Terry was referred to us by our friend who owns an escrow company. His escrow company works with scores of agents, but they picked Terry for us… and now we know WHY! This has been our very best real estate transaction EVER, and we’ve owned a LOT of property!

We expected to spend many weekends finding our new home, with the hassle of Monica flying out from Arizona for each lost weekend and missing our young kids, too, who would have to stay with our folks while we were house-hunting.

Meanwhile, I was starting my new job as the CEO of a public company, and REALLY didn’t have much time to go house-hunting, no matter HOW important it was to get the RIGHT place to raise our kids.

Fortunately, with Terry to guide us, we found the PERFECT place for us in a single MARATHON weekend. The two days were VERY long, but, in the end, we got what we wanted with WAY less effort than we expected.

How this happened was a study in WHY Terry is different, and WHY he made this purchase our best real estate transaction EVER. He started out by listening, really listening, to what we were trying to accomplish… to the point where HE could help focus our search, rather than just throw properties at us, hoping that we would like one and buy it.

In fact, he took the OPPOSITE tack… he was able to eliminate huge areas of consideration by being willing to “tell it like it is”. We have NEVER heard a real estate agent say the kinds of things HE said about properties we might have bought from him. He managed to eliminate entire areas he originally considered for us by putting himself in our shoes and eliminating those that didn’t meet our price/size/school/commute/intangible requirements. As a consequence, he helped us pick from the best of the best, and not waste our time looking at second-stringers.

Part of the answer is his wide area of expertise. Where some agents sell the same few homes over and over, Terry (who ONLY handles homes and condos in south Orange County, and so is an expert in that limited market) is experienced from Tustin to San Clemente. He is not locked into a small area… unlike some agents who try to “shoe-horn” everybody into the small areas they know, rather than find the BEST area for their client. Anyway, as I mentioned, we were astonished to hear him say thing like “these are convenient, the schools are great, but they are just oversized boxes on too-small lots, and your price range is at the top of the neighborhood … not a good plan for you!” (i.e. about $1.5MM homes in Quail Hill, Irvine). In our experience, most agents would have been careful to say NOTHING NEGATIVE about the properties, in hopes that we might buy one (and only LATER find out that they were totally WRONG for us!). Terry didn’t just make these pronouncements… he substantiated them with facts that showed us he knew what he was talking about. …same for the substandard schools serving the nicest part of Ladera Ranch, and likewise about pricey homes in San Juan Capistrano that he described as “tiny islands of expensive homes surrounded by a sea of average homes”. In short, Terry saved us days and days of wasted time by NOT looking at nice homes in mediocre areas, and mediocre homes in nice areas. We were able to look at and choose our new home from the best of the best… because Terry was willing to tell us the truth, no matter WHERE it led us!

His high-tech systems allowed US to see EVERYTHING in the market place (he didn’t just pull his recommendations out of some “magic black box”… he showed us everything that matched our criteria, then discussed each property that looked good to us, helping us to keep some on the list, and to reject others, even bringing some of our rejects back into consideration). He then spent DAYS just before our first fly-out, looking at everything that was left after he separated out the best of the best for us. By the time we arrived for our first “lost weekend”, he had already seen everything on our interest list, and was able to give us the “big picture” of what the market had to offer. And, our “lost weekend” wasn’t that at all… it was actually exciting to be able to select from the best of the best, and not waste our time plodding through the no-go houses that Terry had already seen for us… and eliminated!

There were STILL plenty of homes to see, and we took 2 days, from early in the morning until late at night, to see them all. Finally, it came down to only 2 homes! Both were beautiful, and both looked like they were designed especially for us! Again, the typical agent would have carefully kept both options open by avoiding any negative judgments about either (in case we couldn’t negotiate an acceptable purchase on the other one). But Terry’s goal was NOT to “sell us something”… it was to work hard to get the RIGHT ONE for us! So, again, while we were trying to decide between the two homes, he pointed out the negatives of both homes to help us decide, all the while knowing that if we couldn’t get our first choice, the higher number of negatives on our second choice might very well eliminate that choice, too. If that happened, we would have to continue the looking process. What a relief it is to have someone looking out for US, rather than calculating his own benefits instead!

Our negotiation for our favorite went very well. The seller had just reduced the price about 10% (this price reduction brought the home into our price range, and was instantly picked-up by Terry’s systems), but we STILL got a further reduction. Terry’s astute understanding of the seller’s situation and psychology allowed us to know “when we were home”, and locked in a great buy for us. We decided to make an all-cash offer, only later (after acceptance) modifying the agreement to use some financing, after all. Naturally, this looked GREAT to the seller, and was a big part of getting the additional reduction.

Once our offer was accepted, Terry went to work with the escrow picked by the seller’s agent to conform the escrow process to Terry’s unique process of overseeing all the details of our purchase, and handling what essentially amounted to another whole negotiation on the items we wanted repaired. He put safeguards into the escrow that made us immediately comfortable that we could sign them without worrying about changing our agreement with the seller. Then he insisted that ALL the documents of importance to us be sent to him FIRST for his review (the escrow frankly didn’t want to be bothered, and said so… however, Terry got the process, standard for him, instituted anyway). And, the process worked as expected… the escrow made a significant error in billing for the cash to close, but Terry picked up the error right away, and it was corrected without lost time and “head-scratching” by us. We had our hands full with the kids, the move, and the new job… we NEEDED someone who “got it” looking out for us, and we got Terry… PERFECT!!

Terry has taken care of sequencing in the final preparation of the home just before our movers arrive. We just closed yesterday, and our movers will be there next week… and THEN, in a couple of weeks, Terry is throwing a Housewarming Party for us to meet the neighbors, and to share our new home with friends and colleagues! The move from Arizona is still stressful, but Terry’s part was actually fun. Great experience! We thought his outlandish promise on his business card … that he promised the best commercial transaction we have EVER had, every time he works with us… was just hype, but now we know it’s for REAL!

We’ll be introducing him as the best choice for our employees, management staff, and EVERYBODY we know is coming to California!

PS: Terry has a Buyer Cash-Back program that was worth THOUSANDS to us, too!

Happy Coto de Caza homeowners

This is the second property Terry has sold for us. He did an excellent job the first time, and repeated the performance for us a short while ago. The first property sold quickly (and the buyer paid over full price because of Terry’s innovative Buyer Cash-Back, which made US more money!), so, although we knew the quality of Terry’s marketing, we DIDN’T realize how totally committed he would be during the soft market that we sold our last home in.

He provided EXCELLENT photo-quality flyers (a bound booklet of 4 of them, actually) to fully present all the positives of our home, and to mitigate the negatives of our location. As important as the printed flyers were, the on-line flyers and the other Virtual Tour and other “extra-mile” enhancements were even MORE important. (Originally, we didn’t think that a Virtual Tour even was an “extra-mile” enhancement… however NOT EVEN ONE of our competitors had one, so we guess it IS “extra” for most agents, but NOT for Terry. Less than 30% of all listings have Virtual Tours…but just “business as usual” for Terry!)

Our home was very close to Jamboree, a 6-lane, busy street, right across from a major resort hotel. Nevertheless, Terry got the job done.

One helpful selling approach was the extra commission we were able to offer to buyer agents, WITHOUT paying more than the overall going rate ourselves. Sounds impossible, but it’s true because Terry only charges about 1/3 the going rate as a listing fee. In a strong market (not like the one the sub-prime loan fiasco had just pummeled to the ground), this would mean lower costs to us. In the weak market we had to sell in, however, we were able to offer a VERY attractive commission to the buyer agents WITHOUT paying more than the “going rate” overall. The extra commission sure caught their attention, and was critically important in getting our sale together. The extra commission attracted the agent of the buyer who ultimately bought our home. During the negotiations, however, we were able to negotiate it back down to standard. GREAT approach!

Because the home is in a gated community, and because the HOA does not allow signs, Terry held a huge number of Open Houses to get people in to experience our home. In short, he utilized the internet masterfully, but also handled the local action equally as well. Despite his low fees (and Buyer Cash-Back), Terry is a more-than-full-service broker.

We have trust in Terry personally, and are continually impressed with his forward-thinking marketing approaches. …ALWAYS a pleasant experience working with him.

Next year, we will buy again, and look forward to working with Terry for the THIRD time! Until then… DH & PH, Happy, “money’s-in-the-bank” sellers in Newport Beach

Dear Terry:

We want to write a short testimonial on your behalf that you can share with others, if you so choose. We rarely do such things, so we are not sure where to begin.

We have bought and sold many houses over the years, and have really not seen much difference from one agent to another...until we worked with you.

We knew you were different when you explained why putting an offer on a particular property was not in our best interest. We have never heard of an agent going to such an extent to look out for his client. It turned out, of course, you were right. What a mistake that purchase would have been!

We appreciate you taking the time to get to know our needs and limitations. You tirelessly showing us several properties until we found just the right one. But, you didn't stop there. You negotiated, bartered, advised, and reassured throughout the entire process. We have not a single regret. We love our new home, and are convinced we could not be where we are if we had any other agent.

We cannot foresee buying or selling a piece of property without consulting you first. You are truly a knowledgeable, skilled, and multi-talented professional.

To anyone reading this, we want you to know how impressed we are by Terry Hunter's astute real estate and financial expertise. His intuition and overall business acumen are second to none.

Terry, please feel free to share this with anyone you choose. If they want confirmation, feel free to give them our personal contact information.

Thank you so much for everything you have done for us. And please don't be a stranger.

Sincerely,


Matthew Willey
Michele Reynolds

This is the third property transaction that Terry has handled for us! As a licensed mortgage broker and loan underwriter, we have the knowledge (and license, for that matter) to handle this ourselves, but we feel that we are MUCH better off to pay Terry to do this for us, despite being licensed ourselves.

We continue to promote Terry to all our friends, family, and loan clients too, because we KNOW the difference between the usual real estate salesman and Terry, who operates as a trusted advisor, not a salesperson. It is unusual to find BOTH trustworthiness and expertise in one person… but that describes Terry to a tee!

Before counseling us on pricing, which we all agree is critical in our current market, Terry interviewed the agents with listings in the same complex as the rental we were exchanging up from. He then accompanied us to see all the competition. Only after he and we both really knew the market for our property did he prepare the Market Evaluation so we could price it to sell. We had a GREAT opportunity to buy a 5-plex, and we REALLY wanted to make it all happen. So, even though we wanted top dollar, we also wanted to price it to sell, too!

Terry provided us the same marketing & promotion for our small rental as he provides for million-dollar-plus properties, including TWO virtual tours and a video, and insisted that we do what he calls a “high-heels and make-up” presentation of the property! And, sure enough, we got 3 offers on the condo, one of which was full price, with 20% down …all within 10 days of putting it on the market! This is especially noteworthy in our current market, where buyers are offering 10’s of thousands of dollars under asking price, and then want to buy with tiny down payments (often not closing at all!).

Part of what Terry calls his “Cold-Market Strategy” is his pre-positioning of ALL the documents needed to close. He didn’t wait until there was a buyer to do this… he started right when he listed our property to get the HOA docs, the title report, and a clear termite report. His idea is that the quicker the buyer can remove contingencies and close (and the fewer unresolved problem the buyer encounters), the more likely it is that the buyer WILL close. And, with so many escrows failing now, this is critical. It was especially critical in our case, as we needed a quick and certain close to exchange into the 5-plex we wanted. Because the documents were all in place by the time we got our best buyer (10 days after listing in the MLS), we then were able to close early (just 11 days after we found out best buyer, and only 21 days after we LISTED our property… and usually it takes at least 30 days just to close escrow AFTER getting a buyer!). So, we listed and closed at full price just 21 days after putting our property on the market(and and were able to get the 5-plex we wanted). Terry’s “Cold-Market Strategy” seems like a “red hot” approach to us! We were able to close while most agents would still be trying to the HOA documents (3 HOA’s in our case!).

We knew from our last 2 transactions that we could count on Terry, but we were especially impressed with such a quick and smooth sale of our property. Terry’s whole team is top-notch, too! With prices falling madly all around us in the neighborhood where our fragile sale was racing towards the closing, Terry’s escrow team member, Blackmore Escrow, further expedited our closing. Terry’s hand-picked escrow officer from Blackmore Escrow coordinated especially closely with the buyer’s lender, chopping yet another day off our closing by starting the funding process early. Not only does Terry preposition everything needed to close… his entire team takes it upon themselves to be SURE the transaction closes quickly!

As usual, Terry kept us up-to-date all the way. All of this seems so natural and right… but when we reflect on the usual “fire-drill” we, as lenders and underwriters ourselves, see so often in the typical sale, we marvel that Terry’s transactions are so different. Working with Terry is so free of stress that it almost seems like the entire sale is just a rehearsal, but then we realize that it’s DONE… we have closed exactly as planned (or even earlier, as in this case)! As lenders and underwriters, we see a LOT more sales than even the typical agent sees, and we KNOW the difference... and we appreciate it, too!

Happy move-up real estate investors, with a successful 1031 exchange into our new 5-plex!

It's easy for agents to be 'heroes' to their clients when prices are rising, and homes are 'selling like hotcakes'! The situation is a vastly different, though, when the market is moving the other direction. That was our situation. Terry provides extraordinary marketing, including newspaper ads for our home in over 20 newspapers weekly, a widely-distributed, professional-quality Virtual Tour, open houses, direct mail, unbelievable Internet marketing results (including 1st page search results from Google), his "Talking House" technology, his own showings of our home, and much, much more. With ALL of this, though, it just wasn't happening (neither for us, nor for competing sellers & other brokers in our neighborhood).

Then it happened! One of Terry's other clients decided to accept the offer she had on her property, and immediately decided to purchase in our neighborhood. Until that time, such buyer interest as there was (lukewarm at best) was about $25,000 less than our minimum acceptable price. However, Terry's other client bought at a price that would have been acceptable to us. Even though she chose another property rather than ours, this finally 'put the brakes' on the unchecked 'market slide' that had been happening, and created a new 'floor' $25,000 higher than the other buyers in the market were focusing on. So, that was a relief! Finally, we were going to get a 'comp' for our sale that might help us get our price, and the short escrow on the other sale made it almost certain that we would be able to use it to get our appraisal, once we found a buyer.

All we needed was a buyer!

About this time, Terry's Virtual Tour (which Terry had worked long and hard on with us to make it near perfect) produced for us! A buyer who had viewed the Virtual Tour sent in an email requesting a physical viewing. Terry showed him our home. The next day Terry wrote up an Agreement that met our price requirement, AND allowed only 7 days (not the usual 17 days) of uncertainty before removing buyer contingencies. The escrow closing was only 12 days after that!! Part of getting our price was Terry's Buyer Cash-Back Rebate. The buyer received several thousand dollars from Terry (NOT from our money), and that helped convince the buyer to pay OUR target price.

Terry's program is UNBELEIVABLE. He only charges about half what other brokers ask, AND gives Buyers back thousands in rebates, too! On top of that, he controls the financing, and is able to close in under 20 days, like he did for us. We really appreciate the quick close and low commissions, but the KEY is the price he was able to get for us, and how he was able to get the buyer contingencies removed in about 1/3 the usual time, so we could complete our move to Arizona, knowing that our home was REALLY sold!! Terry helped us buy this home about 3 years ago, and now he has gotten us a premium price for it in our current market You can guess who we will use if we ever return to California!!

BG & LG, Former La Mancha owners, on to Arizona!

Jo Ann & Travis Searcy, Award-Winning Insurance Agency Owners,
Channel Islands, CA

"Terry Hunter has been our broker for most of our real estate transactions for over 18 years! He has handled our homes, business leases, land acquisition, commercial land and building sales, development negotiations, and government "buy-out" negotiations, among other tasks.

We have remained loyal clients because he has ALWAYS put our interests above his own, constantly kept us informed up-to-the-minute, and given us the bare, unvarnished, honest truth about every single aspect of our transactions. He is extraordinarily expert as a negotiator, and he constantly trains and educates his inherent abilities. (It's great to work with a professional who not only understands us and our complex transactions, but actually anticipates what we will want before we want it!) We have made HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS in profit with his help, and it has been a pleasant and exhilarating experience, time after time. We have GLADLY paid him commissions up to 10%, and counted it a BARGAIN to gain his expertise and guidance for so relatively little. (We operated our own award-winning insurance agency for years, and we know what it takes to consistently deliver expertise like he does!)

Now, Terry has begun his UNBELIEVABLE "Sellers Save About Half" and "Buyer Instant Rebate" programs, along with his written "30-Day Satisfaction Guarantee" assurance. We frankly have NEVER seen such a combination! (In fact, we told Terry that lower commissions and rebates would be totally UNNECESSARY for us and his other clients! However, he is convinced that technology is causing drastic changes in the marketing of real estate, and he wants to remain at the forefront of the real estate industry, continuing to bring exceptional value to his clients.)

Without reservation, we highly recommend Terry Hunter & Hunter-Broker to ANYONE buying, selling, or developing real estate. Based on our own 18 years of experience with Terry as his client and his friend, his services would still be a BARGAIN at MANY TIMES his low fees!"

Ms. Olivia Catibayan,
International Business Owner

"At first, my friend didn't understand, but then I explained. "Since you plan to buy a home in the $300,000 range", I told her, "this card will save you $3,000!" I explained that Hunter-Broker pays a 1% REBATE to Buyers, and this would be money in her pocket.

I also told her that I had been VERY pleased with Terry Hunter (the Broker for Hunter-Broker) on the marketing of my own home. He was always accessible through his email, fax, and mobile phone, and he kept me up-to-date constantly. During the short time my home was on the market, he also did extensive advertising and held a number of open houses. Furthermore, selling my home through Terry would have saved me over $13,000 because of Hunter-Broker's "Seller Save About Half" & "Buyer Instant Rebate" programs.

In my own case, my plans had changed, and I decided not to sell my home. True to his word, Terry cancelled the agreement immediately, no questions asked (Hunter-Broker has a no-hassle program that allows cancellation of the listing).

NO question in MY mind how to sell my home if I do decide to leave the area! Hunter-Broker gave me the best service I have EVER received. What a refreshing change from my other real estate experience! Highly recommended!"

Ed Martens, Financial Planning,
Royal Alliance Associates
Feel free to call me for more specific details about working with Hunter-Broker at (949) 837-6700.

