Mia helped us on the recent purchase of a new home. From first meeting Mia I found her to be thorough, proactive and transparent as well as very easy to work with. On all the properties we looked at in this process she was proactive in making a deep dive on disclosures, engaging the city on planning-related questions and staying persistent on items that either the sellers or their agents were reluctant to disclose. End to end the process was lightened by Mia being thorough and doing her homework in ways I’ve not seen other agents proactively do. I’ve purchased many buildings over the years but only the most recent one with Mia and I was surprised from the onset of how differently her work ethic compared to the standard of various agents I’d grown accustomed to. I’ll also add that Mia remained helpful pursuant to the transaction being completed. Any new client should expect she’s a good communicator, keeps detailed records, does the research and is very professional in executing her role. She has set a new standard of expectation for me on how brokers should participate in future.

Martin B. / Buyer, Woodside

I recently worked with Mia Banks on both the purchase and sale of my home in Portola Valley. She was excellent!  When I purchased the home, we were in a multiple-offer bidding situation. Mia recommended a great strategy of offering less than the list price. Her strategy worked - and I paid less than I thought I would have to.  When I sold my home, Mia diligently promoted and marketed its most attractive features. She was able to find a great buyer and it sold for more than I expected! Working with Mia is so easy. She is on top of every detail and is always there when you need her. She holds your hand throughout the entire process. Mia has extraordinary knowledge of the local market and I highly recommend her!

S.B. / Buyer & Seller, Portola Valley

Mia's knowledge and can-do attitude made the whole process of selling Mom's home go smoothly.  She balanced providing helpful guidance with being responsive to our needs. The bottom line - exceptional results, well beyond our imagination.  I recommend Mia without hesitation and am so grateful to my friend who pointed me toward Mia."

R.D. & Family / Sellers, Woodside  

Mia Banks helped my family find our home in a highly competitive market.  Mia is the most professional, knowledgeable, strategic, patient and thorough real estate professional we have ever come across.  She really took care of us and never pressured us to act until we felt ready.  She spent countless hours going to see properties with us, gave us very thoughtful advice, and got us information to help us make our decision.  In the end, the effort paid off and we found a beautiful home in a great neighborhood without overpaying.  After closing, Mia followed up tirelessly with the sellers' broker to ensure everything in the house was in good working condition.

Our experience with Mia was so positive that I introduced her to my friends and family members who are also looking to buy.  She even successfully worked with my out of town family member who needed to do a tricky 1031 exchange in a short amount of time.  Mia's thoroughness really impressed us as she put in so much preparation work ahead of time, that by the time the family member showed up, she only had to spend a weekend to see, bid, and get her offer accepted despite a multiple bid scenario.  I strongly recommend Mia to anyone looking to do real estate transactions in the Bay Area.

J.W. & J.C. / Buyers, Menlo Park

It's hard to know how to write a review for Mia that captures her amazing qualities - her stellar work ethic, incredible responsiveness, patience, her excellent sense of strategy.  Where to begin?

When we began looking for a home a few years ago we had some false starts - agents who, though well-meaning, just weren't able to help us find good options or bid successfully in such a challenging market.

Meeting Mia was a piece of great luck and she immediately distinguished herself by providing a very thorough assessment of the options we were looking at.  She remained extremely steadfast in helping us search for a home within our budget.  In the end, we found a home that was perfect for us and believe we got a very good value because of Mia's help and good judgment.

Her careful and incredibly detailed assessment of each home we saw helped us to begin to understand how to value homes and different features.  She did an amazing job of checking official records to make sure that we were getting all the possible details on the houses we looked at and in several cases found issues that I'm quite sure another agent might have (and sometimes had) overlooked.  Also, she is hands-down the most responsive professional of any kind I have worked with.  This was such a comfort during the difficult process of searching for a home as we always knew that she was there to answer our questions and lend her good judgment.  

She was not only a blessing through the whole official process of buying and closing, reminding us of deadlines and details to be taken care of, but really went out of her way with finding great service providers and even gave us some great design advice!

In short, give Mia a call if you want an ethical, highly competent and committed partner in buying or selling your next home!  You will be very glad you did!

K.K. & C.R. / Buyers, Portola Valley

My wife and I had the good fortune of retaining Mia Banks as our real estate agent to help us buy a home on the mid-Peninsula. Mia was tireless in her search for the right place: good schools, good location, and an “appropriate” price. Mia scoured the landscape of homes and, ultimately, came up with a great and creative idea to locate a home for us in Menlo Park. Once we were under contract on the new place, Mia carefully guided us through the myriad of disclosures, waiver forms, and other things we needed to sign.

Our process to closure on a new place was long. We went down several paths before Mia guided us to the correct one. At all times, we felt that Mia had our family’s best interests completely at heart and counseled us to make the smart and right decision. 

Over the years, we have bought and sold several homes and have worked with many real estate agents. Mia is hands down the best agent we’ve ever worked with. She is the best in class in our opinions and we provide the highest and strongest recommendation.

