What we talked about
Linda Baker has guided hundreds of devoted clients since 2003 through the biggest financial milestones of their lives:always with a blend of genuine care and strategic, forward-thinking execution. A former director of finance who oversaw marketing events at the Silicon Valley Business Journal, Linda brings uncommon rigor to every transaction: innovative marketing, design sense, and tech savvy on the sell side; a visionary, collaborative approach on the buy side that helps clients see potential in neighborhoods and properties they might have overlooked. It’s why her repeat-and-referral flywheel keeps spinning:and why she founded Milestone Realty in 2021 to deliver a more vibrant, client-first experience.
Show notes
Linda Baker met her very first real estate clients at a grocery store before she even had her physical license in hand, and she is still working with those same buyers over twenty years later, helping them acquire investment properties and taking referrals from their extended family. That first transaction set the template for everything that followed.
What we covered
- Linda refused to sell a house to clients in 2006 because she knew it backed up against a highway and would be a nightmare to resell in a soft market. Fifteen years later, when the same couple was relocating back to Silicon Valley with Google, they reached out specifically because of that moment, they remembered it, brought it up themselves, and trusted her completely.
- She describes buying a house as a sensory experience that cannot be replicated online: how does traffic sound from the backyard, how do the neighbors look, what does the house smell like. Bad odors, she notes, can be an early indicator of mold. Her shorthand for what actually matters is “location, lifestyle, and livability”, a framing she noticed in an Australian real estate ad in 2018 and has used ever since.
- When she was competing against five other offers for clients relocating from Ohio, the seller’s agent told her clients directly that they got the house because of their agent’s persistence. Linda describes that comment as more motivating than the commission check.
- Her advice for the most competitive real estate market in the country is blunt: speak with your true voice, put client needs ahead of a quick paycheck, and be willing to tell clients things they do not want to hear, including declining to show them houses that do not fit their real criteria. She told one husband she would not even show him a property because his wife had made clear it was not what she wanted.
- On the current inventory imbalance, she reviewed her numbers through end of July and confirmed sales were at their second lowest point in five years, she attributes it to sellers anchored to peak prices and buyers rattled by uncertainty, but frames it as a buyer’s opportunity: more inventory, more choices, and a market where negotiating skill matters again.
- The emotional weight of selling a family home comes up repeatedly in her work. In the year prior to the conversation, she sold three homes that had been family properties for decades, and in each case the sellers needed space to grieve the end of a chapter before they could move forward. She treats that as a legitimate part of her job.
About Linda
Linda Baker is the founder and lead Realtor at Milestone Realty, a boutique brokerage she launched in Silicon Valley in 2021. She has been a licensed Realtor since 2003, coming from a background in finance and marketing at a Bay Area business newspaper, and builds her business almost entirely on repeat and referral clients.
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/lindabakerrealtor
- Website: https://remilestone.com
Episode 45 of the PreVetted Podcast.
Full transcript
Federico Ramallo (00:01) Welcome back to the Prevetted podcast where we spotlight extraordinary people and remarkable talent reshaping our world. Our guest today is Linda Baker. She’s the founder Realtor at Milestone Realty in Silicon Valley. ⁓ She’s been leading her own brokerage since 2021. She’s a licensed Realtor since 03. Linda has successfully guided hundreds of buyers
and sellers, many of whom return or refer friends, driven by what she calls her passions for real estate. In this conversation, we’re going to explore how Linda combines deep local knowledge, data-driven insights, and a service-first mindset to create memorable client experiences. Welcome, Linda. How are you doing today?
Linda Baker (00:52) I’m doing great. Thank you so much for inviting me.
Federico Ramallo (00:55) Thank you for being here. Yeah, I appreciate it. ⁓ The real estate industry is something that is very interesting. And I’m sure there are a lot of things we can learn from your experience.
Linda Baker (01:09) Thank you. Yes, it is very interesting. I’m learning something almost every day.
Federico Ramallo (01:15) Nice. So tell us a little bit about what first drew you to real estate back in 2003.
Linda Baker (01:22) came from the publishing industry, was actually the director of finance for a local business newspaper. And I can see that industry was changing and I wanted to make a change. wanted to get out before I was thrown into the blender of who knows what at that point in time. So I have a marketing background, a finance background, and my husband has been in the construction industry for years. So it kind of made sense to
pull all these components together and real estate just made the perfect target for me. And many of my friends after I decided to become a realtor said, why didn’t you do this before? And I was like, I don’t know. Didn’t I? But I’m glad that I did. this has been 22 years of just really amazing, amazing experiences.
Federico Ramallo (02:15) Interesting, So you have more than two decades of experience in the industry, ⁓
Linda Baker (02:23) Yes, yes,
I was 10 when I started.
Federico Ramallo (02:26) I mean, this is a side comment, but I went to the doctor recently and asked me my age and I’m 42, but I said, I feel 20.
Linda Baker (02:37) Until I get up and then it’s like,
Federico Ramallo (02:39) Yes.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I feel you, yeah.
Linda Baker (02:47) Hahaha
Federico Ramallo (02:48) So what inspired you to launch your own brokerage?
Linda Baker (02:52) had been with a local boutique brokerage that actually wasn’t that boutique. was Bay Area wide and they were known for their quality, for their high end experience. And then they were acquired by a large mega brokerage, which was great. It was fine. had some nice tools and everything, but I felt like everything was…
You were competing against everybody else in the same brokerage. Everything looked the same. It was very homogenous. And my joke has become that real estate’s more than just black and white. You know, I wanted, I wanted to have an experience where I controlled the marketing, where the marketing was, was vibrant and alive and that we can catch people and I can be expressive in how I presented my properties and my listings and myself and my team.
And so it was just time to, to make, take that next step and to start milestone. And it was significant for me because the word milestone means so much to so many people. And whether it is the milestone of starting my own business, the milestone of helping you buy or sell your house, it’s a significant word. And I love the idea of having the company name.
reflect how important buying and selling real estate is for everybody.
