The Alan Canas Team

This review is long over due. Alan and his team are the best! I bought a condo in 2010 and was snubbed by a couple of realtors because of my loan amount. Alan was the only person who treated me well and showed a kind approach to the whole process. I would recommend Alan and his team in a heart beat. Can’t wait to work with them again.

I only write Unilocal reviews these days when I really am impressed or I really have something to say, and in the case of Alan Canas, it’s both. I may be the epitome of demanding when it comes to wanting to «gather all the information» in making big decisions (like buying a house!), but with Alan, I think I’ve met my match: Alan was able to not only meet all my demands, but also exceed what I even thought was fathomable in terms of making me, as a homebuyer, feel informed, respected, treated professionally, attended to endlessly, and prepared for this big decision. And perhaps most importantly: if you are looking for a real estate agent who will get you answers quickly, take care of you throughout the process, and also make sure that when you’re ready you will close the deal, Alan is your man. Thank you, Alan!

Alan was much more than a real estate agent… in the end, he became our friend and I’ve missed our chats about houses to go see! I was referred to Alan through a contact at a mortgage company b. c I was interested in a house in San Francisco and was hoping to have an agent’s input… that same day he was able to meet me in the city for an evening open house and after meeting him that first time I knew we would get along… he picked up very quickly on the things I liked/didn’t like and even knew some inside info about the way the house was listed that the other agent was surprised he knew. He helped me put in an offer on the house and although I didn’t get that house, the process was very clear and straightforward and he talked through all the details of the overwhelming paperwork (as panicked as I was buying my first home in the Bay Area which has rules unlike anywhere else in the country :)
Alan helped me, and then eventually, me and my boyfriend, submit several more offers, even going out of his way to help us with an off market property and an extremely difficult seller’s agent and on our 6^th offer, we finally got the perfect house for us! In reality, I am happy it only took 6 tries given the horror stories of dozens of offers from other people. Be prepared to be aggressive and put in your ‘best and strongest offer’ as Alan would say to get a house on the Peninsula. Alan spent hours on the phone and meeting with us to help determine our strongest offers on various properties and what would put us in the best position to get a house. But throughout, we never felt pressured to go beyond what we felt comfortable with.
Overall, Alan was always friendly and fun and knew a tremendous amount of info about Bay Area real estate and even home remodeling (since we looked at several places that needed work)…every other agent we talked to always seemed to know Alan and he has an excellent reputation in the industry. In fact, our final offer was not actually the highest offer on the house but the seller’s agent chose our offer b. c he trusted Alan over the other buyer’s agent to know that our offer was solid, which is a huge testament to showing that working with the right agent can help during the home-​buying process!

Alan was recommended to us by our loan broker. Good thing we decided to give him a call. Alan was professional yet friendly and approachable! The first time we met him, he introduced himself/​his team and spent some time asking about our needs and wants in a home. After our first meeting with Alan, we knew he would be a match for us.
We didn’t work with Alan long since we landed our first offer. Extremely rare for first time home buyers! Think we broke his statistics :) The home had almost everything on our checklist. The selling agent cancelled the 2^nd open house and decided to take offers that weekend, so Alan made time for us to sign papers and write up our offer immediately. He even met us before/​after hours to accommodate our work schedules.
Alan was on top of his game and without his follow ups, we probably wouldn’t have been successful in this purchase. Happy that Alan was a part of our first home buying process. We would definitely work with him again!

I met with Alan for a second time yesterday. He is extremely knowledgable and passionate about real estate and eager to help anyone who is looking to buy or sell their home. He took time to answer all of my questions and explain his process thoroughly. Besides being incredibly market savvy, he is also a kind and fun guy. I would strongly recommend Alan and his team.
Thanks again Alan!

Alan has been working with us since the end of 2012. We finally purchased our home in August 2013 which Alan very much helped us with. From that transaction, Alan made $ 0 because we decided to purchase a home in a new development that wasn’t working with agents. I repeat, Alan made $ 0 and knew he wasn’t going to from the beginning.
When I e-​mailed Alan for help, he still continually responded. When I called Alan, he always picked-​up. When I knocked on his door at home, he always answered it. (Kidding of course about going to his home.)
We can’t say enough about Alan because Alan is a rare breed: he toils for his clients because he cares about them and their eventual home. His income is a by-​product of helping people.
If you choose Alan Canas, you are choosing another family member — not just another agent. Words couldn’t possibly express the gratefulness and respect we have for someone like Alan.

