Donna Sullivan – Zephyr Real Estate

Donna assisted my husband and I on the purchase of our first home in San Francisco. She took the time to review all documents thoroughly and spent a lot of time coaching us on how we should frame our offer. I felt at ease that with her guidance, we got the best possible deal and more importantly, we got the house of our dreams.
In a competitive market, you need someone like Donna on your side that is experienced and knowledgeable of the dynamic bay area housing market. I feel lucky that she was able to be on our side of the table.

Donna came highly recommended by two sets of couples whom she represented as the buyers agent. One of these clients had such a great experience that when he outgrew his house, she sold it and bought him another one!
We contacted Donna on the lookout for a new home. She was quick to follow up and spent an hour in my living room pouring over houses I bookmarked to nail down our priorities and aesthetic: views, greenspace, sun, and room to grow.
Fortunately, Donna had extensive knowledge of the southern, sunny side of town particularly in Noe Valley, Castro, and Liberty Hill. She is well connected and was able to secure viewings before the homes hit market — a real leg up in a market as competitive as San Francisco.
As it turns out, we ended up making an offer on our current rental, so I can’t speak to working with her through the entire process. Though you can bet I would surely call on her should we take up the hunt again!

Donna helped us buy our home a few years ago. It honestly felt like she was «in bed» with the selling agent of the house we ended up buying. She convinced us that many offers were going to be put in on the house and urged us to put our offer in at well over asking in a down market. Of course, it turns out that there was only one other offer that was ‘contignent’ on the sale of their home (ie. a non-​offer.) We were new buyers and naïve about the process so we trusted her. But things just felt fishy as we got closer to close on the house. We would see her car parked in front of the owners house at odd hours. It was too late in the game to approach her and really back out. And when we expressed our cold feet, she continued to convince us that this was a great house and we would «ABSOLUTELY» get our money back out. Overall, it felt like she was just ushering the sale along.
Months later, after we moved in, we found something MAJOR with the house that was not covered in the inspection. When we sent a long email to her what our recourse was, etc. she never responded. Overall, the whole experience just left a really bad taste in our mouths. And now, as we asses the market for resale, it is clear that we overpaid and probably will not get our money back out. This sentiment was confirmed by another very experienced Realtor.
I am sure she is good on the Sell side but I would not recommend her for the Buy side.

Donna is fantastic! She is a genius at pricing a home to sell for the most possible. And although she’s busy, she always made us feel like we were her only clients. She put a huge amount of work into helping us buy a house, and sell it later. She had resources by the dozen to help us with last-​minute fixes and decoration. She is always professional, knowledgeable, and a great communicator.