How Khrista Jarvis pilots her all-women East Bay sales team to the top

Khrista Jarvis didn’t intend to create the country’s top all-female residential team, a distinction the Coldwell Banker agent has held for several years, according to Real Trends figures. Last year her crew sold homes worth $425 million. 

“It happened kind of organically,” she said. “And then we just really leaned into it.” 

She said many clients in the upscale suburban communities of Alamo, Danville and San Ramon have called her just because they want to support a women-only office, while others are drawn to her long history in the East Bay. She was raised in the San Ramon Valley and still lives there with her husband and three children. She has sold real estate in the valley for more than 25 years. 

“I’ve had people call and say they met me 20 years ago at an open house, or a charity event or a Hallowen party that we threw,” she said, which is one reason why the agent says today’s shifting marketplace is the exact wrong time to cut back on such marketing efforts. “We are actually adding more.” 

In an interview with TRD, Jarvis talks about why so many of her clients are leaving the state, who the likely buyers are for their homes and the challenges of being a working mom in real estate.

What qualities do you look for in someone to join your office?

I used to think I needed to have somebody that had a lot of real estate experience. It really limited my choices. Over the years I’ve learned that a great work ethic and a great attitude can’t be taught but the real estate side can. 

Real estate is literally 24 hours, seven days a week. So I try to scare people, actually, when I’m trying to hire them. It’s constant. It’s not like it’s 6 o’clock, you’re done. We’ve sold houses on Christmas Eve. We sold houses on Thanksgiving. You have to be prepared. 

When I was starting out in my twenties, I worked every weekend for 10 years. My friends were out in San Francisco in the Marina, and I had to drive home and come to an open house. I paid my dues. And I think sometimes people don’t realize that. 

It did not happen overnight. It took a long time to get to the point where my phone was just ringing and we’re not having to be the ones out there searching and knocking on doors and finding leads. You have to be very disciplined and dedicated, and you have to have thick skin.

There are sacrifices. I have a husband and a 19-year-old son, a 16-year-old daughter and a 10-year-old son. I’m a working mom and running a business. 

On our team, we all try to support each other and help each other. We have families, and so trying to find that work-life balance and making sure that we provide the very best service to our clients, someone’s always got to be available. We want to make sure that our clients are getting white-glove service at all times.

How would you compare the luxury market in the East Bay this year to last year?

The upper-end market is not going to be as busy this year. We have a lot more inventory in the $4 million-plus range. A lot of those clients have decided to sell and I believe more will be coming on.

But what about the talk of low inventory in the Bay Area? 

Last year, inventory was definitely at an all-time low, but already this early in the year, there are more listings between $4 million and $7 million than we had on the market last spring. 

I think we’re seeing a lot of empty-nesters that may not need the big luxurious house and so they want to downsize and find other places that are more affordable than California to retire in. 

This being an election year, people are not sure which way things are going. So I think a lot of my clients that are in that higher-price range want to get their houses on the market this spring because they think this is probably the best time to sell in the upper end. 

Who are the buyers?

Our market is drawing people from San Francisco and Silicon Valley, so a lot of high-tech buyers and a lot of buyers that are in the financial markets.

We are in family-oriented communities, with great schools and sports programs, and these properties have a lot of square footage and some have really great backyards. 

Because of COVID, outdoor entertaining spaces became much more popular. In the luxury market, the expectation is that there is a pool or outdoor pavilion that has the barbecue, ice-maker, refrigerator and fireplace or fire pit. They want a sports court or bocce ball court. We have houses that have vineyards and clients who make their own wine. 

People are thinking about resale, too. Even if they could go without certain things, they’re thinking, ‘OK, if I want to resell this house, am I going to be able to sell it for more money, or will it be more desirable and sell quicker if it has all these outdoor amenities?’ And I would say, yes.

Other than outdoor space, are there certain neighborhoods or amenities that are big draws right now?

The west side of Danville and Alamo have always been very popular because there is a great trail called the Iron Horse Trail, and you can ride bikes and walk to restaurants and coffee. So it’s very desirable in our market to try to find a house in that pocket on the West Side. Diablo Country Club and Blackhawk Country Club are also very popular.

Houses that have been updated and remodeled, or that are newer construction definitely have more appeal and an easier time selling than houses that need any kind of work. If it’s an older house, we’re recommending cosmetic repairs and we have a great concierge program that we offer. We do a lot of the home preparation as a service to our clients to help them maximize the value of their house.

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But we have some clients that their houses aren’t updated, but they might have more acreage, or they have a really nice backyard. So then that might be the draw, and somebody might see the potential.

What about the middle market?

While it is taking longer for some houses to sell on the luxury side, what we haven’t talked about yet is the market under $2.5 million, where we’re still seeing houses sell in a few days for the right property and there is a lack of supply at that price point. 

We’ve seen a pickup in buyers since interest rates are starting to plateau and I think people are hoping it will come down even more this spring. But since things have stabilized, I think buyers definitely feel more comfortable. So we’ve been busy.

Where are people moving to? 

A couple of years ago, I would see a trend that people were going to Nashville. There was a big Texas contingent. Arizona was popular. Now I think it’s almost everywhere but California. 

Our empty-nesters are looking to be with their children and grandchildren. As everyone knows, it’s very expensive to live in California, and so a lot of their children can’t afford to come back and live here. I’ve had clients go to Utah, Idaho, Arizona, Wyoming, even Montana. I mean, it’s all over the board. Florida is especially popular right now.

How much has remote work impacted the market? 

We still have buyers coming from San Francisco. Because work is not fully remote, buyers are choosing to stay closer to Silicon Valley or San Francisco. 

There are some people that see San Francisco as a great value right now, because prices have come down so much. Some empty-nester clients that want to downsize from their house and have city life are actually moving to San Francisco.

What can you tell us about international buyers?

We had a lot pre-COVID, and then with not being able to travel and leave the country, or just not being able to even get money out of the country, we’ve seen a slowdown in international buyers. That definitely has impacted some of the higher-end market. 

We’ve had a couple of buyers from other states moving their families here for a job in tech. But then I would say most everybody else is coming from other parts of the Bay Area. 

Is being an all-female team a particularly helpful feature in such a family-friendly area?

I’m sure there are great male Realtors out there that could offer similar advice. But I think that a lot of times, women do make the decisions on what they want for a house. 

Happy wife, happy life, right? 

Sometimes we bond with the wife, and most of us are working moms and have children at different stages, so there’s some relatability there. But we work well with the husbands, too.