Federico Ramallo (04:22) Right, right. I have actually a quote. Let me look it up from, I send it to a friend. ⁓ So I’m kind of quoting myself, but anyway. ⁓ So it’s a different sequence from him, reminds me what you’re talking about. You know, it says this, choose a hard path on purpose. Every stretch forges, forges you into someone stronger, wiser, and ready for whatever comes next.
Linda Baker (04:52) Absolutely.
Federico Ramallo (04:53) And now that we were talking about milestone, it reminds me something I told him recently.
Linda Baker (05:02) It’s, mean, it’s, all, we all have milestones and it’s not just professionally. It’s not just in real estate. It could be health. could be family related. There’s so many things that milestones relate to. And so we just, it’s, it’s, and it’s so satisfying to help somebody achieve that next milestone, to get to that next level.
Federico Ramallo (05:24) Right, right. ⁓ Yeah, the definition of happiness, one of the definitions that I’ve seen of happiness is it’s about climbing the mountain, ⁓ The top of the mountain has a personal significance for us, right? So it’s different for each other, right? ⁓ But it is the act of climbing the mountain, right? Because once we reach the top of the mountain, then…
Linda Baker (05:37) Yes.
Federico Ramallo (05:52) we are eager to look for others’ mountains to climb, right? ⁓ So it’s not the achieving, it’s the getting there. That’s happiness. It’s a journey, yes. So helping people to achieve their milestones, it’s a significant ⁓ part of their journey to become…
Linda Baker (06:01) Yeah, it’s the journey.
Federico Ramallo (06:21) you know, to be happy.
Linda Baker (06:23) Absolutely. Absolutely.
Federico Ramallo (06:25) ⁓ So you mentioned repeats and referral businesses, right? ⁓ Can you develop a little bit more about why that’s important on the real estate?
Linda Baker (06:42) Absolutely. My very first transaction came from a friend of my mother-in-law. So I had met him before and we ran into each other at the grocery store. And at that point I had taken my real estate test. I knew I had passed and I was just waiting for my physical license. So I see him at the grocery store and I’m like, hey, by the way, I’m going to be a realtor.
really super excited about that. You know, so if you need anything, let me know. And because, yeah, we’re thinking about selling in like the next six months. Awesome. Two weeks later, he calls me. Okay. Ready to sell my house. So I helped him sell the house and I happened to represent those buyers. The buyers came in through an open house. Um, so those were my first buyers that I ever worked with.
And it’s fun because here we are 22 years later and I’m still connected with those buyers who bought that very first house. I’ve helped them buy two other investment properties and they’ve referred, you know, his brother-in-law to me. It’s, know, I’ve now seen their daughter grow up and their daughter’s now in college. It’s just, it’s just like one small example, you know, working with people that you build a connection with.
or there’s trust, it’s not just transactional, where I care what happens to that transaction. ⁓ I had clients who I had shown a, they were referred to me and I had shown them houses back in 2006. And they were looking at a house that they absolutely fell in love with that was backed up against a highway.
And the house was horrible. And I looked at them and I’m like, I am not selling you this house. No, no. If the market goes soft, because real estate markets fluctuate like anything else, I go, and if you have to sell, this is going to be a horrible house to sell and I will not sell you this house. No, get something else.
15 years later, so they had ended up buying out of the area. They didn’t buy with me. They bought out of the area, then they moved up to Seattle, and then they were coming back. He was transferring back to the Bay Area with Google. And they messaged me. We had stayed connected on Facebook, and they had messaged me, and they’re like, hey, Linda, do you remember us? like, yes, of course. And they’re like, well, we’re coming back. We want to buy a house. We want to buy a house. Would you work with us? I’m all, of course.
So, and it’s funny because we talked about that memory of 15 years before, me not letting them buy a house that I knew was gonna be bad for them. And how much that meant, they brought it up, not me. And how much that meant to them. It was so gratifying. And it’s just like, that’s the full circle of why you wanna work with your clients over and over again, because they trust you.
And when they trust you, they’re going to refer you to their friends and family. Like Linda’s the best to work with. And it’s, and it makes, and then, and then I have, I have client parties and it’s so much fun to have client parties and you, they, people walk in and like, wait a minute, you work with Linda too? didn’t know. And it’s, you get this like whole energy in the house is a buzz with, with people and talking. And it’s just, it’s the best experience. It’s building a community and.
That just feels my will house. just, I’m just, it just, gives me goosebumps just talking about it.
Federico Ramallo (10:20) Wow, that’s amazing. And do you remember all those stories? You mentioned they bring it up to you, right? They bring that story to you,
Linda Baker (10:29) There are
times when clients remember things that I have forgotten. mean, ⁓ Linda, you told us when we were buying our first house with you, this, this, and this. And I go, I said that, geez. okay. I’m so glad I That was embarrassing. But it’s, yeah, people remember, you know, because I’m trying to give them my best advice. this is when, you know, I work with a lot of people who are first time buyers. I work with people who are.
you know, selling mom’s house, whatever it is, but I try to come at it as if I were buying or selling the house. What makes sense? And then to be able to give you options. Okay. If I were doing this, this is what I would do. We could do it this way. We can do it that way. We, know, give people options, but it’s, but yeah, I, it’s, I, I do remember a lot, but there are times my clients remember more than I do. it’s, ⁓ it is it.
It’s just fun. It’s just fun.
Federico Ramallo (11:31) Right, right. Plus, you know, buying a house for any family is such a significant ⁓ part of their lives, right? That is going to stay with them for how many years, right?
Linda Baker (11:41) Yes.
Well, and it’s great. I met a mother one time at an open house and she’s like, I’m not looking for me. I’m looking for my boys. And I have helped both of her sons buy houses and then one of the sons has bought a second house. And then the other son has referred me to like half the people they work with. And it’s just gross.
It’s just, it’s so much.
Federico Ramallo (12:16) ⁓ It reminds me to another story. I apologize. I keep going side track. Squirrel?
Linda Baker (12:22) Squirrel is the word.
Squirrel. Get when you get distracted, you squirrel.
Federico Ramallo (12:29) that’s right. Yes, yes.
Linda Baker (12:30) Think
of the movie Up.
The Disney movie.
