Dean and Crystal have years of experience in real estate. This really showed while my wife and I purchased from long distance. They guided us with patience through our decisions and we never felt pressured. We could always count on them to be the experts and they carried themselves with the upmost professionalism. I felt because of who represented us, this did make a difference on our offer being selected in this crazy market. Zack Rattray, San Diego

The Souza team is efficient and effective. They managed and respected our time throughout the process of our change. Most importantly, the team built trust and respected our transactions through the obstacles presented. My family would not have been able to make this move with any other agency. We greatly appreciate and value the time your team put into helping us find our dream home. Thank you Dean and wishing you and your team further success!

I was there when my friend interviewed Dean Souza to hire a realtor. He was very professional and I was impressed because her condo sold for exactly what he forecast. All of his career experience was in my condo's area. He had been referred by a business wise friend. This has been one of the best business experiences of my life. I would recommend Dean Souza to anyone. I hired him. I was concerned and anxious about getting my condo prepared for sale. He said, "My maintenance/repair team can take care of it." I felt my shoulders relax and was confident they could take care of it. I concentrated on moving because "his team|" took care of making my condo look saleable and did the extra repairs/fixes I wanted done. If I had a concern, he listened, took it seriously, then he took care of it, immediately. He communicated with me through every phase of the sale. Then in 10 days he said he had two offers, both for well over the asking price. I could not ask for better service or a better real estate agent than Dean Souza and the team at Century 21 in Castro Valley. Rah Rah team and thank you. Crystal Souza contacted me toward the end of the transaction before I met with the notary and gave me excellent service explaining what I needed to do to make note that the property taxes had already been paid. Bravp!!!

I was impressed with Dean’s extensive knowledge, level of experience and professionalism. Selling your home is an extremely emotional process and Dean was able to completely put my mind at ease. The entire staff was very helpful, friendly, courteous and prompt. I have had an extremely positive experience!

Dean Souza got my property sold quickly and over the asking price. He’s the best I’ve worked with.

Short response: Outstanding (went-out-of-their-way), Quality Customer Service! Long answer: At first, we had many things working against us prior to meeting Jocie, Dean, and Crystal: A growing mortgage due to an ill-advised switch from a fixed-rate mortgage to adjustable rate (thus increasing our payments by almost 3x), a separate line of credit, Short Sale, Probate, and unhelpful relatives (on the other side of the deceased's family). Lucky for us, when we contacted Jocie and her partners, Dean, and Crystal, they walked us through every step of the way with sage advice as well as detailed specifics. We worked directly with Jocie and she laid out the overall process (initially estimated at around 6 months to get through probate court and to finalize the sale of the house) from start to finish during our first meeting. From that point, she was exceptionally efficient in moving us from one step to the next--calling us directly, when needed; otherwise, we communicated via email and text messages. Then, she carefully advised us as we dealt with the banks involved. When we hit a few snags with probate, Jocie quickly brought in the right partner (a probate attorney) to assist us in getting the needed documents signed and processed through the courts. Although lengthy, we know that everyone involved was moving as quickly as possible to help us and this gave us tremendous peace of mind. When it came time to list and start showing the property, Jocie did an initial walk-through and advised us on tips for presenting the house in its best light. She had to conduct only 2 open houses--and we received multiple offers on the house from pre-qualified buyers. In the end, the final offer exceeded our expectations! More importantly, we were able to be free of the house (about 7 months after we first contacted this outstanding team of experts)! We recommend them without reservation, and look forward to steering more business their way in the coming years!

So I had bought my house from Crystal and Dean in 2009 and in my pending divorce in 2010 tried to sell it through them also. This was my 5th house that I had bought and sold in my life and it was both a VA financed and a short sell when i purchased it which made it a tough deal to work. So many things could have gone wrong. I am both a very demanding buyer and seller and pestered Crystal a lot on a daily basis about where the bank was at in the process of the short sale. I ended up closing my purchase in 8 weeks when short sells were taking 4 to 6 months thanks to Crystal's hard work. Dean worked hard to make sure everything was straight to get the deal through. It was tough with the VA inspection but we managed to get everything done in the nick of time. Back when I was trying to sell they did a great job with getting people over to see the property. 40 couples in one open house. I had two offers that day but they were low ball offers. Luckily it didn't sell and I managed to keep the house in the divorce. It wasn't because of Crystal and Dean it was more the market of everyone wanting foreclosures and short sells(super deals) and at that point I was neither. Thanks to Dean's smart advise I now have a house with lots of equity. Dean knew the market well enough that I should keep my place and not sell and that the market was going back up. Now My house I got from him is worth almost double. I admired the work ethic and energy they brought to the process...and like I said I was very demanding. If they rated me on yelp as a buyer I bet they would rate me as one star because I called so often! I have had no problems with offering Dean's number to anyone looking to buy or sell. Those friends and family I have put in contact with him, He has contacted them promptly and come out and visited everyone I sent his way. He is truthful to the point that he would rather not make a sale to protect his clients then have them make an unwise decision to sell or buy at the wrong time. He really knows the market well. He will make sure you don't waste time on remodel work that won't increase the sell value or will just get taken out when the buyer decides they don't like it. You couldn't ask for a better team then Dean and Crystal.

Dean, Crystal, and the whole Souza-Better Homes crew helped us navigate our complicated selling process expertly. Everything presented to us in our pre-listing meeting came at just as Dean had advised, justifying our choice to have he and Crystal represent us in our sale. With something as important as the sale of our house, I am glad we chose the wisdom and experience Dean and Co. provide vs. expensive errors and empty promises more common with less experienced agents.