this market, it’s inevitable) I felt at ease knowing she was in our corner. We closed on our property so quickly, our only regret is not getting to hang out with her more. :)

I will try to make this review brief even though I could go on at length. Really, the 5-​start rating sums it all up: it was an all-​around great experience working with Leif and Charity, and they helped me find a wonderful house that I could afford.
I worked more with Leif than Charity so I will speak more about him than her, although she was also nothing but great. Leif has utmost integrity, super-​human patience, a great sense of humor, and a wide and deep knowledge base. He is also very experienced, knows the East Bay people and inventory in-​and-​out, and gave me great advice and guidance every step of the way. I came to trust him completely, and never regretted it. As an added bonus he’s a wonderful person, who is just fun to work with.
What could have been a stressful experience of trying to buy a house in the Bay Area on a limited budget turned out to be pleasant, thanks to Leif. I feel very very lucky to have gotten Leif’s help.

Charity is an outstanding real estate agent, professional and organized, highly knowledgable and resourceful, and above all, a truly trustworthy person who will go above and beyond to help make your dream of home ownership come true. I am so thankful to Charity for helping me through every step of the home purchase process, and for stepping up to advocate for me in what turned out to be a challenging situation.
From the very beginning, Charity was responsive and ready to work diligently to help me find the perfect home and really make it happen for me, despite the fact that I’m a single public school teacher. She guided me through what the realistic options were for me, and never once made me feel like my dream of owning a home was impossible (as some real estate agents do). She was always on the lookout for a good fit for me, very responsive to my needs, and timely and professional with all her interactions with me and on my behalf.
Charity found a grant program that she thought I might qualify for, and I ended up getting a $ 20,000 grant to buy my home. This would not have been possible without her proactive and creative problem solving.
My home was a short sale, and the previous owners hadn’t completely removed their belongings from the home at the time of closing, so Charity came and did the work herself to make sure the home was ready for me. What’s more, the loan agent I decided to work with (not on Charity’s recommendation, but who I found on my own) ended up dropping the ball a few times, and Charity was relentless in making sure my loan went through, despite the incompetence on the part of the loan processor.
Finally, after the sale had closed, there was a break-​in at my new home. The front door was damaged and the stove was stolen. Charity helped me find a new stove and repair the door with no cost to me. In fact, the previous owner (whose responsibility it was to pay for the damages) refused to pay, and Charity took care of it all on her own.
I can not say enough about the high level of integrity and professionalism Charity exhibits in her work. It was a privilege to work with a real estate agent of her caliber, and I highly recommend her to anyone looking to buy a home.

Leif and Charity are totally awesome! I cannot recommend them enough. Not only did they help us navigate a highly competitive and stressful housing market, they helped us secure a fantastic home at a fair price, all while keeping a level head and much appreciated sense of humor.
With us knowing nothing about the East Bay market, they patiently showed us dozens and dozens of homes as we slowly narrowed down the neighborhoods and type of home we were looking for. They also made sure to expose us to new neighborhoods, talking about the pros and cons, so that we could get a good sense of the area.
Their online document signing process and large rolodex of contractors, financiers, and inspectors allowed us to quickly assess and act upon opportunities as they arose. Though we had to put in four offers before one was accepted, each time the seller’s realtor commented on how clean and well-​thought out our offers were – the only reason we lost was due to crazy offers well over market and asking price.
Leif and Charity helped us keep perspective during this process and kept us focused on our needs and wants. I truly believe we would have not gotten our home if we were working with another realtor.
The only downside to us finally securing our home is that now we don’t get to hang out with Leif every weekend… Thanks, guys!

Where to begin? Leif and Charity are consummate professionals. They demystified home buying and were with us every single step of the way. When my husband and I were ready to take the leap and buy a home in the East Bay for our growing family, I knew Leif was the guy to call. Essentially all of my friends who owned homes in the Bay had worked with Leif and had incredibly positive things to say. Leif and Charity are the people to call if you are ready to buy (or sell) in the East Bay.
Leif worked tirelessly to find us the right home: he’d send us comps, we’d narrow the list down to our price range and desired zone, and then he’d drive me/​us around tirelessly as we winnowed down the options. And he made the house hunting so fun! Once we finally found the right home (a livable fixer in Berkeley!), he immediately hooked us up with the finance guy to get us pure approved and to give us a truly realistic picture of what we could afford.
I can’t say enough about how good these guys are. When we finally made our offer and ended up in a bidding war of sorts, Leif would call us on a Sunday after a baby shower or Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day to keep us up to date, in the loop, and to make sure we were making the best offer.
A friend of mine told me, «Leif knows how to get you the house.» And it proved to be true.
Charity held our hand through the mountains of paperwork, documents to sign and ordinances to comply with. And, on the day we got our keys, there was an orchid waiting for us in our new kitchen, from Charity. I really can’t say enough about these two. If you are buying a home in the East Bay, I would recommend Leif and Charity without hesitation!

Leif and Charity were HIGHLY RECOMMENDED to me from a close friend of mine, who found them through a close friend of his… these people are amazing!
They gave me an honest and objective overview of what it would take to sell my house… I took it all! And three months later-​I was able to profit off of the sell of my house!
These two work in strong partnership with one another… if I had any questions and one was not available to immediately talk… I could expect to hear from the other shortly after sending both of them an email/​text.
True real estate professionals who are extremely hard working and ethical! Contact them fast if you’re even thinking about selling your house.