"As a Financial Planner, I demand for my personal real estate transactions the same kind of expert, responsive, and accurate handling that I provide for my own investment clients (especially given the recent market "run-up" in our real estate equities). I really didn't think such service was available in the (undisciplined, to my eye) real estate market, but I got all the expertise and attention to detail that I expected, and more, from Hunter-Broker. As a direct result of his performance, Terry Hunter has earned, and continues to earn with every new transaction, ALL of our real estate brokerage business. Even more critically, he is one of the VERY few people from any industry I have been willing to refer to my own clients, whose interests I watch even closer than my own.

He has gotten us premium prices when we have sold property with him, and terrific results when we have bought. I have gone from intense "micro-managing" to being secure in the knowledge that Terry consistently makes the same "on-the-spot" negotiating decisions for us that I would make personally. There's just no substitute for the winning combination of experience, focus, education, and intelligence in today's demanding real estate market, and Terry is the "best of the best". He told us that he was striving to be our "real estate agent for life", and that's just what he has become!

PS: Hunter-Broker's fee structure is the lowest I have ever seen! By itself, that would not be a decision point for me and my clients, but combined with Hunter-Broker's overall excellence, it certainly is the "icing on the cake"!"

I missed the 'top of the market', but still needed to sell to pursue other activities. What to do, what to do…?

Clearly, the home across the street hadn't sold after months of trying, so it didn't make much sense to contact that broker (and there would be divided broker loyalties if a buyer had to choose between that house and mine, anyway). Also, I knew that the market had dropped from its dizzying heights, and I needed to save some money on commission, too, to make up part of the price decline.

So, I saw Terry's ad for a 1% listing fee, and called him. His program was exactly as I understood it from the ad (a little surprising, considering my typical experience with this process). His presentation convinced me that he could do a good job of marketing the property for me, and I liked his nearly 50% savings in the commission, so I signed up, sold and locked-in my incredible 3 year profit.

Now that I had the profit, I still needed a nice place to live. So, I talked to Terry about buying a new place. Not surprisingly, he liked the idea.

Not only did I now have someone to help who I could trust, but it turns out that Terry has a SECOND, and unrelated money-saving program, this time for BUYERS (like me, now)!! Basically, no matter who listed the property I buy (in other words, ANY property in the entire MLS), I get up to 1% cash rebate through escrow. So I bought a place, and the cash-back went a LONG way toward paying the listing fee on the SALE of my home. Remember my goal of making up part of the market decline? Well, here was another piece of my 'recovery program' !!

Terry saved me still MORE money, this time from an unexpected source. The termite report & repairs on the property I bought covered a situation where the termite company did part of the work, and part of if was subbed-out to other contractors by the seller. Terry has a saying that "EVERYBODY'S responsibility is NOBODY'S responsibility". So, he decided to order a reinspection of the property (at his own expense) about 10 days before close. I guess it's just the careful, thorough way he does business. Anyway, the report came back NOT clear. Nearly $2,000 in repairs were needed to get a 'clear' report. We caught it before close of escrow, so it was the seller's responsibility. So, I was glad to save the money that I would have had to pay if Terry had not been on-the-ball. But this raised another problem, one that looked a little 'thorny'.

My loan, which I had elected to get through a family member, rather than Terry, EXPIRED because of the termite report delay. PLUS, that lender wanted thousands of dollars to extend my rate lock, even for a short period. Furthermore, even if I DID extend the lock, I had no assurances that I could close, because the lender absolutely REFUSED to allow the transaction to close before the work was done, even with 200% of the repair cost held in escrow. So, it looked entirely possible that I could pay for the extension, then STILL lose my loan rate (a GOOD one!) if the work didn't get done on time, through no fault of mine. And, it was December, and who could know (before it would already be too late) whether the busy local contractors would actually complete the work on time??

Terry to the rescue again... He talked to my lender, confirmed that there was no way to close the sale with that lender without the work being done, and then called me. What he basically told me was that the other lender would not perform, but that he (Terry) could get me the same rate, and also lock if for a full 30 MORE days. Better yet, Terry's lender WOULD close BEFORE the work was done, with just holding 200% of the contractor's bid from the sellers' funds in escrow. And, the new loan from Terry could be done in 14 days from start to finish. (Actually Terry delivered MORE than he promised AGAIN! It was NOT 14 days … It was only 10 days, including the weekend. We started the process on Wednesday, and by the very next Friday, my transaction funded, and I closed Friday afternoon. We started from zero, and got the appraisal & everything else I needed to close in a little over a WEEK!! Unbelievable!)

So now, I didn't have to worry about the work getting done by some artificial deadline. I could close NOW, and fix LATER (actually have the seller fix later). Meanwhile, however, I still had a Monday date with my moving company, and here it was Thursday already. No problem for Terry! He arranged a rent-while-in-escrow with the sellers' agent, and so I moved in on time, too!

The cost for getting the replacement loan and arranging the rental…?? Well, actually there was NO COST. In fact I SAVED nearly $1,000 from the costs of my original loan. So, not only did I save the money on the repairs I didn't have to do (because they were the sellers' responsibility, and Terry caught it before my purchase closed escrow), I ALSO got a better loan than the original, and I got it only 10 days after starting over again on the loan!! (The new lender paid for a replacement appraisal, too!) It certainly doesn't hurt that I have great credit, and was making a large downpayment. However, the other lender had the same offer made to them, but it was TERRY & his lender who really came through.

Wow! What a long story… I really hadn't realized all that had happened, until I started to think about it for one of Terry's Client Success Stories, as he calls them. There were LOTS of places where things going wrong could have cost me THOUSANDS. With Terry on my side, I actually came out BETTER because of the problems. I have already done 2 transactions with Terry. You can guess the answer to the "WHO ya gonna call" question the NEXT time I do ANYTHING with real estate, including refinancing!

G.R.,
Mission Viejo Homeowner who made the RIGHT choice!

We have known Terry since 2001, when he worked long and hard to help us purchase our home in Dove Canyon Country Club. Now that we needed to sell, we called on him again, even though, as a licensed real estate agent, we could have handled the sale ourselves. We know, however, that it takes more than a license to actually close a transaction! In fact, we did give it a try ourselves at the height of the market a couple of years ago, and TWICE our sale failed to close! This time, we wanted to make SURE we actually were successful in getting our home sold, so we could move closer to our daughter’s school in Irvine.

We jointly went over the recent sales in our neighborhood with Terry, and he actually suggested a higher price than the one we had arrived at, despite the uncertainty of the market. He further said we could expect to have a buyer in 3 weeks, and to close a month after that. He explained to us that, in a falling market, we didn’t want to get into a “sell slow…sell low” program, but rather we needed to price our home so that a buyer would get a case of the “I wants”, as he calls it.

We have 3 small children, and planned to move into a rental until we could find the perfect replacement home for us (and buy it at the best time, too, in our falling market, just like we bought our current home at the right price!). Unlike most agents, who are salespeople, rather than trusted advisors, Terry made a startling suggestion to us. He suggested that we move out FIRST (paying rent while we marketed the home), calling this his “retain Mom’s sanity” program. This way we could live a normal life but STILL make the home available for viewing by a prospective buyer on a moment’s notice. After thinking about this approach, we decided that it was a good one, and agreed to do it this way.

Well, it turns out that it didn’t make any difference, anyway. Terry sold the home in only two days to a buyer he had been working with for a couple of months to find a home in Tustin. Since Terry takes the time to REALLY understand what his clients are trying to accomplish, he knew that the buyer was looking for a convenient drive to Irvine, but with better pricing than Irvine offers. He presented our home to his buyer as a home no farther away than Tustin would be from her Irvine workplace, even though it seemed a huge distance away from Tustin… the drive would be the same or shorter, and our home was better than the one they had put in an offer on in Tustin. He not only sold it in two days, but sold it at effectively full price, and closed the escrow in about 2 weeks! We are sure his Buyer Cash-Back helped us get the price we wanted, as this cash-back paid all the buyer’s costs!

We have been referring Terry to our friends since we worked with him in 2001, and now we are even MORE determined to be SURE that ALL our friends and family know about Terry, so that they can have the same great buying and selling experiences we have had. Terry is a trusted friend, as well as the best agent we have EVER worked with! We INSIST that our friends use him, because we feel it would be a disservice to them to allow them to use anybody else!

TOTALLY satisfied, raving fans of Terry Hunter, and FORMER !! Dove Canyon Country Club homeowners <g>

Our friend Jennifer introduced Terry to us, and we are SO glad she did! We have never worked with an agent so attuned to OUR wants and objectives as Terry. Most agents we have encountered have been more interested in their own goals than ours, but NOT SO with Terry! In fact, he even tried to discourage us from buying a home that he felt wasn’t as good as we could do for ourselves, a home that backed to a busy street. We have to admit, this is the FIRST time a real estate agent suggested that we NOT buy a home from him! Terry was truly interested in OUR well-being, even if it meant “no sale” for him!

In fact, that’s exactly how it looked like it was going to be. After the seller of the home Terry tried to discourage us from buying “slow-played” us for a long time, they ended up accepting a higher offer from some other buyer, leaving us discouraged about the whole process, and deciding that we would just wait a while before buying.

That was before we got Terry’s call about the MUCH larger (nearly 3,000sf) home he had just listed. The home was in Dove Canyon Country Club, a terrific area south of Irvine. At first, it seemed WAY too far away, but Terry pointed out that the drive to work in Irvine would be no farther from Dove Canyon that it would have been from the home we had tried to buy in Tustin. And, as he also pointed out, Dove Canyon Country Club is MUCH nicer than the neighborhood where we were trying to buy. Terry was right… it WAS a lot nicer than the Tustin home and neighborhood, and it was priced RIGHT… we were the first to know about it, since it hadn’t even gone on the market yet. So, we took a look, and bought it the next day! It sure helped that Terry’s cash-back paid us thousands of dollars, too!

Since Terry was the only agent involved, everything went very smoothly, and Terry made SURE we knew he was treating both us and the sellers equally, neither favoring one nor the other. That is probably our most vivid recollection from the process, a feeling that we could rely on Terry’s trustworthiness, no matter what the circumstances. We liked the sellers, too, and the mutual trust all around made it possible to close quickly despite a couple of “speed-bumps” that had to be handled after the close of escrow (replacement of a couple of windows, a broken mirrored closet door, and repairs related to the water heater). Everything was fully stated in writing, and we all knew what we expected, and what was expected of us. We closed on time, and the seller has just completed the promised repairs as he said he would. VERY smooth transaction altogether!

We have NEVER had such professional work done for us, especially in buying or selling real estate. I work in a precision profession (handling people’s financial information), and my husband is studying to be an attorney. We KNOW the difference between OK and exceptional… and Terry is EXCEPTIONAL! Speed, keeping us informed at all times, and being even-handed with both us and the sellers made this a dream buy for us. Even my father, who speaks little English, trusted Terry. When I told Terry that, he asked me how that could be, since my dad didn’t even speak English! I told him that his trustworthiness showed ACROSS languages, and that my dad had also a real estate professional in China. He knew from the start that Terry could be trusted.

And so now, I make it a point that ALL our friends and family know about our excellent experience. It is so rare to find competent AND trustworthy agents… we want to be SURE that our friends get the same good service and expertise that we benefitted from. Terry will see a LOT more of our friends and family!!

Happy Dove Canyon Country Club homeowners

We saw the Old-Town Seal Beach home at an Open House Terry was having, and my brother fell in love with it (years ago, he had rented the same floorplan)! We decided to go direct through Terry, rather than involve our own broker, partly because Terry seemed easy to work with, and partly because of the thousands in rebates that Terry was willing to pay us. My brother was busy, and I handled the details of buying the home for him directly with Terry.

The whole process was very efficient, because Terry uses technology to-the-max to make it easy to contact him and handle the paperwork without wasting time in meetings. We run a family business, and really wanted to avoid wasting time. It is pretty standard anymore for agents to have cell phones, but Terry is TOTALLY mobile & wireless, with only one number to contact him, and with internet connectivity and a portable printer wherever he is. In addition, he also has a real-time, web-based tracking system and transaction coordinator (at no cost to us, although it costs him nearly $400) for our transaction, so we could get any details we wanted on-line (password-protected). Mainly, though, we were kept so up-to-date by Terry and his transaction coordinator that we seldom went on line. I guess you could say that the mechanics of the transaction were remarkable because they were almost invisible. This transaction went together with no fuss, no muss, and no bother. It just happened like it was planned. Seems unremarkable until we recalled how few of our other business dealings were so ‘remarkably unremarkable’ ☺

There was a pretty wide gap between what we were willing to pay and what the seller wanted. At this point, Terry pointed out that we could pay over $7,000 more at no cost to us, because Terry’s REBATE was more than this! We didn’t know anything about it, but Terry’s way of doing business is to treat all his clients fairly, and so we got the rebate AUTOMATICALLY. That’s what did it, and the seller accepted our offer because, on Terry’s advice, we had added the rebate to the price we were willing to pay (and got it back through the escrow). Still netted out to our price, but our offer looked good enough to the seller to get my brother the home he wanted.

If you want an unexciting transaction, with NO surprises, NO last-minute crises, and one that closes exactly as planned, then use Terry. We did, and we will again (and again, and again….) I’m tough to please, but pleased I am!!

Sister & Business Manager of a Happy Seal Beach Old-Town owner

I’m the brother, and I concur. My sister has plenty to do running our business, and I am VERY pleased that her attention to this primary focus was not disturbed by handling the minimal activities that were left to do after Terry’s efficient management of the process

Happy Seal Beach Old-Town owner, himself!!

When we decided that it was time to sell our rental, we took our Financial Advisor’s advice and went with Terry. GOOD move!

We missed the peak of the extraordinary market by about 60 days, but even so, the price had gone up wildly over the previous year. The property had been a rental for over a decade, and it was a little tattered. However, we expected the buyer to either bulldoze it down to build a much larger home (because of its location), or else do a major renovation and expansion. Consequently, we put the property on the market in its ‘natural state’ (that of a well-used rental).

This didn’t ‘fly’ at ALL! The people who would live in it without major renovations couldn’t afford it, and those who could afford it wouldn’t live in it (it seemed a common theme that buyers were looking for a place to live temporarily while they decided how to improve the property). Back to the ‘drawing-boards’…

We decided that we would have to ‘gussie-it-up a bit’ if we were going to succeed in selling (doing what Terry calls ‘high-heels & make-up’). Not such an easy task, though, because we had moved from Seal Beach to Yuma. Turns out that Terry had been a custom home builder, though, and that’s what saved the day. He handled getting us contractors to do the work by meeting with lots and lots of painters, floor refinishers, handymen, carpet people, plumbers, electricians, and the like (even did the windows personally when he wasn’t satisfied with the painters’ clean-up). With his approach, it only took about $5,000 to take it from the ‘tattered rental’ look to the ‘rose-covered cottage’ look, and finally it made sense to hold the property open, so Terry did that, weekend after weekend.

And then we sold it for a GREAT price to one of the people who saw it at one of the open houses! Terry handled both sides of the sale, and so his buyer got Terry’s Cash-Back rebate. This amounted to several thousand dollars, and it made ALL the difference to us and the buyer! Terry handled EVERYTHING, and the sale closed smoothly. We couldn’t be happier, as we continue with the cruises and other activities that we really want to do in our retirement. Terry shielded us from any stress from the transaction, and it is clear to us that he is TOTALLY trustworthy. During the same period, our competing sellers tried, but failed, but Terry came through for US.

FORMER Seal Beach Owners, Currently … Satisfied sellers… We’d rather be cruising, and now we ARE!!

After we personally checked out Terry’s services (for several of our own properties) I was willing to take the unusual step (unusual for me, at least, given my almost fanatical protection of my clients’ financial well-being) of referring him to several of my clients who needed real estate services. I have been EXTREMELY pleased with his polished approach (even in stressful situations), and with his clear, concise explanations that keep everybody in the transaction ‘in the know’, all the time. The LAST thing I want is any controversy for my clients, and Terry does a great job of covering all the bases to avoid that.

The other thing I like is how he ‘goes above & beyond’, doing whatever it takes to get the job done. One recent sale he handled for a long-term client of ours benefited from his flexible approach, and also from his prior experience as a General Contractor. He took case of all the details of renovating a property, and succeeded in selling my client’s property when competing brokers could not sell for their clients. He got my client a premium price, charged a minimal (compared to the general market) commission, and overcame all the obstacles to see it through to a successful close when other sellers were giving up and removing their properties from the market. It didn’t hurt that his buyer got the benefit thousands of dollars from his Buyer Cash-Back Rebate, either!

He is easy to work with, valuing input from us and others, rather than thinking that he knows it all, all the time. As a result, he is able to use our ideas and other valuable inputs, along with his own, producing a successful approach that is more than the sum of all the inputs. He has a calming effect on the sometimes stressed-out participants in a real estate transaction, and simply can ‘make it happen’ when others can’t. I will continue to refer him to my valuable clients, secure in the knowledge that his services are the best available (without regard to cost), and that his costs are some of the lowest, too!

(Call me if you want more details.)

Ed Martens, Financial Consultant
www.eemartens.com
949-837-6700

I am writing this to letter to make sure that everyone who reads it knows what an amazing broker Terry Hunter is. My husband and I just purchased our very first home. Without Terry’s help it wouldn’t have been possible. He not only represented us, he also represented the seller. This enabled him to choreograph every last detail of the transaction flawlessly. We attended an open house on a Sunday, we were pre-approved through his lender on Monday, and by Tuesday Terry helped us to put in an offer that the seller accepted within one hour. There was no waiting around for days to find out if we would be able to buy the house and escrow closed in 21 days. WOW! None of our family members can believe that we bought a house with so little effort. Terry did all the work for us. Even though I loved the house at first sight, I was even more impressed with Terry at the open house. He was the epitome of professionalism without any of the pushiness that usually is associated with realtors. We had seen homes that we really liked before but had been unhappy with the “slick used-car salesman in realtor’s clothing” that we encountered along the way. You know the type. The ones that are willing to sell you anything even if you can’t afford it or don’t even like it just to line their own pockets. Terry is not like those realtors. You can tell that he really cares for the seller and the buyer of every property that he represents. He was in touch with us and on top of every detail every step of the way. Not only is Terry wonderful, but every person we dealt with through him, for escrow, lending, and inspections, were excellent and professional as well. My husband and I have been married for 13 years, we have an 11-year-old daughter and we have been living in an apartment for the past 10 years while we were saving for a home of our own. It is hard to believe that just under a month ago we were ready to give up and continue renting for at least another year before attempting to buy a house. Then we met Terry and he helped us purchase the home of our dreams. By using him as our broker and going through his lender we were able to get up to 1% cash back, which really helped at closing. I cannot express in words how appreciative we are for all his help. Now instead of spending Christmas in a cramped apartment where we didn’t even have room for a tree, we will be celebrating in our beautiful new home. Our plan is to stay in this home forever but if we ever decided to relocate Terry would be the first person we would contact to sell our home and help us to find a new one. It’s a no-brainer.

