Paul has over 35 years of experience in real estate buying, selling and property managing along with almost 20 years of a corporate background in finance as a director in quantitative research and portfolio management.
Just prior to the world financial crisis in 2008, he left Wall Street before the collapse to work on Main Street where his passion for helping people with their real estate investments aligned with his priorities of serving the community and spending more time with his family.
Paul and his wife, two kids in college and two dogs have lived in Piedmont since 2005 and prior to that in West Danville, Oakland, Emeryville, Berkeley, Fremont, Hayward and San Francisco.
Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Paul immigrated to Buenos Aires, Argentina as an infant in 1969 and then moved to New York City, where he grew up in Queens and Long Island in the 70’s and early 80's. After moving to the San Francisco Bay Area, Paul attended Moreau Catholic High School in Hayward and graduated from U.C. Berkeley before launching his career in finance and then real estate.
He learned about real estate investing and property management as a Cal student at age 19 when he was a resident manager of a 49-unit apartment building in Berkeley. Paul then started buying and owning his own real estate at the age of 21.
Since then, he has bought and sold over a dozen of his own homes and income properties having skin in the game as well as serving his high-value clients throughout the S.F. Bay Area, including Silicon Valley and the Santa Cruz County.
Paul is truly passionate about real estate and offers his clients high-class and high-touch customer service…
Professional & Personable. Resourceful & Knowledgeable. Honest & Trustworthy. Always with Integrity.
Paul is a wonderful and trusted real estate agent. I met him 13 years ago and have done multiple transactions with his seasoned support. Paul has extensive expertise in the field, in addition to kindness and grace. I appreciate his thorough and trusted Transaction Coordinator, Toni, as well. The two of them made this most recent experience selling my home easy and seamless. I highly recommend!
Paul is a wealth of information and seemed to have contacts for anything we needed. He had a great sense of the market for that area and even though we needed to sell in the slowest part of the market year, Paul still managed to help us get a great sale. The condo needed some updating and freshening up and Paul had a great contractor/handyman who was very reasonable and did a wonderful job. Paul's staging connections were critical in showing the condo and producing awesome photos; when we needed legal assistance Paul's seasoned attorney contacts helped step us through contractual issues... Paul's knowledge of the market helped us set market price and his connections with what seemed to be a multitude of other Real Estate professionals got lots of buyers through the condo... the bids came soon after and in a reasonable time we sold the condo... Paul was never overbearing; always providing us with knowledge and information so that we could make informed decisions. Paul went above and beyond in helping us out. We trust and respect Paul and look forward to doing business with him again
Paul was amazing! He is a great agent and a wonderful and thoughtful human. Our first time buying experience couldn’t have been better. We really appreciated how much time he would dedicate to our home search. He would spend hours with us on numerous occasions answering our questions and leading us through the entire process to find our home. We feel incredibly fortunate to have found Paul. 10/10 would recommend.
What can I say about Paul?!! Everything about him is incredible. He captured me at hello, he is so warm and open. I knew right away that he was the man that I needed to work with to sell my house. His communication is unparalleled, he kept me informed about everything and asked for my input often. Paul was stealthy, for instance, he mentioned we needed an inspection, and the next thing I knew it was done - while I was at work. There was no interruption to my life during this process. I felt that his advice was solid, and I received over asking on the sale because of Paul's excellent negotiation prowess. I cannot recommend Paul Tiao enough. Everything was perfect and now I can move on without worry!
Paul Tiao should have his own halo. Did heaven lose an angel? Paul's response time to our texts and calls was quick and reliable. He really cares about his clients and it shows. He sold our home at a price we were very pleased with and busted his bottom making sure everyone involved was happy. He must write emails and texts in his dreams- he's a great communicator. Without Paul's extra steps and personal input, who knows if our house would have looked as good on the market. He was honest and upfront about the entire process and didn't play any games. It was a relief to have Paul in charge. Paul is an excellent negotiator, so we also had him help us buy our next home. We could see how well he connected with the selling agent for the home we bought. It was a long process, but he fought for us and in the end we won the house of our dreams. We would recommend using Paul in a heartbeat. It's obvious he loves his job and he's in the perfect field for him.
Paul assisted my wife and I in probably one of the most challenging transactions. First we held firm at an offer 15% below asking price, something that was unheard of in red hot Piedmont where houses are more often sold at 15% above list. Once a deal was agreed to Paul expertly helped us navigate through a land mine featuring a hard nosed career house flipper who grew testy when our financing hit some snags. Paul is tough as nails and is someone you want and need on your team.