Leif and Charity are truly great at their jobs and just really wonderful people in general. They are definitely in the realty business for the love, they truly care about their clients and want to help them find their most perfect homes, whatever their budget, priorities, or concerns may be. Leif grew up in Berkeley, and really knows the ins and out of Berkeley and surrounding areas.
Leif and Charity are also amazingly patient, they made time for us almost every weekend for months. Leif spent endless hours talking through pros and cons of homes and helping us to craft competitive but reasonable offers. In the end, we did find a wonderful first home for our family and our new baby, thank you Leif and Charity!

I cannot recommend Leif and Charity enough!
Although they’re both highly skilled & knowledgeable realtors (They know the east bay like NO ONE else, especially Berkeley). They have amazing patience, people skills and are just a joy to work with.
My partner and I were in the most competitive part of the market, yet we didn’t have a lot of extra money and were not handy enough to consider a «Fixer-​Upper». Most real estate agents wouldn’t have been willing to work with us in a significant way. Charity and Leif however enthusiastically assisted us, taking the time and attentiveness to understand our needs and what we were capable of. Although it took us almost two years, at the end of the day we found the PERFECT house in Berkeley and they successfully led our negotiations to beat out the other competitors and close on our dream home.
In addition, the education we received really helped us to know what we needed, what we could afford, and what the different neighborhoods have to offer.
To concur with what another reviewer said, Leif truly is the home «price whisperer»! In the time we were working with them, they usually NAILED the final sale price of homes to +/​-​5K! This skill ALONE is invaluable to home seekers in a highly competitive market.
In summary I can’t think of a better team to work with. They will find (and more importantly get you in to) your dream home!

These two are the Dream Team of East Bay realtors.
When my wife and I were trying to buy a house, our desires exceeded our budget. Leif and Charity never gave up and were tireless at scouring the listings and finding homes for us to look at. We saw dozens and dozens places (we’re picky) and Leif was unfailingly good-​humored and enthusiastic when we went out on the hunt. He never tried to pressure us into buying, and instead, seemed to take it as his personal mission to find us our dream house, which we eventually did.
Leif and Charity’s knowledge of the market, particularly for Berkeley, Oakland, Albany, El Cerrito, and Kensington, is supreme. Because Leif has done so much looking and has handled so many transactions, he has a great expertise about neighborhoods, often right down to a block by block level. He has an excellent sense for pricing, what’s fair versus being overvalued. When it comes time to buy, he can often predict what other prospective buyers will offer so that you can make a competitive, but not inflated bid.
Highly recommended!

Leif and Charity are excellent realtors. They are super knowledgeable, hard working, and have proven to be dogged as they work to meet our needs.
My wife and I have worked with Leif and Charity to buy three homes, and to sell two homes, in Berkeley, El Cerrito and Point Richmond. When we are in the market to buy — they are excellent at sizing up the market to meet our needs, and can quickly assess the condition and fit of houses we visit together. They are particularly great at dealing with all kinds of crazy contracting and lending scenarios, and use their longstanding history negotiating with other realtors to your benefit to secure strong and stable deals.
When we are in the market to sell, Leif and Charity are invaluable partners in accessing the best investments to yield the most return from the sale, while maintaining a strong relationship with the buyer. The have an uncanny ability to read the market, benefitting from their years of experience and deep ties to the bay area, which has been particularly useful over the last few years of wild market swings.
Basically, if you want the best deal, the right fit, and to enjoy the process worry free along the way — go with Leif and Charity!

I highly recommend Leif and Charity. My wife and I began our house search in November, 2011. They stuck with us through a difficult house hunting marathon (three different houses under contract, multiple offer changes we made at the last minute on the same house, a short sale that we had under contract for months… that ended in foreclosure). I could go on, but basically Leif and Charity did everything in their power to help us find a house that would be the best fit. They were easy to work with and made the arduous process of buying a house as stress free as possible. We are now proud owners of an Alameda home that we can call our own (closed on Aug, 2012).

Charity and Leif are the best! My wife and I recently sold a house in Oakland with Leif and Charity’s help. For us, it was the easiest and most drama free process we’ve experienced. We had sold a house previously in LA during the bubble years. We did fine, but it was really in spite of a poor choice we made when we selected our agent. Back then the market was hot and people were throwing money at everything and anything. When it came time to sell our second house, everything had changed: the market had cooled considerably, we had spent some money fixing up our house, and we had a pretty specific deadline for when we needed to be at our new destination. As a result, we were nervous whether we would be able to even break even from the transaction. We needed to find an agent that understood our target market for buyers and who would advise us on our strategy. We did our due diligence by interviewing several agents, asked friends, visited open houses and collected business cards. When I met with Leif and Charity, I was instantly sure that they understood what we needed. They brought a lot of guidance and energy to the process. They made sure we were completely synchronized to hit all our marks at the right moment. We strategized about timing, pricing, things we need to do to maximize curb appeal, ways to minimize uncertainty during the inspections/​contingency process, and more. We did everything they said and are happy to say we not only broke even, but made handsome profit (which helped pay for our move overseas). The result is that I can enthusiastically write this review. Selling a home is a collaborative process — you definitely need to do your part. In Leif and Charity you have two dynamic and experienced collaborators on your side.

Leif and Charity know how to get the job done. I used them for buying a home, and they got us the perfect house. They handled all the negotiations, inspections, everything. Made life easy in a stressful process. Looking forward to using them for future real estate endeavors