John and Amber Larinto

I still chuckle when I recall what one of the old-timer real estate brokers who remembered me as a Realtor years ago before I retired told Terry when they interviewed him to sell their property. He and his wife had read my earlier Client Success Story on Terry’s website, and told Terry that they were hiring him because ANYBODY whose marketing could satisfy me, would SURELY satisfy them!

Well, Terry has satisfied me yet again by handling the sale of another of my properties, this time while I was out of the area. I am pretty ‘hands-on’, and I know of absolutely no one else that I would trust to handle my property sale in my absence. I knew I could rely on Terry to handle everything, and he did. Actually, it turned out that he represented me and the buyer, and provided the loan for the buyer, too. His low commissions netted me the amount I wanted, and I successfully rolled-over the profits in a tax-deferred exchange in my new home state. Part of the ease of this transition was Terry’s super-quick loan pre-approval of my buyer, and his helping the buyer remove all the remaining contingencies in 7 days, for a 21 day TOTAL escrow. You can imagine the stress this quick certainty took off me in making offers on the replacement properties, subject to the sale of this (to my sellers, anyway) out-of-state property. Anyway, it’s done now, and it turned out just GREAT! Terry always comes through, and his commissions are so low it makes sense to use him, even if I were not out of the area!

Flo, Investor & Retired Realtor

This is the 4th time we have worked with Terry. Each time just seems to be even better than the last, and this latest time, selling our home in Rancho Santa Margarita was no exception.

Terry and his team know how to navigate the treacherous market that we find ourselves in, and make his predicted outcome our actual outcome…no delays and no hassles. One of the reasons this happens is because Terry is ready to close escrow BEFORE we even find a buyer. He prepositions everything, right down to HOA docs, clear title, and even a clear termite report. Then, when his beautifully done marketing finds the right buyer, we are ready to close escrow. This time, we closed escrow with our buyer in only 25 days. We had a previous buyer who changed his mind, and Terry held open houses Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and by Sunday, we had our final buyer who closed escrow in 25 days.

We got our optimal price, and Terry kept us fully informed throughout the whole process. His team makes it seem so simple that we can hardly understand the problems some people have encountered buying and selling. That’ s why we INSIST that our friends and family get the peace of mind and great results that Terry’s team delivers whenever they buy or sell.

Victor & Lilian, on to Huntington Beach

We were initially attracted by Terry’s Buyer Cash-Back, since we had been working with a Realtor who would have also provided a (smaller) cash-back when we bought. With the other agent, however, it seemed that with every passing day that we didn’t buy something, he became less enthusiastic and less responsive.

At some point, the situation had deteriorated to the point where we felt that we needed a new agent. We searched the internet for an agent who offered rebates, and lucked-into Terry! In our first conversation, I realized that Terry “got it” immediately… it is SUCH a downer to work with someone to whom “every word is a new experience”, and we were elated to find a bright agent who had experience in buyers’ markets, one who could understand what we were looking for. Bright is not enough, though. We needed somebody who was trustworthy, and who would look out for US. Terry proved, time after time, that he was the ONE… he gave us the straight story, no matter whether it was good news or bad.

He was also tireless in searching out properties for us, and finally we found the perfect one. It was a bank short-pay, and it took about 3 months to close. During the entire time, from the successful initial bid strategy that we worked out with Terry, to the credits from the bank-seller, to the cash-back that Terry was able to restructure to satisfy our lender, Terry kept the transaction going forward with a constant stream of emails and phone calls to us and the agent representing the bank-seller. In the end, since the seller was a bank who wouldn’t pay for termite repairs, Terry paid for the termite repairs, rather than giving US a cash-back. This way, we got the credits from the seller-bank AND Terry’s cash-back, even though the two of them together was more than our lender would allow us to receive. Agent experience and creativity DO make a difference when you’re putting a non-standard deal together!

Terry is a good letter writer… this may seem like a small thing, except that a LOT of what was done in the past by agents meeting with each other, and meeting together with the seller, is NOW done by email. So, it is now more important than ever for agents to be able to “write a good (and convincing!) letter” to present their clients’ interests persuasively. Terry’s cover letter for our initial (and successful) offer on our new home WAS very persuasive. Later on, when the listing agent put “our” home back on the market in the MLS while we were waiting for the lender to approve the short pay (and the lender began getting price opinions higher than OUR offering price), Terry wrote another persuasive letter to the listing agent explaining why “our” home should stay in “backup offer” status, and NOT be actively on the market. The listing agent was persuaded, and the property came off the market. This probably had a LOT to do with our final success in getting our new home, since there wasn’t any new competition for us from continuing promotion of the property while we were waiting for the bank to respond.

Some agents want to work with termite companies and inspection companies who are not too demanding … thinking that finding too many problems could keep the transaction from closing. Terry is the exact opposite… he wants to know ALL the problems up-front (and if they are too much, then we just need to find a different home, as he put it). His team is top-notch at looking out for us, just like Terry is.

His promise to us was to provide us and our friends and family with the very best commercial transaction we have ever had, EVERY time we work with him. Our first transaction with him WAS this good, and we actually are actively searching out people to recommend him to, so they can have the same kind of great experience as we had. Not only is he very good at what he does, he takes the responsibility of representing OUR interests before his own very seriously. Totally trustworthy, and totally responsive, Terry is the best agent we have ever dealt with, by FAR! Highly recommended!

Happy new Lake Forest HomeOWNER!

Chris & Cynthia, Mission Viejo

Terry was no stranger to us. He was the listing agent when we bought our home about 3 years ago, and he also represented us as the buyer in that purchase. He was our lender, too, so we knew who to call when we were ready to sell!!

Despite our hot seller's market, most agents probably still would have told us that we were "out-of-bounds" on the price that Terry himself suggested. However, Terry was more interested in getting us a premium price for the way our well-decorated home showed, than worrying about the price per foot (which was pretty high because of our home's size). He told us he could succeed at the high price he suggested, then proceeded to almost immediately get us a full-price offer from his "First Look" program. The First Look program presented our home to over 2,500 buyers in the first few hours after we listed our home with him, and one of those buyers bought our home at full price.

Everything went very smoothly, and we bought our new home in Phoenix (to close when our sale escrow closed). The bank delivered our buyer's loan paperwork to the escrow, and we were ready to close the NEXT DAY, the movers were coming, and then the buyer had a disagreement with his employer and lost his job!! Oh,no! What a disaster!

Terry told us not to worry, to complete the move anyway (so that we would be situated for our new baby) and that he would take care of it all by getting another buyer right away. Out went the First Look email again, and Terry DID get us two new buyers, including one who could almost pay cash for the home (80% downpayment!). To close the sale in just a week, he arranged for that buyer to put in the cash, give us a note, then pay us off within 3 weeks. (Our buyer would get a loan, but we didn't have to wait for that to happen to get most of our money, and we were safe because of the small amount of the note we received on our sale, and the buyer's large downpayment). This saved the day for our new Phoenix home and eliminated our "stess-out" over our new home, when all we really wanted to concentrate on was our new baby. Terry hand-carried everything, and the new sale closed in about a week. Since we didn't get all our money at close, Terry even agreed to take part of the note as his commission (to be paid when we got the rest of our money), so we could have all the cash ourselves to close our new home.

It would be a HUGE understatement to say we are pleased! We are ecstatic about our dealings with Terry, beginning when we first bought and financed our home with him, and then with BOTH sales of it! Oh, and we got thousands in Buyer Cash-Back Rebate when we bought the home, and saved thousands more with Terry's low commissions (about 1/3 the usual fee) when we sold. Can you imagine?? Low commissions, years and years of experience to make sure every problem is correctly handled, and the marketing systems to get us top dollar! It's no wonder we're ecstatic. We would recommend Terry to EVERYBODY, and we DO!!

We had been looking for a home in Sea Island, Newport Beach for some time, and then we saw Terry’s listing there. He had an excellent internet Virtual Tour for his listing, and it looked like a home that would interest us. Our current home had great natural light and great views, and Terry’s web presentation made it clear that this home also had great natural lighting.

Once we saw the home in person, we didn’t like the location, but we did like working with Terry. He set us up with our personal website to constantly search for homes in Sea Island. Even though licensed as a loan broker, we still wanted to work with a residential pro to handle the purchase (and the required sale of our current home). Terry was organized, available, and pleasant to work with (and, he automatically offers a Buyer Cash-Back of 50% of the total commission), so we continued the search with him.

Then we found it… a new listing with the same floor plan, but a MUCH better location!
However, the seller would NOT accept an offer based on the prior sale of our home. We, on the other hand, were not willing to own 2 homes, so we unsuccessfully tried 5 counter-offers to try to work out something that was OK for both us and the sellers. Finally, on the 6th counter-offer, Terry was able to get us a full 30 days, but at the end of that time, we would have to remove all contingencies… for us, this meant that we had to have our home already sold and closed escrow(or very close to it). Saturday at 8PM we had our deal… now we just had to perform on our end!

The market was soft, and only 30 days to sell AND close escrow seemed like a long-shot to us. It seemed like a long-shot to Terry, too. Originally, he had suggested that we work with an agent from our area. However, given the extremely short time in this soft market to get our home sold, we all decided that if it was going to happen at all, we needed the extra “oomph” of Terry’s marketing to make it happen.

Terry worked all day Sunday (simultaneously taking photos, writing the advertising, and doing the first of 21 back-to-back Open Houses!). By late Monday afternoon (after the 2nd Open House, too), it was DONE… we were in the MLS, had our beautiful Virtual Tour on the Internet, and were on the public databases like Realtor.com, Homeseekers.com ,Yahoo, Google, DuPont Registry, and the like. The ads were in the OC Register & 22 local papers for the next weekend, and postcards had been sent to all our neighbors (to see if they had any friends THEY wanted for new neighbors). Terry also sent out hundreds & hundreds of flyers to other brokers. Since he charges only about 1/3 of the typical listing fee, his low fee freed us up to offer a premium commission to buyer agents, so that they would bring their buyers to US . His low listing fee STILL kept our total costs at or below what it would have cost with other brokers. Great program that gave us an advantage over other sellers in the soft market we were in!

The postcards and the constant Open Houses paid off! One of the neighbors already owned 2 homes in the neighborhood, and wanted ours, too! Yippee!!… we still had time to meet our deadline with our seller, because only about 14 days had gone by. Our glee turned to dismay as the neighbor’s accountant kept delaying and delaying and delaying getting the agreement written up. We were running out of time!

Fortunately, about this time another potential buyer from Santa Maria saw our beautiful Virtual Tour (Terry calls the Virtual Tours his “Internet Open Houses”), and inquired about the home. Fortunately, Terry is pretty much constantly available by cell phone and mobile wireless email and mobile fax, and the potential buyer got through to him directly on his first call. After discussing the home, Terry offered to buy the buyer an airline ticket to come down and see it. He also explained his Buyer Cash-Back program to the buyer (as mentioned above,Terry rebates THOUSANDS of dollars to buyers who work with him directly!). At first, the buyer didn’t quite “get it”. After all, it DOES sound pretty unlikely! When the “light flashed on” for the buyer, his only question was “…do you offer this to everybody??!! “ (Terry does.[g]) Terry told him about the other potential buyer, and the Santa Maria buyer decided to come down the next week… time was running OUT for us!

The buyer, after his friend arrived from New York and saw and liked the home, too, decided to buy it (full price, partly because of the significant discount provided by Terry’s Buyer Cash-Back). However, now only 9 days remained to close escrow (usually a 30-day process, all by itself). Fortunately, we own an active real estate mortgage company, and were able to get the loan approved almost immediately for our high-credit-score buyers. Working at breakneck speed, we were able to call in favors from the people whom we work with for our loans, and we MADE IT! … 30 days, exactly, to find a buyer AND close escrow on our home!

Terry did an outstanding job of getting the sale closed, too. Turns out that the buyer had made an offer on a nearby property ($20,000 less) that he liked as well/better, but that seller had accepted another offer. Terry was meticulously careful to be sure that EVERYTHING was delivered as promised to this buyer… good thing, too, because by THIS time the OTHER property had come back on the market, and just the slightest “breeze” could have knocked OUR sale off-course. If that had happened, then we would have had NO CHANCE of recovering in time to meet our deadline for our Newport Beach purchase. It’s GREAT to work with a careful and customer-focused PRO!
Terry’s approach is that every new client he works with is just doing the FIRST of many future transactions with him. So, his mind-set is NOT “…what can I ‘fudge’…”, but the opposite, “… what can I do to make sure that EVERYONE in the transaction gets EVERYTHING promised, and then some…”

When the loan rates shifted slightly before the rate “promised” to the buyer could be ‘locked’ in our transaction, he did NOT just assume that it would be OK to pass the increase on to our enabling buyer (the usual approach in the real estate industry). He cheerfully contributed a significant amount of his own money (right along with us) to make sure the buyer got what he expected.

Talking to the buyer after the escrow closed, it became clear that had we NOT done this, it was a virtual certainty that the transaction would have at LEAST been delayed past our deadline, and probably would have failed altogether… anyway, just going past the deadline with a suddenly hesitant buyer would have made it too risky for us to assume that the buyer would ultimately close, and we would NOT have removed the contingencies by the deadline, either. So, Terry’s business-as-usual approach of ‘delivering as promised’ actually bore IMMEDIATE fruit in the form of our successful move to Newport Beach!

Nothing did knock us “off course” and we effectively “sailed into Newport Harbor” [g] the day before Thanksgiving (because we are loan brokers, we were able to get our own loan, and close THAT sale in only 32 days). We let the seller rent-back over the Christmas holidays, but we will move into our new Newport Beach home in early January. Oh, by the way, WE got Terry’s Buyer Cash-Back on OUR purchase ($15,750 … over TWICE Terry’s 1% listing fee on our former home… Terry effectively actually paid US to list our home! He gives the Cash-Back on ANY home, and to EVERY buyer, NOT just on his own listings! Unbelievable!!)

Terry is careful and thorough, just like we are with our borrower clients. We KNOW the difference, and appreciate it. It is incredible to us that Terry is a “discount broker”, based on his fees. Based on his services, however, he is definitely the MOST “Premium Broker” we have ever dealt with, and we’re not bashful about telling this anyone who asks (and even some who didn’t even ask)!

Ecstatic New Owners in Sea Island, Newport Beach!

 

This is the 4 th time we have worked with Terry. Each time just seems to be even better than the last, and this latest time, selling our home in Rancho Santa Margarita was no exception.

Terry and his team know how to navigate the treacherous market that we find ourselves in, and make his predicted outcome our actual outcome…no delays and no hassles. One of the reasons this happens is because Terry is ready to close escrow BEFORE we even find a buyer. He prepositions everything, right down to HOA docs, clear title, and even a clear termite report. Then, when his beautifully done marketing finds the right buyer, we are ready to close escrow. This time, we closed escrow with our buyer in only 25 days. We had a previous buyer who changed his mind, and Terry held open houses Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and by Sunday, we had our final buyer who closed escrow in 25 days.

We got our optimal price, and Terry kept us fully informed throughout the whole process. His team makes it seem so simple that we can hardly understand the problems some people have encountered buying and selling. That’ s why we INSIST that our friends and family get the peace of mind and great results that Terry’s team delivers whenever they buy or sell.

Victor & Lilian, on to Huntington Beach

Bob & Christie, former Lake Forest owners

Terry sold our neighbor’s house, and the neighbor’s next to them, too. More important, he got the highest price ever by FAR for both homes. The first appraisals came in low, so he got new appraisals (from new appraisers), and closed both of those sales at their high asking prices. When we received his postcard in the mail telling about his super-low commissions, we just kept the postcard until we were ready to sell. We met with Terry, and even though we had agreed to ‘sleep on’ any choice of real estate agent, we decided to go with Terry at our first meeting. We knew we had a ‘keeper’!

Low commissions, good personality, and even good service would be meaningless if Terry hadn’t had a great marketing system to get us the highest possible price. We know that it can take a lot of “lookers” (even in a hot market) to get the right buyer, the buyer who really wants the property, and who will pay a premium price for it. Terry clearly has an effective marketing system (including his ‘First Look’ email database, ‘talking house’, internet, direct mail, MLS, virtual tours, etc), and his results were WAY above agents charging a full 6%!

We tried to sell our home once before, and so we know what it’s like to deal with an agent who can’t ‘cut it’. We had such poor results with the other agent (and his lack of a marketing program) that we simply gave up. Terry, on the other hand, got us 12 offers, ALL over our very aggressive asking price. (He really knows how to manage the other brokers, and, effectively, to ‘preside over an auction’ to drive our price higher & higher!).

Once we had our strong buyer and the great price (WAY over asking, as a result of the ‘auction’), THEN the other elements of his high-tech control systems, and the just plain good service, DID make a terrific sale just superb! Terry uses an advanced internet tracking system that allowed us to check on progress any time we wanted, and the people controlling and coordinating the transaction were a joy to work with. All the documents of the transaction were password-protected & posted on-line so we could refer to them whenever we wanted. Terry even provided us with a loaner fax machine to make it easy and convenient for us to get paperwork back and forth. Terry and his transaction coordinator are easy to contact, but the good news is that we didn’t have to. Between the on-line tracking system and Terry’s & Amber’s frequent phone calls, emails, and faxes, we were ALWAYS up-to-date. Terry has consistently had the highest sale prices in the neighborhood, and we are delighted with our sale and his services. Call him – you won’t regret it!

PS: I almost forgot… he has the lowest commissions we found in our exhaustive search for the right real estate agent -- about 1/3 the usual listing fee. We saved thousands there, too!

The whole process only took about 20 days, and I got MASSIVE cash rebates on top of getting the property thousands under the appraisal. I'd do this supposedly "high-stress" task once a WEEK!

It started when I saw an attractive Internet Virtual Tour, and called Terry to see the property. He got back to me right away, and we saw it the next day. The following morning, I told Terry to write it up. He did, and got a counter-offer that afternoon from the seller at a price that turned out to be thousands less than the property would appraise for in a few days. I accepted it, and 20 days later, we closed escrow, exactly as planned.

