Interview with Raziel

My family. And buying our first home.

Growing up in Boy Scouts in Burlingame, and then becoming an Eagle Scout, helped me fall in love with the outdoors. A few years ago, I went on a dog mushing expedition to Alaska with the Sierra Club. There were five participants, and three guides, and we mushed our own dog teams (I had five huskies) 170 miles over six days on the frozen Yukon River. It did get pretty chilly - some nights down to 44 below - though I loved every second of it.

My favorite hidden gem is our detached home office in our backyard. We built a Modern Shed, and it’s surrounded by lots of greenery, including a living wall on the outside. Growing up in Burlingame, I had a fantasy of someday owning a home with a grassy yard and throwing the baseball around with my future kids. Funny enough, Hava and I fell in love with a quaint California bungalow home, with no grass, but rather a lush English garden with brick pathways. The office has lots of light, heated floors, and built in cabinets with a matching desk.

I look at this more as an opportunity, but constantly finding ways to build new and meaningful relationships. I remember in high school the struggle of maintaining friends in different groups, but as an adult, I found this to be an asset. My life is so enhanced by the quality of the people I have the privilege of getting to know who are up to amazing things, and I am grateful that living on the peninsula - and my business - have allowed me to meet so many talented, good people.

My first real job was the summer after I graduated from high school. I worked at a startup called newmedia.com, which was kind of like the Webby’s, and my job was to scour the web finding cool websites that we could encourage to enter our competition, and then basically give awards to. So it was pretty fun, and I enjoyed discovering new content. Perhaps that’s where I learned the importance of design and branding in making an impact.

My family: my wife Hava, my parents, and my sister, and our two year old son. I am lucky to have a wonderfully supportive and loving family. Also equally lucky that nearly all of both sides of my family live in the Bay Area.

My favorite movie is Office Space. I love the irreverent humor, and all the hilarious cliches in the movie. I probably reference a scene in that movie at least once a month in conversation. For some reason I can’t get it out of my mind.

I have an old 80 series Toyota Land Cruiser. Someday, I'd like to take it on a serious expedition for several months in Asia, Africa, or the Southwestern U.S. For now, I'm content to do several day expeditions on the West Coast, most recently on the Mojave Trail.

"Always do the right thing" from my grandfather. He'd say, "There's two ways to do something: the right way, or the wrong way."

I didn't realize how special Burlingame was until I went off to college. As it got closer to winter or spring break, friends in the dorms would lament about having to go home. I always looked forward to coming back home, and I found that all of my Burlingame friends did too. I loved playing AYSO soccer at Washington Park and Bayside Park, participating in Boy Scouts at St. Paul's, and enjoying weekend breakfast at home with fresh bagels from House of Bagels (now Bay Area Bagels) and pastries from Copenhagen Bakery.

Growing up in Burlingame, Copenhagen Bakery has a special place in my heart. Always wanted everyone I care about to be able to enjoy some of their favorite treats. So about 10 years ago, I thought it would be fun to buy pies for all of my clients for them to enjoy on Thanksgiving. What I love about the event is seeing so many wonderfully amazing people and catching up for a few minutes on a holiday week. It just feels to me like this is what having a small business is all about building community with great people who enrich your lives.

We love, love, love living in Burlingables. Although there's so many awesome neighborhoods on the peninsula, for me, Burlingables holds a special spot in my heart (I lived on Cumberland Road until I was five). We love the large old trees on every street, quaint homes with lots of character and architectural diversity, and how walkable the whole neighborhood is. Most weekends, and many weekdays, we spend walking to Washington Park with our son, and then end up on Burlingame Avenue for a bite to eat, or the farmers market. We have red and orange cruiser bikes (from Public; they're awesome) that we enjoy riding around the neighborhood, and across the Peninsula Ave overpass to the Bay Trail and Coyote Point. Burlingables just feels like a little village. I feel so lucky to own a home here.

Spending time with my family. I also enjoy geeking out everyday by reading the NY Times and Wall Street Journal, and following dozens of blogs in design, entrepreneurship, and real estate. Every couple months I like to spend a day unwinding with a one night backpacking trip to one of Pt. Reyes' many awesome spots like Wildcat or Coast Camp. Right now, I'm really enjoying Tiny Treks with my son.

Without a doubt, it is the chocolate pizza from Copenhagen Bakery (technically called the chocolate chip coffee cake). I am proud to have consumed hundreds during my 30+ years being in Burlingame. Copenhagen imports 300 pounds of butter a week from Denmark! I feel comfortable saying Copenhagen is one of the treasures of the whole area, and for sure a Burlingame institution!

I love that I can make a positive impact on my clients' lives. That's what really gets me excited every day. It's a privilege for me to participate in special life cycle moments, whether it's buying a first home, or helping sell a cherished family home, for example. The second thing I love the most is negotiating. It's a complex game with multiple stakeholders, and I enjoy the challenge of not only making it work, but trying to make it appear seamless and painless for my clients.