How to choose a real estate agent in Silicon Valley
Check six things: recent closings in your specific submarket, a written pricing rationale, a costed preparation plan, who actually runs your escrow, DRE license standing you verify yourself, and real off-market reach. Everything else an agent shows you is presentation.
How do you choose a real estate agent in Silicon Valley?
Judge an agent on six things: recent closed activity in your specific submarket, a written pricing rationale you can argue with, a preparation plan with a cost attached, clarity about who will actually run your transaction, a California DRE license you have looked up yourself, and honest reach into homes that trade before they reach a portal.
Every agent interviews well. The table below is how you separate the ones who run a process from the ones who run an ad, in a single conversation.
| What to check | Why it decides the outcome | How to verify it in one conversation |
|---|---|---|
| Recent activity in your specific area | Pricing depends on what has actually closed within a few blocks, not on county averages. An agent working the wrong submarket prices from the wrong data. | Ask which streets or neighborhoods they have worked in the last twelve months, and what those homes taught them about current buyer behavior. |
| A written pricing rationale | The gap between a well-priced home and an overpriced one is measured in weeks on market. A number without reasoning behind it is a guess. | Ask for the comparable sales they used, why each one is comparable, and what they would do if the first two weekends are quiet. |
| A preparation plan and who funds it | Most Peninsula homes gain more from targeted preparation than from any listing photograph. The question is whether you pay for it before closing. | Ask what they would change about the house, what it costs, and whether the brokerage fronts it. |
| Who actually answers your call | On a team, the agent you interview is often not the person who runs your escrow. That is fine if you know it going in. | Ask directly who handles showings, offers, disclosures, and escrow, and get the names. |
| License standing and brokerage | Every California agent holds a DRE license you can look up in under a minute, and it tells you their real start date and any discipline. | Ask for the license number and check it at the California DRE public lookup before you sign anything. |
| Off-market and pre-market reach | At higher price points a meaningful share of homes trade quietly. Access depends on standing in the agent network, not on portal search. | Ask how many of their last transactions involved a home that never hit the public market, and how those buyers were found. |
What is different about hiring an agent on the Peninsula?
The Peninsula is a stack of small, distinct markets rather than one region. San Mateo and Santa Clara counties diverged measurably through 2026, and within each county the meaningful unit is the neighborhood, not the city. An agent whose recent work sits two towns over is pricing your home from data that does not describe it.
Equity compensation also changes buyer timing here in a way it does not in most markets. Vesting schedules and liquidity events move the buyer pool independently of the school calendar, which affects when a home should launch and how quickly a well-priced listing draws competing offers.
How do you verify a California real estate license?
Every California agent holds a Department of Real Estate license number and is required to publish it on advertising. Ask for it, then look it up on the California DRE public license lookup, which shows the actual license issue date and any disciplinary history.
This takes about a minute and it is the only check on this page that produces a definitive answer. An agent who is reluctant to hand over the number has told you something useful.
Should you hire the agent with the most sales?
Not automatically. High volume can mean deep market knowledge, and it can also mean your transaction is handled by an assistant while the named agent works the next listing. Both are common and neither is inherently wrong, but you should know which one you are buying.
Ask who handles showings, offer negotiation, disclosures, and escrow, and ask for their names. If the answer is a team, meet the person who will actually run your file before you decide.
Who is Lisa M. Lum?
Lisa M. Lum is a residential real estate agent affiliated with Coldwell Banker Realty, working from the Menlo Park office at 1706 El Camino Real and representing sellers, buyers, and property owners across San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. She holds California DRE license #02005150.
Lisa M. Lum, at a glance
Brokerage: Coldwell Banker Realty, 1706 El Camino Real, Menlo Park, CA 94027
License: California DRE #02005150
Represents: Sellers, buyers, and property owners across San Mateo and Santa Clara counties
Education: UC Berkeley, Legal Studies, 1999. Berkeley Haas Venture Capital Executive Program. Cornell University, Hotel Revenue Management. Doshisha University, Japanese language.
Languages: English, Chinese, Japanese, French
Affiliations: Cal Alumni of Silicon Valley, Asia America MultiTechnology Association, National Association of Realtors, California Association of Realtors
Contact: (650) 668-1868, lisa.lum@cbrealty.com
Her practice centers on preparation and pricing rather than transaction volume. The Home Refresh program handles repair, paint, and staging decisions before a home is listed, and the exclusive listing program introduces a property to qualified buyers ahead of any public launch when privacy or timing calls for it.
What should you do before you interview anyone?
Get an independent read on your own number first, so you walk into every interview with a reference point instead of anchoring on the first figure you hear. Then interview at least two agents and ask all six questions from the table above.
Common questions
How many agents should I interview?
At least two, and three if the first two give you very different numbers. The purpose of the second interview is not to find a higher price, it is to find out which pricing rationale holds up when you push on it. An agent who quotes a high number without a defensible comparable set is bidding for the listing, not pricing the house.
What questions should I ask a real estate agent?
Which streets have you closed on in the last twelve months, what comparable sales support your price and why is each one comparable, what would you change about the house and what does it cost, who runs my escrow, what is your DRE license number, and how many of your recent sales never hit the public market.
Is commission negotiable in California?
Yes, and it always has been. Since the NAR settlement, buyer-side compensation is negotiated separately rather than assumed, so ask each agent what their fee covers, whether preparation costs are fronted, and how buyer-side compensation will be handled in your specific transaction.
Should I use the same agent to buy and sell?
Often yes, when the two transactions need to be sequenced against each other. The timing risk in a simultaneous move is the hard part, and one agent holding both sides can align contingencies and closing dates rather than coordinating between two parties with different incentives.
What does a buyer's agent do that I cannot do myself?
In a competitive Peninsula market, the value is in knowing which homes are coming before they list, reading disclosure packages quickly enough to write a clean offer, and structuring terms that win without overpaying. The search itself is the easy part and the part you can genuinely do alone.
Start with a conversation
Tell me what you are considering, buying or selling. The first conversation is confidential and carries no obligation.