The reason the offer & acceptance went so smoothly is that I have good credit, and Terry handled the loan, too. This meant that he was able to present my offer with a full-credit Loan Pre-Approval (and the pre-approval numbers matched our offer, too, which helped keep the counter offer price down. I qualified for considerable more than this purchase price, but I obviously didn't want to present that higher qualification along with a low-ball offer for less than the seller was asking.) Also, I got the Full-Credit Loan Pre-Approval in MINUTES, not days like with some loan brokers!!

In representing me in getting the loan, Terry was able to get nearly $4,000 back from the lender with only 1/10 of a percent change in the interest rate. On top of that, Terry has a standard Buyer Cash-Back Rebate program that paid me over $4,000 MORE, for a total of about $8,000, plus the thousands & thousands in savings on the price.

Terry's team has an outstanding website with all the documents (password-protected) and the transaction status on line. I didn't really have time to deal with inefficiencies, and Terry's team capabilities and his adroit use of the internet and email to transport documents back and forth was PERFECT for my busy schedule. Everything went so smoothly (and quickly) that I only called Terry a time or two. His primary phone is a cell phone, so even then I got my questions answered immediately.

As a CPA, I know the value of time & expertise. I would recommend Terry to ANY of my clients, and be confident that my reputation would be safe, because I am sure he would do as great a job for them as he did for ME!

B.B.
Happy Mission Viejo Homeowner!!

It was time to sell my rental! Boy, was I dismayed when I saw the condition the tenant left it in! I contacted Terry to sell it, and in the selling process, we decided that it would be more profitable to do the fix-up myself, rather than selling it without fixing it up first. Next problem was that I was busy with my life, and didn't want to take the time to manage the fix-up. No problem here! Terry had been a custom home builder for several years, and he offered to work with the painters and floor covering contractors to get it done. He got a number of bids, then managed the whole process with the winning bidder, and all I had to do was write the checks.

He handled the real estate side of the project as thoroughly and professionally as the fix-up side! After seeing his correspondence with the various agents wanting to make offers on the property, I immediately gained a sense of ease with just turning it all over to him. He didn't disappoint, either!

He got me way above the highest price EVER for my model! And, during the whole process, his paperwork was flawless and comprehensively complete. He DEFINITELY knows how to handle today's technology for both his off-scale marketing, and for the negotiations and paperwork to get it done RIGHT! Although I was up-to-the-minute all the time, the impact on me and my time was minimal.

It seems too good to be true, but Terry's fees are the lowest in the marketplace, too. There are some other companies that charge low fees if they don't cooperate with outside brokers, but that would be just plain crazy. Terry tells me that there are over 16,000 agents in his MLS, and a person would have to be a fool to go with a plan that 'locked them all out', just to save a little on the commission. He only charges about 1/3 the listing fee of other brokers, and so we were able to pay what the buyer agents expected, and STILL keep the total low! What a program!

At the end of the day, it's not technology, it's not sales skill, and it's not his off-scale good marketing alone that make Terry's program right … it is ALL of these AND the trust that his totally transparent approach to serving ME generates that take him out of the ordinary. I would pay a PREMIUM for what he offers, but I don't have to, as he saved me about HALF the usual cost AND got me the HIGHEST PRICE EVER BY FAR!!

C.J.
of Lake Forest, CA

We saw the Old-Town Seal Beach home at an Open House Terry was having, and my brother fell in love with it (years ago, he had rented the same floorplan)! We decided to go direct through Terry, rather than involve our own broker, partly because Terry seemed easy to work with, and partly because of the thousands in rebates that Terry was willing to pay us. My brother was busy, and I handled the details of buying the home for him directly with Terry.

The whole process was very efficient, because Terry uses technology to-the-max to make it easy to contact him and handle the paperwork without wasting time in meetings. We run a family business, and really wanted to avoid wasting time. It is pretty standard anymore for agents to have cell phones, but Terry is TOTALLY mobile & wireless, with only one number to contact him, and with internet connectivity and a portable printer wherever he is. In addition, he also has a real-time, web-based tracking system and transaction coordinator (at no cost to us, although it costs him nearly $400) for our transaction, so we could get any details we wanted on-line (password-protected). Mainly, though, we were kept so up-to-date by Terry and his transaction coordinator that we seldom went on line. I guess you could say that the mechanics of the transaction were remarkable because they were almost invisible. This transaction went together with no fuss, no muss, and no bother. It just happened like it was planned. Seems unremarkable until we recalled how few of our other business dealings were so 'remarkably unremarkable'.

There was a pretty wide gap between what we were willing to pay and what the seller wanted. At this point, Terry pointed out that we could pay over $7,000 more at no cost to us, because Terry's REBATE was more than this! We didn't know anything about it, but Terry's way of doing business is to treat all his clients fairly, and so we got the rebate AUTOMATICALLY. That's what did it, and the seller accepted our offer because, on Terry's advice, we had added the rebate to the price we were willing to pay (and got it back through the escrow). Still netted out to our price, but our offer looked good enough to the seller to get my brother the home he wanted.

If you want an unexciting transaction, with NO surprises, NO last-minute crises, and one that closes exactly as planned, then use Terry. We did, and we will again (and again, and again….) I'm tough to please, but pleased I am!!

Sister & Business Manager of a Happy Seal Beach Old-Town owner

I'm the brother, and I concur. My sister has plenty to do running our business, and I am VERY pleased that her attention to this primary focus was not disturbed by handling the minimal activities that were left to do after Terry's efficient management of the process.

Happy Seal Beach Old-Town owner, himself!!

We had put in an offer on a property nearby, but got “aced-out” by another buyer.  Then, we saw Terry’s Virtual Tour on Realtor.com for another beautiful home in the area, and decided to give it a look.

We were so surprised by Terry’s explanation of his Buyer Cash-Back, we asked “… do you offer that to EVERYBODY…?  Turns out he does, and his answer was interesting.  He explained that everybody did get the same treatment  “… otherwise how could anyone trust him as their agent if they had to negotiate with him to get the best he had to offer ??...”.  Doesn’t seem like a very common attitude for real estate agents, but we sure appreciated it in him! (He also only charges a 1% listing fee, so his seller was able to price his home better from the start, too.)

Terry’s seller had a problem.  He had a VERY limited amount of time to sell and close escrow, otherwise he would not be buying the home he wanted in Newport Beach, and so would take HIS home off the market and stay there.  To make it all happen, we had to close escrow in about 10 days.  Terry was well organized, having already gathered most of the disclosures and other documents beforehand.  His seller was a very capable loan broker who offered to do our loan for free, and to fund it in just 7 days.  This all happened exactly on schedule, and yesterday we became the owners.

We were out of area, but all the details (like a mobile notary to come to US for loan doc signing) were expertly handled and paid for by Terry and his team.  There definitely was a “blizzard of paper/emails” involved, but it was handled well enough to give us the confidence we needed to buy in this whirlwind fashion.

Terry’s Buyer Cash-Back to us was $7,000! But, that wasn’t the end of it.  We had mutual agreement between us and the sellers on the purchase late Friday… TOO late to ‘lock’ the loan rate and costs. Consequently, we were at the mercy of the market, and Monday morning, unbeknownst to us, the loan costs went up by nearly $1000!  It would have been totally legitimate (but not very pleasant for us, nor very acceptable to us) for the increased loan cost to be passed on to us.  What actually happened was that Terry insisted that our loan be “delivered as promised”.  The seller agreed, and they just silently paid the extra, the only indication to us being the escrow amendment that covered the extra costs.  We LIKE being treated like valued clients!

The whole purchase went so smoothly (and in only 10 days, too!) that we wonder why we hear so many ‘horror stories’ about bad real estate transactions. It is obvious to us, given that we own a significant number of properties, and have a lot of experience in real estate, that these bad experiences don’t happen to Terry’s clients!

In short, the transaction went strictly according to plan, and we love the home.  All in all, it was a VERY pleasant (and profitable!) purchase. The Buyer Cash-Back, it turns out, is just “icing on the cake”! Terry is an OUTSTANDING broker!
PH & AS…Happy new owners in Anaheim Hills

Our friends had just had Terry very successfully sell their home quickly and for top dollar. They were pleased with Terry, and they suggested we call him for our sale. We did, and after talking briefly with Terry, decided to follow our friends' advice, and hired him.

Despite the softening market, Terry had our home sold in about a month, and for our FULL ASKING PRICE! The combination of full price and Terry's 1% listing fee did wonders for our bottom-line!

Terry's marketing is "stand-out" excellent… his Virtual Tour was one of the best we have seen. (Only about 30% of the brokers in our high cost/high-tech even provide a Virtual Tour… just providing one at all puts Terry in the top 1/3, and his is the best-of-the-best). His Virtual Tours, Open Houses, glossy, full-color photo-quality flyers, and the enhancements in Realtor.com (and elsewhere on-line) combined to really do the job of selling our home.

But the REAL test came when Terry's promotion attracted our buyer. It turns out the buyer's agent was his relative, and she was from outside our area. Once the buyers had seen the Virtual Tour, they were VERY excited about seeing our home right away. So, about 7PM that evening, Terry showed our property to the buyers, and within an hour, we had an oral agreement for full price, with a short 21 day escrow. Terry worked from then 'til midnight to accommodate the buyer agent's wish to write up the paperwork herself and email it to Terry, instead of just having Terry write it up for her approval and then get the buyers' signature.

That's when things really began to go sideways. The buyer agent insisted that 45 days (not the 21 days we had agreed to) were necessary to get the loan done, and she also wanted to have the buyers only put down a very small earnest money deposit. Terry explained to us that our shaky market and a 45 day escrow made the small earnest money deposit inadequate. Also, the buyers wanted 17 days to remove contingencies (and we wouldn't even know if we had a sale or not until after the 17 days, even though our home would be off the market for the whole time). Terry insisted that the buyers remove contingencies in 10 days. (This is about the minimum necessary to do everything in non-crisis mode, even though Terry pre-positions everything from the start of the listing, instead of waiting until there is a buyer.) However, by this time, the buyer agent had convinced the buyers that they should only put down a very small deposit, and that the escrow HAD to be 45 days, and that they needed 17 days to remove contingencies. With all this commotion, the paperwork didn't get signed at all that night, after all, even though Terry worked until after midnight trying to get it together.

Over the next couple of days, it became clear to Terry that we were going to lose our buyer (30% down, great credit scores, and a full price offer) because of the buyer agent. So Terry gave us the phone number for the buyers and said that WE would have to call the buyers direct because the buyer agent was blocking the sale. He told us step-by-step what to say to the buyer, and we DID succeed (with Terry's guidance though a number of back-and-forth phone calls with him, every time we hit a wall with the buyers), in getting our agreement back together with a big enough earnest money deposit and a 10 day contingency period, but still with the 45 day escrow (which Terry told he would likely be able to renegotiate AFTER the buyers removed their contingencies).

The unusual approach Terry took of having US get agreement with the buyers directly resulted in a strange situation… the buyer agent called Terry about 10AM to say the buyers were NOT going to buy our home, then called Terry back a couple of hours later to say that they WERE going to buy (after the buyers told her that they already HAD an agreement with us!)

Everything happened "whirl-wind quick" after that, and only 11 days after we had our agreement with the buyers, their lender was ready to make the loan! Turns out that even Terry's suggestion of a short, 21 day escrow was way more than this particular lender needed! When the buyer agent realized that we were actually ready to close, we were able to amend the escrow closing date, and we closed just 26 days after we and the buyers had reached our agreement. We could have easily closed even earlier than the 21 days Terry had originally suggested (and we all agreed to), but Terry wanted to be sure that the buyer agent was comfortable with the new closing date, and didn't knock the new agreement off-track.

Throughout the entire negotiations (including the renegotiation of the closing date which Terry told us at the start would happen) Terry's negotiating skills and uncanny ability to predict what the buyers would do next was crucial to saving our full price sale. It almost felt like a scripted play… Terry would tell us what would probably happen next, and sure enough, almost on-cue, THAT was what would then happen… unbelievable!

Lucky we had somebody experienced like Terry, able to head off the buyers' attempts to get us to take a lower price, able to work-around the buyer agent's inexperience. We got the earnest money and contingency period we needed, and we were finally able to renegotiate the closing back to almost the original 21 days! We realize that many agents would have tried to handle the situation with a "business as usual" approach, and the buyer would have been lost. With the market continuing to soften, and with interest rates going up, it's hard to say how much THAT might have cost us. In our case, we didn't have to find out, because Terry guided the entire transaction just like a director controls a movie, and we got our "happy ending"!

HIGHLY recommended! Best agent we have EVER had! And at only 1% listing fee?? WOW!! We have already referred Terry to our friends who are thinking of selling their home. We KNOW he will take great care of them, too!

SK & CK, on to the next adventure, with our profit in our jeans…

After interviewing a total of four real estate agents, I selected Terry. He arrived promptly, didn't waste my time, and, his presentation was so very, very professional, standing out from other established, fullservice real estate agents who had pitched my business. (The decision to move to another state was rather sudden, prompted by the need to be closer to an elderly parent.)

Terry is the only real estate agent I've found who lives up to his promise of a deeply discounted commission; others had promised discounts but hadn't delivered. Yet everything about Terry's work from the initial presentation to the listing and showings, negotiations, and followthrough to escrow and closing ­ will prove to you that you are dealing with a fullservice skilled professional with years of experience, racking up success after success. Terry always delivered on what he promised. Even better than that, his performance always exceeded my expectations. Being a nervous Nellie and a worrier, Terry made me feel at ease with such an important transaction. In fact, despite a contract, he stated in writing that he would be willing to release me from the agreement if I felt the arrangement just wasn't working out. Needless to say, that was never, ever an issue.

I packed up and left for my new home in another state. Terry produced marketing materials and, within the week had completed the yard sign, full color flyers (yes, folks, not the measley Black&White versions you get from socalled "Full Service" brokers!), newspaper ads, online photo/description/360 video...

While I concentrated on family issues...Terry was busy making certain that my house was being listed, marketed in the most professional manner and shown to multiple potential buyers in the most favorable light. When a buyer was located (so quickly too!), Terry addressed any and all concerns, communicating constantly and immediately with all parties. The transaction moved quickly from showing to interest to offer to accepted offer. Contingencies were addressed and removed quickly. Financing was confirmed and put in place. Inspections and small repairs to the property were "magically" handled. It was, in short, the smoothest, the easiest, and the fastest real estate transaction I've been involved with.

I highly recommend Terry whether you're buying or selling a home. Of all the real estate and homes I've bought and sold over the years, I only wish that I knew of Terry's professional services and stellar results many, many years ago. And, finally...did I get a good price on the home when it sold? You betcha!!! P.K, Former Laguna Niguel resident, now in AZ

Terry presented our property creatively to get the highest resale price ever for our model, even while the market was DECLINING! He also hired an engineer to provide indisputable square footage for our (oversized) lot size, when the builder did not provide the size data for us. Buyers just accepted the larger-than-standard lot size (naturally), since the measurement carried with it the professional engineer's official stamp.

Likewise, he convinced California Pools to design a pool for our backyard at no cost to us, then used the plans drawings and photo-realistic renderings (placed on a tripod in the kitchen/nook area for his open houses) to drive home the fact that we DID have a pool-size lot, even though people were having a hard time visualizing the pool in place.

We were living out-of-area, but Terry was available as necessary to meet with the landscaper, builder reps (we bought new, but never lived in the home because of a job transfer), and other workmen, in addition to the usual real estate transaction "suspects". He also got 3 separate bids for us, covering drywall repair and repainting the property (repairing tenant damage). He met with us and the landscaper, and assisted in "staging" the home for maximum appeal.

Terry's Virtual Tour is the best we have ever seen. Also, his placement in Google is at the TOP of over a MILLION "hits" for phrases like "homes for sale orange county ca". And when net surfers clicked, they got OUR Virtual Tour. Likewise, he maximized our presentation in Realtor.com, which serves MORE than 80% of all buyers in our area, we're told. Plus, he does other net things that are WAY beyond the typical Realtor's use of current technology. The bottom line IS OUR Bottom Line… and Terry and his systems produced for us, while another, competing seller on the same street lapsed into foreclosure because of the market decline facing us all.

Our sale, which closed yesterday, started out with an offer $138,500 UNDER our asking price (sign of the times in our market), but our sale CLOSED within $2,000 of our net asking price! Terry "worked this magic" over a period of approximately 2 weeks, developing in the process a spreadsheet/grid that arrayed all the competing properties, showing OURS to be the most value for the money, all the while "taking it away" from the buyer with our seeming unconcern about whether we sold it to them, or not. Terry wrote detailed letters to the buyer via their agent on more than one occasion to explain why they should buy our home, and not the (many) others they were looking at. Finally, the buyers (reluctantly) increased their offer to one we could live with (essentially Full-Price!), and Terry then started yet another round of extra services, to be sure the sale would close. It DID close… 3 weeks EARLY! Throughout the entire process, Terry kept us "up-to-the-minute" with a never-ending stream of emails. We have NEVER seen such complete coordination, and it was especially comforting, since we were out of the area for the entire transaction!

Oh, by the way, Terry is a "Discount Broker". Actually he's not a typical "Discount Broker", though … he provides what he terms "Extreme Full-Service"… while charging only about 1/3 the going rate to sellers, AND giving buyers a Buyer Cash-Back Rebate, too! I guess calling him an "Extreme Full-Service Broker with low commissions" is a much better description! Whatever you call him, WE call him OUR broker from now on, for us, and for our friends and family! A Former SoCal family, now "…on the slopes" in Utah!

PS: You've been awesome to work with and have communicated better than ANY broker I have ever worked with (both commercial and residential)! I greatly appreciate all of your help getting us through this sale . . . especially with us being out of state! I will gladly recommend you to anyone in the area. Please feel free to give my contact information to any prospective clients as I will gladly give a verbal recommendation as well.

Bill & Beverly Rancho Santa Margarita

When our job transfer came through, we needed to sell our home, but we weren't willing to pay 6% to do it, especially in this market. We saw a sold home near our neighborhood with a sold sign that said "Sold - Seller Paid Only 3.5%". It also had another rider on the bottom that said "Buyer Got 1% Cash-Back". That sounded GOOD to us, so we called to meet the agent and get a market evaluation of our home.

Terry Hunter (Broker/CEO for Hunter-Broker) provided a detailed description of the current market and showed us his very sophisticated marketing plan to sell our home for TOP DOLLAR (well, actually, it looked like OVER Top Dollar to us)! Naturally, we weren't going to "fall" for a low commission if we weren't sure we would be represented by a seasoned expert (to avoid any problems) AND get top dollar, too!

