"Although many people are extremely grateful for a job well done by their Realtor I would venture to guess many do not take the time to share their home selling/buying experience with others. I am taking this opportunity to extend our thanks, again, to our dedicated Realtor Darlene Brinkerhoff. My sisters and I lost our beloved Mother on August 6th, 2010. We have maintained her home, garden and stayed in touch with her neighbors this entire time. We have been fortunate as there has been no urgency in selling her home. In March 2013 we decided it was the right time to place our childhood home...our Mother's home, up for sale. Our hopes were to find someone that would care and love this home as we have for over 60 years. This has been a difficult and emotional experience for all of us but we felt strongly the timing was right. We contacted Darlene Brinkerhoff with the Saratoga Intero office to discuss our desire to sell our home. Without her compassion, understanding, honesty and focus we would not have been able to accomplish what we were setting out to do. Darlene is a professional. She has the perfect blend of intelligence, perseverance and personality............but most importantly....she has integrity. She took into consideration the emotional and sentimental concerns the sale of this home would bring. She was patient but extremely helpful with her guidance. Although our planning and timing could not have been better for placing our home on the market we were not seeking the highest offer. Darlene led the way and educated us throughout the entire process; strategizing and scheduling perfectly the posting of the first "Coming Soon" sign. She knew exactly how long to wait until the "For Sale" was posted. She had done her homework by visiting countless homes in the general area, ran comps and more comps to provide us as much information as possible. Her efforts, both professionally and physically, proved to be invaluable and were greatly appreciated. I had major cervical spine surgery during the process of selling our home which rendered me physically useless. I could walk and talk and "direct traffic" but the physical part of this move in the last month was only accomplished by my sisters, my husband and son and also with Darlene's help. She went above and beyond what many Realtors would do when she continued to show genuine compassion, offer her hands and time in the physical packing and moving process. She endured and understood our momentary "meltdowns" when our grief would wash over us as the sale of this home was the last piece of our childhood memories. There is no way we could have prepared and sold our home if it were not for Darlene. My sisters live in Santa Rosa and Reno and I live locally. We had a strategy in picking up where the other left off. One would pack and label a box and the other...........would reopen it, read and re-read old letters and look at photos. It was a tedious, painful and sometimes joyful process but again...Darlene was with us the entire way. The point of my letter is not to share yet another sad story of a family selling a treasured home but rather to share how very important Darlene was through the entire experience. The new owners, with their first baby due on Christmas 2013, have found great joy in the purchase of their new home.....their first home. My sisters and I have found great joy and peace in knowing that our childhood home will now see new memories being created. From the bottom of our hearts...............we thank Darlene and all of her hard and caring efforts. On behalf of my sisters Cindy Zinnamon, Susan Chauncy and myself, I thank Intero for providing us our Realtor, Darlene Brinkerhoff. "BRINGING HOMES AND HEARTS TOGETHER".....that is, indeed, what Darlene has given us. With great sincerity, Jan Robinson"