About us
See my Straight-A "Super-Service" reviews from both SELLERS and BUYERS. When I represent SELLERS, I get them OVER-market prices with NO Buyer Back-Outs. When I represent BUYERS, I get them UNDER-market deals PLUS 1% Buyer Cash-Back to them! Find out how YOU can WIN, too!
Business highlights
Services we offer
350... NO LIMIT! See my reviews to see how my programs have helped other SELLERS and BUYERS and how they could help YOU, For SELLERS: I NEGOTIATE the HIGHEST possible price for you. NO Buyer Back-Out because my Sure-Close system KEEPS your home sold. For BUYERS: I NEGOTIATE the LOWEST possible price for you. You pay me NOTHING because the Seller pays both agents. However, I pay YOU my 1% Buyer Cash-Back. So you SAVE THOUSANDS! The highest Buyer Cash-Back I have paid so far is $24, TOO!
Amenities
Free Estimates
Yes
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"Such a kind & thoughtful couple! Very cooperative and patient with all the intrusions into their life that selling entailed. Our first buyer met with me at Starbucks to write up the agreement. He had a challenge with his credit card and figured it was a security thing because he had been out of country for a few days. The next morning when he tried to send the deposit to the escrow, he learned the Franchise Tax Board had locked-down ALL his bank accounts! Buyer #2 didn't even get escrow opened when an "inlaw rumble" broke out because the son's parents thought that this home the daughter's parents picked-out was beautiful, but too much of a financial burden for the son. Buyer #3 was a different matter. He came, he saw, he bought for cash (because of my Direct-To-Buyer program, where my direct buyers get a 2% Buyer Cash-Back...$15,000 to the buyer in this case). The escrow was only 6 days long because my Certified Pre-Owned Home program had completed the inspections & repairs, allowing this quick close. Actually, he was so comfortable with the presentation of the home that he didn't even do the Limited Re-Inspection he was entitled to. My sellers patiently endured this flurry of activity, being very supportive and more concerned about me than their own upended life. In the end, all 3 escrows put together were much shorter than a typical single escrow. And, I was able to repay my seller's staunch support with a square footage price equating to $100,000 more than the 6-month average for the neighborhood. I guess it's really true that "All's well that ends well" (when the sale is blessed with Super Sellers! )"
"This is a family with HEART. Genuinely nice people who were a perfect match for my buyer, who was buying a home to start his own family. I am excited that both families got exactly what they expected... makes my day!"
"Love to take care of my clients first... and me last. I ESPECIALLY love it when my great clients (like this one) "get it" and say so! Thanks for the kind words!"
"Love working with smart people! In this case, smart & personable, both! My client is a financial planner, and when she saw the data, she realized that the pattern was that the sellers were severely underpricing in this super-hot segment of the market. The homes were flying off the market in 0-5 days, and more than half were selling for over asking price. Incredibly, the agent "didn't believe in auction-like selling". Good for US, goof for the seller! The home, with its huge balcony, lots of windows and leafy light filtering of the sunlight by the mature trees, is beautiful. Perfect for my friends of 20 years and a great buy, too! Life is GOOD!"
"My perfect clients! Both are smart as a whip (and both Cornellians, like me, too!). Despite their smarts, education and expertise in their own fields, they are totally willing to listen to, consider and approve all the things I do to deliver top dollar. Love working with people smart enough to know the difference between mediocrity and excellence... makes me work my heart out for them. Genuinely nice people!"
"What a pleasure working with this member! Although he is super-smart and holds a Ph.D. in his own engineering field, he still is both personable and coachable. He asked my advice and took it when I offered it to him. Great to work with someone who knows what he knows and knows what he doesn't know, and then seeks advice on the latter. Would LOVE to do another transaction with him... very uplifting!"
"Ah, the exciting part of my career and my passion! Unbelievable "rags to riches" story with this client. Just the LAST part of her story (not even including how she "boot-strapped" her way to an undergraduate degree in architecture): In order to mentor junior college students wanting to go into architecture (she is currently an architect with a master's degree), she quit her job and went to COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY for her master's. The date was 2009 when she finished. The real estate market had "crashed & burned". Times were tough during that period, but she persevered and now she has her first home. Yippee! So exciting! PS: She has her home because, despite her own high competence & high achievement, she is coachable, instead of dismissive... loved working with her and loved the outcome for her and her mom!"
