Sophia Niu - Compass

I discovered Sophia on Yelp, and from our first phone call, I knew she was the right choice. She's a total pro and super knowledgeable about the Alameda real estate market. I'd been trying to buy a house in Alameda for over a decade, on and off, but never closed a deal--until Sophia came along.

Sophia nails price estimates for the current market. Her team, especially Gina, is incredible. They're honest, hardworking, and genuinely dedicated to helping me find the perfect home for a single mom with two kids. Plus, they even helped me create a list of reliable vendors after I purchased the home.

Sophia and her crew are just amazing! Highly Recommended!

Sophia was referred to our family through a friend and with her expertise, we are thrilled to have just purchased our first home. We found Sophia to be easy to talk to and most importantly, she was honest with us about the reality of the current market and what we had to work with. Once we found the house that we wanted, Sophia helped us to negotiate our way to a deal that we are very pleased with. Sophia helped us navigate through the ins and outs of buying a home in the Alameda County and we would absolutely work with her again.

Oh boy, where do I even begin? My encounter with Sophia as a realtor was nothing short of amazing! From the very start, it felt like I was chatting with an old friend rather than going through a typical interview process. Her communication style was on point, and she effortlessly connected with us, understanding our needs like a mind-reader.

During our chat, Sophia dropped some serious knowledge bombs that were super insightful. Her insights into the real estate market were like golden nuggets of wisdom, and we couldn't help but take notes on everything she said.

In the end, we decided to go with a different realtor (tough choice, trust me). But tbh, that didn't diminish our appreciation for Sophia's dedication and passion for her work. She genuinely cares about her clients and goes above and beyond to make the whole process smooth and enjoyable.

To anyone searching for a realtor with heart, charisma, and a wealth of knowledge, Sophia is your go-to person. Don't think twice about reaching out to her - you won't regret it!

Sophia came highly recommended to us by family members who'd worked with her previously and let me tell you, she did not disappoint! From the moment we first met to talk through our wish list to the day she handed us the keys to our first home, we could not have dreamt of a better real estate agent to guide us through the entire process than Sophia. Over the many months we worked with her, she proved time and time again that we were in good hands. Her expertise and counsel when it comes to the home buying process, especially for first-timers and in this unpredictable market, is unparalleled. I'm grateful to Sophia for all she did for us. If I'm ever in the market again in the future, I wouldn't hesitate to work with her again!

Sophia went above and beyond to help us find a house that fit our needs.
As a first time home buyer, I was so reassured by Sophia's demonstrated experience and trustworthy, rock-solid judgment. Almost every concern we had was something she had already given thought to and was working on (and she would raise two more potential risk items that we had not even considered!).
Sophia never failed to step in with a very balanced piece of advice or to help walk us through a tough decision when things felt chaotic. She was the first to pump the brakes or raise a red flag whenever she saw something that would be bad for us and truly had our best interests in mind. If I could afford to buy more houses I would ask Sophia every time, no doubt!

Sophia Niu = nicest and hardest working realtor I dealt with the past 4 years.

I've actually started looking for a property around fall of 2018 around Alameda and just so happen to be scheduled with Sophia Niu as I was looking at listings from Keller Williams. At the time, I was not really 100% sure what I wanted for my first home and I was all over the place but Sophia was very patient with me and also very informative with what is available around the area. She is super responsive and is very active looking at potential properties I may like.

Let's be honest, I was not the easiest person to deal with. It went from condo to an apartment, from a house to a duplex. Then a multi-plex, back to a house. And then a townhouse which became a condo. Yes, like I said, I was all over the place.

But she hung in there...

She helped me plant seeds by being in contact with lenders and also sending me weekly updates on listings around Alameda (and the Bay Area). She reaches out to me consistently even when there were moments I had no motivation to find a property and just ignored her texts. She could have easily stopped with all the communication.

But she hung in there...

Couple years back, a week or so before the pandemic and the shelter in place forever changed our lives, Sophia helped me close a house in Vallejo. But for some reason, it just didn't feel right and I pulled out of the contract right before the earnest fee. Normally, I would expect any realtor will be disappointed and may not want to work with me again. But Sophia was super patient and was professionally friendly. She still wants to work with me and find me a home.

She hung in there....