Federico Ramallo (12:31) Yes,
yes, that’s right. it’s this idea of, ⁓ you’re ⁓ in your funeral, right? And who is going to be there? What are the people going to talk about? And what stories are they going to share? And if we look at…
If we look at it from that point of view, and then we go backwards, that kind of gives us a clear vision of how we should operate. Do we want to hear great stories, or not?
Linda Baker (13:10) Mm-hmm.
Well, I’d like to say that the view was much nicer from the high road.
Federico Ramallo (13:22) Sorry, can you repeat that?
Linda Baker (13:23) The view is much nicer from the high road.
Federico Ramallo (13:28) All right. Right.
Linda Baker (13:30) You
so you can take the easy route or you can take the high road and do the honorable thing and do what’s right for your clients. And so my joke is just like, well, when you’re up on the high road, you get a much better view.
Federico Ramallo (13:43) Right, that’s true, yes. And reminds me of a doctor. was a Y-G-O-N. O-B-G-Y-A, thank you, So.
Linda Baker (13:56) BGYN.
You wouldn’t go see him.
Federico Ramallo (14:02) No, I was there because ⁓ my mom took me there. ⁓ And it was this gathering, I guess. And ⁓ he was dying of cancer. And he was old. And they were doing a, ⁓ they were starting a foundation on his name. And there were.
three generations of women that were delivered by him. He delivered the babies. And everybody was sharing these type of stories. ⁓ So it wasn’t a funeral, everybody knew that he was… Yes, yes. And the level of support that everybody was putting there. ⁓
Linda Baker (14:49) It was a celebration of life.
Federico Ramallo (15:00) And then one of his sons became a doctor as well, so the practice would continue. So there was this, as you said, celebration of life. So it reminds me to this story, ⁓ how much of an impact you’re doing in people’s life without realizing at first.
Linda Baker (15:24) It’s to me, it’s more than just being a sales person. It’s being a consultant. It’s being a, it’s being a part of your financial trust. You know, how, you know, the people that you bring in to help guide you, you want to be part of those trusted individuals and to, give advice that’s not based on anything other than what’s, what you feel is best for the client.
to point out pitfalls. then ultimately it’s always the client’s decision what they’re going to do. But you want to make sure that you’ve given them all the information they need to make the best decision. And that’s, that’s really important.
Federico Ramallo (16:05) Right, right, because it’s so complex to make a purchase decision of a house and there’s so many details and it’s very frustrating when you make the decision and then you’re in the house and then you start realizing, I made the wrong decision for whatever reason, right? It could be big or small, but now you are ⁓ literally in hell because you’re stuck in that situation or it’s very expensive to get out, right?
Linda Baker (16:32) Yeah.
And sometimes things happen that you just cannot expect or anticipate. That definitely happens. But at the same time, buying a house can be a sensory experience. You need to use all of your senses. You can’t just go on a computer and look online and say, yeah, this house looks good. You need to go and listen. How’s the traffic noise? How are the neighbors? How has the neighborhood looked?
Federico Ramallo (16:41) Right.
Linda Baker (17:03) How does it smell? How does the house smell? Sometimes bad owners are indicative of problems such as mold. mean, you use everything about, said you, house has a vibe, you know, and sometimes, okay, it’s a little woo woo, but it’s, you want to feel the house. You want to get in there and see how it’s going to fit you. Not just by saying, okay, it’s a four bedroom, bath, this many square feet.
It’s more about how does the layout work? How does it feel? It’s just, you know, different.
Federico Ramallo (17:40) Right, right. I’m sure you have many, many stories of, know, throughout the years, right? What are the more, you know, funny stories that you can share with us?
Linda Baker (17:55) Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Funny stories. I can remember one time going into a house. I remember I remember what street it was on and it was so it was like they and they marketed it as such a beautiful house. Oh my gosh, it’s just got this and that. And I remember showing it to a client and I’m walking down some stairs to the family room.
And it is so ugly down there. I literally sat down, started laughing. I could not help myself. just, mean, here I am trying to sell a house. You know, I mean, I’ll, I will admit I make money when I sell a house and you walk in and it’s like, it’s so bad. You just, you could not help but laugh. Oh my gosh. And then there was a time I was showing a house and I opened, I, you know, I had made an appointment and I knock on the door and.
I hear a dog barking and my client’s like, I’m afraid of dogs. There can’t be a dog. I’m like, oh, no problem. I love dogs. I’ll go inside. I’ll get the dog. I’ll put the dog outside. I do that. I go, I put the dog outside, let the client in. Well, when I didn’t realize that there was a side doggy door, this is little tiny dog, right? And the dog goes like, we’re like,
the back door and around the house and comes in the side kitchen door where the dog door was. She’s like, ⁓ So I literally just scooped up the dog and I go, I’ll just carry the dog. It’s fine. don’t, it’s just like, people are, you just never know. That one always strikes me as a little funny.
I really don’t have that many funny stories. To me, the stories that I remember, like when we’ve had to fight to get the client the house they wanted. I those are the ones that I find really impactful. I ⁓ had ⁓ clients who were moving here from Ohio to the greater San Jose area.
The wife, we’d looked at houses altogether and then the wife had to go back to Ohio and get the kids and do all that stuff for moving. And I’m here with the husband and she’s like, here, go look at this one house. And it was the only house that we’d seen that would work for direct four kids. They needed, know, grade schools, know, certain price point, you know, good condition, all those kinds of stuff. And we were competing with, I think, five other offers on this house. And man, I just…
threw it on the line. just, worked that listing agent. just, you know, I kept us engaged and we, and my clients got the house. And I remember we did the walkthrough at the end with the seller and the agent from, you know, from the listing side. then, my client and the seller turns to my client. goes, you got this house because of your agent. She was so persistent and did such a good job.
Federico Ramallo (21:04) you
Linda Baker (21:04) And that
just.
You know, that was it. Close. You know, I’m done. I’m good. You know, but you know, that was, didn’t, who needs a paycheck when you get those kinds of comments? You know what I mean? It’s like, just, just builds you up. So, you know, I’ve got funny stories and I’ve got stories like that. And it’s just, those are the ones that just kind of keep you going.
Federico Ramallo (21:10) Yeah
Yes.