The first thing that happened was that Terry brought us an offer from a buyer who was willing to pay the full asking price (a VERY aggressive $400,000) PLUS the 1% Cash-Back ($4,000) for a total of $404,000. The buyer lived in the neighborhood, and wanted to downsize. With the Buyer's OK (because she knew the neighborhood, what she wanted, and what she was willing to pay), Terry eliminated the usual appraisal contingency. So, the buyer paid $404,000 minus the $4,040 Cash-Back from Terry (this netted out to the original full price of $400,000 she expected) and WE ended up with the 1% Buyer Cash-Back added on to OUR price, without the possibility of losing the sale because of low appraisal. (It was a good thing for US and for the buyer - actually critically important, since the appraisal did come in at only $395,000!)!

Next, Terry had to get our buyer's home sold to the people interested in buying IT. They also knew what they wanted and what they were willing to pay, and so they waived their appraisal contingency, too. (In this market, the appraisers just can't keep up, and since Terry knew that we HAD to sell our home to make our moving date, he made SURE that OUR sale didn't fall apart because of low appraisals).

We were willing to take a contingent sale because we trusted Terry. He is also a lender, and so he was able to directly verify that OUR buyer, and HER buyer, too, could qualify for the necessary loans. Nothing is ever simple, I guess, and it turned out that our Buyer's buyer still had their home in escrow, and IT also had to close to make the whole "chain" work. When Terry tried to verify that this 3rd sale would close (by confirming THAT buyer's loan qualification), they refused to cooperate! Further, despite being told that those buyers were making a 20% down payment (which is what the sellers thought, too), Terry found out that they were really making a ZERO down payment. Not a good thing! Darn! That looked like the end of our premium-price sale!!

What Terry did next, however, saved the day! He convinced the 2nd buyer to agree to close his purchase from OUR buyer whether or NOT their own sale closed (being a lender, Terry knew they could qualify either way). As it turned out, their zero-down sale DID close as planned. But, our being able to trust Terry when he told us that our sale WOULD close (even if the 3rd sale didn't close) was the KEY that allowed us to succeed in selling our home for a premium price!

If you're getting confused, you can imagine how important it was for US to be able to trust Terry's judgment & experience in this complicated situation! YOU can trust him and his ability too, and save BIG money while getting a GREAT price for your property.

PS: Our buyer, who got EXACTLY what she wanted because of Terry's expertise, is "happy as a clam" too! The LAST time our model came available she DIDN'T succeed in downsizing. She now knows how important it was to have Terry as our agent, because THIS time, with Terry's help, she DID succeed!

After Terry refinanced our home 4 times last year, we knew he was great to work with! And, the rapid appreciation of newer homes convinced us that it was time for a move (rather than another refinance). So we naturally contacted Terry to help us in that as well.

Our home is completely sold now, and we already have the ‘Big Check’ from the sale in our account, a check that was SUBSTANTIALLY increased by Terry’s astute & expert negotiations with the buyer (a licensed real estate agent) for a premium price. Financially, the transaction was so good that it was ‘off-scale’-- far better than even our earlier business dealings with Terry led us to expect. But, important as the ‘bottom line’ profit is, that is NOT the whole story. The rest of the story concerns the energy, acumen, and trustworthiness that Terry brought to the whole process.

At every step, Terry put OUR interests first (before his own) to make sure that we got the best the market had to offer. Although our home is relatively close to his central office, it was in a relatively rural area that was not where he did the majority of his business. With our permission, Terry negotiated with a 100 agent office locally to co-market our property jointly with them, to give us the advantage of the ‘walk-in’ business for buyers looking in our area. This virtually GUARANTEED that Terry would not be selling the home personally, but rather representing us by managing our interests while cooperating with the larger office to capture the market for OUR benefit, not his own. Although this meant less income for Terry, it was HE who suggested it for our approval!

Once the final buyers agreed to our price, the process began in earnest of checking the home out by physical inspectors, engineers, mold inspectors, and the usual run of multiple appraisers and, of course, the termite company. Terry managed this entire process, leaving NOTHING to chance! He was on site for hour after hour to be certain that he was available if any problems arose and to make sure the importance of any difficulties was not ‘blown out of proportion’ by the potentially self-important inspectors. Terry was a custom home-builder for a number of years, and so his meetings with the various inspectors (especially the mold inspectors, a group that could certainly have become ‘deal-breakers’ if their input had not been properly tempered and qualified by Terry’s involvement) was really a separate ‘mini-negotiation’ with the inspectors AND the buyer. There are no real guidelines for mold, and in older homes the prospect of mold can be a terrifying prospect for some buyers. Some mold inspectors, even though they have no real state-mandated standards, sometimes act like laboratory scientists dispensing the ‘gospel according to them’, and Terry’s slightly irreverent attitude went a LONG ways toward minimizing the buyer’s concerns in this arena by discussing, qualifying, and framing the statements and findings of the inspectors.

Also, we were covering new ground with the extraordinary price Terry got us for our home. To help alleviate appraisal problems (another deal breaker), Terry met with both appraisers, and provided the appraiser a professionally-done, full-color booklet on our property, to cast it in its best light for the appraiser’s inspection. We GOT our appraisal –BOTH times!!

Meanwhile, Terry was working hard to find the perfect home for us when our home closed escrow (since sellers in the hot seller’s market were not typically willing to accept an offer from us subject to our home closing escrow). With our home still in escrow, the prices of the homes we were looking at were beginning to spiral out of reach.Although we were willing to continue the search with Terry, and told him so, we also told him that we were on a waiting list for an exclusive new neighborhood, where a home had just fallen out of escrow (and was consequently available to us). His IMMEDIATE response was that this was a ‘bird in the hand’, and that we should pounce on the new home. Of course, this meant a very substantial reduction in potential income to him (just like the co-listing of our current home with another company for our benefit had meant), since the builder did not cooperate with outside brokers. We also didn’t get Terry’s Buyer Cash-Back Rebate (apx $20,000 in this case), but prices in the new development had already appreciated, and we agreed with Terry after discussing it with him in detail that we did indeed need to pounce on the opportunity that the new home presented to us. So, that’s what we did, and we are happily waiting for our new home to be built. (Terry even accompanied us to a meeting with the builder to view the home and go over the details, just to be sure that we were well-protected.)

The whole process, while stressful, was also exhilarating (and VERY profitable). It was also QUICK, eliminating most of the hassle of showing our home week after week. Working with an experienced agent made all the difference, and we would recommend Terry, even if his commissions were substantially MORE than the market. However, that is NOT the case, because Terry’s listing commission is about a THIRD of the ‘going rate’. He can do this because he took care of us PERSONALLY, not by having a relatively inexperienced agent handle us and our single most valuable asset. While that seasoned representation is VERY good for us, it also means that Terry doesn’t have to split his low commissions within his own office. So, the low commissions bought us a MOST experienced & trustworthy agent without detracting from the intense marketing effort to get us top dollar. What a great combination!

So, if you need a great agent, or a good refinance (or even 4 of them, like us!), call TERRY. We recommend him to all our friends and business associates, and we recommend him to YOU, too!

S.J, M.D. & E.J, M.D.

We researched the marketing of the various area Realtors, and found that Terry provided his clients some of the best marketing of any of the Realtors in the area. He seemed to do above and beyond what other agents did in producing high quality virtual tours for every home he listed. If his listings not only stood out to us, but impressed us, we were convinced that potential buyers for our home would be impressed as well.

Overall, we were most impressed with Terry's sharp knowledge as a realtor and his aggressive attitude toward the sale of our home. His attention to detail, such as producing beautiful, high-quality glossy flyers (much nicer than any other flyers we've seen) and making sure his pictures of the house are top quality (he came over multiple times to our house just to get the right pictures!), causes him to stand out above the rest. He was able to skillfully guide us in determining a sale price for our home by his thorough research of real estate activity in our neighborhood. It must have been the right price because we received two offers the first weekend our home was listed!

Once the offers were on the table, we were again impressed with Terry's skillfulness in interacting with the other agents and leading us to the more promising offer. Knowing the delicateness of these transactions, we were so thankful to have chosen Terry once a contract was in place. In the end, we received $5000 over our asking price, which is pretty impressive, given the weak market!

We owe a big thank you to Terry for his sharp negotiating skills not only in those first crucial transactions but throughout the 30-day escrow period. He was always on top of every detail and always keeping our best interest in view, especially since we were out of state through much of the process. During the process, we realized more and more that Terry's experience with all the details gave us an edge and peace of mind.

Most impressive was that Terry did above and beyond what any typical realtor would have done, yet amazingly, he is a discount broker (only takes 1% of the sale price). We highly recommend Terry to anyone selling their home or buying a home!

DH, PhD, SH-former Woodbridge residents, now on the east coast

Flo Hightower, Retired Realtor

"For the 4th time, Terry has delivered more than he promised. As a retired Realtor myself, I know the difference between good service and "lip service", and Terry's service REALLY IS outstanding!

The last sale he handled for me had a special twist. Terry is the ONLY Realtor I know who had the expertise to REALLY protect me. I was near the end of the time when I could sell one of my houses tax-free under the new tax laws. I could live with it selling or not selling, but I DEFINITELY could NOT close after the tax deadline! That would have cost WAY too much in taxes!

Terry to the rescue! He got me TOP dollar, plus he structured the sale as an option to make sure it DIDN'T close late. On time, or not at all - that was our program! At first the buyers didn't like the option arrangement, but when they found out the advantages to themselves, they decided to "go for it". Terry is great at explaining the "ins & outs" of complex transactions. (Also didn't hurt that Terry's REBATE was worth THOUSANDS to them!)

My sale closed on time (and on budget, too). As a retired Realtor, I would have gone through the hassle of selling it myself, rather than pay a full 6% commission. On the other hand, it did seem likely that I would end up paying a selling broker a 3% commission, even if I did sell it myself. For only ½ % more, Terry provided his unique option expertise, spent hundreds in advertising, sent out hundreds of direct-mail postcards, provided MLS & Internet exposure (including his novel "Internet Open House"), and held LOTS of real open houses. Small price to pay for my peace of mind and that kind of excellent marketing and promotion (and to save my weekends for more interesting pursuits than holding open houses)! Actually, counting the 1% REBATE to the buyers (which got ME a higher price, of course), it was an even BETTER bargain than I had expected.

I continue to work with Terry because he continues to provide more than he promises. He is easy to contact, and very good at explaining the complexities of special transactions. He keeps me up-to-date, and he gets the job done smoothly and pleasantly, to EVERYONE'S satisfaction. Highly recommended!"

Terry presented an offer for me on a major bargain-priced property, one that had just been reduced a LOT on Friday. Rather than leave my profit to chance, Terry tirelessly pursued the presenting of the offer, and by early Saturday morning, had seller approval. It was a good thing, because the exceptionally low price on the property had caused quite a stir. In fact, one potential buyer had seen the new pricing in Homeseekers.com, and asked his Realtor to see it Friday night. The Realtor put off showing the property until Saturday morning because of the Realtor’s prior dinner arrangements, and that was the edge Terry needed to get MY offer accepted. Saturday morning was too late for them, but just right for me!

It ‘frosts me’ to put up with incompetent service, but the flip side is that I recognize and appreciate excellent service when I do get it. And I got it from Terry! It was not just Terry’s reaction speed and focus, but also his precision that impressed me. So often, others that I have worked with have provided me with partial, misleading, or just plain wrong information. EVERYTHING that Terry told me was both true and fully accurate. I am considering some other real estate transactions, and you can bet that Terry will be a part of them!

PS: I also got over $5,000 in what he calls ‘Buyer Cash-Back Rebates’. That was great, but it was getting the deal together for several HUNDRED thousand in profit that ‘floats my boat’!!

D.G, Happy Real Estate Investor in Aliso Viejo

After we personally checked out Terry's services (for several of our own properties) I was willing to take the unusual step (unusual for me, at least, given my almost fanatical protection of my clients' financial well-being) of referring him to several of my clients who needed real estate services. I have been EXTREMELY pleased with his polished approach (even in stressful situations), and with his clear, concise explanations that keep everybody in the transaction 'in the know', all the time. The LAST thing I want is any controversy for my clients, and Terry does a great job of covering all the bases to avoid that.

The other thing I like is how he 'goes above & beyond', doing whatever it takes to get the job done. One recent sale he handled for a long-term client of ours benefited from his flexible approach, and also from his prior experience as a General Contractor. He took care of all the details of renovating a property, and succeeded in selling my client's property when competing brokers could not sell for their clients. He got my client a premium price, charged a minimal (compared to the general market) commission, and overcame all the obstacles to see it through to a successful close when other sellers were giving up and removing their properties from the market. It didn't hurt that his buyer got the benefit thousands of dollars from his Buyer Cash-Back Rebate, either!

He is easy to work with, valuing input from us and others, rather than thinking that he knows it all, all the time. As a result, he is able to use our ideas and other valuable inputs, along with his own, producing a successful approach that is more than the sum of all the inputs. He has a calming effect on the sometimes stressed-out participants in a real estate transaction, and simply can 'make it happen' when others can't. I will continue to refer him to my valuable clients, secure in the knowledge that his services are the best available (without regard to cost), and that his costs are some of the lowest, too!

(Call me if you want more details.)

Ed Martens, Financial Consultant
www.eemartens.com
949-837-6700

Former Residents of Coto de Caza

We met Terry at an open house in Irvine's Northpark. He had his computer & printer with him, and he was able to answer all our questions about selling our Coto de Caza home right on the spot. On top of that, he also only charged about half of what other Realtors had quoted us, AND he was even willing to give our buyer a rebate from that discount commission. His marketing program was top-notch (including glossy, photo quality full color flyers & an outstanding website, for example), and it was obvious that he really "knew his stuff"

We listed our home with him, and within a week, he got us $20,000 more than the highest sale ever (which hadn't even closed escrow when we listed), and even more than $20,000 over sales that had already closed. Since we saved 2.5% in the commission ($13,000), plus several hundred on our title policy, plus the $20,000 price premium, our total profit from using Terry's company was nearly $35,000!

About the same time, one of our friends had gotten behind on her house payments, and her lender was within days of starting a foreclosure because of delinquent property taxes. We referred Terry to her, and the first thing he did was to negotiate from the bank another 45 days before foreclosure. (Foreclosure is an expensive process, and one that makes it VERY hard to sell a home.) During that 45 days, Terry found a buyer for the home who was willing to risk $10,000 in option money because they wanted our friend's home, but they had a home to sell, too. They knew their own home would sell, but they also knew that our friend couldn't accept the uncertainty of a contingent offer with the bank "breathing down her neck". So, Terry drafted an option agreement that worked out for everybody. (Terry is also a lender -- not a loan broker, but a direct associate with a "top 100" bank -- and so was able to get a Full-Credit Loan Pre-Approval on the buyers in a matter of minutes - calming our friend's fears about the buyers' ability to qualify for financing, and making the buyers comfortable, too.)

The first $5,000 of the option money was paid nearly immediately to our friend, who immediately paid her back taxes (stopping the foreclosure), and also paid the taxes coming due in a few days (saving the 10% late penalty on those taxes as well). The buyers were willing about a month later to pay the second $5,000 of option money because by that time Terry had succeeded in selling their home, too! The next problem for our friend was moving. Although she had a large equity in her home, she had almost no cash to move with! The second $5,000 in option money totally took care of this, too! She was able to put down a deposit and smoothly move into her new home because the option gave her the cash to move with BEFORE her home closed escrow!

During the sale of her home, our friend's thought was to buy a smaller place. Although we believe that many real estate agents would have uncritically welcomed the opportunity to make more commission by selling our friend another home, Terry took a different approach. After clearly understanding the major changes happening in our friend's life, he TOTALLY dissuaded her from buying again right away. He convinced her to get the pieces of her life back together BEFORE jumping into another property, despite the reduction of income to himself.

This "cinched it" for us with Terry. It's important to have technical expertise (in options, for example). It's important to be able to do a "top-notch" marketing & sales job to get a maximum price by finding the right buyer for the property. Terry's discounts and rebates help a LOT, too. But the BEST thing of all is to have a trustworthy agent who puts his clients' interests ahead of his own. THAT'S who Terry is at the core, and THAT is why we would recommend him to ANYBODY!!

As first-time buyers, we needed someone who was totally trustworthy, and very experienced. We didn’t want someone who was getting their “on-the-job-training” on OUR purchase!

Fortunately, we didn’t have to wing-it, because Terry had ALREADY worked with other family and came HIGHLY recommended. What a relief!

And, what our family said was more than TRUE. We found a home that was great for us, but it was a distress situation for the seller, a short-pay, and these are notoriously uncertain. It takes forever to get an answer from the banks, and the agents that list them for sale seem to treat the homes like sacks of flour, rather than very expensive assets. Terry told us that we needed a strategy to overcome this uncertainty.

Terry’s strategy included setting up our own private website to collect all the homes that met our criteria. When we found a second home that was the same model as the one we were buying, he counseled us to put in an offer on THAT home, too. He explained why there was no risk that we could become obligated to buy TWO homes, and we trusted his counsel.

So, suddenly, we were in escrow for TWO homes, BOTH short-pays, and waiting to see which one worked out the best for us. It was a good thing, too, because FINALLY we got the answer from the bank on the first home… they raised their price 10%!! Fortunately, however, the other bank approved our offer for the second home (which was nicer in some ways and thousands less that we had offered on the first home, too). So, because of Terry’s strategy, we did end up completing our purchase of the backup home, and so we succeeded in getting our very first home of our own! Right at the last, the seller (who was losing the home through the short-pay) took all the fairly new appliances, and replaced them with junk. Terry made sure the other agent gave us a credit to replace them all, and we ended up with brand new appliances, too!

On top of everything, Terry’s Buyer Cash-Back, as he calls it, provided us with THOUSANDS more in cash through escrow… sure does help, especially when you’re buying your very first home! Anyway, our experience with Terry was even BETTER than the glowing reports from our family had made us anticipate. He was constantly available, totally trustworthy, and smart & experienced enough to know how to handle the uncertainties of our crazy market so that we succeeded big-time! We got a great buy, and knew that Terry was watching out for us the whole way.

In ANY kind of market, our whole family’s choice has been, and will ALWAYS be Terry!

Happy Fountain Valley home-OWNERS!

