We never thought much about what made a good real estate agent until we had the pleasure to meet Sue Cheng. Fortunately for us, she turned out to be one of the best in the business.
We were extremely picky but Sue very patiently helped us look for a Los Altos house for over a year and a half. We got outbid on several homes until we adjusted to the expectations of the Los Altos market, then everything aligned and we found the perfect place at reasonable price. Sue expertly navigated the negotiations to pay just enough to win, but not overpay by a ridiculous amount. It was all the more crushing when, two weeks before closing, we had a major medical issue come up and we had to abandon the purchase. Sue graciously helped us get out of our contract and get our deposit back and we retreated to deal with our issue.
A year later, we were ready to start looking again and Sue happily reconnected with us. We bid on three houses over the course of the summer, coming close on the first two, and finally winning the last house through a combination of her dependable reputation and some very shrewd negotiation, saving us hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Then she helped us sell our old house. Even though overall it was a seller’s market, our place was very modest and in a compromised location near a freeway. Sue was able to highlight all of the positive aspects of our place, expertly manage the bids that came in, and again, shrewdly negotiate a final price hundreds of thousands of dollars more than we expected.
Why we love Sue:
The highest integrity.
Of course, real estate is a business. But over the past three years Sue has seen us through several major life events, from some really high moments to some really low moments, as such we know her quite well. Never pushy or desperate to make a sale, we could feel her angst when she felt uncomfortable with a house we showed interest in, she would lose sleep thinking about places for us. She would also advise us when she thought a particular house was not worth the price and guide us to avoid what would be a feeding frenzy.
Smart.
Sue is very petite and mild mannered, and with her cute, non-native English I think people tend to underestimate her, but this is to her advantage. Because behind all of that she is extremely sharp, always thinking, and always analyzing. In fact, we found, she left a career in high tech to follow her real estate passion, bringing all of her analytical skills.
Experienced.
Sue always had a good sense of the market, what a house would actually sell for, and what would make a successful bid. She wrote smart, aggressive offers highlighting our financial strengths and buying flexibility to help us make final bidding rounds. In at least four situations, Sue’s initial bid suggestions and offers got us to final bids. It was always our self imposed limits that caused us to lose out when we did.
Sue also coached us on locations and layouts, noting what qualities would be important later, when we had children (i.e., proximity to elementary school), and for re-sale value (i.e., not near a freeway).
Connected.
Sue helped us find several alternate loan options when our primary source bailed at the last minute. She pulled in her A-list staging company, painters, contractors and other contacts to help us sell our old place and renovate our new place quickly. We went from buying a new place to cleaning up and successfully selling our old place in two weeks so we would be sure to catch the market.
We could go on, but in short, buying or selling, Sue Cheng is a smart, savvy, caring, and ethical real estate agent. It was a pleasure to work with her and we give her our highest recommendation.
– S & K, Los Altos
Sue was highly recommended by our friend and became our buying agent in 2020.
Over the 2-year period we worked with Sue, we found she really puts the client’s interest first and NEVER pushed us to make offers. On the contrary, she often pointed out the problems about a house, even though we didn’t notice it ourselves. For example, once we liked a house but it was near a busy street. We almost wanted to make an offer. Sue, however, helped us list the pros and cons, especially the concerns on resale value and road noise. She then stepped back and respected our decision. We evaluated the information and decided to pass the house – looking back it was such a wise decision.
Sue not only can see through the problems in a seemingly good house, but she also has sharp judgement if a seemingly bad-shaped house has potentials. With her accurate estimate of the market and her obsession to find the best possible house within our budget, we ended up getting a super good deal with our current house, even in this crazy market.
Then in the loan process, we had an unexpected issue and our loan almost fell through, which made us very stressful. Sue calmly connected us with another loan agent and constantly comforted us that the loan would be fine. She leveraged her relationship to have the agent process our case as fast as possible, and the closing turned out smoothly at end.
Another unique value Sue brought is she has lots of experience as well as passion in house renovation and design. She has a great taste and know what’s the popular style in the market. After purchasing our house, we had her to sell our old house as the listing agent. She renovated the house professionally. In the process, she dealt with all the repairing, design, staging, etc., of course with our approval. We basically didn’t do anything and the house was sold smoothly with a price way beyond our expectation, and by spending very little money, our house looks like magazine. We are so grateful to have Sue listed our house, she is not only a top-notch real estate agent, but she is also a true designer.
Overall, Sue is a trustworthy agent, as both buyer and listing agent. We highly recommend her for any real estate transactions.
– E.H
I first met Sue Cheng at an open house she was hosting in our Waverly Park neighborhood. It was clear she was such a dedicated professional, so we decided to enlist her services when we were ready to sell. It was the best decision we ever made. She has an exceptional eye for what needs to be done (painting, landscaping, lighting, etc.) to show off a home at its best. We hesitated with some of her suggestions, but eventually relented, and we’re so glad we did. By following her sage advice, we got three offers and sold at $300k over asking price! Sue leaves no detail undone and is more dedicated than any other realtor I’ve met over the course of more than ten different real estate transactions. I would definitely use her again.
– M. Ruehsen
Over the couple months we worked together, Sue completely changed our impression towards buyer agents, showing us how resourceful and vital a good agent could be in the process. When we started looking for a new home, given our budget and requirements, we doubted if we could find a home in Los Altos school area. But through her analysis of historical data and her previous records as a buyer/listing agent, Sue showed us that it was possible. She outlined a few target areas that we should pay attention to, and we setup a filter on Redfin and started waiting.