Yes, completely understand. That was kind of ⁓ my thinking when I took my first full-time job, ⁓ because I was like, I could do this for free and they’re paying me. It’s great. But the spirit is, it fills you in and then you need to pay your expenses and whatnot.
Linda Baker (21:39) Yeah!
Federico Ramallo (21:52) Money becomes eventually important, but it’s not the main reason why you’re doing what you’re doing, right?
Linda Baker (21:58) If I believe in people and I believe that people can tell if you are genuine or not. And when you have, when I get excited about something, my clients feel it. They can’t it. I’m just loud. And it’s so much fun because they can tell that I was told that I don’t have a good poker face. So it’s like, this is it.
my God, this is it. We’ve got to, you know, and it’s, and it’s just fun. It’s, you know, and that’s in, and people remember that, you know, they, they remember how, how you made them feel and how, know, and how that house made you feel. And it’s just, yeah, that’s, you can’t, you just can’t make this stuff up.
Federico Ramallo (22:46) I understand that the Bay Area is one of the most competitive markets in a real state. What is your advice to be able to be successful in such a competitive market?
Linda Baker (22:56) Mm-hmm.
First, you always need to speak with your true voice. If you are disingenuous, if you are simply transactional, you might last a couple years, but you’re not going to be here for the long haul. You you need to be, you need to put yourself out there outside of your comfort zone. You know, talk to people, not be afraid to make a phone call, to reach out to people.
You need to be persistent. You need to be hungry. You need to help. Encourage your clients, not push them out of their comfort zone, but sometimes help guide them to where you know they need to be. And you need to always put your client’s need first, even if that can be painful because it’s not going to get you an immediate paycheck. But you need, you need to put your client’s needs first. Cause at the end of the day, they will remember that and they come back to you.
and then they know that you’re looking out for them. again, and that’s where you get the repeat and referral clients. If I look at all the transactions I’ve done this year so far, this has been a great year for me. ⁓ Every one of them was either repeat client or referral client or somebody from my sphere of influence, someone that I’ve known for years.
Federico Ramallo (24:20) Right.
Linda Baker (24:21) So that’s, and I’m sorry, I think that’s
really key to being successful. And when you’re getting started, you’ve got to research and know as much as you possibly can. You better be a sponge and know everything you can about what’s going on and how houses are put together and how things work and how the market is. There’s so many things to understand when you are doing this job.
Federico Ramallo (24:47) Right.
You mentioned something about guiding the client, understanding their needs, right? Have you had situations where the clients are hesitant and they need this, you know, a little bit of a push to make the right decision for them, right?
Linda Baker (24:52) Mm-hmm.
Okay, I love stories in case you didn’t notice. So I had a client one time and they actually, so we hooked up and they had actually had seen a house before they met me that they liked. We liked this house. So I check out the house and I go, this is a great house. I definitely agree with you. They’re like, we want to see, and it happened to have a really pretty view. It was like up on a hill. So you got a nice view of the valley because Santa Clara Valley is, you know, it’s a bowl. I go, okay, so we looked at,
every house in their price range with the view all around the valley. And after about a dozen homes. Well, you know, we like this house, but we like that first house better. And I heard that time and again. And I finally said, okay, that’s it. I am not showing you another darn house until you at least write an offer. We have to at least try and write an offer. If we don’t get it, that’s fine, but we’re going to write an offer. And they happen to be.
Clients that were relocating into Santa Clara Valley. again when you’re coming in from to the valley, it’s expensive It doesn’t matter what year it is. It’s always an expensive place to live So They want to write a low so, know after I’ve done all this work for them They’re like, okay, we’re gonna write an offer and they write a low offer I’m like, oh god. Oh god. We’re not gonna get it. I’m just you know scared to death
But I have this strategy and so I know where they’re willing to go. So I have this number, so I go and I present our offer to the listing agent and to the sellers and I sell that heck out of my clients. Oh my gosh, they’re relocating here, they got two little girls, yada yada. And they’re like, oh okay, well let us talk. we were really low compared to what the list price was.
and they come back and I’m waiting in the office while they’re talking. then they come, the listening machine comes into me and she’s like, okay, she was like, we’re going to have a counter for you. like, awesome. And they’re like, I hope that we can make it come together. And she tells me what the price is. And I’m really working hard to keep this poker face. Cause it’s exactly where we knew it needed to land. And so I go, well, I’ll go, me, I don’t know. Let me check with my clients. She leaves the room. I call my clients and it’s like,
Guess what? Here’s the counter offer. And it’s right where we said it was going to be. And they’re like, no way. That’s my way. is, mean, it’s, know, and, but, but it took, it took me saying, okay, I’ve done my job. I’ve looked at everything for you guys. You, you keep comparing to this house, write an offer. You can, you’re talking about it, not me. So let’s do it. And you know, we did it.
Federico Ramallo (27:31) You
And after that, they come back and say thank you for a push.
Linda Baker (28:03) for the push. Well, I guess,
because I’m not pushing people, but I know that’s what they want.
Federico Ramallo (28:11) Right.
Linda Baker (28:11) You know, it’s like neon lights screaming, I want this. Let me help you get there. You know, and it’s, part of my, you know, I am a motivator. I do like to encourage people. I’m a positive person. I’ll, but then I’ll also tell, mean, I’ve also turned around and told people I had a client, husband and wife, and it was the husband who was really driving the new house search. Linda, what are you thinking about this one house?
I looked at the house and I knew what the wife’s criteria was and I had promised her that I was going to look out for her, you know, until, so we would bring her in when we really felt that we had the house. And I look at the house online and I get him on the phone and I go, do you love your wife? He’s all, of course. I go, then no, I’m not even gonna consider showing you this house. She’s not gonna like it, forget it, not gonna happen. So it goes both ways.
Federico Ramallo (29:03) the
Linda Baker (29:09) You you also need to make sure that when you understand and then you talk through why it’s not just, it’s not me making the determination. It’s like, remember she wants a pool. That’s not, there’s no place to put the pool. The kids aren’t going to have a good play area. I had a bunch of reasons why, you know, so it wasn’t just me being arbitrary, you know, and, and again, and, for me, it doesn’t matter what the price is. It matters what the client’s needs are and what they’re wanting to achieve.
