Menlo Atherton Realty - Palo Alto, California

Beth Morford

We hired Todd and Inna to assist us in buying a home. We had tried a few agents prior to finding Todd and Inna, but we weren’t happy with how those agents tried to pressure us into purchasing homes that were not what we wanted. We wanted an agent who would allow us to take more control in the home-buying process.

Todd and Inna were great! They allowed us our independence to do the research and legwork, and never pushed us to bid on a house. When we found the home we wanted, they provided the guidance we needed to successfully bid on the property. They were always on top of everything, and I could count on them to respond very quickly to our emails and phone calls.

We had a wonderful experience with Menlo Atherton Realty. I highly recommend Todd and Inna to anyone looking to buy a home.

Rajiv Kadaba

Having Todd on your side is a definite edge in this hyper competitive real estate market. We have bought two houses with Todd and Inna and in both cases won out over higher offers (as per the seller agent), which we credit to the clean offers Todd makes and the rapport he builds with the seller agent.

His experience dealing with tricky issues during escrow was also invaluable. You will have to do most of the leg work before making an offer, but from offer to close Todd executes perfectly.

Monica Schwartz

My husband and I worked with Todd to purchase our first home in Menlo Park. Todd helped us through an extensive search for the perfect home and provided tons of data to ensure a smart investment. Additionally, Todd and Ina provided us an incredible level of service. They are both extremely capable, proactive and intelligent. Todd will respond to any question you have immediately and is always available to help his clients. We appreciated his insight into the market in general along with his expertise of our neighborhood. Above all, Todd has incredible integrity and honesty. Todd never tried to close a deal or push any property. He runs his business for long term success which means helping his clients make the best decision for their family.

My husband and I met at least 20 other brokers / agents before choosing Menlo Atherton Realty. We were thrilled with the experience and will only use them in the future! We have recommended Menlo Atherton Realty to many family members and close friends.

Maggie Looc

We used Todd Beardsley’s service and bought a house in Saratoga. We highly recommend Todd as a buyer agent!
Todd is very experienced and always has client’s interest in mind. The house we bought is our second house. Todd recommended us to come up with a strategy to buy before sell, so that we do not have a “gun to our head” when buying a house. He referred us to a direct lender who was able to provide us a loan without requiring us to sell our current house first. This strategy made a huge difference because we were not pressed by a deadline to buy a house. When it’s time to make an offer, Todd’s experience also made a huge difference. With Todd’s offer strategy, we were able to get the house significantly below asking.
Inna is very detailed in managing the offer and closing process. For us, the offer and closing process was as smooth as we could have imagined.
The 1% refund makes buying a house a little more affordable. To offer such rebate, Todd’s business model requires buyers to visit open houses themselves. That was not a problem for us because we already visit all open houses within our price range in the areas we wanted to buy.
In life sometimes one can buy better things with a cheaper price. For example, iPad is cheaper and better than a PC as a mobile device. If you already visit open houses for buying a house and you are confident that you know the market in which you are buying, Todd’s service is cheaper and better.

Mark Pearson

highlights: smooth process, good advice, no pressure, helpful docs, commission discount

I worked with Menlo Atherton Realty, namely Todd and Inna Beardsley, to purchase a property in San Francisco. I made offers with them on a few places before winning this one. The whole process was a great experience! It went smoothly, which is surprising considering I never met Todd or Inna in person. We communicated via e-mail (mostly) and phone (rarely, only for complex coordination or when time was of the essence). It seemed like he was always available: day, night, weekday, weekend. (This distant relationship worked fine because I knew what I wanted and could find and attend open houses myself. I didn't need hand-holding to help identify properties I liked.)

I appreciated that Todd didn't put pressure on me to made an offer I wasn't comfortable with. Some other agents I earlier tried making property offers with were definitely more pushy when it came to trying to get me to put in a bid. I felt like Todd was on my side more than those other agents.

