Chris Connolly

Chris began his real estate career at 16 years old helping his uncle, Tom Connolly, who is a local real estate broker. He got his start by helping with appraisal reports and property inspections for foreclosures during the recession, and became licensed in 2010. During his first couple years, he completed over 1,000 property reports for banks such as Chase, Wells Fargo and Bank of America, giving him experience in accurately understanding the value of properties. He took a break from real estate between 2013-2015 to help run his family’s business, Connolly’s Furniture. During this time, the company expanded from 1 location, where the original Fremont store was founded in 1945, to 5 locations, expanding into Castro Valley, Union City, Livermore and Hayward. Chris was able to use his real estate knowledge to negotiate leases, acquire a retail building and acquire an existing business. These four location are still in operation today with his sister, Danielle Connolly, taking the primary leadership role and Chris stepping down into an advisory position. In 2016, the city of Fremont changed the zoning of the original Fremont location from “retail” to “residential,” prompting the parters of the property to sell to a residential developer. Chris’s family had a minority share of the property, which they 1031 exchanged into multi-family residential properties under his guidance. He was able to negotiate and broker the transactions, in addition to arranging logistics and financing. His families portfolio has now grown into 59 residential units in the Bay Area, spread out over 7 different properties. This experience fueled Chris’s passion for real estate and finance, leading him to pursue a career in residential and commercial lending in addition to personally investing in real estate, and is the managing partner of 17 residential units, and a commercial retail building. He takes pride in his ability to use his understanding and knowledge to help other families and investors improve their own financial performance. He is also an avid practitioner of Crossfit, recently competing in the 2017 Crossfit Games California Regional. When he is not in the office or at the gym, he enjoys spending time with his family.