Paul has now helped us buy two homes. He is so much more than a realtor to us, he has become a friend of the fam. He has never steered us wrong. When we bought our first home, he recommended a neighborhood we hadn’t even considered, it turns out that not only did our house appreciate massively, but we love the area so much that when we decided to look for another bigger home, we choose the same neighborhood Paul recommend. As we bought our new place, Paul was always friendly, professional, and very responsive. He is the type of person you can always trust 100%. There were a few bumps as we closed escrow (no fault of Pauls) and he guided us through and advocated for our interests the whole way.
Paul handled our difficult sale with great expertise. I was in another city throughout the process and he worked personally with my son and his fiancee who were living in the penthouse apartment and moved out before the cleaning, painting and staging process. He was always in control and upbeat and had great insight into the current market as well as the sale and transfer process. He was constantly in communication with us and guided us through each part of the entire process in a most pleasant fashion, and he achieved a sale price higher than we could have imagined. Paul is very experienced with great people as well as technical skills, and was a pleasure to work with all around. I highly recommend him.
I inherited my families home in Berkeley which is 600 miles from my own. Paul helped me with the oversight of renovations, negotiations, and all details of the sell of my / Grandparents/Aunts home. He was prompt in every detail & a great communicator on the progress of every aspect of our sell. Most of all he was caring.. understanding that I needed to honor my families history in this home in the way we renovated. He found us a great buyer/ a young family who will have generations to come in my families home. I am grateful to Paul for all he did to help me when I could not be present.
Paul really helped us sell our house. We contacted him after hearing positive things about him. Once we met him he explained his process and some of the strategies that would make our house more desirable/profitable. Paul then became our very detail orientated realtor. Once it was time to list, he took care of all of the negotiations and all I had to do was read the emails. We ended up selling our house way above asking. Go with him and he ll help you get more money out of your house. We also used him to buy our new and present house. He negotiated the price down and we got the house for less than we initially bid.
Paul is thoughtful, caring, responsive & clearly has the expertise in Bay Area real estate. He kept us in the loop, was a great conversation partner and helped us think through our options at each step. He provided great contractor referrals and had attention to detail that helped us sell significantly above asking price. He is genuine & trustworthy with his client's best interests at heart. We felt so at ease & grateful to work with Paul!
Paul helped us buy our first home years ago, and we knew we'd want no one else but Paul to help us sell it and buy our next home. We opted to buy first and then sell. He understood what we were looking for and helped us put our best foot forward with the whole plan and sequence. He was professional all the way- he knew his stuff- the right angles to take and the right elements to include in negotiations. Nothing gets past him. We then used Paul for the second half of the process, selling our first home. Somehow, even in this crazy COVID year, we got everything we wanted out of the sale. He was involved in all the details- right down to the color paint to choose for our front door. He came over all the time- just to lend a hand with preparations. He personally shopped for new light fixtures to freshen up our home and he even installed them himself. Even after the stagers finished their work, he walked through the house and filled in the places they left gaps- like bathroom mats and picture frames. The house looked much better after Paul's help. He made us feel like he cared a lot and wanted the best outcome for us. We appreciate his personal touch and genuine care.
Paul walked us through the whole process of selling our family home. He was with us all the way and went beyond expectations in helping get the home ready. He advised us, but let us ultimately make the decision of who the buyers would be. We would highly recommend Paul!
I worked with Paul twice. Once to purchase my daughter’s house and the other time to purchase my house. Paul is the most helpful, knowledgeable real estate agent I have ever worked with. He is definitely the best!
SELLING "Paul did a wonderful job with helping me sell my home. Paul helped find and vet contractors to do needed work. Paul is definitely full-service--he goes the extra mile (or two!). This was a marathon, not a sprint, that lasted 8 or 9 months (my part, getting ready), and Paul worked hard all along the way. Once contractors started and Paul listed, showed, and negotiated the sale, the timing was very quick. Up to the end, Paul was on top of things. He always had paperwork prepared that I needed, and he also anticipated various contingencies. As soon as the stagers put in the final touches, he had appointments lined up with individuals to show them the house. We were blessed with getting some good offers in a short amount of time." ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ BUYING Here are qualities that Paul exhibits in his work: diligent -- professional -- organized -- knowledgeable -- insightful -- sometimes a good teacher/instructing the client on aspects of the buying process During the time of preparing and selling my family home, Paul also helped me find a home to buy. He arranged for tours, sometimes within an hour of when I contacted him with an interest, and he made sure the COVID-related paperwork was in order. The weekend after we had completed the sale of my family home, Paul lined up some more possibilities. Paul helped me "think outside the box" and showed me houses in different parts of Richmond and El Cerrito. Also different sizes than I had had considered. He helped me find the house I'm in now, which will hopefully be my home for some years. He helped me see the potential. He negotiated on my behalf, and made sure things were handled correctly in every detail.
