SEP | 2026
Happy September and L'Shanh Tovah to those who celebrate.
First, the important stuff.
- I met Seal at the US Open in NYC. (If you're under 50, he's a musician, not a tennis player.) I was starstruck. My kid nudged me to find out if he was single and get his number. I assume because of my striking resemblance to his first wife, Heidi Klum.
- In other news, I've enrolled in a stand-up comedy class and will perform a five-minute set before my next birthday. So this newsletter is just the beginning.
Real Estate:
- Congratulations to my buyers, who found a house with a Berkeley address for under $2M! If you've been following Berkeley sales, you'll understand why that sentence deserves an exclamation point. After repeatedly looking at Berkeley houses listed around $1.5M that ultimately sold for $2.5M-$3M, they found a spacious house they love without joining the bidding insanity. More on this one next month.
Need a Person:
Over the past month, clients and friends have asked me for an unusually impressive assortment of specialists to work on their homes. Some fairly standard. Others I didn't know existed until someone needed one.
Among them:
- An industrial hygienist to figure out why a house smells weird. (The answer is interesting.)
- Three different kinds of engineers for seismic work, a retaining wall, and yard excavation. (Matching a specialist with the job is an art, and getting these delicate little flowers to come out for an inspection requires tele-stalking.)
- A drainage specialist. A foundation specialist. A sewer lateral repair company. (The drainage guys use fancy tools to find subterranean drains.)
- Someone to replace two giant windows with broken seals 30 feet off the ground.
- A hardwood floor specialist, electrician, roofer, gardener, pest inspector, carpet installer, two kitchen designers/project managers, and several handymen for different jobs.
- A home inspector to walk through a newly purchased house and explain what everything does. (To bring the reports to life.)
If your house has a problem, I probably know someone who can fix it. If I don't, I can tap into my network and figure it out.
And, of course, if you know someone who needs a Realtor, I know someone for that too.
With Gratitude,
Marissa