I also really liked that Todd supplied well-written, helpful, clear documents explaining the process. I had read a book about the home-buying process, taken a class about buying in the bay area, and made offers with other agents before him, yet I felt I learned more from his explanatory docs than all those put together. For instance, they went into more depth about contract terms, how easy or hard it is to escape from various situations, how conventional various buyer requests are and how likely they are to be accepted, and much more. They're thorough, and it's clear they were written by a logical, rational mind (as I can tell when I talk to Todd directly too). I'm sure these docs contributed to making the transaction as smooth as it was.

Finally, I'd like to note that Todd gives good advice about what makes an offer more attractive. Take his advice. If I didn't listen--and I was indeed skeptical--it turns out I wouldn't have had my offer accepted on the place I ended up buying. (I talked to the listing agent about what made the difference.) The aspects of the offers that I thought were minor / unimportant were important to the sellers, and Todd's advice on what to put in that part of the offer was critical.

But perhaps the best reason to choose this firm: the discount on commission is a great perk.

FeoT1

My husband and I, we were fortunate to work with Todd and Inna. They are a fantastic team - professional, knowledgeable, courteous and caring about their clients, and passionate about real estate. Todd and Inna are always reachable through phone, texting, and email, which worked so well for us. Todd is willing to explain every detail of the home-buying/selling process and is always ready to answer any questions we had. Todd provided excellent management of the entire process of buying our new home. We felt we could completely trust that they have our best interest at heart. Now we live in our dream home thanks to them.
Moreover, Todd and Inna help us to sell our house. They educated us on their background and experience, and we agreed that their approach to selling was what we were looking for. They provided us insight into how we could maximize the selling price of our home by making strategic improvements, and educated us on their selling process and timelines. When the time came to sell, we were under a tight timeline because we had already bought a new home.
The preparation ran like clockwork for us, and Inna diligently provided feedback for what we need to upgrade in our hose. We follow her advice and small improvements, painting touch ups, cleaning we completed in just two weeks. Inna thoughtfully decorate our home. She did outstanding job with staging and the house looked beautiful!
The best part is that we always felt like Todd and Inna had our best interest in mind.
We will definitely use them on any future purchases or sales.
If you need to buy/ sell house, you would be lucky to work with these true professionals!
For all those reasons and many more, we highly recommend Todd and Inna to any one I know and to you for your next real estate buy or sell.

Rex H

I really appreciated Todd's fast and plentiful expertise; it allowed me to be more bold in what I wanted for my first home. He was very knowledgeable and objective, and patient through the whole process. Both he and Inna are great advocates and quickly followed up to any questions that I had in followup calls or emails. I would definitely consider him for future real estate representation.

Yaron Yoreh

This has been the best real estate experience I have ever had and it'll be yours too. I started looking for a condo 3 months ago. I got the contact for a real estate broker and started working with her. Since I work during the week, and all homes for sale have an open house, I ended up going to the open houses on my own. And then I heard about Menlo Atherton Realty. Why not get 1% rebate for the same service. I didn't even use the weekly tours they have. My one fear was that the service or professionalism might be affected, but it was BETTER!!! Todd is extremely professional and very knowledgeable. He knew to tell me what price I should offer, and when I wanted to offer a price less than what he thought he did not argue or complain about wasting his time, on the contrary he said it was a good idea, as it would be a good learning experience. Throughout the purchase process he made me comfortable with all my decisions and was very honest with me. He helped me get my second offer by not paying more but by using the different parameters of the offer. And the buying/escrow process was amazing. Grace his assistant was so on top of everything, she managed the whole relationship with the bank and title company and seller. She handled all my concerns and both her and Todd explained everything along the way and were extremely responsive. Right after the escrow closed I got a check for my rebate. It was so easy. I promise you, not only will you get the best service, you will also get the best price for your new home. AND a 1% rebate on top of that, it's phenomenal. It's the silicon valley of personal real estate.