A few weeks went by and we went to quite a lot of open houses, Sue never pushed us to make a decision. Instead, she always gave us insight on the house, helping us compare the pros and cons of each house with an estimate of the market price. She showed us that there are tons of factors to consider for each house: traffic, direction, internal structure, condition, ease of remodeling, history, neighborhood, etc. This is where having a right agent is crucial. Good agents can find the critical points that actually matter in the chaotic stream of information, summarizing the key factors to help the buyer come to a decision as well as providing an accurate estimate of the final price. With all this said, Sue has excelled in this aspect.
One day, Sue showed us an off market deal that was in our price range. The location and floor plan really worked for our family, and it was located at one of the best streets in the area. Since it was an off market listing, the negotiation process was long. But Sue’s expertise in this area and strong negotiation skills shined again. After three rounds of back and forth, we finally got the house at a very reasonable price. We feel so lucky to have chosen Sue as our agent.
The story usually ends here, but for us it doesn’t. After the deal closed, Sue also spent lots of time working with us on remodel plan. Her experience as a designer really helped us a lot. When we had trouble to get our plan approved, Sue went to fight for us, and with her great effort our plan eventually got approved. In the process of remodeling, she provided us with so much useful information. Since she’s flipped and built new houses, she has a wealth of first-hand experience and knowledge to share with us.
Overall, our experience with Sue was nothing but very very positive. We’ve never seen any agent as diligent as her. She is honest and trustworthy, someone who truly cares about her clients. We’ve been recommending her to our friends and colleagues. She is extremely resourceful and experienced, but more than that, she shows enormous amounts of compassion and dedication to her clients.
– Z. X.
“We met Sue at an open house in Los Altos. At that time, we weren’t quite sure about what the market looked like and what direction we should head in. However, Sue’s insight in this area immediately impressed us, and her straight-to-the-point style earned our trust right at the first meeting. Our first impression of her turned out to be right. Sue’s passion and diligence is truly unbelievable, and her dedication to servicing the client is unparalleled. She helped us understand what we really wanted and needed while also providing us with various options and unbiased analysis. With her resourcefulness and excellent market sense, Sue finally found us an excellent off market deal that was not only affordable, but was also a prime location with access to great schools. The closing process went extraordinarily smooth and as we settled into our new home we were getting numerous tips from Sue about the area, things we wouldn’t have known or considered before. We are extremely satisfied and grateful for Sue’s tremendous help. If we were to buy a home in this area again, we would choose Sue again without hesitation.”
– R. Y.
“Not too long ago, the idea of selling a house and then buying a house within a half-year span felt like mission impossible. Fortunately, we met Sue, who helped us sail through the transactions smoothly. She knows the Los Altos-Palo Alto-Mountain View market very well and always has great insights that can only come from someone who lives and breathes the local real estate market. She is extremely responsive, and pays excellent attention to detail. Most importantly, she always has her clients’ needs in mind, as evidenced by the fact that she never pushed us to make a decision. She gave us balanced and objective assessments of the pros and cons and stepped back to give us space to discuss and make decisions. When she put our house on market, she was handling the entire process for us: painting, refinishing the wood floor, remodeling the kitchen and bathroom, landscaping and staging. We are so pleased with her total transformation of our home. The house looks amazing after her renovation. Our overall experience with Sue was superb, and we are very happy with our new home that she helped us purchasing.”
– H. X.
Our family moved from Another city in the summer of 2018. We owned a house there, bought and sold. We thought we have enough knowledge to buy another house in the Bay Area. After we met Sue Cheng, we found that we were wrong. Looking back now in the fall of 2019, you can see clearly how crazy the 2018 market was. Multiple offers and crazy bids on every house. We were in a hurry to hop on the bandwagon with the others, trying to make crazy offers. I can still remembered the day we met Sue. She seemed to know that we were in a hurry. But her gentle and confident voice told us that the crazier the market, the more you have to have your own standards and principles. She told us to be patient, and the oppotunity would come.
We calmed down and followed her instructions in our house hunting. After two months and seeing houses every weekend, there were 2 to 3 houses that met our criteria and we wanted Sue to make an offer. Sue asked us to hold on. She knew I was sensitive to noise, and she came to see the house at different time of the day to help me get a real traffic report. Instead of pushing us to buy, Sue helped us to understand pros and cons for every house we are interested. It was very important progress. With a guideline and a clear picture, we had a different view to see each open house. Finally, we found one in a great location and a good price. Sue had incredible strategies to get the right price for us. It’s not easy to tell our whole bidding story in just a couple of sentences. But we know for sure that Sue truly put her heart into our purchase process.
During the remodeling progress, Sue always give us a lot of terrific suggestions and resources. Her great taste as a designer helped us a lot as well. We were lucky to meet Sue, she is a wonderful person, a great agent, we are so glad that we chose her as our realtor.
– J. W.
We worked with Sue in the past few months to sell and buy houses. Overall working with Sue has been a great experience and we would love the opportunity to continue working with her in the future. She has been insight into the market and always provides the most professional suggestions in the process. As a resident of Los Altos for decade, Sue knows the housing market in Los Altos and its surrounding areas very well. Among so many listings she can always find the ones that meet our needs best and provide the pros and cons for us to consider. In the process of selling and buying houses, she demonstrates her determination and ability to maximum the benefits for clients. She pays attention to each detail to make sure things get delivered in perfect manner. In our case, she handled the timing of selling and buying very carefully to make the transition as smooth as possible. Most importantly, she is an agent of integrity that values honest and trustworthy ahead of personal gain. Sue raises the bar for anyone who wants to call themselves a real estate agent and we would highly recommend her without any reservation.
– S. L.
Sue Cheng 