Celebrity Real Estate Agent: Hannah Tai

As a competitor on “Food Network Challenge,” Hannah Tai was tasked with creating a cake-and-frosting version of an evil character, but in reality, this Corte Madera real estate agent couldn’t be sweeter. When she transitioned from baking to real estate, she focused on the goal of making the home buying and selling process as smooth as the icing on her cakes.

“My philosophy is treat people decently, treat them well, and it comes back to you,” Tai observed.

It’s a remarkable worldview that she might have developed after spending a childhood globe-trotting with her travel-writer parents. As an adult, Tai found that she preferred to stick closer to home, but she remembered her time in France and was stunned by the beauty and variety of Parisian patisseries. Tai took pastry and baking courses at a local college, then embarked on a career as a high-end pastry chef focusing on composed desserts and vegan special-occasion cakes.

Tai’s masterfully designed pastries attracted the attention of Food Network — they scouted her not just once but three times to compete on their Cake Challenge show. The timing finally worked out for her to appear on their “Disney villains” episode shot at Disney World. Tai impressed the judges with her depiction of Jafar, the vile grand vizier from “Aladdin,” and was even pulled aside by Kerry Vincent, the notorious cake curmudgeon, who complimented her artistry and skills. (According to Tai, Vincent is actually “a kick; she’s very sweet. And funny!”)

Tai eventually put full-time pastry making on the back burner to pursue real estate, serving San Francisco Bay and Marin County residents. Her first experience in the industry had been buying and selling a few homes with her husband in the 1980s. She expressed so much enthusiasm for it that the real estate agent she worked with on her last home purchase encouraged Tai to get her own license.

“I think competing on the show taught me to pursue things that are sometimes scary but to approach them as a process — just like baking a cake or helping people buy a home,” Tai acknowledged. “And if you break a task down into steps, it’s easier to accomplish.”

Like her appearance on the show, Tai puts in hours of behind-the-scenes preparation and consideration when helping her clients buy and sell homes. Having spent her early years traveling the planet and seeing the human effect on it, Tai is a dedicated eco-agent. Over the last several years, she’s been gratified to watch the trend of home buyers choosing quality building materials and well-thought-out floorplans instead of a quantity of square footage; she’s focused on helping find homes for clients who want to be mindful of their footprint on the earth.

Tai might have refocused her career path on real estate, but she uses her skills on a regular basis by presenting her clients with a homemade cake at closing, at open houses or other events.

“I think I’m going to start offering to teach cake classes to new clients,” Tai mused. “It’s a talent I have and a gift: If it’s a way I can connect with people, then it feels like a very authentic way to segue into working with me.”