Love Match: San Francisco and France

Sept. 14, 2011 - PRLog -- A love match between lovers of beautiful homes and two of the most beautiful places on Earth is what drives The Matchmakers, a real estate company specializing in the greater San Francisco Bay Area and in France.

Love in Paris is synonymous with the "City of Light", and love is at the heart of Tony Bennett's famous rendition of the song, "I left my heart in San Francisco".

Jim and Elizabeth Hilgendorf, The Matchmakers, are also in love with both of these magical places - the San Francisco Bay Area and France - and they are sharing that love with clients around the world.  

At the heart of their business is the desire especially to work with clients who are new to either San Francisco or France, and to help them get acquainted with their new area.  

The Hilgendorfs themselves have been to France many times.  They fell in love with the country through friends, and decided to develop their knowledge of French real estate and to incorporate that expertise into their real estate business in order to help people find their dream home or villa or chateau.  

They made connections with excellent brokers around the country whom they could team up with to offer great service to clients.  

Jim says:

"Real estate in France is a different animal than in other places, including the United States.  There are different laws, and there is no multiple listing service, like in the United States, where people can go to compare properties and prices.  That's why it is important to have a broker is who is very knowledgeable about the market in different areas."

The Matchmakers focus on certain markets - Paris, Bordeaux and the Dordogne Valley, Aix-en-Provence, Provence, and the Cote d'Azur, or French Riviera.  

Jim is a filmmaker also, with a highly acclaimed series of travel films called The Tribute Series, several of which have appeared on PBS and international television.  One of his films is on the Bordeaux and Dordogne region of southwest France. The website for the films is http://www.tributeseries.com.

San Francisco is more than just the city of San Francisco.  It is a dynamic Bay Area, which includes Berkeley and Oakland, and beautiful Marin County just north of the city, as well as the famous wine regions of Napa and Sonoma Counties.  Even the city of San Francisco is a collection of highly diverse neighborhoods.  

Jim and Elizabeth make it their business to know these different regions and the properties for sale in these areas; but they also extend themselves in helping their clients - from around the world, who might be relocating to the City and the Bay Area - to get a feel for the different areas.  They even offer to schedule private tours of the whole area if their clients wish to.  Video clips of the entire area are available on The Matchmaker website at http://www.thematchmakers.org.

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The Matchmakers is a real estate company located in El Cerrito, California, specializing in the greater San Francisco Bay Area and France. Their website is http://www.thematchmakers.org.