Katie I.
My husband and I recently sold our old house in San Carlos and bought a new one in San Mateo. We worked with Bob Bredel from Sotheby's on both sides of the deal and would recommend him HIGHLY. While he's known as a San Carlos Real Estate Specialist (and he is! - check out his blog at SanCarlosBlog.com), he knows the entire Peninsula very well and was knowledgeable about the neighborhoods we were considering in San Mateo as well.
Bob is professional, kind, patient, savvy, a shrewd negotiator (he practiced as an attorney prior to real estate), practical, clever, thoughtful and a family man who will be very understanding of your life (I was 8+ months pregnant with #2 when we did these transactions with him)! He's well respected by his fellow Realtors on the Peninsula, which helps a ton both in searching for off-market houses and during negotiations. I really can't say enough good things about him.
There's no better Realtor on the Peninsula. Bob is awesome!