Federico Ramallo (29:37) Right, right. Yeah, I mean, I use the word push. I was trying to find another word for that, Yeah. But you’re stretching, you’re ⁓ leveraging the trust to get them to where they need to be, right? Yeah.
Linda Baker (29:42) No, is good, push is good! You mean-
Right. And it’s
again, and some, it’s, if it doesn’t feel right, it doesn’t feel right. And I’m not going to push them if it doesn’t feel right. If they want to. That’s great. And I’ll, and if I have some concerns, I’ll say, well, you know, when we go to sell this house in the future, this one obstacle might still be there. You know, this, you know, this will always be an objection, but because the house is so great, you’re willing to overcome that one issue because no house ever has every single.
off check. There’s always going to be something that you’re compromising on and it could be the price. If the house is so perfect and it’s going to be a little bit more expensive.
Federico Ramallo (30:30) Right.
Right, and sometimes there are houses that are not so perfect, but a good price and an opportunity to improve it further down the road.
Linda Baker (30:45) Exactly. And I love those houses. I love, ⁓ my gosh, I sold a house on my street and it was pretty original condition. We’ll put it that way. was, needed a lot of love. And so I was a listing agent. you know, I sold the house for a fair price and then, you know, I walked the dogs and I’ll say hi to the buyers and how they’re, how, see how they’re doing. And they’re like, Linda.
Federico Ramallo (30:50) You
Linda Baker (31:10) come here, we wanna show you what we’ve done to the house. And it was so, cause they had remodeled the kitchen and opened up a wall and they were so proud. They couldn’t wait to show me. And it’s like, ⁓ good. That’s what it’s all about. And they could see, I talked about when I was selling this house that needed love, what it could be. Imagine if you did this and you did that and you’ve got this and they saw the vision and that’s really cool.
Federico Ramallo (31:40) Right, right, because it’s showing what it’s not there, right, and what it could be, yes, yes. And then the pricing becomes, I mean, there’s the market that also fluctuates the pricing, but there’s a big component that is the people’s preference and impressions of the house, right? That’s a big determination of the pricing, right?
Linda Baker (32:09) Yes. Yes. Well, um, I was on vacation once in Australia with my husband and when I was looking at a local newspaper and there was a real estate ad and it talked about, you know, everybody knows that the first three rules of real estate’s location, location, location, this ad and this, I saw this ad in 2018. So this is how it’s, it’s stuck with me. It was location, lifestyle, and livability. And I’m like, that’s it.
It’s not, the location is clearly important, but it’s okay. What kind of, what kind of like, how’s the livability of the house? Does it need to be improved? And you, then you price it accordingly. What’s, what’s the lifestyle that it’s going to be affording to you? Is it going to give you, know, is it going to put you in the neighborhood in the school system? Is it going to give you close to parks, access to shopping and everything else? mean, what’s everything it’s figuring out how you are going to live in this house. And that’s.
That’s pretty important.
Federico Ramallo (33:10) Right, right. It’s not only a house, it’s everything around it.
Linda Baker (33:13) Yep. You can change the house, but you can’t change everything else. You can’t change the neighbors, can’t change the street, can’t change the location.
Federico Ramallo (33:21) Interesting. ⁓ On the buyer’s side, ⁓ seller’s side, on the seller’s side, have you had any clients that were emotionally attached to the house and were afraid to, not afraid to sell it, know, ⁓ worth, yes, yes.
Linda Baker (33:35) ⁓ yes.
Remorseful.
⁓ Yes, I have. I had a client once who, she was the one initiating the sale. She was looking at houses for a year before we sold her house. It was her idea to sell the house. And we got the house sold for a great price. And she had a real tough time in letting go. So it was where she’d raised her kids and it hit her after we were in contract.
I mean, she, you know, she almost wanted to back out of the deal. And I’m like, you can’t do that. mean, it’s just, you know, we had, you know, we, took, hand holding and encouragement and it was, it was tough. ⁓ some people have a tough time when it’s the family house, you know, mom just died and, you know, and it’s the house that’s been in their family for 50, 60 years.
That’s a tough one, know, where, you know, they, the children are now older than me. They’re, you know, adults and it’s still that, that tie to the house is so significant that it’s people, people have a tough, have a tough time and you have to give people the space to grieve a little, you know, when you’re, when you’re closing a chapter of your life.
Again, it’s a milestone. It’s pretty significant. And you have to honor that. This year I’ve sold three homes that were the family home. And it’s been emotional for every one of them to be able to pass that on, the house that they grew up in and I’m selling mom or dad’s house.
It’s you give you have to honor that and just give them the space to do a little greeting and a little celebrating. And that’s kind of like a funeral.
Federico Ramallo (35:41) Yeah, it’s tough because the house is part of the family, right? ⁓ It’s one more team member, right? It is.
Linda Baker (35:46) Yeah.
It is, it is, it’s a
family member. It’s where you had all those holidays and birthdays and you skinned your knee and you had the dogs and cats and funny experiences and yeah.
Federico Ramallo (36:06) Yes, yes. My son, I have a 10-year-old son. My son, ⁓ on his room, he started not poking, but ⁓ making a hole on the wall. I know, I know. When I saw it, I freaked out. ⁓ Here we build with cement instead of wood. So it’s different.
Linda Baker (36:22) Hehehehehe ⁓
Federico Ramallo (36:36) And then they put a softer layer for finishing. So with his plastic toys, he was able to get to the softer… ⁓ I think it’s clay, I don’t remember. ⁓ But he was able to get there and what he was trying to do is draw a ⁓ world map. A map of the world on the…
Linda Baker (36:41) Okay.
funny.
Federico Ramallo (37:05) Yes, yes. So now the hole is still there, right? And he was trying to get across, make a hole between his room and our room, right? Until he reached the cement, and that’s how far he was able to go. Yeah, that was the stopping point, yeah. But now it became this part of the…
Linda Baker (37:24) point.
The folklore, yeah. Okay, but I would say make sure that you get to watch Shawshank Redemption with him.