"My client and her mom were TERRIFIC to work with! After the long-term tenants moved out, it looked very empty and a little "unloved". And, the inside had to be captivating because of the busy 405 freeway just across the driveway. The freeway noise level was high and prospective buyers also rejected it because of their concerns about exhaust fumes. So, we gave it 10 days to get at least one offer in its "unloved" state. No offer, so I suggested that we needed to stage the home with furniture and pictures and knick-knacks. They agreed and soon after it was staged, we sold it. Totally pleasant transaction. Elated to get them an above-market value so quickly... loved working with them, and would do it again in a heartbeat!"
We met Terry at an open house in Irvine, and thought? this is somebody we can work with. We wanted an investment, and the home he washolding open was just what we were looking for.
Also, Terry has an interesting program where he gives buyers like us a buyer cash back, as he calls it. In our case, it was a full 1% of the purchase price, thousand of dollars, and enough to cover all our closing costs, plus much more.
In addition to his cash-back, he also was totally prepared to close escrow.
We have never encountered any other real estate agent as prepared asTerry. He had gathered up everything
necessary to close, and so we were able to offer the seller a 5-day escrowbecause Terry was so well prepared.
During the transaction, he made good use of Docusign to handle signingall the paperwork, another time-saver for us.
And, he made sure to explain everything clearly and in greatdetail. After all, we haven?t bought any
real estate for a while, so it was good to have an experienced and reliable guide.
Terry is definitely ?a cut above?!
We were very pleased with everything about our purchase. In fact, we liked working with him so much that we immediately hired him to help us rent our new rental out. I guess that says it all, doesn?t it?
Terry is very professional & efficient. He made our transaction effortless and a pleasure. We expect to be just as pleased with him working for us to rent it out, and we will tell all our friends buying and selling real estate about him, too.
Bill & Sophie B?Very pleased owners & landlords.
"I absolutely love working with accomplished people. This couple has been so kind to me (and to each other) that it is a pure joy just to be around them."
Terry listened carefully to what we were looking for, including our thoughts on a home in Foothill Ranch we had already looked at and liked a LOT. When he heard that from us, it was Wednesday. He told us that if we really liked it that much, then we should move on it before the upcoming weekend.
He told us that we needed to get into ?pounce mode? to have the best outcome from our offer, and suggested we write an offer on it significantly lower than the asking price, even though Terry admitted it was already listed below market. He told us the out-of-state seller and the listing agent were both eager for a sale, after a lot of trouble with the tenant about showing the property to buyers. Terry said they were ?ready to deal?, and might come off the price some.
?Pounce Mode? consisted of writing a great intro letter with a picture of us as newly-weds (we had just gotten back from our honeymoon in Aruba) + loan pre-approval + proof of cash. Turns out the seller bought as newly-weds, too, so they were happy for us.
We made our offer, and the seller didn?t counter back on the price?they WERE ready to deal. Then, Terry got still more money from the sellers for repairs.
But the major savings (besides the thousands in Terry?s buyer cash back, of course) came from using Terry?s trusted lender. We already had s lender and wanted to continue using him, but Terry's lender couldn't be beat. Debbie of Kinecta Federal Credit Union saved us over $6,000 because her fees were lower, and because she got us a $5,400 cash credit for the same interest rate as our original lender offered us. Not only were the savings great, but Debbie was a pleasure to work with. As first time home buyers, we had lots of questions and she was always there for us. We felt so comfortable with both Terry and Debbie. We feel like we can't say thanks enough.
Lastly, the appraisal came in $16,000 OVER our contract price! This is our kind of buy! What a way to start our married life together, with a killer deal on our first (very cute). Terry Hunter knows what he?s doing with negotiations, and he has a buyer cash back, too. We tell EVERYBODY about him!
Sean & Rachelle? happy new home owners in Foothill Ranch.
"I love working with newlyweds, and when they are as thoughtful as this young couple, it is simply exhilarating. They're the kind of people you just love to "hang with", and it is so exciting to save them 10's of thousands of dollars on their first home! Couldn't happen for nicer people!"
So, we recommended him to our daughter who just purchased her first home. Between the price negotiated and using his recommended lender, we firmly believe she saved $15,000-$20,000 total in price, costs and fees over what she would have paid with another realtor.
Our new motto is friends don't let friends use any realtor but Terry Hunter in OC.
"I LOVE it when a client introduces me to the most important people in THEIR life. That's when I REALLY know they've been pleased with me. This whole family is a joy to serve, and just knowing them as friends enriches my life. (I appreciate the new motto, too, of course!;+))"
Terry let us know that another offer was coming in on the home, so we made our move. Sure enough, another came in just hours after ours, but we already had the home locked-down. In this hot market, knowing what was going on with the property was the difference of getting the home ourselves, or watching somebody else end up buying the home we wanted.