I had planned to sell my place myself, but I remembered Terry's ad from a few months earlier about a TOTAL commission of 3.5%, including everything. And I was willing to cooperate with brokers if I got a good enough price. After talking with Terry, I decided to have full representation by my OWN broker, working for ME, instead of having brokers with buyers just working for their buyers and themselves. Actually, I wasn't sure if any broker would list my home, since I wanted to sell it for WAY above any other sales in my neighborhood. However, I had a terrific location on the Coto de Caza golf course, though, and other areas were selling for more than my neighborhood. When I told Terry the price I wanted, he agreed that it was possible and promised to 'market it for all it was worth' to try for it. He mentioned that the Internet part of his marketing was 'off-scale', and he demonstrated that a Google search for 'Homes for Sale Orange County, CA' put him on the first page at position #5 out of 255,000 'hits'. WOW! Now THAT'S good marketing!!

Well, we were right, and it's now closed. Terry explained that the market was in a wild state, and wouldn't necessarily stay that way. He was very clear about selling right away, and with a short escrow (with all the contingencies removed early on). He was right! About the time my home closed escrow, the market cooled off considerably. If I had delayed even 2 weeks (or if I had had a 'weak' escrow), I probably couldn't have succeeded.

I have recommended Terry to all my neighbors because it is clear that his first thought is for his clients, not himself. He is the best real estate agent I've ever had (and I've worked with quite a few). It is incredible to me that his fees are LESS than the competition (probably should be a lot MORE than them!).

Now we are looking for another good investment. And, true to form, Terry will also pay me a Buyer Cash-Back Rebate when we find it and escrow closes. He calls his program the 'I pay YOU to Move-Up' program, because his Buyer Cash-Back will likely be more than what he charged me to list my home (eg only 1%). I don't know why his fees are so much more reasonable than the competition, but if that's the way he wants to do it, who am I to complain. Highly Recommended!!

YM, Happy Coto de Caza Seller

Terry has a "First Look" list that lets his clients see his listings BEFORE they even get into the MLS. In a hot market like we have seen here for some time, this can make the difference between getting a good buy, or not getting it at all. Terry took me to see one of his listings, but it wasn't what I was looking for. He mentioned that he had JUST listed another, and so he called the seller and we took a look at it. It was a GREAT rental, and exactly what we were looking for, and we immediately made an offer on it. After a little "back & forth", we got the property at an acceptable price, and we just closed escrow. Terry is the most "hands-on" agent we have ever worked with. NOTHING happens with his clients' contracts that he doesn't personally review, and that's the way we like it! Under control!

Just during the escrow, prices have probably risen $5-$10 thousand. On top of that, we got THOUSANDS back with Terry's Cash-Back program. And, his seller was able to give us an attractive price because Terry charged them about 1/3 the going rate as a listing commission. All in all, a GREAT buy for us (and good for the seller, too!).

Also, Terry converted his virtual tour for selling the property into a virtual tour for us to rent the property, letting renters see the property without hassling us to show it to them until AFTER they already know they want it. He did the same thing with his 'for sale' flyers… INSTANT for-rent marketing for us, at NO COST!

Terry uses 'high-tech' to the max. This provides an instant action response to questions or anything that comes up, and keeps us up-to-the-minute on our purchase (like most everybody, a major purchase for us). The old way of meeting after meeting is SUCH a waste of time, and we are busy people. We appreciate getting things done immediately, and getting them done right - both are the norm with Terry!

We asked Terry for some of his cards for our friends. We like him AND his 'well-oiled' team. Makes buying real estate a pleasure again!!

DD & SD, Foothill Ranch LANDLORDS!!

Greetings Pastor,

God used our Real Estate Agent to bless us with a new home. The home closed yesterday and I will be moving into the property on Saturday after the new paint dries.

I have mentioned to him you are also interested in purchasing.

I would like him to make you a mini website of all the available properties in South Orange County. His program is awesome. Terry will give you back 1% of his commission after close. You will not have to lift a finger, just pick a property and watch Jesus use him throughout the whole process and give you money back after completion. He reviews and approves every document before having you sign. Very Proficient. He will even put in his own money to meet the closing of escrow. It was a risk free purchase for us. God spoke our property into our hands. Praise the Lord!

Let me know how you would like to proceed. I have not disclosed your email or your phone number. But he would at least like to speak with you before making you the mini website of available properties. Most of them have virtual tours and up to the minute in availability. Be as specific with him as possible to narrow your search. The website updates a couple of times throughout the day sending you email notifications and you can save preferred properties to a folder within the mini website.

You can make your own website at his site www.surfmls.com but it is not as thorough as the website he makes for you after a 2 minute phone call.

He is anticipating a call from you 949-278-1595. You will not be disappointed, very punctual, very thorough, doesn't miss a beat, negotiates all pricing to get you best escrow and costs. He always returns calls and communicates well.

His site alone will be worth the phone call. 1% return on the purchase was a wise decision on our part. God really blessed us, many thanks to Terry.

God Bless,
Eric

When we decided that it was time to sell our rental, we took our Financial Advisor's advice and went with Terry. GOOD move!

We missed the peak of the extraordinary market by about 60 days, but even so, the price had gone up wildly over the previous year. The property had been a rental for over a decade, and it was a little tattered. However, we expected the buyer to either bulldoze it down to build a much larger home (because of its location), or else do a major renovation and expansion. Consequently, we put the property on the market in its 'natural state' (that of a well-used rental).

This didn't 'fly' at ALL! The people who would live in it without major renovations couldn't afford it, and those who could afford it wouldn't live in it (it seemed a common theme that buyers were looking for a place to live temporarily while they decided how to improve the property). Back to the 'drawing-boards'…

We decided that we would have to 'gussie-it-up a bit' if we were going to succeed in selling (doing what Terry calls 'high-heels & make-up'). Not such an easy task, though, because we had moved from Seal Beach to Yuma. Turns out that Terry had been a custom home builder, though, and that's what saved the day. He handled getting us contractors to do the work by meeting with lots and lots of painters, floor refinishers, handymen, carpet people, plumbers, electricians, and the like (even did the windows personally when he wasn't satisfied with the painters' clean-up). With his approach, it only took about $5,000 to take it from the 'tattered rental' look to the 'rose-covered cottage' look, and finally it made sense to hold the property open, so Terry did that, weekend after weekend.

And then we sold it for a GREAT price to one of the people who saw it at one of the open houses! Terry handled both sides of the sale, and so his buyer got Terry's Cash-Back rebate. This amounted to several thousand dollars, and it made ALL the difference to us and the buyer! Terry handled EVERYTHING, and the sale closed smoothly. We couldn't be happier, as we continue with the cruises and other activities that we really want to do in our retirement. Terry shielded us from any stress from the transaction, and it is clear to us that he is TOTALLY trustworthy. During the same period, our competing sellers tried, but failed, but Terry came through for US.


FORMER Seal Beach Owners, Currently … Satisfied sellers…
We'd rather be cruising, and now we ARE!!

Happy Former Lake Forest Condo-Dwellers who have moved "Up-Town"!

After finding Terry's Cash-Back Rebate program on the Internet, we called him to make an offer for us on a home we had seen at an open house (after a brief conversation with him that made us comfortable working with him). That property was already sold, but this started the long process of looking at properties weekends & after work, sometimes as late as 8 - 9 PM. Terry was ALWAYS available for us, even though we know that his workday starts at 6 AM!

We made another offer, but found out during our inspection that this home needed more work than we were willing to do. Fortunately, Terry had insisted, because of the current insurance company concerns about mold, that we "line up" insurance during the 17 day inspection period, so our deposit wouldn't be at risk if we couldn't get insurance at a reasonable price. Sure enough, the only insurance company we could find to insure the home insisted that we have a contract to replace the wood shake roof before they would agree to insure us. Partly for that reason, we decided against that home. Too much work for the price!

We then found a newer home in a gated community that Terry negotiated for us at $31,000 UNDER the appraised value. Our purchase price was SO LOW that the appraiser commented in the appraisal that he assumed the sale was a foreclosure sale. (It wasn't - just a GREAT buy for us, negotiated by Terry!!) Part of our success in the negotiation was Terry's late-night Full-Credit Loan Pre-Approval. (Terry, as an Associate of a major bank, was our lender, too!). Our Pre-Approval was a detailed & official-looking document, which listed ALL the conditions of the Pre-Approval (no "got-cha's" there). Also we were able to make our offer BEFORE we sold our current home, and WITHOUT making a "contingent offer" (which wouldn't have been accepted in this Seller's Market). Since the seller was a sophisticated real estate investor, this detailed Pre-Approval, with NO SALE CONTINGENCY, made our offer look great to the Seller ! On top of that, even though many of our friends told us about the delays that lenders in their transactions had caused them, our financing was delivered on-time & as promised! Sure does reduce the "stress-level" when people deliver!!

Meanwhile, we changed our mind, and decided to sell our current home, rather than keep it for a rental. True to form, Terry sold it for the highest price EVER for our model, despite the substantial road noise from Lake Forest Blvd!! On top of that, we only paid 3.5% commission, and since Terry charged us just 1%, we were still able to attract other brokers with the 2.5% we paid them from the 3.5% total commission. So, we not only got a higher price than more desirably located homes like ours got, we also saved over $6,500 in commission, plus a several hundred dollar discount in closing costs negotiated by Terry, PLUS our $31,000 profit he negotiated for us on our purchase.

But it gets even better!! Remember the Cash-Back Rebate we mentioned on our purchase? That amounted to about $4,600, and Terry's TOTAL Listing Fee for our home was only 1%, or about $2,650. So, in effect, Terry paid US BACK about $2,000 MORE than we paid him to sell our current home (from the commission our seller paid to him in our purchase)!! Even now, it really doesn't seem possible, but the dollars are in our account, for sure!!

Besides seemingly being available on his cell phone whenever we called, Terry also has a sophisticated team that used the Internet & email to CONSTANTLY keep us informed. His high-tech team of Escrow, Transaction Coordinator, Termite, Inspector, and Title was a joy to work with in BOTH our transactions! But the best thing of all is that we knew we could TRUST Terry. We knew after dealing with him for a short time (especially when he told us NOT to buy several properties !!) that both his CHARACTER and his technical EXPERTISE were trustworthy. Instead of trying to sell us something, he actually dissuaded us from buying what he considered non-optimal, then brought ALL his skill to bear when we found the PERFECT one!! We couldn't be happier with our new home, the sale of our old one, and with Terry's expert counseling & assistance. His attention to detail got us out of the home we didn't want, go us into the one we did, and paid us TOP DOLLAR on our own sale. What a combination!!

After 2 years of looking at the daily MLS updates from Terry's website, we contacted him when we were ready to buy. The looking process, because of our long exposure to the market through Terry's website, and because of Terry's approach to getting us the data immediately, then deciding ourselves what we wanted to see (after doing a drive-by on the properties) was quick & "painless". We narrowed it down to half a dozen homes, and saw them all in a couple of hours.

By the time we were ready to make our formal offer (a few days later), Terry had already been sending the agent for the sellers all the "bad news" he could find in the newspapers about property prices. Terry has bought on his own account for years, and he is willing to make lower offers in a soft market. His attitude is that of an investor, not a salesman… if there is NOT a better offer available to sellers, then his offer MUST be the best one… in any case, he enthusiastically handled our low offers. As a result, we had the opportunity to negotiate a low price, and Terry was more than up to the task. He got us a TERRIFIC buy, $45,000 less than a less-upgraded (otherwise identical) home had just closed for earlier in the month (with Terry's Buyer Cash-Back of $6,450, that made us $51,000 under the market! The seller's agent was absolutely CERTAIN that the sellers would refuse our offer, and SAID so! We made a final adjustment that gave some power to the seller to protect our price, and they DID accept our offer, after all. We ended up with the LOW price that the seller's agent said was impossible!

Terry also handled the loan for us. He is affiliated with one of the major lenders in the nation, and has access to their automated system. With that system, we got an INSTANT loan approval. Since he had personal control over a lot of the loan processing, when the Thanksgiving holidays threatened to delay our closing, he again brought his experience to bear, and got our docs in time. He even handled our signing of the loan docs personally, since the escrow company wasn't able to reschedule it after the delay (Terry had been a Notary Public for years, so knew his way around that process, too.) As a normal precaution against "surprises in escrow", Terry also routinely has the lender email him a complete copy of the loan docs (65 pages per loan) ahead of time, to be SURE there are no surprises or snags in escrow. It wasn't necessary in this case, but Terry could have handled the signing well after business hours, too, since he had everything sent to the escrow, and knew how to take care of it all.

All of the foregoing is nice, but the REAL DEAL is that Terry watched out for us the whole way, just as though it were his own purchase. He clearly has the experience and the desire, too, to make CERTAIN that everything goes the way it's planned. He also has policies & procedures (like adding protective clauses to the escrow instructions for our protection) that seem a little strange to escrow officers accustomed to agents "dropping deals at their doorstep", then calling the escrow at close to see if their commission check is ready yet. Stranger yet to most of them is his INSISTENCE that EVERY document that we were to sign, and every cost projection/billing of us FIRST went through his rigorous inspection before WE even saw it. By the time we saw the docs, it was AFTER Terry had already attached a note saying that he had looked the document over, and it was OK to sign. (As a law student just beginning my legal studies, it is clear to me that Terry really DOES understand his fiduciary duties to us as CLIENTS, and did NOT treat us as casual sales customers, but as principals to whom he owes fiduciary duties. It was a pleasure for me to see in actual action what I have been studying about (fiduciary duties). Despite the highly competitive and sometimes loose real estate industry, Terry strictly adheres to those duties.) My wife is a statistician, and so precision and adherence to plan is important to us both, and Terry is a MASTER of it! (Terry was referred to us by one of our friends, a computer scientist who, like us, has high expectations. We figured that if Terry had satisfied our friend, he would satisfy us, too! We were RIGHT!)

Well, the deal closed yesterday, just as smoothly as it started. Terry is a little bit like a duck on the lake… smoothly & serenely moving towards the opposite shore (while paddling furiously underwater to make it all seem simple). It all came together on time, and as planned, with absolutely NO surprises. We'd do it again tomorrow… and, whether we do it tomorrow or not, will make SURE (just like our friend did for us) that OUR friends have Terry at their side when THEY buy or sell real estate!

Pleased owners of our new Irvine home, JL,AL, & WL

Don & Rita, Lake Forest

Well, let's start with the money. Terry got us a very high price for our home, compared to other sales. We saw his "List for 1% ad", and gave him a call. He showed us actual proof (closed sales from the MLS) of his claim that not only charges less commission, but also gets higher prices for his clients, too.

He uses a thorough and completely professional marketing plan, complete with what he calls "page 1, position1" search results, truly astonishing results on the major Internet search engines (Google, Yahoo, AOL) over 38,000+ other websites. Plus, he held Open House, used lots of newspaper advertising, direct mail, and his innovative "Talking House" technology, as he calls it. Since other brokers would never drive up to the home with a client, and then sit and call the "Talking House" number, this allows Terry to promote his buyer cash-back rebates (about $4,300 buyer cash-back rebate in our case) to buyers without a broker, WITHOUT alienating other brokers. This made our home an even better deal for buyers, without costing US a dime!

Mostly, though, we trusted Terry from the beginning, and he justified our trust by doing even MORE than EVERYTHING he promised. Because of the high price he got for us, we did have a problem getting an appraisal, and he had to bring in a second appraiser for our sale to close. During the whole process, he kept us totally up-to-date. I've been in sales for 30 years myself, and I know what it takes to make each client feel that they are the only client. Knowing what it takes, I am TOTALLY impressed by Terry's approach during the highly emotional process of leaving our home.

Back to the money, the discounts on the commission (about half) save us well over $10,000, so we were a double-winner! If we were staying in the area, we would DEFINITELY have Terry find our new home for us (and be one of his "cash-back rebate buyers", too!)

I still chuckle when I recall what one of the old-timer real estate brokers who remembered me as a Realtor years ago before I retired told Terry when they interviewed him to sell their property. He and his wife had read my earlier Client Success Story on Terry's website, and told Terry that they were hiring him because ANYBODY whose marketing could satisfy me, would SURELY satisfy them!

Well, Terry has satisfied me yet again by handling the sale of another of my properties, this time while I was out of the area. I am pretty 'hands-on', and I know of absolutely no one else that I would trust to handle my property sale in my absence. I knew I could rely on Terry to handle everything, and he did. Actually, it turned out that he represented me and the buyer, and provided the loan for the buyer, too. His low commissions netted me the amount I wanted, and I successfully rolled-over the profits in a tax-deferred exchange in my new home state. Part of the ease of this transition was Terry's super-quick loan pre-approval of my buyer, and his helping the buyer remove all the remaining contingencies in 7 days, for a 21 day TOTAL escrow. You can imagine the stress this quick certainty took off me in making offers on the replacement properties, subject to the sale of this (to my sellers, anyway) out-of-state property. Anyway, it's done now, and it turned out just GREAT! Terry always comes through, and his commissions are so low it makes sense to use him, even if I were not out of the area!


Flo,
Investor & Retired Realtor

Mike & Shawn, Happy Lake Forest SELLERS (actual, not ‘wanna-be sellers !)

We were leaving the state for retirement, and it was time to sell to make our move. The market had been hot for months, but it had suddenly cooled a bit. We were used to weekly increases in price, but Terry told us that we had to temper our goals if we were to find the buyer we clearly needed to change our equity into real, spendable money in this new market we found ourselves in! We saw all the signs, and we KNEW it had changed!

That was not really the message we wanted to hear, but we knew it was true, and the complete data Terry provided in the professional market evaluation he gave us supported what he was telling us. We trusted him to be right, and boy, was he EVER! (Everybody’s an expert when prices are going up weekly, but it took a professional to tell us the truth up-front, rather than letting the real opportunity pass us by because we had overpriced our property!)

We were the ONLY ones who were able to sell our house in the entire neighborhood, and now the other sellers are beginning to reduce their prices, too, in a cutthroat competition between them. If we had not listened, we would still be looking for a buyer (in competition with the dozen neighbors who can’t sell their homes!). We made a GREAT profit on our place because we got professional help to get the maximum price, but to actually GET it, while the competition tried to sell with ‘yesterday’s price increases tacked-on’. We’re leaving in a few days, and we’re traveling with ALL our equity with us! No split family, no ‘can’t sell blues’, and no worries about prices going down, and interest rates going up!