Federico Ramallo (37:32) Spirit of the house. Yeah.
Right, right, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Linda Baker (37:41) And then you’ll
get to that point and you’ll go, was that what you were trying to do?
Federico Ramallo (37:48) Yeah, yeah. So basically, I had to put a limit to that because he was also drawing. So I said, OK, if you’re going to draw, draw in your room, right? It’s OK if you want to personalize your room, but you know.
Linda Baker (37:59) Boo!
Chalk Paint.
You can get paint that is like a chalkboard. Yes, la valenci. get, and and chalk, and then he can, and then he can legitimately draw on the walls and then you can erase it.
Federico Ramallo (38:08) really?
Yes, we put that on the previous house we had, but we were renting there. So we put it and then ⁓ he was a baby, so we put it at the floor level and he was able to draw there. So probably that’s why now he’s drawing on the walls. And the thing is, you do that as an adult, you say, I’m going to put the limits of
Linda Baker (38:31) Yeah.
See, it’s your fault. It’s always your fault, you know.
Federico Ramallo (38:46) you can draw inside here. Kids don’t respect those limits and he was drawing all over the walls, right? So we had to, when we ⁓ returned that house, then we had to paint the whole, his whole room required a lot of cleaning up, yeah.
Linda Baker (39:03) Yes.
But no, those are the stories that stay with the house. And it’s, and it’s just, it’s, and it’s fun to be able to have those stories to pass on to the next buyers. Cause you know, buyers, I still think that there’s a human element to buying and selling a house and people like to hear the stories. It’s, know, it’s just, it’s just part of it. There’s life in a house. It’s more than just walls and
windows and floors. There is a spirit in the house.
Federico Ramallo (39:36) Yes, and it’s one of the things that I do like about wood, right? ⁓ Because wood has a life in it, right? ⁓ And there’s a warmth on the wood, right? That you cannot get with cement, right? ⁓ Yeah, yeah, yeah. But then on the other hand, I prefer cement houses because they don’t burn down as easily, right? So there’s that, right?
Linda Baker (39:44) Yes.
Yeah, that’s very true.
And they’re probably better
insulated, they’re cooler.
Federico Ramallo (40:06) Yes, yes they are. And I talked with a friend and she said, but you know that houses that are built with cement, they are also built with wood because the casting is based on wood. And I was like, the framing, yes. So I was like, OK, yes, that makes sense. The first day they… ⁓
Linda Baker (40:23) Framing of it. ⁓
Federico Ramallo (40:35) So after we rented, we bought a new house. And so we were the ⁓ first owners. ⁓ So it was in pristine conditions. Everything was as good as the builders did it. ⁓ But the first day we came in, our son just grabs a permanent ink and.
Linda Baker (40:43) Mm-hmm.
Federico Ramallo (41:01) draws all the way, a line all the way up on the stairs. Yeah. It was.
Linda Baker (41:04) ⁓
He’s an artist
when he grows up.
Federico Ramallo (41:10) Yes, it’s hard because on one side you want to scream at him for damaging the house, but then on the other side you want to encourage him to be himself, right? So, yes, yes. Anyway, the line is still there, you know. Many years after, you know. ⁓ Because now it becomes part of the house, yes.
Linda Baker (41:31) yeah.
Yes, very true.
Federico Ramallo (41:41) So how do you balance ⁓ boundaries and maintaining the energy when you’re talking with clients? This is 24-7 work and also ⁓ having time with your family. How do you balance that dynamic?
Linda Baker (42:05) I try to give myself, I do boundaries where, you know, I’m not going to call people at night, you know, or I won’t answer my phone unless like we’re in the middle of something. Like if we know like we’re getting a counter offer or we’re receiving offers on, need to do counter offers. You know, I’ll work into the evening. ⁓ But, you know, I try to set boundaries as if I’m a professional person.
And I find that my clients respect that. You know, we have, we have a house in the, in the Southern Sierra mountains that is close to Yosemite. And I go up there about once a month for the, you know, for the weekend and clients would be like, well, can I call you if you’re up there? And I’m like, yeah, that’s fine. You can call me, but you could, but I’m away. So I, we get away. So it’s, you know, I find, you know, so I try to give myself evenings always to, be able to recover, you know, and be with my family.
⁓ In the beginning, worked a ton. I mean, I could go a month without taking a day off, because even during the middle of the week, you’re still working and doing stuff. So it is challenging to find a work-life balance in the beginning, because you’re just hungry and you’re trying to get yourself established and get everything going. As you’re working longer, you’re able to aid your…
better at what you do so you’re more efficient and can get things done faster. Because I’m working more by repeat and referral clients. So I know that when I’m calling people, it’s less of a sales column, more of a, how are you doing? What’s going on? And it’s more casual, which is great. And I’m not having to make as many calls as I would if I were brand new because I’m established. I get the repeat and the referral clients.
So that really makes a huge difference. So it’s just, you know, and then now as I’ve been 20 plus years in the business, I’m giving myself days off on the weekends. So I’m not working every single weekend. I’ll take a weekend off maybe once or twice a month as opposed to only once a month or not at all. So it’s just, you do need to set yourself boundaries. And I do find that when you let your clients know, like if you’ve got a child who always has a game on Saturday.
I’m going to take Saturday off because that’s really important for me to go to my, to my son’s game. People go, ⁓ okay. I totally get that. Totally get that. You know, so you just, and you just have to be responsive. You know, I mean, text messaging is an amazing way to be able to, touch people without having to be like totally in their face. So, you know, if somebody needed me, they could text me and I could say, okay, this is really important. I need to step out or this is not important. You know,
I can, we can deal with this tomorrow, you know, and just to say, Hey, I got you. I’m under control. We’ll let’s talk tomorrow morning. Just to be responsive. And really it’s about setting expectations and being communicative, you know, making sure that you’re clear in your communications and your expectations and it’s respect. You know, if I, if you, if you tell me that Linda, I’m, you know, my job, I’m always, I can’t talk to anybody in the morning. I’ll never call you in the morning ever.
Federico Ramallo (45:16) Right.
