Tobin & Associates

Tobin is an amazing real estate agent. My wife and I were typical first-​time home buyers: scared, skittish and unrealistic. But through it all Tobin was patient and professional. Tobin really went above and beyond to help us find the perfect home.

Tobin is the man! We met several years ago when I rented a condo from Tobin. When I moved a few years later to be closer to work, I never forgot how professional, reasonable, and down to earth Tobin was as my landlord. I knew I would reach out to him one day for help with real estate.
When ready to purchase a home, we phoned Tobin and he got right to work helping us find a place, accommodating our search all around the North County area. Tobin helped us find a great house in a nice neighborhood and gave us expert advice and opinion to help see us through the entire process.
After a year living in our new area, we knew we loved it, and that we were committed to remain long term. We needed more space and were torn between a house remodel /​expansion, or buying a larger home. After finding a home «coming soon» on the market that met all the needs we were after, we phoned our trusted real estate partner Tobin and he sprung into action. As nerve racking a process as real estate buying/​selling can be, we’ve been successful with two home purchases and one home sale with Tobin in the past two years.
Tobin is honest, professional, and trustworthy. He has an extremely positive spirit and has become a good friend over the years. We’ve invited Tobin to family BBQ’s and to our wedding as well.
We look forward to working with Tobin again in the future and trust his advice and knowledge.

My husband and I purchased our Home with Tobin in December of 2013. Tobin was not only patient and understanding with our wants for our new family home but super helpful with us as new buyers. Tobin went above and beyond for everything in the aspect of our sale. Helping walk us through our home inspection to coming by on the official moving day to bringing us food on our first week. Tobin is not just our realtor but someone we consider family. Someone we trust exclusively in our business matters and continue to recommend him to our friends and family.

We can honestly say that we would not be in our dream home if it wasn’t for Tobin! My wife and I bought our first home, which ended up being a dream house for us and we owe it all to Tobin.
My wife met Tobin when he was a Campus Police Officer at UCSD back in the 90’s while she was a student there. Tobin was soon regarded as a friend for her and was always kind and generous, but most memorable was his happy demeanor.
When we were finally ready to purchase our first home we started with a listing agent that was attached to a website. We realized this other agent was not looking out for our best interest and was just trying to push a sale when we ended that arrangement and did what we should have done in the first place and called Tobin.
He worked hard showing us several homes and getting in offers in the crazy short sale market 3 years ago. We were defeated by cash investors until I stumbled upon the house we are in today. I found the listing late at night before the home hit the market and Tobin got us the first appointment to see this house I felt was out of our range, but really hoped we could hit the jackpot and get this place.
Tobin was the one and only reason we were able to close this deal. He is extremely knowledgable about the market and most importantly, he knows people. He knew exactly what to say and how to present us, as a family with a strong offer, but not the highest offer to win the deal. He was patient with us, especially with me, keeping everyone at ease and the deal moving forward even when we would not agree to some of the sellers conditions. We appreciate and respect his professionalism, honesty and high standards. We have complete faith in Tobin to always be a genuine person and professional and never compromise his ethics for the sake of closing a deal.
Tobin was a blessing for us and is the one and only person we would recommend if you are buying or selling a home!

I have known Tobin for over 20 years, since I was a student at UCSD, and he was a security guard on campus. I left San Diego in 1998, but came back 10 years later in 2008 with my new wife, ready to make San Diego home again.
We rented for several years, and just recently, as we were a month away from expecting our first child, we decided to get serious about buying a house.
We did all of our own house hunting on Redfin, and found the house of our dreams. I called Tobin to give a «friend» a chance to earn a commission, as I felt he and I knew each other for so long that I could trust him. That did not turn out to be the case it seemed.
He gave us poor advice all along, inducing, «Not to worry» about the seller’s boyfriend. By the time I finally had a conference call with the seller’s agent, after Tobin was out of the picture, it turned out to be the woman’s boyfriend who was the one that actually got on the phone with us.
When Tobin «removed himself», he wrote us the following e-​mail,
«…My advice is that you call Jim and see if he can represent you and the seller… perhaps with me out of the picture, you can still buy the home at a lower price.
Yes, you’ve got my permission to do so.
Keep me posted.»
To us, «me out of the picture, meant truly out of the picture. When meeting with the sellers agent in person, I was blindsided to find out that Tobin had negotiated a 25% «referral fee» that he never revealed to us, all the time telling me my «friendship» was more important than the commission.
I asked Tobin to send an e-​mail to the sellers agent clarifying that he agreed to waive any and all commissions or referral fees. He agreed, and then did not. I call to tell him we were very serious that this was business, and he was hurting my family, and if he did not do as he said he would, we would need to take action and report his behavior in this review. Despite his promise less than an hour prior, he went back on his word and told me he would not anymore after trying to talk his way out of his promise. Buyer beware with Tobin, especially if you thought he was a «friend». We did.

I rent an apartment from Tobin and was locked out in our recent thunderstorm. He drove to let me in so I didn’t have to call a locksmith, he went above and beyond to help me out.
He is a class act and always there when you need him!

Tobin is an outstanding real estate agent. I’ve known Tobin for many years and he has always been a man of integrity and honesty. He works hard for his clients because he genuinely wants his clients to find the home of their dreams. He’s not pushy like a lot of agents. He’s professional, very savvy, and extremely knowledgeable about the market in San Diego. I’ve worked with Tobin a few times to buy/​sell a home. You’re in good hands with Tobin! He’s an excellent negotiator and he will do his very best to get you the deal you want. I think he’s the best real estate agent in San Diego!