At the end of the day, we would not have our dream home if it were not for Alan. We had been looking for three years in the Peninsula with changing thoughts on where we wanted to be during a rising price market. Finally, we found the house and the neighborhood for us. The only problem was that the house wasn’t actually for sale at the time. Alan initiated contact and started a buying process which led to our owning the home a couple of months later. That is about as proactive as you can get.

i’m a firm believer in the value of Unilocal and when my husband and i were looking into buying our first home, i started here and found alan. i met with alan for coffee one saturday morning and he laid out the basics of the process and helped me narrow down a rough idea of our budget and where we would ultimately want to live. we were on a very tight timeline (needed to move almost immediately), were working with a mortgage broker who was one notch above useless, and had no idea what we were getting into. it was a challenge for him, but alan jumped right in and was eager to help us find our home. in a very short period of time, we realized our mortgage broker was not responsive enough and ultimately would not be able to help us. alan got me in touch with a *super star* (imagine me saying this with jazz hands) who quickly took hold of the financial side of the equation and was immensely helpful throughout.
we had a temporary place to live, but were EXTREMELY motivated to get on with our lives. with the insanity of the housing market right now, we were quickly priced out of our ideal location. when i told alan this and that we had decided to jump across the bay to look at oakland and richmond, he was happy to stay on as our agent and help us find our home. it was quite a commute for him, but his dedication to helping us get the perfect place was wonderful. i was, and am, so grateful he wanted to stay on as our agent!
throughout the process, alan’s role shifted from realtor to therapist to cheerleader to no bullshitting teacher and sometimes just a warm voice on the other end of the phone letting me know everything will be alright in the end. he played each role with patience, grace, and a smile.
we should be closing on our house within the next week or two and i am SO glad we had alan and his team there to help us through this process. thank you alan! thank you sean! thank you gina! thank you julie! i can’t say i’d like to do this whole roller coaster again anytime soon, but i know that if we do, we’ve got a great team behind us.

Commitment and passion are two words that best describe Alan Canas and his team! I met Alan as a colleague in the Real Estate industry and new that his success comes from his heart. He truly cares about his clients wants, and needs. Not a taker, but a giver, Alan also spends his time supporting organizations that will better our communities, because he cares. Whether your buying or selling a home, Alan Canas will go the extra mile to ensure the entire process is smooth from beginning to end!

I was a first-​time home buyer with ZERO knowledge or experience on how it all works and what to look for.
The realtor I was working with was not great at telling me what to expect or to prepare me on how things work.
A good friend recommended I speak to Alan Canas. I was concerned about reaching out to another realtor that I had no intention of hiring since it was my understanding that he concentrated mainly on the peninsula and I was looking in the East Bay. I worried for NOTHING! Alan met me for lunch and completely answered all of my questions and gave me amazing advice and invited me to continue to use him as a resource during my home-​buying experience, regardless if I hired him.
I’ve never met anyone more enthusiastic and knowledgeable about home-​buying. His enthusiasm was absolutely infectious. I had been completely stressed out and *hating* the process until I spoke with Alan.
I can’t recommend Alan enough. I felt completely safe in his arms (so to speak! lol) and I would absolutely work with him again without hesitation. I would be a fool to do otherwise!

We have been searching for a new house for a long time and when we met Kayley Johnson at one of the open houses we just gave her some info on our situation and our email addresses.
She listened carefully and understood what we wanted.
When we got an email from her with the list of the houses and descriptions available, we realized that this company knows how to understand the clients’ needs.
We just got the keys to our new home and we are very happy with the process and the result. We got what we wanted.
The team of Alan Canas is professional and skilled at what they do. They did their job fast and effortless, with ease and fabulously positive spirit.
Thank you, guys!

The Alan Canas Team is a great Team of professional Realtors working together for the best interests of their clients. They are very professional, accessible, experienced, and provide great negotiating skills.
Julie Malta

We just completed a sale through Alan’s firm without actually meeting with Alan face to face! We live in a different city and wanted to sell an inherited rental home that was in dire need of repairs. Alan met with us via telephone and we used Docusign for all but the final paperwork. Even then, a notary came to us rather than us having to go to a title company. He and his team took care of all of the inspections and preparing the property for sale. We sold the house for a good price and it sold quickly because Alan knew the market well enough to price our home strategically. He was a joy to work with, caring about our situation, and overall a lovely individual. If I am ever in the Bay Area I intend to look him up!
Thank you Alan and your team for superior service and that personal touch.