Around mid January, I reached out to Sophia, I have a timeline to meet. For many weekends straight, we will go to open listings ALL over the Bay Area. Leaving no stones unturned and 100% committed, both of us checked out everything under the sun. She would gave me tips on what to look for if I go solo but every time she's with me at a viewing, she will offer her honest opinions on what I'm looking for, if it's a good investment, etc. She will point out the negative and will tell me 'DO NOT BUY THIS PROPERTY' if anything is off. We saw some beautiful homes! We saw some ugly ones too!

This last listing we went to take a look at back in April, totally last minute. If I remember correctly, listing just popped up on a Tuesday. By Wednesday, Sophia was able to get me a private viewing before the schedule weekend open house. By Thursday, I made an offer (with assistance from Sophia - giving me pointers). And by Friday, the offer was accepted. . She kept me in the loop on all activities and prepared me for any negotiation that may be needed. It was fast and she was on top of everything.

Just this past last week, she handed the keys to my new home. I am forever grateful that she hung in there with me and made buying a home a bit more bearable.

Thank you so much Sophia! We will definitely keep in touch!

Sophia Niu is an amazing real estate agent offering high-touch, white-glove service that went above and beyond expectations. We literally moved out, handed her the keys, and she took care of coordinating everything -- a minor kitchen renovation, replacing fixtures, painting, staging, landscaping, photography, and more.

Sophia and her team (shout out to Jen McAnaney) advised us on what improvements we should make to our house that would make a big impact and would return a meaningful ROI. We came up with a plan, stayed below budget, and stayed on time.

Someone stopped by every morning to make sure the house was ready for showings, picking up stray leaves in the yard. And again in the evening to make sure the house was clean, lights were off, and doors were locked.

In the end, we received multiple offers, sold for more than we expected, in just one week.

I should add that three years earlier (2018), we worked with Sophia to purchase our house and had a really great experience as well. That's why we didn't hesitate to work with her again to get our place listed and sold, and we are so glad we did!

If I could give Sophia more than 5 stars, I would. My husband and I have dreamed of moving to Alameda for almost a year but we found trying to gain entrance into this market, especially during the summer housing peak, quite challenging. We almost gave up. Then a serendipitous conversation led to the referral to Sophia. I was told, "She's amazing and knows every nook of Alameda" and he was right!

Sophia is amazing.. she is so nice, professional and informative, bringing comps to every showing and really picking up on what you want in a home. And it seems she knows Alameda like the back of her hand, offering a wealth of alameda real estate and neighborhood knowledge every time we met. She also would be prepared with an extra listing to show us if we had time, and more times than not, those were the houses we put offers on. And with those offers, based on her helpful information, we got really close! And when we didn't get the home, she helped pick us back up and get us back out. Because the right home was out there for us..

A short 3 Months and about 3 offers later.. here comes a house that she knew checked every box on our list and an open house was approaching quickly. We were unsure if we could make a competitive offer but Sophia was informative and gently nudged us to make the offer anyway. She referred us to a fantastic lender that was able to help strengthen our offer. She was able to arrange a pre-emptive offer which we had in front of the sellers with a request to accept in 48 hours, two days before the open house. She worked closely with the selling agent and the night before the open house, our offer was accepted! We couldn't be happier with our home. It's everything we wanted and more and definitely would not have happened without the amazing Sophia!

We recently purchased our first home with Sophia. We feel extremely lucky to have worked with Sophia. She held so much expertise, introduced us to wonderful lenders, insurance agents, etc., guided us through a really competitive and intimidating market, and always understood our values and never pushed us to settle for anything less than what we wanted. When we bid on our current house, there were several bids higher than ours. One of the reasons the seller ultimately chose us was the fact that the seller's agents knew and trusted Sophia and her ability to close the deal. If Sophia hadn't been our agent, we are confident that we would not have been able to purchase our current home. We can't recommend her enough and would definitely work with her again.

If you are looking to buy/sell a house in Alameda, Sophia is the first person you should call! My wife and I worked with her to buy our first home and she was so great to work with. She knew the market really well and knew exactly what we needed to do to win in a very competitive market. Sophia was able to make the stressful process of homebuying much easier with her guidance.

We had originally worked with another realtor but ended up changing realtors to work with Sophia based on a friends recommendation. We are so happy we made that decision. It was night and day compared to the previous realtor. Sophia helped us formulate a plan and bidding strategy based off of market conditions. She was able to find very helpful information by using her strong connections with the other realtors in the market. In sum, we HIGHLY recommend Sophia if you are buying/selling a home in Alameda!