India Parent Magazine (IPM): Hello and welcome to India Parent Magazine. This is Meena Yeggina with another episode in the series of Top 30 Women Real Estate Specialists of the Bay Area in our Homes and Schools special edition. If you like our videos please don't forget to subscribe, like and comment so we know what your views are about our series. Today I'm introducing one of my favorite real estate specialists, Mary Robbins. Mary is a certified luxury home marketing specialist. Her clients love her and I can easily see why. When I first met Mary, she definitely came across as a person who makes time for you, come what may. I mean, she was holidaying at the time, and yet she made time for me via zoom. If she can do this for me, a stranger at that time, just with a phone call, imagine how flexible she can be with her own clients. Mary has a bewitching smile, blended with a charming personality. And it's a dazzling combination! Clients who worked with her both for short and long periods of time gush about how professional Mary is. Mary makes all transactions happen smoothly, keeping her clients’ needs at the top of her mind. She's honest, ethical, hard working, and she truly cares about each transaction as if it were her own. She's also a beautiful person who's a joy to work with and highly respected in the real estate community. It's not me who's saying this, folks it's her client, Nancy. "Mary is very knowledgeable, attentive to detail, honest, reliable and a problem solver and a master negotiator. And she truly cares," says another happy client, Mindy. Today, it's my honor and pleasure to introduce Mary to you all. If attention and integrity is what you're looking for in a real estate specialist, Mary is the one for you. Hi, Mary. Good morning. Welcome to India Parent Magazine. How are you doing today?
Mary Robbins (MR): Very well, thank you.

IPM: My first question to you would be, tell us a little bit about yourself, your background?
MR: Well, I have lived and sold real estate in the San Ramon Valley, as well as the Lamorinda area for 30 plus years, and I have a team. It's called the Mary Robbins team at Compass. I love working with both buyers and with sellers. And many of my buyers are relocating to the town of San Ramon because of its wonderful lifestyle. And I've sold over a hundred, many hundreds of homes over the years in the Central Valley. Throughout this time, I've watched San Ramon grow from a small town to a vibrant city, with so much to offer to everybody of all ages. It has excellent educational opportunities, wonderful shopping, wonderful dining opportunities, parks and recreation, housing options that include apartments, multi-family dwellings and newer single family homes with all of today's desired amenities and features. So I love what I do and I will continue until I just can't do it anymore. And it just brings me great joy.

IPM: Excellent. I was wondering why real estate? Why did you start doing real estate? What is it that inspired you to be in real estate? It's hard work. I mean, it's not an easy job.
MR: It IS hard work! I think my first introduction happened when I was a child. My mother was a professional house painter. And so I would accompany her on trips to look at houses and I loved it. It was so much fun to see, you know, how people live and what they do with their houses. And so, you know, 30 years ago, I was getting ready to go to college and you know I really wanted to start working. And so I thought, why not look into real estate? And I remember when I started, I thought, OK, I only have to earn this much money to make this work. And I thought to myself, OK, I'm just going to give it a try. Well, I turned out to love it. And yes, it's hard work, but it's very rewarding work. I love to see my clients happy and from there it just grew and grew. So it was kind of a test, but it turned out to be a long-term commitment that I really enjoy.

IPM: I wanted to ask you why San Ramon? I mean, what's so special about this city? Why do you think people should come invest here? And for those who want to sell, what is the incentive? Could you please elaborate on that?
MR: San Ramon is a vibrant city and it has been growing for the last twenty years. Originally when we moved here, somewhere around thirty five thousand people lived in San Ramon, but eleven thousand homes were added to the city of San Ramon out in the areas called Windemere and Gale Ranch. And this really increased obviously the population and the infrastructure needs and many schools. All twelve years of schools were built-elementary, middle and high school. These schools have excellent records, both statewide and nationally. They have acclaimed designations. Also in the process of building all those homes, they had to build parks and recreation areas for families to come together and enjoy each other and to enjoy the outdoors. They built lots of shopping. There are many places to go shopping in the San Ramon City and recently a big mall was built out in Bishop Ranch by a developer that has really put San Ramon on the map. And it has great shopping opportunities, wonderful diversified eating - lots of different kinds of eating-places. People here really like the ambiance, the lifestyle of San Ramon. And over this period of time, it's a (has become) great investment area because over this time, you know, houses have appreciated very, very well. And part of it is because of its close proximity and ease of access to Silicon Valley, say, Oakland, San Francisco, to the three airports that are in the region here. All these reasons have really made people want to come to San Ramon. San Ramon is like a new city and it just offers so much to so many people.

IPM: Absolutely. Thank you. This is information many wouldn’t know about San Ramon. It's a pretty young city, actually.
MR: Yeah, well, it was an older city when we moved. There were some neighborhoods that were already built and mostly on the east or west side of the freeway of 680 and a few communities on the east side, but all the development has happened to the east of 680. So, lots of land out there. And I don't know how many acres have been developed, but I know eleven thousand homes have been built now, and that made it new as well.

IPM: And finally, Mary, I was hoping you would give a very strong message to our readers, both to those who are interested in selling and to those who are in buying?
MR: Well, I think San Ramon is a wonderful opportunity for anybody, but especially for young families and young people, it really does focus on schools and shopping and dining and parks and recreation. It is a place where people feel very free and easy. It's very open, lots of beautiful open space around it. You're close to Mt.Diablo. It just offers a lot. It's not congested. When people come to buy a home or to sell a home, they are looking for somebody who can help them to facilitate through the process. It takes a lot of planning, a lot of strategic planning. This is what I love to do, to help people get to know the community and to show them what's available and to let them make their decision based on the facts that they're learning. I love helping buyers and sellers with their housing needs. And I worked really hard for them so that they find the home of their dreams. That's what they're looking for. It's a home and they need to find a place that they call their nest, which will bring them happiness for the future. And I think San Ramon offers a lifestyle that many people find will bring them happiness for the future.

IPM: That's so sweet, Mary. Thank you so much. It's a wonderful interview. This is one of my best interviews because its crisp and it came out very well. Thank you!
MR: Well, thank you. I just want to say in closing that I work as the advocate for both buyers and sellers in the process. I will go the extra mile for them to realize their goals. And I believe working as a team with buyers and sellers is paramount to their success in finding what they're trying to accomplish. And I hope they will contact me to learn more about this beautiful city of San Ramon and how I can be of help!

IPM: I truly appreciate it. Thank you so much.
MR: Thank you.