We were interested in this whole «team approach» thing, which seems to be their operating trademark. But — a team is only as strong as its weakest link. In this case, it seems to be the owner.
When talking to him about being our buyers agent we had a really strange conversation, which took way too long. He was a terrible listener and went on way too many non-​related tangents. We were suspicious that it was a total waste of time. After which, he sent us properties that didn’t match any of our search criteria. Not even close. Many were 30% LESS than we wanted to spend, which further proved he really didn’t listen.
We were soo confused by all of this, that a week later we came back to Unilocal wondering how all of these good ratings were possible. Yeah. Judge for yourself… many of these are new users who post too-​good-​to-​be-​true reviews. Plus there are 14+ filtered ones. Not cool Alan, not cool.

My husband and I recently bought a home and used Alan’s team. They were stellar in their customer service and responsiveness. It was my first purchase, but my husband’s third and he said it was the best experience he’s had. Alan even went on vacation, but his team filled in so well I didn’t notice he was gone. We only had a window of 2 months to find a home because our landlord requested our unit back and Alan made it happen. He’s the best at what he does.

I know Alan through business networking and am very impressed at his real estate record. I know that Alan provides top quality service and keeps his customer’s needs top in mind during the whole process of buying and selling a home.
He has closed a number of deals and through his experience has great knowledge of the real estate market in the SF Bay Area. Further he is a very focused and people oriented person who would be a pleasure to work with during the process of buying or selling a home.

I worked with Christine Barraco to find property to purchase. She was absolutely fantastic. Very attentive and always willing to show anything I wanted to see on my schedule. She is very thorough in researching MLS to find properties that meet your criteria. I’ve worked with agents in the past that don’t listen to understand what it is you really want and end up wasting your time by showing you properties simply based on price point. Not the case with Christine. She won’t waste your valuable time and she will help you to find what you really want!

Alan was recommended to me by another real estate agent as very good with first time home buyers. I had just fired my second agent in my first time home buying search, and was looking for someone who was good with newbies.
I spoke with Alan on the phone and he liked what he had to say, including that he had fired a number of real estate agents when he was buying his first home. When I met him he gave me a folder with papers explaining who he was, who his team was, what they were about, as well as a lot of written information about the first time home buying process. It also included a list of promises/​accountibilities he and his team were committed to, which I really appreciated.
Shortly after Alan and I began working together, but after he had put some significant time into my search, my mother fell gravely ill, which led to some other significant personal problems and I needed to take a break from house hunting. He was very understanding and even told me that it was more important to him that things work out for my family than we buy a house through him. I really appreciated that as well, and it helped me really trust that he was looking out for my best interests.
When I was ready, we resumed the search. Alan was really good at understanding the specific needs of both my spouse and myself, and articulating where we overlapped and differed. This helped understand what each other was looking for, which made the whole process earlier.
When we finally did find a house we liked, buying it was a completely absurd process that took two separate offers over a period of six months. Of course, we had last minute problems in financing, escrow got extended, etc. Through it all Alan was extremely proactive in helping us get everything done, as well as extremely patient with us. He also had an incredible sense of humor through the whole thing and always expressed confidence that we would get where we wanted to be.
Alan is from the area, and he knew a lot of people in the industry, and had a lot of resources that were really useful to us.
I would recommend Alan without any reservations. I’ll also certainly retain him again when I’m looking at my next real estate venture!

As a remote rental property owner in Austin, Texas who suddenly lost a multi-​year tenant, I was really concerned about the potential challenges (and headaches) of having to sell a property from halfway across the country, especially in this challenging market.
The fact that I never had to get on a plane to prepare the property and complete this sale is perhaps the best testimonial to Alan and his team’s efforts and skill. But it is also reflected in the attention to detail and going beyond what should be expected that he and his team gave during the process… Some examples come to mind:
* Assisting me to help coordinate the tenant’s departure from the property
* Securing property inspections and completely handling the cleaning, staging and preparation of the property for Broker’s tour
* Doing the homework to pick the «right» listing price to move the property while not leaving money on the table
* A wealth of property marketing that helped draw a lot of foot traffic into the property
* Expert research and guidance during negotiation
* Wonderful communication skills during the entire process
This was a «smooth as silk» experience — ⁵⁄₅ stars!

I have been privileged to know Alan for several years but when I started to talk to him about real estate I was incredibly impressed by the depth of his knowledge. I always thought he was super sweet and fun but it turns out the man is also super smart and savvy!
Alan answered all my questions and took the time to explain real estate terms which were unfamiliar. Of equal importance, he also asked me a lot of questions, to really hone in to my objectives about house style, neighborhood and price point.
I highly recommend working with Alan, he really is someone who has his clients in mind, first and foremost.