About Don & Elaine Stark
Background:
Elaine & Don Stark live in Portola Hills, Ca. and have lived there since 1990. We have enjoyed this quiet and peaceful bedroom community for its good weather and location close to the local hills and mountains. We have enjoyed the hiking and biking available in Whiting Ranch Regional Park and the Cleveland National Forest. We have watched Portola Hills grow, from a place that was considered out in the sticks, to a place that now has many options for getting to work or getting out of town. It is also, close to a lot of people's jobs who work along Bake Parkway or in the Irvine Spectrum Business park. It has been fun watching the community grow and mature. We think it is the ideal place to live in Orange County.
Elaine is a very sweet, loving wife and mom who likes nothing better than to read murder mysteries or fictional stories about lawyers, private investigators, police investigations and the like. Any time she isn't working on an escrow, talking to a client on the phone or listing a home, she can be found curled up and reading in her favorite chair. She also enjoys seeing our children and grandchildren. Together we have, two boys (Wil & Darren), two girls (Jennifer & Simone), three grand daughters (Maddy, Lauren & Sophia) and our grand son (Benjamin).
In between showing homes and keeping the books and computers up to date, Don likes nothing better than strapping into his '64 Lotus 23B racing car and joining in at vintage auto races at places like Laguna Seca, Sears Point and other tracks in California and Arizona. He loves these types of races as they have all the cars (Lotus, Ferrari, Maserati, Cobra, Elva, MG, Triumph, Corvette, Mustang GT350, etc) that he has been reading about in car magazines since he was in high school in Wiesbaden Germany. He loves challenging himself and mixing it up with these famous old cars. Of course, he also likes to see the kids come home for a visit from time to time. When not busy with real estate, he can usually be found fixing something mechanical and making it run smoothly.
Elaine Stark is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and has been in the real estate business for over 35 years. During this time, she has seen a lot of problems crop up in the sale and purchase of homes. She has gotten quite good at anticipating and solving these problems so that the escrow goes quickly to completion. She is an excellent communicator and keeps her clients informed of everything that is going on during the sale or purchase of a home. She is an expert at the large volume of paperwork that now goes along with the sale of a home in California. She makes sure that it is all done correctly and that everyone has the copies they need so that the transaction is completed on time. In short, she is just the person who someone thinking about selling or buying a home needs to lead them through the maze to the completion of a home sale or purchase.
Donald Stark has a BA from the University of Southern California and an MBA from the California State University, Fullerton. He has over 11 years of real estate experience not counting being married to and helping out a real estate agent for many years before that. Don has been a resident of South Orange County since getting out of the Navy in 1973 so he knows it well. Before working with Elaine in real estate, Don worked at Northrop Corp. as a contracts administrator and after that, he started his own successful German auto repair business which he had for 18 years. He is very handy at fixing things and knows a lot about house construction so that when the house is inspected, and things need to be repaired, he can explain what is important and how it needs to be fixed. He has even been known to fix a few things himself if necessary. Also, Don has an expertise in the computers that are becoming part of our everyday life. He is experienced in transmitting data over the internet, keeping up our web site, making beautiful color picture flyers for properties, etc. Because of his strong sense of direction, Don handles the buyers for the team and shows all the properties that are not in Portola Hills. He also backs up Elaine in all her activities.
So, the Stark Team has all the bases covered and is ready to serve your needs in residential real estate in South Orange County, California.
Objectives:
To provide all the professional services required to assist in the selling and purchasing of a home.
To provide timely, honest, professional service.
To make every sale a positive experience for all concerned.
To establish a lasting bond with clients.
EDUCATION/TRAINING:
Licensed Realtor, 35 years of full time realtor experience
Bachelor's Degree, University of Wisconsin
AFFILIATIONS/EXPERIENCE:
Re/Max Platinum Award winner
Top 100 agents in Re/Max California Hawaii
Top 7% of Listing agents in Orange County
California Resident since 1976
Top 1% of Agents nationally
PHILOSOPHIES:
Total commitment to my clients to ensure that each transaction goes smoothly, and that they are treated with total above board honesty.
SPECIAL SKILLS:
Excellent communicator. Keeps clients informed of the status of the escrow and of their duties to ensure that the transaction proceeds as it should.
35 years of experience allowing Elaine to see problems coming and to correct or minimize them before they get too big.
Good people skills. Great at dealing with all types of personalities.
Excellent knowledge of South Orange County and the cities and communities in the area.
Great understanding of home construction. This is handy when dealing with home inspections.