The escrow was simple. Terry had everything ready from the start, including inspections, repairs, clear termite, HOA docs and title. His lender was great, too! We decided, after going through the home inspection, annotated with the reasonable repairs already done (and with reasons why non-action defects would not be done ), that we were just going to go with Terry?s detailed home inspection. We could have done our own inspection, but the credentials of Terry?s inspector were great (general contractor & architect), and we could see that every point was well covered.
Our feeling about the whole process was ?? is that all there is to it?? It was that smooth. But we know why it seemed so simple? it was fully planned out, and everything went according to plan.
We highly recommend Terry, and tell our friends & co-workers about him. If you want to buy, don?t leave thousands on the table. Have Terry be your trained negotiator, and still get thousands in cash back, too.
John & Stacey? now owners of our ocean view ?home by the sea? in San Clemente. Hire Terry!
"I am excited for my clients! They were great to work with, making quick decisions and understanding (and being comfortable with) the entire process. Despite the competition for the home, they won, and my Buyer Cash-Back saved them $5,600 in CASH, too! Great outcome!"
"I am SO excited for my clients... we competed against 8 other offers (9 offers total, with 3 of them being all-cash), and we WON! It's too complicated to explain it all here, but give me a call, and I will be happy to go over the details, and what it means for YOU, if you're buying in this red-hot seller's market."
"Yes, the buyer removed all the deal-killing contingencies at the time of signing the contract. You would think that this is the only way to do it, but for most agents, they NEVER do it! Go figure! Good outcome for seller AND buyer"
"I am honored that this thoughtful attorney broke with me her 20 year pattern of NEVER introducing her clients to a real estate agent! Yay! She works hard to minimize the family stress of divorce by providing mediation services, saving those who can agree between themselves from the despair of courtroom battles. For my part, I specialize in divorce and probate situations, because I KNOW the stress & heartbreak of those situations demands that NO MORE stress from selling a home be added to the high stress already present. My totally proprietary approach is designed to minimize stress & hassle, so all of the professionals I work with (divorce attorneys, mediators, trust & estate attorneys, CPA's, financial planners) can provide their clients with services on a par with their own professional services to their distraught clients. My attitude is "Those who bring sunshine to others cannot keep it from themselves.""
Terry help them buy 2 home very good way.
I wanted buy home, so me and my sister meet with Terry for him to help.
I expect good job from start because my sister tell me.
Terry was great, even better than I expect.
When I call him he answer phone every time, no matter what time.
He handle tenant… no hassle.
He protect us very good all the way through.
I am so happy that I ALREADY introduce him to friend who also want home.
I introduce him later to ALL of my friends who want buy or sell home.
He is more than just real estate broker, he is my trusted friend!
Very good agent… better than others.
"What a wonderful couple... as so kind in their review! It is very exciting for me to work hard and effectively for considerate clients like these, and then have them take time to review the process. I am "stoked" by their getting the home they wanted an look forward to going beyond the 3 homes I have helped the family with to take great care of their friends, too!"
Terry Hunter was referred to us by our trusted attorney, and he proved to be the best broker we have ever used. He quickly (10 days!) sold our home for $14,000 over market value for all-cash (PLUS a $10,000 bonus to us!), then proceeded to keep it together with his expert negotiations with the buyer agent and her restless buyers. Our home needed a new roof & significant termite repairs & tenting, so it was CRITICAL to keep this all-cash buyer, and Terry DID it! Without an all-cash buyer, it would have nearly impossible to sell.
Despite a number of challenges with the buyers, he was able to close according to plan. He has a totally different approach to getting top dollar and keeping it? he typically is ready to close escrow the same day he goes on the market, and the rapport he developed with our buyer agent kept her fighting hard to close our sale with her buyers, even though they wanted to go see other homes.
Terry?s customer service is outstanding? he was upbeat, thoughtful, careful with the details, organized and used electronic signatures to conveniently collect signatures from us and the buyer?s agent. We did have a couple of documents where the lender insisted on manual & notarized signatures? what a hassle, compared to Terry?s electronic signatures on the rest of them? made us appreciate Terry?s electronic efficiency even more.
We would work with Terry again in a heartbeat. We definitely tell all our friends about him, and we?re happy to tell you the same thing? go with Terry, and you?ll have the informed personal attention only possible from an experienced and seasoned pro. He is one of only a handful of Certified Master Negotiators, and his boutique services are SO MUCH better than those of the ?luck of the draw? representatives of larger companies.
