Business Philosophy

Homes are an important support for a happy life. I love bringing people the joy of finding a place they love.

I work with both buyers and sellers and know that home-buying and home- selling are not only important investment decisions but intensely personal life decisions that will impact you on many levels for years to come. Whether you are buying or selling, I want to take the time to listen and find out what matters to you the most, and then do my best to accomplish your home aspirations. I won't rest until you are happy and your home goals achieved.

Whether networking off-market, hand-writing notes or even door-knocking to find the right house for you, or coordinating design, remodel and staging decisions and pitching in with elbow grease to make your home shine for the market, it matters to me that I add exceptional support and value to your buying/selling experience and capitalize on all of my capacities and all available avenues to create a successful and happy outcome for you. I want you to feel so happy with your real estate experience that you are excited to refer me to your friends and family.

Community Involvement

Volunteer videographer for the California Film Institute and the MIll Valley Film Festival

Personal Background

Sixteen years of structured finance taught me to enjoy challenges while staying calm, optimistic, and innovative in high-stress, high-stakes situations. It taught me to think creatively to find fresh winning strategies and to enjoy and value collaboration and mutual success. It taught me stamina and also taught me to relish doing my best in order to excel and give outstanding service to those with whom I work.

When I left finance in 2004, I wanted to be more connected to things that matter the most to me: home, personal contact, service, creativity, friendship, community, and family in all its forms. Real Estate was a perfect fit.

I feel lucky to have been a resident of Marin since the age of two and grateful to have worked and lived in Mill Valley for the last twenty.

During my personal time, I love to write and am currently workshopping (and pitching) my kid novel "My Sister's Brain". I also enjoy yoga, cooking and walking the trails of Marin and am presently having fun trying to learn to play the ukulele.

Testimonials

"Katie has completely changed my perspective on how critically valuable a real estate agent can be in the purchase of a home. She has deep experience in finance in addition to her extensive experience in Marin real estate. She's built and owned incredible homes in Marin and knows the area intimately. Her attention to detail is exquisite. She's patient, insanely smart, and closely partners with her clients to ensure success. After this last experience I know... she will be our family's partner in real estate for life.
Nico - Buyer

Katie is a professional par excellence. We have been working on and off with her over a few years’ time period looking in various areas at a variety of property types (vacation, in-laws, primary home). In other words, we were a bit difficult. She never seemed surprised by our next idea. She warmly and enthusiastically went along with us. Once we were in contract on both the sale of our home and on the purchase of a new one, she was steadfast in her pursuit to make the deals close. When a contractor was not responding, she got the needed reply. We were amazed by her tenacity all the while doing it with kindness and a smile. her background in banking proves very useful in making deals happen.
Kathy and Mark – Sellers/Buyers

Katie knocked it out if the park. She’s an unusual combination of numbers gal and empath. She looked out for looming issues and had a ready solution before they hit. Always gracious, always kind, super smart, stylish and ever so attentive, she sold my space well above asking in record time and made it look stupid easy. But wait there’s more, my home was not in the league as the high-end types of homes she has sold, but I still received the same concierge service of someone selling a multi-million-dollar home. Not only is she adorable and thoughtful, her timing is impeccable, and her guidance is sound. Her guidance is also subtle as is her stealthy way of literally getting my back. I am sure I don’t know all the big and little things she did to get such a seamlessly fantastic outcome, but some of the ones I found out about after the fact include adding pieces and color to enhance the staging, purchasing obscure parts that even I couldn’t find, researching items she knew potential buyers would ask about, and saving me by arranging a contractor on a holiday weekend. Katie Norby is a class act, she went above and beyond, the result was better than expected and, in the end,, I could have said this with three words, “Nothing but net”.
Tigr – Seller

Katie was great from start to finish. We were fortunate enough to find her as soon as our realtor search started, by heading into the local Coldwell Banker branch. She was with us every step of the way from that point onwards. We relocated from out-of-state and Katie kept us up to date with new houses as they came on. She really understood what we were looking for and I trusted her judgement, so as houses came on, she would visit on our behalf, make a Katie-Cam recording of a walk through of the house and then send it to us to look at. She told us when she thought it was worth flying in to look at a house and was very patient when house after house wasn't quite right. After 7 months of looking we found a perfect home and Katie helped us seal the deal in a VERY hot market. We couldn't have done it without her. She was a joy to work with and I cannot recommend her highly enough.
Cara and Mark – Buyers

Ohhh, where should I start? From the very beginning to the very end Katie Norby was a great realtor and best friend. She has been taking care of us just the way the best friend would (we did not know each other prior to start working together). She has been patient, polite, helpful and understanding. Even with her busy schedule, we still felt like we are priority (no idea how she does it). We have not been the easiest to work with, but she accepted the challenge and helped us and was always by our side. Thanks to her patience and understanding our needs we got beautiful house. Highly, very highly recommend her as a realtor to anybody who needs friend-like realtor.
Greg and Marta – Buyers

Katie was fantastic. She made the whole process easy and rewarding, and handled all the tricky situations of both selling and buying with amazing grace and huge success for us.
Vincanne – Sellers/Buyers

I can’t think of any way in which the two home sales that Katie handled for us could have gone any better. Katie is a truly unique combination of energy and calmness, and neither my husband nor I ever had any doubt that we had chosen the right agent. There was nothing about these two sales that went slowly, and the energy that she put into the process ensured that everything went as smoothly as possible. She handled every issue that came up with knowledge, creativity, and an understanding of everyone’s needs and wants. When problems arose, she handled them calmly, and even more importantly, when offers came in on both homes that were well over the asking price, she was still calm!

Katie tried to take as little credit as possible for her role in these two sales, but my husband and I have no doubt that the success we have had is thanks to her.
Mary and Flip – Sellers

I was searching in South Marin for an investment property on my own when I met Katie at an open house in Mill Valley. I had 45 days to purchase and Katie and I spent weeks searching for the 'right' property together and we had fun. She was excellent at communicating and listening to our specific needs for this property. We had made two offers on other homes and were outbid in a rising market. Katie had seen a property in Mill Valley during the broker openings on Wednesdays, she called me to view the same day and we made our offer the next day. The offer was accepted, and we had a successful 1031 exchange. Katie is a local and knowledgeable agent in Marin County real estate. We are planning to purchase additional property and will only work with Katie!
Kati – Buyer

Katie was a fabulous realtor who we feel very lucky to have worked with. She took the time to understand exactly what we were looking for and went above and beyond to help us in our search. She was always available to answer questions and show properties and as first-time buyers she held our hands through the process and made the whole experience fun and stress free. We cannot recommend Katie highly enough to anyone setting out on a house-buying journey!
Tina and Ben – Buyers