The whole process was smooth & precise. Terry uses a professional Transaction Coordination system (at no extra expense to us) and his escrow, title, and termite team to handle all the paperwork and keep tabs on all the things that need to happen on time for our sale itself to happen on time (actually we could have closed early, but elected to stick with our schedule). He even had a ‘loaner fax’ for us to use during the sale! It seems incredible to us that he charges LESS than the competition, rather than MORE! But, it’s true. He is about HALF the going rate, and his service is superb! We recommend him to ANYONE, without reservation.

Jim & Dawn, Aliso Viejo, CA

As an executive in the home loan business, and having bought and sold a number of homes in the past, the LAST thing we needed was a “salesman”. However, we DID need someone with knowledge of the local market, and someone who could help us move fast enough to get a good buy in this extreme “seller’s market”.

We found BOTH in Terry, who used advanced technology to deliver the newest of new listings to our doorstep (actually to our email inbox!) EVERY day. On top of that, he was organized to be able to immediately show us properties of interest, before the competition of other buyers nosing around. Terry knew how to get us what we wanted, without intruding into our busy lives, or wasting any of our time.

We bought one of the first few homes we viewed, because we were only looking at homes of interest to us. My company’s head appraiser tells us that we probably got our new home for $100,000 less than the actual value. Although it didn’t have a pool, we are in the process of installing one that appeals to us, so we will have a brand new pool & spa, custom-done to our taste.

Working with Terry was a pleasant experience because he anticipated what we wanted, and instantly understood us and our desires. The “frosting on the cake” was his 1% Cash-Back Rebate, $9,500 in our case! We didn’t have to negotiate for the Cash- Back Rebate, as it is an automatic part of the excellent service that Terry provides.

So, if you’re looking for a home, especially one in the million-dollar range, give Terry a call. Ask him about getting a loan, too, because he has another leading-edge technology in his association with Loanworks, a company that can give you approval in 15 minutes or less. You will like the WHOLE package!

J&K, Mission Viejo

Terry sold our home on Moon Ridge in Lake Forest for the highest price EVER for our model, and then saved us money on our title policy and thousands more because of his super-low commissions! We estimate that we saved about $13,000, just on our sale. Then, he and his high-tech systems found our new home right after it came on the market (we were getting DAILY updates on all the properties in the MLS that matched our criteria), and we saved ANOTHER $4,200 because of his Buyer Cash-Back Rebate! Sounds to us like over $17,000 in our pockets!!

It wasn’t just the money, though. The whole process was smooth & professional, despite our initial misgivings about doing it “his way”. We wanted to list our home for sale with the condition that we find another. Terry told us that that would cost us money in the long run, because it would depress the price we would likely get for the home. Buyers would want to KNOW that they had a “real sale”, rather than a “maybe”, and the best buyers might go elsewhere. By this time, we had confidence in Terry and his judgment. We’re both professionals, and we recognized that Terry was a counselor, not a salesman, so we listed our home with no mention in the listing of any requirement that we find another, just like he said we should. Terry was able to get a “bidding war” going for us because we could offer our home to buyers with certainty!

It turned out that the home we BOUGHT was listed with the condition that the seller find a replacement!! Lucky for us, because it probably would have sold before we got to it, if it hadn’t been for this listing mistake by the seller (which kept it on the market for a few extra days)! Anyway, it was definitely the home we wanted, but now the problem was to get rid of the replacement requirement so WE would know that WE had a replacement home, not just a “maybe”. Terry went to work negotiating away the requirement, and also getting the seller & their agent to accept that our home hadn’t closed escrow yet – not an easy task in this market! (We also had personal proof that Terry had been right about the best way to list our home – if he hadn’t been able to negotiate away the condition that the seller find replacement home, then WE would have “walked” to find a more certain purchase, ourselves!)

To make a long story short, Terry was able to convince the seller and their agent to take OUR contingent sale, and drop THEIR requirement about finding a replacement home! Fortunately, Terry is also a lender, and he had insisted on PERSONALLY qualifying our buyer (even though the offer was brought in by another agent, and even though they had already qualified with their own lender). Good thing, because this was an important part of getting approval from the seller and their experienced agent on our close-of-escrow contingency, because Terry point out that he, personally, had qualified our buyer with a major bank. Furthermore, he also provided a professional-looking Full- Credit Loan Pre-Approval on US to the seller to put everyone’s mind at ease. (It’s not enough to have great credit and a large down – you have to be able to convincingly present it so you can prove it to the seller, too!)

By the time we closed escrow, the same model as our new home was ALREADY selling for THOUSANDS more than we paid! (Shows us that our purchase price was depressed by our seller’s insistence on the replacement requirement in his listing – sure glad we knew better when we listed our home, but we REALLY liked being a buyer when the seller took that path!)

As a professional engineer and an architect ourselves, we expect professional services. Terry EXCEEDED our criteria, and WILDLY EXCEEDED the expectations we formed during our frustrating search for a good agent! He did a GREAT job of keeping us up-to-the-minute, using his web-based tracking system, his Transaction Coordinator, his experienced senior escrow officer, and his own constant involvement to be sure we were always “in the know”. On top of that, Terry’s informed & experienced counsel, his low commissions (about half the going rate), his negotiated discounts, and his Cash-Back Rebate saved us a huge percentage of our profit. We HIGHLY recommend him to ANYBODY thinking of selling or buying, and ESPECIALLY if you’re “moving up”. Our Cash-Back Rebate was a LOT more than the listing fee we paid Terry. He actually ended up paying US to sell our home for the highest price ever! What a deal!

Dr. Clare Albright, Psychologist, Orange County, CA

Terry is a genius. His knowledge of real estate and ability to negotiate the best deal make him the obvious choice as your agent.

Terry listed my home after a four month listing with an agent who was unable to find a buyer. Terry invested a great deal of time, money and creativity in obtaining my buyer and closing a very complicated transaction. He held my house open every weekend and hosted two broker open houses. And all of this for a mere one percent commission!

After six months of shopping I found the house that I wanted to buy on The Lake. Owning a home on the Lake is exciting for me, and he seller told me That the reason I was able to buy the house was because of the knowledge and extra efforts of Terry. "He swung the deal for you."

Terry obtained the loan for my new residence. I called around town after Terry gave me his loan quote and no other lender was even coming close to matching the great terms that Terry obtained for me.

I give the highest recommendation to Terry Hunter to handle every aspect of your real estate needs. You won't be sorry.

[Note: The seller, after consulting with her attorney, thought she was required to accept another counter offer that had come in a few minutes earlier, but Terry showed her how the paperwork allowed her to accept Dr. Albright's.]

New Homeowners in Irvine's Northpark

"Calling Terry's service "Magic" by paraphrasing author Arthur Clarke may be overstating the case a bit, but working with Terry certainly was smooth, efficient & convenient.

We used Terry's "self-serve" process to find our home without wasting time being driven all over by a Realtor, and without any sales pressure.

His website updated us every day with every property in the MLS that met our criteria, and we also found out about his own new listings within hours (before the competition of other brokers and the newspaper ads).

After we got the information on properties that interested us, we drove the neighborhoods to check them out, and then Terry made appointments for the ones WE wanted to see with no pressure or sales nonsense. We found a GOOD one, and Terry negotiated a price about $20,000 less than recent sales of similar units! On top of that, our costs were largely covered by his 1% Cash-Back Rebate ($3,700 in our pockets!!).

Terry was also our lender, and since we are not US citizens, it was a good thing that we had him!! Because he is an associate with a "top 100" bank with an automated, 15 minute approval process, we were able to "work out the kinks" associated with our non-citizen status UP-FRONT. Our loan pre-approval was complete & detailed, and instantly accepted by the other agent & the seller. The whole transaction closed in 26 days, just like Terry promised, and we didn't even have to go into escrow to sign loan documents (they were brought to our home!).

As we are writing this, it still seems a little bit like a dream. We got a very nice home, got it $20,000 under similar sales, received nearly $4,000 in rebates, and closed in 26 days. It's hard for us to understand the complaints of our friends who endured terrible hassles from their agents and lenders in buying their homes, when ours was so uneventful. I guess some people do have headaches getting their new homes, but if they worked with Terry, they wouldn't !!"

We loved the professional quality Virtual Tour that showed our home off to the ENTIRE buying public without their even setting foot in it! Terry makes masterful use of the Internet for marketing, AND for keeping us up-to-the-minute with the marketing and all the offers and counter offers involved in selling our home.

And, all that marketing (including open houses, Internet, MLS, direct mail, photo quality flyers, newspaper ads, his 'Talking House', and his unique email database of 1,300 + active buyers who found out about our home coming on the market mere HOURS after Terry listed it) paid off for us, too, with a GREAT bottom-line profit to us, compared with other sales in our neighborhood. (A high selling price and reduced costs will do it every time!! )

There are some people you know you can trust the first time you meet them, and Terry is one of them. And, our first impressions were borne out at every twist and turn in our marketing effort. We had a chance to see Terry work for one of our acquaintances before we hired him, and his performance was even better than we expected.

There's not much more to say. He promised a high price, low costs, and a smooth escrow… EXACTLY what we got. If this is what YOU want when you sell YOUR home, then you should hire Terry, TOO!

BW & VW - Lake Forest, CA

Paul, Department of Defense Contract Administrator Officer

Starting with the obvious, I received $17,400 more than the highest sale EVER for my floorplan!! Then, I saved 2.5% on the commission (Terry charges about ½ the "going rate" at 3.5% total) for another $8,685 in savings. Then, I saved another $400 on my title insurance policy discount (which Terry noticed on his final review of my closing statement was not given by the escrow, and automatically got corrected for me) ! So, financially I PROFITED about $26,500 on the sale of my home! I am looking for a new home in the $400,000 range, so I expect ANOTHER savings of about $4,000 from Terry's Cash-Back Rebate for buyers. Altogether, working with Terry will save me about $40,000, PLUS whatever his negotiating skills can save me on my repurchase! That's NOT the whole story, though! Although Terry's commissions are drastically reduced, his service is TOP-NOTCH! I was astounded every time I sent him an early morning or late night email, and got a near instant response. Same thing for phone contact. His systems for keeping me up-to-date (mobile email, mobile phone, and his on-line, web-based transaction control system with his dedicated Transaction Controller) worked great, too! Terry has "welded together" a professional team of escrow company, termite company, title company, and transaction controller into a smooth-running system for selling homes, and it is a pleasure to work with him & his team!

Terry's experience as a broker (over 25 years, he tells me) was obvious in his expert personal handling of my property. However, the most important element of all was his attitude toward his responsibilities to me as MY broker. Where some agents & brokers are reluctant to work for top dollar for their sellers (because they want to be seen as "good guys" by buyer agents), Terry aggressively TRIES to start a "bidding war" (actually, he considers it his DUTY to start one if he can!). Since it was MY property being bid on, I LIKE his program a LOT! At first it looked as though his efforts were going to insure me full price for my property (a GOOD thing, since my asking price was already $15,000 over market for my unit), but then he went back to the agent who had stopped bidding (after saying that she was finished, and that her buyers would look for another property) and got her to come in $2,400 OVER asking price! Like I said, I LIKE this program! You will too!

Mike in Newport Beach

It starts with the price, of course. Terry sold my home for the highest price ever for my model. I was dismayed when another broker presented the first offer, but ultimately Terry closed my sale for $50,000 more! That was just the beginning of Terry's great service, though. Seems that the law had just this month changed to required escrow to withhold 3.3% of the sales price for California income tax. I needed that money - the reason we were selling before 2 years was because my ill wife couldn't climb the stairs any more! Because Terry told me right up front about the law change (then corrected the TOTALLY erroneous information I received from my own tax professional and the equally bad info from the State itself when I called for more information) I was able to avoid a $14,000 drain on my limited resources.

The final buyer was Terry's client as well. As promised, Terry provided a full-credit loan pre-approval for the buyer for my peace-of-mind. Despite their qualifying, it almost didn't go together, however. The buyer's wife initially didn't like the property (my wife's long illness had certainly taken its toll on the appearance of our home), and then the buyer got a $50,000 fix-up/remodel bid from a contractor that really knocked the sale "out of the ring". Fortunately, Terry had worked for many years as a licensed contractor/custom home builder. He was able to tell the buyer how to get more "bang for the buck" on the remodel, without the unreasonable costs the contractor projected (for the WRONG improvements, at that). Terry even met with the buyer and his contractor to go over the ideas of how to create maximum value for minimum money in the remodel.

In the end, Terry saved the deal for BOTH of his clients, and we are all totally happy with every aspect of the sale & loan. Terry being the lender made THAT part of the deal so smooth as to be unnoticeable, too! It also didn't hurt that Terry's buyer got Terry's standard 1% Buyer Cash-Back Rebate (over $4,000!), and my wife and I had the benefit of his deep seller discounts (about 50% off the "going rate"), of course! Terry was able to show the buyer that the price the buyer was paying, although fully disclosed higher than past sales, was STILL a better investment than the other marketplace possibilities the buyer had looked at (especially with the high "bang for the buck" remodel ideas that Terry sketched out). Terry's reliability, creativity, and absolutely accurate up-front full-disclosure of everything made us all comfortable and brought a very quick sale to an equally quick and smooth ending. It all seems like a bit like a dream as I look back, but I would have THAT dream over & over!

Brandon, software company Information Officer (CIO)

Terry helped me buy my home about 2 years ago, and now he has successfully sold it for a GREAT price, and with major savings. He saved me about half on my commissions, then saved me another 40% on my title insurance. He also smoothly and professionally handled the limited access for showing my home (because of irregularly scheduled night shifts and the necessity to sleep-in some days) with a changing message on my answering machine that informed other brokers day-to-day of when they could show the property. Since Terry is also a lender, when we DID get a buyer (even though it was through another agent), he was able to pre-approve the buyer, so I knew before I took my property off the market that my escrow would likely close as scheduled. During negotiations, I told Terry any number of times that I would accept a lower offer than what he was negotiating for me because I REALLY wanted to sell right away. I am sure lots of business people would have simply "gone along" with me. Not Terry! He told me to "hang tough", and he would get me a still better price with his negotiations with multiple buyer agents. Since I have known Terry since he helped me buy my home over two years ago, I trusted him, and it PAID OFF! He did get me a lot more, and I still closed quickly and smoothly.

Early on, Terry could have promoted a sale to a buyer without an agent (a quick & easy sale, at a substantially higher commission to himself!), but he put my interests first. In an emotional confrontation, that buyer gave me a "take it or leave it" oral lowball offer on my home. Instead of remaining quietly on the sidelines (where some might have lurked, hoping for the quick sale and higher commission), Terry immediately pointed out in front of the buyer that the offer had some advantages (quick sale, knowledgeable buyer willing to accept some flaws in the property, etc.), but that I could get a higher price if I waited and got more exposure to the market. Despite my desire to sell quickly, this gave me the confidence to reject the offer, and I profited with a much higher price from another buyer shortly thereafter, just as Terry had predicted. I have seldom found such devotion to my interests (since Terry earned a lot less, and "took some heat" from the would-be buyer as well), and I appreciate it a LOT. For me, TRUST is the major ingredient I look for when the stakes are high, and that's why I will always go to Terry for real estate, and tell my friends to do the same.

Mr. & Mrs. Gilpin, Business Consultant & Homemaker (Seller 57 Plaza Brisas, Marbella Country Club, San Juan Capistrano)

After trying unsuccessfully to sell our home with another agent for a LONG time, we had the good fortune to mention our frustration to friends who also lived at Marbella Country Club. Their glowing & insistent recommendation of Terry Hunter of Hunter-Broker made us decide to interview him, even though we already had appointments set up with other agents. (Terry had recently handled several successful transactions for our friends.)

Good move! About half-way through our initial interview with Terry, we looked at each other across the table, and agreed with a glance that he was the one to get the job done for us. And, we were right. Just 6 days later, we had our first offer.

The price wasn't what we wanted, and we suggested compromising with the buyer at a price several thousand less than our asking price. It is our experience that, at this point, many agents would have quickly agreed to the compromise price, and proceeded to "cinch up the deal".

Wow, were we surprised at Terry's reaction! He suggested that his analysis of the negotiating situation prompted the OPPOSITE! He suggested that we stand firm on our price, despite our strong desire to "wrap it up" and finally make our move to San Diego. He told us that those thousands of dollars were REAL and belonged in OUR pocket, and further, that a compromise on the price would WEAKEN our chance of success, rather than help it. It didn't sound right to us to appear uncooperative to the buyer, but he clearly explained his reasoning to us. The combination of his detailed explanation and our rapidly growing trust in Terry convinced us, and we decided to stand firm on our asking price as he suggested.

Bottom line - we got our FULL PRICE, got a 30 day escrow, had NO hassles (AND a happy buyer, too). We're on our way to San Diego, proceeds in hand, after a smooth escrow with the most incredible up-to-the-minute updates on every material aspect of our transaction. Terry is easy to contact by mobile phone, email, and fax, but we never needed to! He made sure that he updated us constantly, including meeting with us numerous times to streamline our decision-making and eliminate any uncertainty about the paperwork as well. (Then, he had his own house cleaners take care of the final clean-up to make our departure just perfect!)

We go WAY BEYOND recommending Terry to ANYONE wanting to buy or sell in Orange County. We INVITE you to call us for a direct personal recommendation! Ask Terry for our new number, and we will be happy to talk with you directly! Oh my goodness, we almost forgot … Terry's listing fee was only 1% (about a THIRD of the "going rate" in our area)!

Steve & Susan F., International Nutriceutical Marketing & Distribution

"While waiting (and waiting and waiting) for various mortgage brokers to deliver on their rate, points, and performance promises, we saw Hunter-Broker's ad in OC Metro Magazine for 15-minute loan approval. Terry's ad promised the best rates and costs in the marketplace, and backed the claim with a $300 guarantee. Well, THAT combination (and the obvious confidence it showed in their own ability to perform) was worth a call, for sure! So, we called, and explained that we were interested in obtaining 30-year fixed rate financing for our new home, and further explained that we were just then in the process of completing the home (a situation, it turns out, that was pleasant for us, but complicates life for lenders). Well, it did take more than 15 minutes, but it was so much quicker than we expected that it seemed almost instantaneous to us! We had our quick approval, (very competitive rate) with ALL the conditions listed right up-front, and the promise to "fund" (lender jargon for actually giving us the money!) by the end of the month, despite the intervening holidays. They REALLY did do what they promised, and we had our money before the end of the month!