I don?t know about you, but I want to work with the boss (not some junior pony), and with Hunter-Broker, that?s exactly how it works out. He has a team to do everything except the negotiations and the final review of critical docs. He personally took care of our negotiations and reviewing our contracts, just like he does for every client. It worked out great? because of the MLS, we still got all the action from the big companies, but we were personally taken care of by one of the most knowledgeable and ethical brokers in the entire market place, and not some ?run of the mill? agent? Terry?s the ?only way to fly?!
"Wow! Such great clients I have! Lots of people say nice things to me, but sometimes "life gets in the way", and they never find the time to post a review. I deeply appreciate it when they do, because it's not enough to just know myself that I have done a great job for them... means SO much more to me when they take the time to post a review or tell a friend. I am "all in" for all my clients, but it is the thoughtful ones who truly "make my day" by confirming that THEY KNOW I did a good for them! Thanks for allowing me to serve you, and for allowing me the flexibility to win for you!"
However, Terry came highly recommended as an honest and hard-working agent with a lot of experience and great results, so we decided to give him a try.
He worked hard with direct mail, online marketing & weekend open houses, saying that people who say ?open houses don?t sell houses? are just repeating what they heard from people talking about pre-internet times. Back then, he says, people came to open houses not knowing what they would find? no wonder most of the visitors didn?t find what they were looking for. Nowadays, the visit to the open house is the second viewing (the first one was on the internet). In fact, our home sold to an open house visitor who came in and fell in love with our home, making his first offer that Sunday night after the open house.
So, we got our home sold quickly at a higher price than ALL the other homes in the neighborhood, and we closed the fastest of any of them from when we first went on the market to having our money wired to our bank. And, we did it without people showing up to see our home at random times? almost ALL the showings were during the open houses, which did not interfere with our family life. And, as Terry pointed out, buyers also saw the other buyers who were interested in our home, which made them all even more interested, because of the obvious buyer competition. We got the highest price in the neighborhood and the fastest time to complete from ?start to bank?? what?s not to love?
Anyway, once we had our high-priced sale safely in escrow, we saw how effective Terry?s paperwork really was, because we got slammed with both a low appraisal and also the buyer?s inspector found a problem with the attic fan we had installed.
The low appraisal was automatically handled by Terry?s 95% Appraisal? 95% was close enough. Terry told us that an appraisal that is even $1 under the contract price normally restarts the whole negotiating game. Not with us, though. The appraisal was over 95%, and that settled it, even though it was thousands less than the high price Terry got us.
Likewise with the attic fan? Since Terry had the buyers remove ALL the contingencies except for the 95% Appraisal and a limited buyer re-inspection only for MAJOR defects when they signed the contract (not removing the contingencies weeks later, like most agents do), we did not have to pay the $1,600 that the buyer demanded for the attic fan.
We came out THOUSANDS ahead because of Terry?s pre-planning & good paperwork? didn?t seem ?too fussy? to us any more, not after it saved us THOUSANDS!
It is obvious that Terry (and his attorney who wrote the addendums that ?plug the holes in the Realtor contract?, as Terry puts it) know what they?re doing. In other circumstances, the buyer would have either renegotiated our sale or walked away from it, like what happened with so many of our friends. With Terry?s paperwork, the buyer couldn?t do either one. When we sold our home, it really WAS sold when the contract was signed, and ?the wheels didn?t come off? when we got BOTH a low appraisal and an inspection problem, either. Highly recommended? we tell EVERYONE about Terry & his super low-stress approach. Like he says, ?we?re NOT Costco? once it?s sold, it stays sold?.
Don?t know why EVERY agent doesn?t protect sellers like Terry does! But, in the end, it doesn?t matter why they do it the old way? just hire Terry, and don?t worry about it!
"Thanks for your very kind words! It has been great working with you. I must say that I agree that my Sure-Close process got a "trial by fire" on your sale... BOTH a low appraisal AND an inspection defect in the buyer's home inspection. As you point out, my Sure-Close program & paperwork handled them both. Some weeks in the MLS, older escrows are falling out at up to 94% of the new sales/escrows coming in during the same week. In my opinion, it is essential to protect my sellers from this disgraceful situation, and that's why I developed Sure-Close with my attorney. Thanks again for your confidence in me, even though my approach seemed a little weird to you at the beginning. Without Sure-Close, we would have been weeks more in getting your home sold, and we might not have closed at the premium price you actually got. I am ELATED! Looking forward to working with you again soon on the purchase of your new home!"
In foreclosure. The reverse mortgage was held by a service group that wanted the property for a profit and refused to work with
The escrow when Mr. Hunter managed to sell the property in five days. Mr. Hunter lines up all everything required for processing
Realty property prior to escrow, thus making the escrow close without problems. This selling of my sister.s beloved home was
One problem the family didn.t have to worry about and after my sister.s medical problems of years the family and I didn.t have
Any energy left to proceed. Enter Mr. Terry Hunter. My and family and I would only chose Mr. Hunter to represent us in any realty
Need in the future. Having a person who knows his business and works for you as if he was working for his own family llifted a
Burden for,us that can never fully be known or told.
