She shares her name with a famous actress, but Cait Hudson of Twin Oaks Real Estate is far more passionate about houses than Hollywood. She’s been helping buyers and sellers achieve their Bay Area real estate dreams for eight years, and she sat down with us to share the secrets to her success.

"Hi, Cait! Thanks for taking the time to speak with me today. Can you start off by telling me a little bit about yourself, and how you got into real estate?"

"Sure. I got into real estate about eight years ago, which sounds crazy to say out loud! I literally just renewed my license, we have to do that every four years. I became a real estate agent because I was really unhappy with the job that I was doing after I graduated college. A friend told me that since I had always been good at sales (I worked at Nordstrom and Macy’s in high school and college), I would also be good at real estate. I decided to give it a try because I had nothing to lose. I kept working at my job but I took night classes at a local community college and got my license."

"So you took a leap of faith and it paid off! Did you find it really challenging at first? Were there any moments when you felt like quitting?"

"Oh, I think everyone thinks about quitting at some point! You have hard days, and you ask yourself what the heck you’re doing. But that’s the case with any job. I kept pushing through because I wanted to succeed, and I wanted to prove to those who were doubting me that I could do it."

"You’re located in the Bay Area. That has always been a competitive housing market, but even more so in the past couple of years. Are you starting to see things slow down, or is there still a bidding war for every property?"

"I would say in the last month [or so] because interest rates have gone up from being historically low, buying power has changed. That basically means that some people who were able to afford a certain price point can’t do that anymore. Then there’s the fact that more houses are coming on the market so there’s more inventory. So yes, things are changing."