Paul was wonderful to work with and I hope to work with him again in the future. He got to know my husband and I on a personal level and understood what we were looking for in a house. He was always very honest with us and took our comments and concerns seriously. He was able to understand when we had slight hesitations when purchasing another home and was able to talk us through the pro's and con's. He was also very flexible with our schedules when my husband and my schedule did not always match up. We were able to text and email Paul any time of the day. Paul helped us purchase an amazing house that fit our lifestyle and we are so grateful for all the time and effort he took to teach us and guide us.
Paul was dedicated to selling a home built in 1927, with beautiful advertising brochures, with great pictures and true words: it was well-loved and cherished. He had open house for 3 weekends, and paid close attention to the prospective buyers with the result of selling the home for happy owners. He knew the area well and was actively working with other realtors. Mr. Tiao was kind and could communicate very well with his senior sellers. I felt he went "above and beyond" and am very pleased with the outcome of his salesmanship and professional manner.
Paul's attention to detail and professional guidence made our open house showing a huge success. Our house was on the market for only 2 weeks and was listed as the number 1 listing in the area. Thanks to Paul's planning and negotiating skills our house sold for more than asking price. It was definitely a pleasure to work with Paul he was always reassuring and confident throughout the whole process.
Paul represented us in the sale of our home in the Oakland hills and did a phenomenal job. We had a very challenging situation arise with the buyer's agent and Paul was able to get us through the process with a short escrow at a price we were really pleased with. He went above and beyond to ensure that we were happy and our house looked great prior to hitting the market. We have already recommended him to several friend and look forward to working with him again in the future!
Paul was amazing! We had an unpleasant experience with a previous broker, which appeared to be the seller's agent as opposed to ours, and when we spoke to Paul to set our expectations, he made it very clear that he would look after us as if it was his own money on the line. Wow, did he look after us! He hand held us through the process, but more importantly was always looking after our interest. He was able to get inspections for free (roof and drain), trying to save us some money, he was able negotiate with the seller additions like dimmers and many fixes, which if you start adding up, added to our bottom line. He was so excited when we got our offer accepted (below asking, thank you for that!) and when we closed, You can tell he really cares personally about his clients. We had the best experience with him, we will definitely call him back if we ever need an agent or a property manager.
Paul did a great job! He sold our family home we had been in for 64 years in a very short amount of time for a very good price. He is honest, provided great ideas and suggestion but without being pushy or arrogant i.e -if you don’t do ‘X’ the house won’t sell. He gave options and possible scenarios and worked with our final decisions. One decision made Paul’s job a bit more difficult but he beat the bushes and found the perfect buyer/family for the property. Paul is very fiscally responsible. During the inspections, repairs, and there were many, he handled the budget as if it were his own money and this was truly appreciated as we did not have an endless pot of money and time for repairs and staging. We no longer live in California and the entire process was handled via phone calls, texts, photos and emails so needless to say - Paul has fabulous communication skills. Paul went above and beyond for us from start to finish. Based on our experience with Paul – he will go the extra mile for you, tell you the truth and facts of a situation, keep everyone and everything on track, save you some cash and be professional and delightful.