My wife and I are selling our house and we used the broker we used 2 times before. The first 2 times, he got the job done. But, not this time. The process was painful, numerous documents were signed, then re-signed and signed again. Email, print, sign, scan, email back. There was a great deal of chaos. We did find a buyer, then the deal fell through because the buyer couldn?t qualify. What? The buyer?s agent and buyer didn?t know if they could afford to buy our place? For 17 days, we really didn?t know what the situation was and at the very last, we were informed that they could not qualify for the mortgage. So, we started over.
We cancelled our agreement with our old agent (a nice way to say we fired him, without any argument from him, btw.) And we did what you are doing now, searching on Angie?s list for a good guy.
We called Terry, after reading his reviews here, and we set up a meeting. Terry visited our house and came completely and I mean completely prepared to talk. He had documents ready for us to review and sign. He explained them to us, something that our other agent really never did. We were impressed from the start and we started to have some hope that we might still be able to sell. So, we came to an agreement and Terry became our guy.
Terry does things a bit differently. Remember that 17 days with no word from our previous buyer? Terry has a process that eliminates the waiting period. We did the home owner inspection, roof inspection and termite inspection before going to market, so all that uncertainty goes away.
Terry also had a plan. We were scheduled for open houses on Saturday & Sunday for 2 weekends in a row, with a broker open house on the Thursday in between. That?s 5 days of open house, total. He also blanketed the area with 1600 fliers the first week and another 1600 the second week. He did his own virtual tours which were pretty darn good, they showed our place on the Internet very nicely. He also arranged a toll free phone number people could call and listen about our place. It was a media blitz. Terry is very Internet savvy and knows how to create some marketing interest, something we never had before.
To get prepared for showing our house, Terry brought in, at his own expense, an Interior Designer to help us stage the house properly. We got some really good tips and ideas and when we were finished, our house never looked this good, better than when we bought it.
After all that, we found a buyer (or did the buyer find us?), in 10 days. The offer is a very fair price for our home, and we are extremely happy. We are in escrow, scheduled to close in a couple of weeks if the lending goes through. We have much more confidence in this buyer and lender, thanks to Terry ?working the deal? to help make sure this thing goes to completion.
A couple of other things worth mentioning. Terry has a process and he also has a team. He has set his own standards of results and integrity very high and has quality people working with him to help close the deal. Terry went to bat for us every chance he had and worked hard for us. Same goes for his team. They handled our open houses, and Lauren, in particular, also knocked on every door in our entire 100 home neighborhood in 90 degree weather to invite them to our open houses. She then helped us locate contractors and reduced our stress level. I also met the escrow company that he recommended and I was impressed. Escrow is not something to take lightly and Terry has a great escrow company on board.
Give Terry a call and give him the chance to talk to you, we don?t think you can do better.
He said that what we had to do was plan to make a number of offers on overpriced homes. That way, if some seller accepted our offer (or gave us a good enough counter offer), WE would be the only ones on the planet who knew about it, and there wouldn?t be any competition or bidding war to kill our purchase.
Well, it worked like a charm! We made only about a dozen offers, and ended up buying the perfect home for us $45,000 under the seller?s asking price! The appraisal confirmed that it was WAY under market. The process was easy, too, because Terry used advanced technology to make signing an offer a 3 minute affair for us from wherever we happened to be.
I like working with Terry because he is clearly looking out for us, rather than just trying to sell us something. He?s ALWAYS available, including in the evenings. And, he also has a Buyer Cash-Back to pay our closing costs. Whata combo!
I am an engineer, and I do my job with precision. It is a rare treat to find a Realtor who does the same! We recommend Terry to all our friends because he?s trustworthy, and knows his stuff? and he went out of his way to make sure that our purchase was way better than just good? he made sure it was absolutely superb.
I asked him why it was that his transactions ran so much smoother than the typical purchase. He explained that although he personally reviews & negotiates every critical aspect of every transaction, he also has a full time Transaction Control Auditor and a full-time Client Experience Manager (among others) that solely support him. He said that even offices of 50-75 agents don?t have this much support. He said that the typical office has a lot of agents and not many supporting players. With Hunter-Broker, there is a great support staff, and Terry personally handles all the transactions. I guess this limits how many transactions Hunter-Broker can do, but it sure has worked out great for both of our purchases! We can hardly wait until we can do #3 with Terry!