Linda Baker (45:26) Unless it’s a house burning down emergency kind of thing. And that would probably be a text message saying, I really need you. Can we talk? mutual respect goes a long ways. And if there’s not mutual respect, I really don’t want to work with that client. So if that client doesn’t respect me and my expertise, then it’s not going to be a win-win situation. And there’s other agents out there who are transactional by nature who don’t.
give a hooey about their clients and therefore their clients don’t give a hooey about them. So let them work together. That’s fine.
Federico Ramallo (46:01) Right, yeah, because usually ⁓ a lot of real estate agents that I’ve seen are more on transactional side, right? And for the buyers and the seller, the real estate agent becomes this ⁓ kind of ⁓ regulatory obligation that we have to go through. it’s one of an additional obstacle rather than a facilitator, right?
Linda Baker (46:30) Well, it’s, there was one time I was talking with my mother-in-law about, about the need, she was going be selling her house and she was out of the area. So I wouldn’t have been involved. Well, not in the transaction. I’ll be involved, but not in the transaction. And I go, well, I go, let me help find an agent that, that can work with you. And she’s like, what if I don’t like them? I go, is it important to like them or is it important to respect them? I mean, I want you to like me.
But I want you to respect me first. I want you to, it’s not about my personality. Linda’s upbeat and bubbly and she’s funny and you’ll like her. Or it’s like, no, I want you to refer me because I’m smart. I know the marketplace. I know how to negotiate. I’m business when it needs to be business. And you see how my voice has changed. ⁓
Federico Ramallo (47:23) Yes.
Linda Baker (47:24) I want to be fun and bubbly. I want to get the job done and I want to do the best darn job for you. Period. Hard stop.
Federico Ramallo (47:32) Right, right, and that’s a respect.
Linda Baker (47:35) That’s yeah. that’s,
and if someone doesn’t know what they’re doing, if someone is scared or new or doesn’t know the market, Oh, yes, I’ll do that. Yes. I will absolutely, whatever you want. You know, it’s like, as opposed to, well, Mr. Seller, you know, I seriously disagree with the strategy that you’re trying to get me to employ. You know, I might do it for a week or two.
But then I think we need to change course and if we can’t change course, then I’m not the girl for you.
Federico Ramallo (48:05) Right, right, because.
Linda Baker (48:06) You know, because
because I want to get the job. My job is not to list your house. My job is to sell your house for the highest possible price. And if you go this route, you’re not going to get it.
Federico Ramallo (48:16) Right, right. And…
You’re there to do a job, so you need the respect for people to respect and trust, right? So you can do your job, but you’re not there to make friends, right? You’re there to do the job, right? Yeah.
Linda Baker (48:29) Right. We
don’t have to gossip. We don’t have to, you I don’t need to hear about, you know, Johnny’s football game. That’s, great, awesome. know, let’s get to business. What’s going to make this? What’s the best decision here based on the information we have at hand? What’s happening in the marketplace? How are the winds shifting?
Federico Ramallo (48:50) And then organically, the friendship happens because of the trust.
Linda Baker (48:57) I find that I tend to work with very intelligent clients. I think that they, I’ve worked with some, I have a lot of Apple clients, a lot of Google clients and people who, I guess that have been with me for 10, 15 plus, I have a 22 year long client. it’s, yeah, they know that they can ask me questions and I’m not gonna just.
kind of like dance around and say, yeah, Steph. It’s like, no, this is what’s really going on. You know, and they trust me and that’s important. Yeah, respect is huge.
Federico Ramallo (49:33) Yes, yes, I agree. Yeah.
Linda Baker (49:35) And
I do get a lot of hugs as well. It’s fun when you run into somebody and it’s like, ⁓ And you see a client and it’s hug time. mean, that’s just what we expect, because we’ve been together for so long. And if I do a good job for you, I would expect a hug, because it’s opposed to, God, I can’t see you, because this is horrible.
Federico Ramallo (49:43) hahaha
Right.
Yeah, but I like what we’re talking about that the seed for that is the trust.
Linda Baker (50:11) Yeah. Yeah. And you, you have to earn, even when it’s somebody that I personally know, and I’ve known for years, I don’t take it for granted. You know, I just sold a house that was my client’s father’s house. He had, my friend had been our next door neighbor 35 years ago, you know, forever ago. And now, and now we’re coming back together for me to work, to work together. And
Even though he trusts me and he trusts my husband, I still felt like I needed to earn his trust. I don’t take it for granted. I don’t just expect you to trust me. I want to earn it.
Federico Ramallo (50:52) ⁓ So one of questions that I wanted to ask you is about something that came up to the news recently about the imbalance that is between the sellers and the buyers in the market that has been, it’s very high recently, right? Historically very high, right? ⁓
Linda Baker (51:12) As far as what
is high, the number of listings or.
Federico Ramallo (51:17) Well, what I was reading is that it passed the 500,000 mark. ⁓ 500,000 mark? ⁓ Yeah, let me read what I’m reading. So it says, the imbalance between sellers and buyers in the US housing market has now passed the 500,000 mark, according to the latest data from Redfin, as unsold inventory continues piling up across the country.
And I wanted to hear your thoughts about that. ⁓
Linda Baker (51:47) My thoughts?
So let me translate that a little bit. So inventory is creeping up and buyers have suddenly pulled back. And again, I always want to put myself into somebody else’s shoes as to why things are pulling back. And it’s not our job to get political and talk about policies and such, whenever there’s a shift in the wind,
Federico Ramallo (51:54) Yes.
Linda Baker (52:17) ⁓ When I took my first listing 22 years ago, a week after I took the listing and I’m literally on the phone with the seller talking about this and that. My husband comes into the, I remember I’m standing in the kitchen and my husband comes into the kitchen. He goes, we just dropped bombs on Iraq, desert storm. And I’m all, rep. I knew instantly.
that was going to change things and that and the market changed completely and buyers, buyers got nervous. You know, I knew this was going to happen. I mean, here’s my first listing. I want to tell it so bad. want some money and buyers is like, the heck? You know, and at the end of the day, price solves everything. But. You know, people get nervous and they because when there’s uncertainty, they pull back and it’s just a natural reaction.
