Portia Pirnia: Pirnia Homes - Berkeley, California

Chris Abele

Portia was not the first realtor we worked with, but it quickly became clear that she was excellent. She listened carefully to our concerns, answered our questions, and consistently provided helpful information. Most importantly her responses were thoughtful, thorough, and prompt, and she proactively ensured that we had timely information about potential properties that met our needs. We would recommend her to anyone, without reservation.

Kelvin Yip

Portia came highly recommended by our neighbors, and we're truly grateful to have had her support during the sale of our home. Leaving our cherished first home was emotional, but Portia's understanding and patience, coupled with her expert projections, provided a flexible and reassuring timeline, laying out all details, projected costs and various options.

Throughout the entire process, Portia's calm and comforting presence, combined with her extensive real estate knowledge, ensured a smooth journey. She was always available, offering updates and recommending strategies. Our gratitude for the entire experience knows no bounds, and we will certainly recommend her while keeping in touch for future home endeavors!

Michael Morris

With complete confidence, I recommend Portia for your East Bay real estate needs.

Portia guided us on our first home purchase. She is friendly, knowledgeable, and well connected, as well as sympathetic and calming. Home shopping is a stressful affair, but Portia gave us great guidance on the East Bay market, housing stock, natural hazards, and purchasing process. And she was also ready put on her sneakers and scrutinize basements, foundations, and wiring with us when we wanted to get into the nitty gritty.

As we were super picky, our search lasted well over a year. Portia was positive throughout, never applying guilt or pressure to hurry us along, and took the time to educate us and prepare us for our eventual purchase.

When the home that met all our wants and needs appeared, we were ready to strike. Portia had the local connections and market knowledge to gauge the competition and craft the winning bid. She also had the tactical wisdom to keep us from unnecessarily increasing our bid when the selling party probed for more money!

Portia has continued to be a helpful partner even after we have closed. Her contact list is brimming with contractors, electricians, plumbers, and other professionals who are helping put our house in tiptop order.

We were completely happy to have worked with Portia in our home search, and we believe you'll be too!

Nadia Dmytriw

Portia helped my partner and I seemingly achieve the impossible - get into Berkeley in a cute and smartly upgraded craftsman in a desirable location for a great price relative to anything else available. And in only 2 1/2 months of house hunting! This would not have happened without Portia's intimate first hand knowledge of the market, her network of local connections or, had she not encouraged us to step up to an opportunity that we had initially overlooked.

Throughout our house hunt, Portia readily made herself available to visit homes together, even over the holiday season. I particularly appreciated her expert ability to assess a property based on aesthetics, architectural value, design, location and also the nitty gritty of structural soundness. She didn't hesitate to crawl under the basement to examine the foundation, plumbing, look for signs of dry rot or other damage and she was quick to point out potential structural issues, potential fixes and offer her opinion on whether the property was worthwhile given its condition. She also knew when to refer us to someone with deeper knowledge on a particular issue. Portia's dedication to her work and clients really came to light when we were in escrow. We put in our offer on December 20th and were in escrow over Christmas and New Years. She devoted a lot of time and energy to helping us ensure our offer would prevail (and to calm our nerves!) In spite of the holidays and being quite sick with COVID and RSV, she was responsive, answered questions, helped us stay on top of the paperwork and made sure our loan got fully funded and we closed on time on January 3rd. In the month since closing, she has continued to offer her advice, support and provide contacts.

It was my first time buying a home (second time for my partner) and she made the process as smooth, understandable and manageable throughout, even as the market and news cycles were grim and in critical high pressure moments during bidding. We quickly saw how Portia's long-time personal connections to locally based mortgage brokers, inspectors, trades people and other realtors gave us a leg up against other bidders and she knew how to tailor our offers depending on the circumstances and guide us into making the most competitive bid possible, without pushing us to bid more than we could afford. She also knew when and where to guide us and encourage us to consider options that we were initially not open to, which is how we wound up in a gem of a place in Berkeley instead of a place farther afield. And as new homeowners, my partner and I feel very supported and in good hands having Portia's continued support and her roster of vetted trades people and contacts at our disposal. We highly recommend working with Portia!