Rostam & Shabi loving Laguna Niguel
"What a total pleasure it is for people to hire us to get a job done, and then actually follow my strategy recommendations! This client is a bright and well-educated electrical engineer (chip designer), and he listens to advice and acts on it! He is immediate with his questions and feedback, so we can do, with half the hassle and twice the results, what we set out to do! I get as excited about my clients' successes as they do, and to have accomplished such a bargain purchase, including closing a short 15 day escrow on it, in a total of just 30 days, is pure excitement for me! Many thanks to him for being such a pleasure to work with. The process for the purchase of this investment was efficient: 1. I provided him the data according to his specs. 2. He cruised the neighborhoods, crossing off the list I provided him any undesirable properties. 3. I arranged for us to see the interiors of any properties that "made the cut". 4. We made simultaneous (electronic) lower-than-asking-price offers on the properties. 5. We then responded (electronically) to any counter-offers with counter-counter-offers of our own, winnowing the list down to about 3. 6. We then accepted the best one, and went to escrow with it. 7. Our lender, who is able to close a purchase in just 15 days, then did just that for us, and our bargain buy closed efficiently. 8. My Client Experience Manager, Lauren, superbly handled all the other myriad details for our client, and our clients closed happy!;+) Real estate transactions should really all be as simple as this. We have tirelessly worked and done the back-of-the-house "heavy lifting" to make sure that this outcome is what our systems deliver. We LOVE sharing our proprietary systems with responsive clients for our mutual benefit... what a wonderful way to make a living! I LOVE what I do!"
Terry told us it was already in escrow, and that we had to find another. We made some other offers, but nothing
came together. At 9 o?clock at night on the day before we were leaving to go back to Las Vegas, I noticed on my computer that our blue & white dream home had come back on the market! I called Terry right away, and he immediately drove over to see if we could get in (no surprise here, since Terry had been CONSTANTLY available since we started looking at homes with him). ?No-soap?, because the lock box was timed-out by that late at night, and so we had to wait until 8 the next morning to get in. We came back over at 8 AM, and I loved the inside of the home, too! Terry negotiated our under-asking price offer, and by 5 PM our offer was accepted by the seller. The home had only been back-on-the-market for less than 24 hours, and now WE controlled it! All of the other Realtors swarming around it were just out-of-luck, because Terry had moved so quickly and skillfully to get it for us!
Once we had the home in escrow, Terry personally reviewed every critical document BEFORE we got it. He noticed an irregularity with the legal description that could have caused us future problems. After lots of back-and-forth with the title company, he got the legal description revised for us (a complicated process) to avoid any future problems.
Terry also negotiated & managed the necessary minor repairs. I imagine the other agent (much looser than Terry) was surprised by Terry?s thoroughness, but it was just right for us, especially since we were buying from out of the area.
I am 100% convinced that we could not have gotten our dream home without Terry?s on-the-spot availability and his negotiating skill. (We also got it under market and under appraised value, too? but the MOST important thing was that we GOT IT! Yippee!) It closed day before yesterday, and we?re traveling back from Las Vegas to enjoy what is now OUR new home, and I am the most excited I have ever been with a real estate purchase. Terry?s business card promised us the best real estate transaction we have ever had. We got what he promised (and more), AND we got the best home ever, too! (BTW, we received thousands in what Terry calls his Buyer Cash-Back to cover our escrow and other costs? it just keeps getting better and better!)
Terry doesn?t do all this by himself. His Client Experience Manager, Transaction Control Auditor (his fancy names remind me of Starbucks!) and his lender are all part of the team. Together, they provide an exceptional experience with outstanding results. His lender handled our complex financial circumstances like a pro, allowing us to make the strong offer that we needed to get the seller to accept our offer. Without her expertise, we might have lost out to the swarm of other Realtors.
Hunter-Broker provided us the best real estate experience we have ever had, and got us our one-of-a-kind home. We will recommend Terry as the very best Realtor to use to all of our friends forever! Viva Hunter-Broker!
John
& Julie (formerly) from Las Vegas
"Wow! This was the most excited buyer I have ever worked with and her excitement was totally infectious! There are some clients who just make you "love the work you do", and this buyer was the epitome of this. I want to do a hundred more transactions just like this one! 1. We bought under appraisal and for hundreds of thousands less than we expected it to sell for. 2. We saw it, wanted it, and couldn't have it, and then the buyer in escrow got a job offer out of state that they couldn't refuse... they were heartbroken about losing this home, but had to leave. And so we COULD have it, after all! 3. We moved quickly because our buyer had followed our guidelines to get into "pounce mode", so we were READY (even though we never expected to have a chance at THIS home! What a wonderful experience... I am STOKED!"