There’s been, there’s we, after COVID, we had huge sales across the country because people had held off in 2020 because of COVID. And now it’s like, oh geez, I can now move. can now work from home. I’m in too small of a house. I’m in too big of a house. I need to change. lot of change happened at the 21, 22. Prices went up. We’ve had a lot of, we’ve had huge price.
appreciation over the past five years. And so I think it’s a number of things. I think that sellers still look at those high numbers and go, well, I want to sell for that. You know, it’s time. So I want to get that number too. So they’re so they’re overpricing their homes. Their expectations are overstated. ⁓ Buyers have pulled back a bit because interest we’ve been told for the past three years.
that interest rates were going to come back down and they’re still hovering. They’ve settled down. They’re like in the low sixes now. So it’s not horrible, but you know, in Silicon Valley, it’s still very expensive. So it’s, it’s like, how do we, how do we afford this? So buyers are going, you know what, I, I need to wait. Cause I, you know, maybe they’re starting to have job layoffs, know, and then around the country you’re, you’ve seen, you know, pullbacks in certain industries.
So people are just feeling some uncertainty. So I think that’s part of the reason why. But then I also look at it as that, it’s a strong seller’s market. Isn’t this great? Well, no, it sucks for the buyers. You know, I mean, I mean, because you’re having to like give up your firstborn child and a pint of blood and, you know, and just way overpay for the house. And if it’s a buyer’s market, my God, the market’s dropping and my gosh. know, it’s like, well, you can’t have your cake and eat it too. You can’t have both.
Federico Ramallo (55:02) You
Linda Baker (55:08) So if it’s a buyer’s market, you know, and I tried to, I always joke about it being a first world problem, especially here in Silicon Valley, like, you didn’t sell your house at the peak of the market. You’ve been there for how many years? So you’re making how much money on the house? You’re just fine. part of this is that the realtors don’t have the dialogues to be able to have these candid conversations with their clients.
put it into perspective. Yeah, it’s, know, and as my, as my, my, my oldest son was working with my team for a while, I’ll be all Sean, what do I say? He goes, it’s good to want. I’m like, yeah, we all want to sell at the top of the market, but we can’t always do it. But if the, if the goal, if the milestone we’re looking to achieve is to get to that next place, we can only do it if we are starting with the sale of the house.
And if the market is not responding, then we need to adjust the price and make sure that we’re giving the clients, the buyers, the product that they’re looking for, what’s meeting their expectations. It’s so it’s, I think part of it is many newer agents not being able to have the tools in their toolbox to, know how to talk to sellers. They have these, they have these conversations.
Federico Ramallo (56:32) Right.
Linda Baker (56:35) And it’s also being able to talk to the buyers to say, that’s an opportunity. It’s knocking. We’ve got fewer buyers in the market and we’ve got more listings. That gives you more choices. Let’s get you into a house so you can start to have the benefits of home ownership. And then if the interest rates are high, they are going to come down at some point in time. And then you refinance. If you don’t like the house, you don’t like the house. Don’t buy it.
But if you like the house, don’t try to psychoanalyze it. Cause guess what? When the market, when the market passes and it goes back to the seller’s market, no one’s sending you a notice saying, by the way, it’s changed. You better get in there now. You’re just going to wake up and go, ⁓ darn. I, I, I missed out. So this is so the, so the market, the market has not tanked. It’s done. It’s, it has, it has come into become a more balanced market.
And that’s okay. But that’s where we sharpen our skills. We work with our sellers to present the house in a way that’s gonna make the buyers happy. We learned how to negotiate, all this good stuff. There’s things that we do here in Silicon Valley that aren’t done around the country that I still find amazing. do sellers do inspections upfront. The buyers understand the condition of the house.
It makes perfect sense. And then we don’t have to renegotiate. Buyers know what they’re getting and that helps a huge amount. And so I think that in the Silicon Valley, we have fewer houses fall out of contract because buyers aren’t surprised because nobody likes a surprise. So at the end of the day, yes, the inventory has gone up. Sales are still are down a bit. ⁓ I just looked at the numbers. I just did my month end numbers. Sales.
through the end of July are the second lowest in the last five years.
But that’s okay, we’ll get, we’ll be fine. We’ll be fine because prices are still holding.
Federico Ramallo (58:42) Right, right. mean, you in a ways to not get ⁓ too much attached to what we read in the news about the market, because, you know, ⁓ if somebody is in the right situation where they want to sell, they, you know, then they will be able to, right? It will be about pricing or, you know, yeah, yeah. There’s always going to be a buyer or seller to make the transaction happen.
Linda Baker (59:03) Absolutely. Yeah.
Yeah, it’s.
always is, there always is. And you know, I’m not chicken little, the sky is not falling. You know, it’s real estate is real estate is cyclical. And you just have to understand the market that you’re in and adapt.
Federico Ramallo (59:17) Right.
I can see, by knowing you little bit more, can see why you are such a success in this industry. So, congratulations. ⁓
Linda Baker (59:33) Thank you. Thank
you. I appreciate that.
Federico Ramallo (59:36) Yeah. Thank you very much, for joining us today. We’re running out of time. Do you want to ⁓ share something with the audience before we leave?
Linda Baker (59:47) Well,
first, Federico, thank you so much. This has been a ⁓ very delightful conversation. I’ve really enjoyed it. Thank you for the opportunity. You know, it’s fun to talk about what you’re passionate about. And it is, it’s so sadly, my poor family will say that it’s, I still love what I do. that’s, and I’m just, I’m really lucky to be where I am and to have
Federico Ramallo (59:54) Thank you.
Yes.
Linda Baker (1:00:16) amazing clients that I do and luck, hard work all goes hand in hand and I’m just, it was just good fortune to be able to be and to become and do what I’ve been able to do for the past 22 years.
Federico Ramallo (1:00:30) Yes, I think it’s more than luck. I think that your personality, your skills, ⁓ grit, all of that combines, helps you get where you are and I want to acknowledge and congratulate you for that.
Linda Baker (1:00:49) I appreciate that, thank you.
Federico Ramallo (1:00:51) Thank you.