Jody DeAraujo

Portia is the most experienced, knowledgeable, patient, and kind professional we have ever worked with. She came highly recommended by a friend who had recently bought an incredible home in the Berkeley hills. This was our first experience buying a home and we had no idea what we were doing, but Portia graciously agreed to take us on anyway. We were not ready to buy right away and wanted to take our time to research our options. Portia never rushed us throughout the whole journey, which took over a year.

When you meet Portia, you will immediately recognize what a warm and thoughtful person she is. She is a great listener, absorbing as much as she can so that she understands exactly what your preferences are. She is brilliant and has impeccable taste. Sometimes, we’d see a home and couldn’t quite figure out why it didn’t feel like the right fit. She was able to articulate exactly what it was about the house that wasn’t right. At the same time, she also helped us see the potential in many homes that we would have otherwise overlooked. She would suggest ideas off the top of her head about how to improve a space including color, layout, furniture, or even down to the fine details in the trim or finish. Her expertise gave us a lot of confidence when it came down to choosing the house that we ultimately bought.

When it comes to inspections, she is not afraid to get into her Carhartts and check out the foundation of a home. While Portia prioritized our opinion on a house, she would not hesitate to share any red flags she saw. She was very clear about which aspects of a home could lead to more trouble and unexpected costs down the line. She would consult her extensive list of contacts to get us a quote about potential issues. She helped us interpret inspection reports and get second opinions when we wanted to know more details about a specific issue. She even helped us put together a budget for our first year in the home based on the various repairs needed. We learned so much by visiting houses and going through this experience with her.

When we found our dream home, Portia was willing to visit it with us many times. When it finally came to bidding, it was clear that she had the right strategy to get us past the finish line. She presented us with her well researched options about how to approach bidding. And when uncertainty arose on the bid date, she used her knowledge and relationships with other realtors to figure out exactly what we needed to do to prevail.

Even now that she has helped us find our dream home, she still checks in and gives us advice and contacts. Whenever we speak of our experience with friends, they tell us our agent sounds amazing. We always respond that she is! She was our fairy godmother in this real estate journey and we cannot recommend her enough. Work with Portia.

Atsuko Tomobe

I got a great cash offer because of Portia! She was reliable and did very detailed work on upgrading my house, advertising, and communication. If you need someone who really pays attention to your needs, Portia is the one!

Sach Wickramasekara

I'd highly recommend Portia for anyone looking to buy or sell their home in the Bay Area! As first time homebuyers, my wife and I were very new to this process and had a ton of questions. Portia was an A+ partner to us, and was always available to guide us, give us advice, and help us navigate the confusing and stressful process of buying a home!

Once we found a home we liked, her market research and advice was spot on as well. We followed her advice on how much to bid and how to approach contigencies, and even though there were 4 other offers on the first home we liked and pursued, our offer was ultimately accepted. We didn't end up overbidding either, since the home's appraised value came in higher than our offer, so I give Portia a ton of credit for knowing the Bay Area real estate market and giving us stellar advice on how to navigate it.

Finally, Portia has continued being a great partner and agent throughout the closing process, and even after closing on the home. She's been extremely helpful in providing recommendations of reliable vendors, and helping us budget for potential upgrades for the home. I wouldn't hesitate to call Portia if we ever needed to buy or sell another home, and you shouldn't either.

Becca Gelb

Portia was recommended to us by good friends, and we are INCREDIBLY grateful to have worked with her as we searched for and eventually found our dream home. She is simply the best and someone we now consider a friend.

Navigating the process during COVID was not an easy task, but Portia was a steady hand and great partner throughout-- she managed the ambiguity with grace, and we fully trusted her throughout the entire process. One of the many things that set Portia apart from prior agents we have worked with was her exceptional communication style-- she was always clear, transparent and available. We knew she had things under control, and we had full confidence she would let us know if anything was needed. There was no stress, and we're not easy clients so that is saying a lot!

From understanding our needs and aesthetic upfront to handling the mechanics of the close and everything in between, Portia was amazing. She is someone we would wholeheartedly recommend and want on our side if/when we do this again.