It was a long negotiation after we found the home we wanted (6 counter-offers) over a period of weeks. Fortunately, the owner refused to reduce his price and offer to the market in general what we negotiated with him... otherwise, we might not have gotten the property. As it was, we were "in" at $35,000 under what the home was available to the rest of the world.
Terry was great... the negotiations stalled, and so he called up the other agent to have the seller do what Terry called a "reverse offer"... we had walked away, thinking that we needed to find another home. The "reverse offer" brought the negotiations back to life, and in the end we decided to "roll the dice" and play hardball by offering less than we really thought it would take. And then, out of nowhere, Terry heard from the seller agent that they were accepting our offer! What we thought was going to be a sad loss of the home we wanted, ended up working out PERFECTLY! Our new home is beautiful, in a terrific location, and has wonderful neighbors who watch out for each other. What a wonderful place to start our life together.
Terry's Buyer Cash-Back (as he calls his rebate) is great too. With the home purchase and the wedding AND the engagement trip to Europe, we are so excited that the Cash-Back money will pay our escrow & title costs.
More important, we felt comfortable with Terry's expertise, honesty, and constant availability, day and night. His Client Experience Manager, Lauren was the same way. She made sure that we were constantly in the loop of things and made sure that everything was going the exact way that we wanted it to go. What a great way to avoid all the stress and bother that our friends told us buying a home would be... none of that here with Terry and Lauren!
We tell all our friends that Hunter-Broker is the best company for helping them buy a home, whether it's their first time, or not. The way they do things is completely different than the other real estate stories we've heard and experienced. They will get the job RIGHT and DONE just the way you want it :]
Choosing Hunter Broker is your First and most important choice !
"What a power couple! He owns his own rapidly growing printing company and she is a high-level c-suite exec in the corporate world. And they are SOOO nice to work with, too. They expected the same precision that their business and job demands of them, and I am delighted that they are totally happy with the service they got from Hunter-Broker. I LOVE working with people who demand the best, and then recognize it when they get it from us. Their life together is just starting, and I am stoked to be involved with getting them the home they really wanted as their first home together, despite the chaos of the divorce battle between the sellers that caused the sale. He has been providing me precision printing, done right and done quickly, for years. It feels good to be able to return the favor by providing them the same high performance level that I have enjoyed as his customer. What a win for everyone this purchase has been!"
I just had Terry represent me in the purchase of a Costa Mesa condo close to South Coast Plaza. It was exactly what I was looking for, and Terry and his Client Experience Manager, Lauren, and her staff, made the entire transaction pleasant & stress-free. It is clear that Lauren loves helping ? more like a ?calling? than a job for her! The others on his extended team are pros, too. Terry told me that his lender, Debbie, is the best he has had in his 30 years in the business. After working with her, I see what he means. She handled the complexities in my financial situation without hesitation, providing me the quick answers I needed to be able to commit to the purchase.
Part of the reason for my lack of stress was Terry?s pre-planning. Everything that I needed for evaluating the property was available to me from the very first time I saw it. Instead of the usual grab-bag of unknowns and problems I was used to when making an offer on real estate, I had a clear termite report, a home inspection report (from an architect & general contractor, no less, another of Terry?s extended team), a title report, and all of the HOA documents. In short, I had everything I needed to decide on a price and everything I needed to ?nail-down? the property for myself. What a better way to buy a home, compared to the usual process of finding out about the home defects after making my offer. Although I know Terry?s process is not standard, I had no problem quickly evaluating the home and removing virtually all contingencies except the appraisal when I signed the offer.
The property I bought was covered by Hunter-Broker?s Certified Pre-Owned Property program. Similar to certified pre-owned luxury cars, he told me this property had been extensively inspected and repaired, and then covered by a 3 year home warranty and 3 year termite protection. Since the seller had already done all the reasonable repairs that needed to be done, I didn?t have to negotiate to get them done, and then worry about whether they would be done right. It was all handled before I even saw the home, and I knew exactly what I was buying. What a refreshingly different way to avoid all the usual tacky back-and-forth about repairs! And the 3 year home warranty & termite coverage gave me peace of mind, too. Knowing this much about the property allowed me to remove most of the contingencies quickly, so I knew that I wouldn?t lose the property to some other buyer right at the end.
Terry didn?t waste my time with a lot a phone calls and meetings. He came to my place completely prepared with an electronic version of all of the documents, ready for signing. I was able to go over everything and digitally sign the purchase contract and disclosures in an hour and 15 minutes, total (while I watched a hockey game)!