Words cannot express how grateful my wife and I are for Paul and all that he has done for us. He has been nothing short of amazing and has been a complete Godsend! We could not have asked for a better agent! Prior to meeting Paul, we worked with other agents before but always had an eerie feeling that they were never truly "on our side." They were always very pushy and didn't seem to care to listen to our needs or concerns so when we met Paul, we were very upfront with him. I literally sent him a laundry list of our expectations in an effort to scare him away as I did not want to waste his time or ours. However, Paul was very honest and upfront right from the beginning and promised to watch over us and have our best interest at heart. He promised that he would work hard for us and would be with us every step of the way regardless of how long it took for us to find a house. That he’d help us feel comfortable, protected, and happy as that would be his goal in serving us...Paul more than delivered!! Within less than 2 months of working with Paul, we found our forever home!!! It was a beautiful house in a beautiful neighborhood but with this beauty also comes competition...LOTS of competition. The idea of getting our offer accepted seemed daunting but Paul set to work right away to develop a strategic plan to get our offer accepted. Paul was able to communicate and negotiate with both the listing agent and the seller so well that we beat out 5 other offers and got our offer accepted!! Furthermore, when negotiations got complicated and all seemed lost, Paul was the rock on which we held on to as he assured us time and time again that things would work out and that he would not allow us to lose the house. Paul kept his promise and worked hard for us day in and day out and when it was all said and done, we got the house that we have always dreamed of!!! So if you're reading this Paul, from the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU!! Thank you for all your help, for all your guidance, for all your advice and words of wisdom...for everything!! If it wasn't for you, we would not have gotten the house that we love so much. We are eternally grateful for you and all that you have done for us! We will definitely be referring you to all our family and friends and should we ever have any real estate needs in the future, we know who we can count on and trust! "THANK YOU!!"
Paul was our property manager for renting our house and also our broker for later selling it. Throughout all our dealings he has been entirely professional and responsive to all our questions. When we moved out of our house and started renting it, it was the first time we had rented out a house. Naturally we had many questions and concerns, and Paul was there to guide us through the whole process. While he was advertising the house and looking for renters, he kept us completely informed about the status of the applicants. His estimate of the house’s rental value was bang on (higher than we had initially expected). From our point of view we did not have to worry about the property at all during the rental period as Paul took care of everything. Paul helped us through the decision to sell the house. He was very knowledgeable of the market and guided us through various financial considerations, providing us with all the information we needed to make an informed decision. Paul was extremely diligent in getting the house prepared for sale. He helped us decide what work should be done, e.g., floor refinishing, painting, landscaping, and was able to refer and arrange for numerous professionals to perform the work and obtain competitive quotes for staging. He was very conscientious in following up to ensure the house was at its best, e.g., calling back the floor refinishers so that the floors were completed to perfection. I’d highly recommend Paul as a broker or property manager. He’s hard-working, conscientious, knowledgeable, well-connected, very pleasant to work with, and gets the job done.
Paul is awesome! He helped us buy our home and it was a pretty tricky sale. He really did all the research for us and spelled out the details clearly in plain language. He was so efficient we were able to go on vacation and come home and the sale was complete. He also helped us find people to fix up the house and do some remodeling. He knows the area very well and helped us figure out our options.
Paul helped us to buy our first home in Piedmont. We were very cautious and indecisive buyers, with specific wishes for the house. Paul was very patient and never pushed us to a house that we weren't sure about and made sure that we did not overbid. We were picky and slow to make offers, but he stuck with us for almost 3 years of house hunting. When we finally made a successful offer, Paul also navigated the negotiation process that got rather complicated. He took care of the difficult negotiation graciously so that we did not need to feel over-stressed. We felt he really had our best interest in mind. In the end, we got a house that met all our wishes at a good price. He is professional, resourceful, and trust-worthy. We highly recommend Paul to anyone who is looking for a patient and hard-working agent.
Paul represented us when we bought our house in Oakland. He was excellent in understanding our needs and recommending houses that fit the bill. His advice was very sensible, he's supportive and knowledgeable. He is very pleasant to work with and we were very glad that we found him! Thank you Paul!
It is difficult to describe how happy we were with the process and results when dealing with Paul. He was able to offer immediate assistance in conceptualizing what was needed to get the best price for our house. He offered specific suggestions and had contacts in the construction and staging industries to make the process smooth. He was also able to assist on prioritizing pre-sale improvements to maximize our return, while staying within our limited budget. We strongly recommend Paul to anyone considering selling their house!
If you are planning to buy or sell your home then Paul Tiao is your agent. I have no reservation what so ever when I recommend him and for multiple reasons. You probably know that selling or buying a house is inherently stressful. The last thing you need is an agent whom you can't depend on. Paul is highly dependable. He helped us sell our house over the last few months, and we were impressed and extremely satisfied by his professionalism, integrity, patience and market knowledge. He was always available, flexible, highly resourceful and fun to work with. He did go the extra mile, really looking out for our best interest. Before selling our house, we had to do some fixes and Paul clearly demonstrated his knowledge about houses and the business and was generous with his time and expertise. We also moved to another state while work on our house was in progress. We left our keys with Paul and he took care of it like it was his. While I enjoyed interacting with Paul in person before the move, Paul made online communication as enjoyable. Working with Paul was easy and really gave us peace of mind from start to end. If you are looking for the same kind of help, then CALL PAUL.