K.D. & D.D. / Buyers, Menlo Park

We had a great experience with Mia Banks.  Mia was immensely knowledgeable and hard-working, armed with real data, a master at locating permits and investigating complex regulatory issues, and willing to reply to emails or pick up the phone at all hours.  She was even-keeled, blending an overall optimism with a healthy skepticism in particular cases, and never pressuring us to do more (or less) than we wanted.  And she was a great strategist.  With Mia's help we prevailed in competitive bidding on the first home on which we made an offer, even though we were out-bid.  We would recommend Mia to everyone in the most enthusiastic terms and will definitely work with her again when and if the time comes!

E.K. & P.K. / Buyers, Portola Valley

Mia Banks is thoughtful, ethical, resourceful and patient.  Follows up on everything... the consummate pro.  Takes the times to fully understand a clients' needs, wants and desired aesthetics.

M.E. / Buyer, Portola Valley

We worked with Mia to both sell our house and buy a new house. Having bought 5 houses, we've gone through the process a few times. Mia was excellent. She was extremely knowledgeable about the real estate market (both historical, but also what was going on in the market real time) and worked tirelessly to research properties for us. Mia is always available and responsive. Given the area, we ended up bidding on multiple houses and she was always very diligent about reading all the inspection and property reports. She also never pushed us to overbid.  She's also a continuous resource and friend after the transaction. Mia is very (very) honest and her integrity is at the highest level. We would work with her again in a heartbeat.

M.K. / Seller, Menlo Park & Buyer, Redwood City

Mia Banks helped us sell our parent's home with true skill and professionalism. From her extensive knowledge of the real estate in the area to her in-depth knowledge of presentation and networking, she is an asset to have on your side. She helped us price the house in a manner which allowed us to surpass our expected goals. She consistently went above and beyond what the typical agent would do and was a delight to work with. Our family highly recommends her services.

M. Newlands /  Seller, Portola Valley Ranch

I highly recommend Mia Banks. She did an excellent job selling my home and then finding a great house for my family. She took the time to plan the sale of my home (make arrangements for all of the inspections, staging, and complete any repairs). She consistently went the extra mile. We rented a home for 10 months, and during this time she kept me posted on homes coming on the market that would meet the needs of my family. She found a home that was not yet on the market and negotiated a great deal for me - it was a very hot market. I am extremely happy with how Mia managed the sale of my house and the purchase of my new home. I would be happy to be a reference for Mia and to speak with anyone considering retaining her services to sell or purchase a home.

R.S. / Seller, Portola Valley &  Buyer, Menlo Park

We highly recommend Mia Banks for your residential real estate needs.  She understands the business AND customer service which is saying a lot these days!  She surpassed our expectations in every way, which is also saying a lot for us especially as first time home buyers. She was always available, professional, and honest. Each and every time we were interested in a property or put an offer together she was on it in every way. We were dedicated in reading disclosures but that did not stop her from reading through all of them, too, so we didn't miss something that we should know about. She is a smart, effective lady that you want as part of your team when buying a home. She helped us get to the root of some ambiguous details preventing us from making bad investments, e.g., property line discrepancies, geological issues, etc. She worked proactively and tirelessly to ensure that all the parties required (lender, insurance, inspectors, etc.) were doing what needed to be done to make the entire process work as quickly as it could. She was always patient and flexible whenever we'd change our research parameters or would disagree with one another. When we made offers and lost out and got discouraged she reminded us that something this important and expensive was worth waiting for the right place. And she was right. We could not be happier with the home we bought.

Mia was refreshing to have around and honestly I'll miss having a reason to talk with her almost every day. As hard as the process is to buy a home in this area working with Mia made it a very pleasant experience that we would do again if/when the opportunity arises. Let her help you and you will not be sorry.

E.J. & J.J. / Buyers, Woodside

Mia is a great Realtor(TM). She really took the time to get to know our family. She listened, wasn't pushy at all, continually re-iterating that we'd take all the time we need to find the right house for us. We were terrible clients, didn't know what we wanted, got super busy at times and couldn't go see houses but she stuck by us. She found us a great house, and then holy smokes. She was on top of every little detail. I had no idea how useful a great real estate agent is once you enter contract. She was our trusted advisor making me feel there was nothing more important in the world than helping us get to close. She's a gem. If you want an arrogant, hoity-toity, constantly rushing real-estate agent who seems to care more about about his car than his clients, don't call Mia, there are tons of others for you.

N.J. & G.J. / Buyers, Menlo Park

Mia -  My wife and I have lived in more than a dozen homes over the past twenty five years....several we built....and frankly I have never seen an agent work as tirelessly as you did. Your attention to detail, the detailed Excel websites you provided with comparable homes, and taking the time to really understand and ACTIVELY listen to our requirements was exceptional. And let’s not forget that you were ALWAYS available night and day to listen to our opinions and thoughts on the various properties we visited.

Thank you Mia for a wonderful job! My wife and I look forward to having you as both a friend and a neighbor for many years to come.

J.B. & T.B. / Buyers, Woodside

We appreciated your professionalism, your attention to detail and the data that mattered, your tireless approach to selling our property and your willingness to do whatever it takes to get the job done right! Thank you for setting such a high bar.

J.W. & J.K. / Sellers, Portola Valley