All of the follow-on documents, like escrow instructions and amendments, came through him. They were digital documents that he reviewed and approved BEFORE I even saw them, and all I had to do was click on them to quickly sign and get my copies. He did not allow the escrow officer to send anything to me directly, rather insisting that every thing be routed through him, so he had total control over what I signed. When he said that he would review every critical document before I signed it, he really meant it. And, on top of that, he had the escrow officer put in the escrow instructions that any conflicts between our contract and the escrow instructions would be resolved in favor of the contract. So, even if an error had crept in, it still wouldn?t have changed our agreement, because of this provision in the escrow instructions.
I put Terry on notice that, based on my trust in him and the extensive prep work he had done on the property, I was not going to do another home inspection. ( My friends said I should get my own, but I had confidence in Terry.) Terry told me that my trust in him was well-placed, and that he used the same thorough (?picky? was the word he used) termite inspector and home inspector for his sellers that he used for his buyers (when he was not the seller agent). He said that ALL of the inspections he oversees are to find out ?what is?, and not just ?what is good for his client?. In this case, Terry represented both me and the seller, but he said he always treats everyone fairly, whether they are his client or not.
Well, it?s easy to talk the talk, but Terry walked the walk, too! Several items had been turned?in to the HOA for repairs. Most were done, but they declined to handle 3 of them. So, before this point, the seller thought that the HOA would handle these three items. Since the inspection report I got said that they were turned-in to the HOA, I thought they were handled, too. When they were kicked back, Terry sent me and the seller a letter saying that since we both reasonably expected these items were handled, he was going to make us both right by handling them himself, at his own expense. He gave me the option to receive a credit, or to have him take care of these. I wanted them done, and told him so. True to his word, he took care of everything. No fuss, no muss, no bother? Terry could have tried to ?slide sideways? on this, but just simply did the right thing, in my view.
All in all, I have never had such a smooth and fully orchestrated real estate experience. I am impressed, and I highly recommend Terry, Hunter-Broker, and his internal and external staff. It is, as he says, a totally different way to buy real estate.
I like my new home a lot, and I liked the process of getting it a lot, too!
If you want a low-stress, low-hassle way to buy a home, talk to Terry!
Larry
"Rational, decisive and easy-to-work-with buyer who made up his mind quickly after hanging-out at one of our open houses for a couple of hours to get the feel of the home. I am particularly happy that our non-standard approach was not a turn-off to him. I know that all of our sellers like our no-nonsense procedures, and I am relieved every time a buyer feels the same way, too. We have a totally unique approach. Where most agents just use the standard California Association of Real Estate forms as-is, we add some proprietary addenda from our attorney that make the selling process more fair for sellers, and not just a "free option" to buyers. The problem with just using the standard forms as-is is that the seller is obligated to sell from the time the contract is signed, but the buyer can cancel for up to 17 days, during the inspection period. Sometimes, buyers just "fall out of love" with a property, and then cancel late in the 17 day period because of some imaginary "defect" in the property. It's not supposed to happen this way (the buyer is supposed to act in good faith), but it still does happen. This is devastating to the seller's marketing, forcing them to start over, and making their property look shopworn and on the market too long. We realized that the problem was that the contract recognizes that many times properties are put in the MLS before they're ready to be sold, and so it takes a long time for the buyer to decide to buy or not. In some cases, the seller agents want to use the buyer's deposit money to get the HOA docs, for example. So, the preparation process just STARTS after a buyer makes an offer! We think that it is a grave disservice to the seller if their home is not ready to CLOSE escrow when the marketing begins. So, our program is that we are ready to close escrow the first day we go into the MLS. We prepare EVERYTHING possible, so that when a buyer wants to buy, they CAN decide, because they have everything in hand necessary to decide (i.e. clear termite, HOA docs, Home Inspection, etc.) Then, we ask the buyer to remove all contingencies, except 2: 1) A 95% Appraisal ( it's hard to get a good appraiser because they have to be chosen more or less randomly by an Appraisal Management Company) and 2) a Limited Home Re-Inspection that only allows cancellation if there really IS something major wrong with the home (unlikely, since we just finished a home inspection, roof inspection, and termite report). The good news is that great buyers like this straightforward approach, and it is a great buyer that we look for for our sellers, anyway. And, when we represent great buyers (rather than, or in addition to the seller), we try to do the same thing if everything we need to decide is available to us. As long as everyone is fully protected, there's no point in dragging out the process, causing stress and anxiety for everyone involved. So, we are elated with this buyer, and also elated that our non-standard approach is finding favor with buyers and sellers, alike."
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37 Via Soria, San Clemente, CA 92673
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