Paul was recommended to us by friends who purchased a new home and sold their previous home, with Paul's excellent care. He set to work quickly finding us options that worked in our budget and other needs. He had knowledge about the market, character of homes and renovation history. We trusted Paul to find us a fair deal and to help us win in a scary seller's market. Our home had 14 bids placed and we won because of Paul's smart strategies. We love our home and the experience buying it was fun every day because of Paul's personality and positive energy. He was diligent and determined and we would recommend Paul to anyone looking for a realtor.
Paul helped me purchase a house in the Oakland Hills, and the entire process went smoothly as a result of his professionalism, expertise, efficiency, flexibility, responsiveness, and resourcefulness. I especially appreciated Paul's in-depth knowledge of Bay Area neighborhoods and the local real estate market. It was a pleasure working with him, and with full confidence, I'd recommend Paul to anyone looking for a real estate professional.
Paul represented us when buying our house in Piedmont. We were very pleased with the work he did on our behalf. He was always available to show us houses. He did a good job of explaining everything each time we decided to bid. He knew the details of the process and did not push us to bid more than we thought we should. I recommend Paul to anyone who needs a good realtor.
After working with plenty of realtors on several projects, I would say Paul is the best realtor you could find, totally down to earth and on your side. Paul represented us in selling a mixed-use building, a residential/commercial space, in central Oakland. The building went well over asking, mostly due to the diligent marketing and positive connections he has. As we worked together as a team, he was resourceful, available, persistent and charming to work with. If we buy or sell again, I'll be working with Paul!
Paul arranged the sale of a building I owned and also helped me buy a house in the East Bay. He was effective as an agent and was a pleasure to work with. I appreciate his responsiveness, patience and overall professionalism. Highly recommend.
Paul helped us buy the house of our dreams in Oakland, while we were expecting our first baby. Safety was our paramount concern, and he worked with us to coordinate myriad inspections and even succeeded in driving down our offer price by tens of thousands of dollars! Paul is responsive, professional and warm -- a great realtor and friend!
Paul was a pleasure to work with. He made the process of buying our current home simple and smooth. He made the inspection and appraisal process happen quickly and effectively. We closed on the home quicker than we had anticipated and got a great price on our house. Paul gave us great tips on how to navigate the bidding process and was instrumental in ensuring we were able to acquire a great home. We highly recommend working with Paul Tiao whether you are buying or selling your home.
I would highly recommend Paul to anyone looking to purchase a home. Paul made an impossible situation possible for us and for that I'm forever grateful. It's not business to Paul its personal and for that I would never use any one else.
Paul is really awesome to work with, we wanna look a bunch of places all at once, Paul actually managed to schedule 8(3 more than I asked) places to look in one day, it was a really fun day, we were able to compare all places in my list and some more, then we scheduled another day with 5 places, and finally find our place! We are first time buyers so got confused in a lot of places, Paul was hand holding us the whole time, explained the whole process in depth. Negotiating with sellers wasn't fun either, I'm so glad we have Paul on our side with this!
Paul did a wonderful job to help us sell our home, advising, going the extra mile & willing to get his hands literally dirty. He negotiated a wonderful price pre-market with an interested buyer’s agent & took care of everything. His values and honesty are top-notch & we recommend him to anyone looking to sell or buy property.
Paul got us a much better price than we expected and was extremely involved throughout the entire process, helping us prepare the place to show and finding a very reasonable option to stage it. Really glad we went with him!
The City of San Mateo is located south of San Francisco in the Silicon Valley tech hub. San Mateo, CA is a thriving community with a charming downtown area and an upscale, state-of-the-art, large shopping center in Hillsdale Shopping Center. The city is also home to the College of San Mateo, the county’s largest community college, as well as several hotels, and major attractions such as the San Mateo County Event Center and CuriOdyssey museum (a fascinating center for environmental education).
San Mateo is home to the Poplar Creek Golf Course and has a flourishing downtown known for its historical buildings and innovative restaurants. Just west of the city lies Crystal Springs Reservoir with miles of open space and trails, while San Mateo's section of the San Francisco Bay Trail features the Coyote Point Recreation Area, which offers picnic areas, waterfront paths, boat launches, and a playground perfect for families!