That, alone, was a welcome (but expected) situation. What REALLY impressed us was Terry's attention to the details of making sure that it really did happen, that it happened on time, and that the whole process left us with a good impression of his company when it was all over. Terry succeeded admirably, and for good reason. He kept us up-to-the-minute throughout the process, and left NOTHING to chance.

Before the appraisal was scheduled, he worked tirelessly with us to be sure that he had all the data about the extensive work in process and about sales in the neighborhood that the appraiser would need. He then bound it up in a presentation book for the appraiser, and drove all the way down here to personally meet with the appraiser at our home to give him the presentation book (impressed the appraiser, too!). Likewise, when we signed the loan papers, he had ALREADY reviewed them before we arrived, then personally met with us at Woodbridge Escrow (excellent escrow) to go over the paperwork and answer any questions we had. We've NEVER had a loan broker interested enough to join us at an escrow loan document signing before!! By this time, though, we were not surprised that Terry continued to make the tedious process of financing seem smooth and automatic (even though we knew that it was his "behind-the-scenes" work that made it seem so easy and uneventful). He used his mobile phone, email, and fax to remain constantly in touch, and to update us so we didn't have to wonder what was happening. (It's nice to be able to get in touch with your broker, but EVEN BETTER if you don't have to!) To top it all off, his enthusiasm and sense of humor complement his professionalism, making him a joy to work with. If it sounds like we are impressed, then you've got it! We have NEVER had such service, and we recommend Terry to ANYONE wanting financing, especially in the jumbo & super-jumbo range!"

Ms. Eloise Figueroa, Seller, Buyer, & Refinancing Owner

"Little did I know that when I answered the ad with the guaranteed $300 savings and 15-minute loan approval that Terry Hunter (broker for Hunter-Broker) would become my "Realtor For Life", too. All in all, he now has refinanced my property for me, sold my home, represented me in the purchase of my beautiful new home, and arranged the purchase loan on my new home, too! Throughout each transaction, I got the best service I have ever gotten from ANY business I've EVER dealt with. Terry is easy to reach by phone, fax & email (single number - cell phone - don't know if he ever takes time off!). Better yet, he kept ME up to date and tuned in to our strategy, WITHOUT my having to call him!

I would have PAID extra for the top-notch service & seasoned experience I got, but instead I SAVED THOUSANDS! The savings started with about half off on the commission for the sale of my old home, then a 1% Rebate on my new home. Then I saved hundreds on the financing and then I got the best interest rate available anywhere.

Terry knows how to plan a strategy, then ferociously work the strategy with his seasoned team until it produces the planned results. His smarts, hard work, & total honesty have not only made Terry my "Realtor for Life" - they have allowed me to recommend him to my friends, too. This is NOT something I do lightly, but I enthusiastically recommend him to everyone (even my BOSS!). He's the greatest, and I wouldn't THINK of doing a real estate transaction or loan without him!"

Bryan & Cecilia Do, Network Engineer & Auditor (Buyers 1343 Garten, Placentia)

"My wife and I recently purchased our first home and I must say that despite all the intricacies of real estate transaction our agent Mr. Terry Hunter has made home buying experience very rewarding and the process seamless. When we decided to purchase the property, we were looking for an agent with integrity, dedicated, industry veteran, professional, knowledgeable, and most importantly an agent that to looking out for our best interest. We found all the attributes in Mr. Hunter. At first were a little wary about having Mr. Hunter, a Listing Agent, represent the seller and ourselves as a buyer, but after talking to him we felt comfortable and confident to have Mr. Hunter representing us on the transaction We also utilized Mr. Hunter Mortgage Loan Service to help us obtain financing for the purchase. Hunter-Broker is truly a One-Stop shopping for all our Real Estate need.

In addition, we took advantage of Mr. Hunter Buyer Instant 1% Rebate program to help us offset with the extra cash requires for the Closing Costs. I highly recommended to all potential buyers to take advantage of this rebate program, because I have not seen any real estate companies or agents that offering this type of program.

We are delighted to tell you that we are happy with our purchase, and we definitely will utilize Hunter-Broker service in our future Real Estate need. I highly recommend Hunter-Broker to anyone who’s interested in selling or buying. Hunter-Broker 3.5% commission fee for seller and Instant 1% Buyer Rebate is a WIN-WIN proposition for both Seller and Buyer. Give him the opportunity and you will see what I mean!"

Don Graham, Professional Engineer (Buyer 5312 Seashore, Newport Beach Beachhouse Duplex)

"We first decided to try Terry Hunter because of his large rebate program. Good Move! THAT, alone, was worth over $10,000 SAVINGS in our pocket - a GREAT start! Then, despite the seller's resolve to stick to his price, Terry devised a negotiating strategy that resulted in ANOTHER $30,000 savings off the price. And, to top it off, we saved yet ANOTHER $25,000 in taxes! The seller had originally refused to close escrow in time to allow our 1031 tax-deferred exchange, but Terry was able to structure the purchase to satisfy the seller, while getting us what we needed, too.

Terry took care of dealing with the tenants (who had to vacate for "tenting" the duplex for termites) through the other agent, as well as managing the escrow, the loan officer, and the complexities of making sure the engineered repairs to the beachhouse were done as specified. His background as a custom home builder, giving him experience working with subcontractors, sure came in handy there! It took hours of negotiations to get the work done according to the engineered plans (and to keep the subcontractor from quitting in the middle of it), but in the end it was done just right.

Terry REALLY had his hands full with this purchase! Although we had picked a major savings & loan for our financing, they had a change in personnel, re-reviewed our file, and insisted on changes to the property, all just before our scheduled closing. When we refused, they backed out at the last minute, leaving our large purchase profit, our $25,000 earnest money deposit, and our 1031 exchange tax savings hanging in the balance. The seller, meanwhile, seeing prices rise and failing to get his own tax-deferred exchange, had decided he didn't want to sell to us after all. He even sent letters to the escrow and had his agent notify us in writing that he would not extend even 1 hour beyond the closing date, even though he knew all about the lender's last-minute pullout! Too bad about our losses was his attitude! Well, we "shifted into high gear"! Through our joint efforts we had TWO approved loans in time to close on schedule. One HOUR late, and it would have been all over -- But we made it!The last-minute lender and seller problems were stressful when we were going through them, but it was all actually kind of exciting. Given the profitable outcome and the pleasure of living in my Newport beachhouse (almost "on the sand"), I would do it all again. However, from now on forever, I KNOW that I want to have Terry on my side again. When complications arose, having a "Pro" looking out for us made ALL the difference! Highly recommended!!"

Jonathan Mendiola, Investment Analyst (Buyer: 99 Briar Glen, Irvine)

"We saw every home in my price range in Irvine! There was already an offer & counter-offer on the home I really wanted. Terry used the money from the "Instant Rebate" plan to give the Sellers the net dollar that they wanted, right on the spot. I got the home I wanted because Terry IS the broker for his company. So, he could negotiate with the Sellers without getting a manager or broker's permission (and most companies probably wouldn't allow a commission rebate anyway). Terry's system works!"

Tom Taylor, Commercial Real Estate Broker(Seller 36 Stanford Ct., Irvine)

"I am a man of few words, and my few words are that Terry got my price and saved me a lot in commissions."

Brandon Slezak, Chief Information Officer, ER Quick Corporation (Buyer 16501 Bordeaux, Huntington Beach)

"Terry Hunter helped me tremendously in bringing my dream of owning a home to reality. He not only helped me find the perfect home, but he was informative and helpful throughout every step of the home buying process. (Saved me a LOT of money on my loan too!)

He worked very hard before, during, and after the sale was complete, and he was always easy to contact. He really helped fuel the fire to complete the home buying process, and to get me exactly what I wanted. Thanks so much Terry!!

PS: I've already referred you to my brother and his wife, who are buying a home, too. PPS: LOVE your rebate program!"

Terry,

Thank you once again and a thousand times more for helping us purchase our home. You have been wonderful. I have attached a letter for you to post with your testimonials. We wish you happy holidays.

Take care,

Amber Larinto
(Attached Letter)

I am writing this to letter to make sure that everyone who reads it knows what an amazing broker Terry Hunter is. My husband and I just purchased our very first home. Without Terry's help it wouldn't have been possible. He not only represented us, he also represented the seller. This enabled him to choreograph every last detail of the transaction flawlessly. We attended an open house on a Sunday, we were pre-approved through his lender on Monday, and by Tuesday Terry helped us to put in an offer that the seller accepted within one hour. There was no waiting around for days to find out if we would be able to buy the house and escrow closed in 21 days. WOW! None of our family members can believe that we bought a house with so little effort. Terry did all the work for us. Even though I loved the house at first sight, I was even more impressed with Terry at the open house. He was the epitome of professionalism without any of the pushiness that usually is associated with realtors. We had seen homes that we really liked before but had been unhappy with the "slick used-car salesman in realtor's clothing" that we encountered along the way. You know the type. The ones that are willing to sell you anything even if you can't afford it or don't even like it just to line their own pockets. Terry is not like those realtors. You can tell that he really cares for the seller and the buyer of every property that he represents. He was in touch with us and on top of every detail every step of the way. Not only is Terry wonderful, but every person we dealt with through him, for escrow, lending, and inspections, were excellent and professional as well. My husband and I have been married for 13 years, we have an 11-year-old daughter and we have been living in an apartment for the past 10 years while we were saving for a home of our own. It is hard to believe that just under a month ago we were ready to give up and continue renting for at least another year before attempting to buy a house. Then we met Terry and he helped us purchase the home of our dreams. By using him as our broker and going through his lender we were able to get up to 1% cash back, which really helped at closing. I cannot express in words how appreciative we are for all his help. Now instead of spending Christmas in a cramped apartment where we didn't even have room for a tree, we will be celebrating in our beautiful new home. Our plan is to stay in this home forever but if we ever decided to relocate Terry would be the first person we would contact to sell our home and help us to find a new one. It's a no-brainer.


John and Amber Larinto
Huntington Beach, CA

Judy Hugh, Civil Engineer (Seller: 26904 Jasper, Mission Viejo)

"Terry Hunter is very efficient, reliable and always available for you any time of the day. He really gives a lot for the little that you pay. It was such a pleasure to work with him. The best part is that he can be reached, via phone, fax, email and he responds sooner than you think. So if I had a hundred houses to sell, I would definitely ask Terry to sell them for me!"

Joshua Ott, International Entrepreneur (Seller: 24 Del Trevi, Irvine)

"Terry sold my home in only 13 days, after I had wasted weeks trying to sell "By Owner" to "sharpshooters" and novices. He got me a price thousands above recent sales of my model, AND I SAVED THOUSANDS MORE because of his company's "Sellers Save About Half" plan."

Larry & Susan Hoesli, Construction Company Owners (Seller 2927 Player Ln, Tustin)

"We had tried to sell our home for MONTHS "By Owner", and also with a selection of other real estate agents. HUNDREDS of strangers came into our beautifully upgraded, almost new home for 6 months of wasted weekends (and weekdays, too!). During the entire 6 months, we only got one offer, and IT was from a non-qualified buyer! What a bummer! Just 2 weeks after we retained Hunter-Broker to market our home, Terry Hunter (broker for Hunter-Broker) sold it himself! Further, he sold it to a solid buyer, with a short escrow, and with a 20% downpayment. What a relief! During the escrow, it looked like the transaction might come apart -- resulting in a BIG loss for us (our deposit on our new home). What a bummer! However, Terry worked tirelessly and effectively to save the escrow. Thankfully, he was successful! What a relief! We have bought and sold a LOT of homes in our life (some of them by ourselves), but we needed a PROFESSIONAL on this one! We are VERY pleased with Terry and impressed with the speed and efficiency of Hunter-Broker. Highly recommended!! PS: We liked saving about half the commission A LOT! And, our buyer liked their several thousand dollar REBATE, too!!"

Dr. Ernest & Gloria Follico (Sellers: 116 Stanford Court, Irvine)

"Terry sold our Princeton Townhome "Beckett" model rental in only 21 days! We had been trying to sell it ourselves, when we found out about Terry's "Save About Half" plan. At about half the usual commission, we decided it wasn't worth our time and hassle to keep wasting our weekends. Also, we knew that we could get the best exposure and best price by using the Multiple Listing Service -MLS (with its thousands of agents). We were right! Terry did an excellent job of negotiating (multiple offers & counter-offers), and we saved a LOT of equity by getting a great price with low costs. We definitely recommend Terry Hunter, Realtor® as THE company to go with if you're selling or buying real estate in Orange County!"

Terry & Christine McConnell (Seller: 3 Sillero, Rancho Santa Margarita)

"We had been thinking about selling our home, but we didn't want to pay 6% to do it. We found out about Terry's "Seller Save About Half" program at one of his open houses. 20 days after we retained Terry, our home was sold for OVER our asking price, a price already CONSIDERABLY higher than the prices for other sales of our model. He actually asked us to RAISE our price when competing homes in the neighborhood sold (making our home more valuable because buyers had less to choose from). He was more interested in us getting top-dollar than having a quick sale!! Then, when we got multiple offers on the home, he had us raise the price AGAIN! Then, his own buyer bid over THAT price in the "bidding war" that ensued. His combination of dedication to OUR interests, his seasoned negotiating and market savvy, and his ability to manage the chaos of multiple offers successfully makes him TOPS in our book. (PS: It is UNBELIEVABLE to us that it cost LESS, NOT MORE than the usual rate to retain Terry's firm! PPS: When we buy our new home through Terry, we will receive up to ANOTHER 1% in a CASH REBATE -- UNBELEIVABLE !!)"

Dr. Chuck Lewis (Elementary Principal) & Mrs. Lewis (Sellers 4111 Reyes,Irvine)

"Our home is situated deep in our neighborhood. We tried to sell our home ourselves for several weeks, but we couldn't because we lacked exposure. Then we found our dream home, and we KNEW we needed the impact of the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). We HAD to get ours sold so we could make our move to our new home. The problem was the high cost of professional Realtor(r) marketing.

Fortunately, we found out about Hunter-Broker. Hunter-Broker listed our home for ABOUT HALF the usual commission, but with full service, PLUS their innovative "Internet Open House".

Hunter-Broker's marketing worked IMMEDIATELY! In about 24 hours, we had multiple offers, and we sold our home for $5,000 over our asking price, PLUS the savings of about half the commissions!! Terry Hunter's thoughtful and thorough handling of the actual transaction, including creating a "bidding war" between the agents with the offers was top-notch!

FINALLY, there IS a way to get full-service real estate brokerage (not just a semi-unattended listing in the MLS) for a reasonable cost. We highly recommend Hunter-Broker and Terry Hunter!"

Flo Hightower, Retired Realtor (Seller: 8816 Yuba, Huntington Beach)

"Naturally, I liked saving over $6,000 in commissions with the "Sellers Save About Half" program. And, I made even MORE profit because he got me MORE than my asking price. But, what REALLY impressed me was how he converted my "contingent" sale into a FIRM sale. It turns out that Terry is an expert in Options. His creative approach got me the FIRM sale I needed. Now I can complete my plans to move closer to my grandkids. Plus, my buyer got the home she wanted without disturbing her investments. We are both excited, and I HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend Terry to ANYONE buying or selling real estate!"

George & Estela Puelma (Seller: 19251 Country Hills Rd., San Juan Cap)

"We tried for months to sell our home by ourselves and with other agents before Hunter-Broker. We had some "almost deals", but none went together. Furthermore, agents were unwilling to negotiate what we considered unreasonably high commissions, so we tried it on our own. Still no deal!

Fortunately, Terry Hunter (broker and CEO for Hunter-Broker) contacted us and explained his 3.5% commission plan. He explained that he paid a full 3% to the selling office, since to do otherwise would be bad for US (no agent cooperation). Because of his Performance Satisfaction Guarantee, we decided we had nothing to lose by giving him a try, since we wouldn't be tied up with a long listing period. We were willing to pay the commission he was asking (about half the going rate), and we expected about half the usual service.

What a surprise! Even though he deeply discounted his fees, he was more involved in the marketing (more open houses, etc.) than brokers charging nearly twice his fees. He also represented us better than any full-commission broker had during negotiations with buyers (and their agents), and likewise during our escrow. He was VERY knowledgeable and did a GREAT job of negotiating $5,000 more for us than we thought we had to settle for. (When a second buyer became interested, he used this situation to get another $5,000 from the original buyer.) He REALLY knows how to work for HIS client with honesty & integrity! In all, we sold for nearly $15,000 above the highest sale in the neighborhood, AND we saved over $10,000 in commissions! This REALLY helps our retirement plans!The selling process with Hunter-Broker was as pleasant as such a stressful task can be. Terry was available (constantly reachable through his mobile phone) and respectfully pleasant during the entire process.We have already given Terry's number to numerous friends, and we HIGHLY recommend him!"

George Chen, PhD & Li Chen, Computer Analysts (Buyers 28 Avanzare, Irvine)

"We found Hunter-Broker while we were looking for a home on the Internet. We noticed their Internet Open House photographs for a home on Paseo Westpark in Irvine. Although we didn't buy that particular home, Terry worked quickly and efficiently to find us the perfect one. (Even the address on our new home is just right!) Then we proceeded to close the escrow smoothly and according to plan.

We couldn't believe the expert personal service Terry gave us. He understood all our concerns, and anticipated our needs before we even realized them. It is a pleasure to work with a seasoned expert, especially one that pays attention to every detail!

Hunter-Broker REBATED us several thousand dollars (and it wasn't even their listing - Terry said we would get the rebate on ANY home in the MLS, and we got it in escrow, just like he promised). This was in addition to the below-market purchase (several thousand less than prior sales) he negotiated for us. His experience really made a difference to our bottom line! We are totally pleased, and would recommend Hunter-Broker to anyone buying a home."

Sandra Yang & Eric Wang, Senior Computer Analysts (Buyers: 2927 Player Lane, Tustin )

"We worked with Hunter-Broker to buy an investment property because Hunter-Broker was the listing agent for the property we wanted. We did not have our own agent, so the managing broker of Hunter-Broker (Terry Hunter) was the agent for both the seller and us.

Although we were not sure how having the same agent for both of us would work out, we were very, very pleased with the process and outcome. We purchased the property well below replacement cost. Although the sellers were clearly disappointed in the price, they agreed because they had already committed to buying a replacement property in a different area.

Terry handled this situation very well! Throughout the entire transaction we found him to be thorough, fair, honest and polite, and he had a good sense of humor. Also, his mobile phone made it possible to contact him day and night. He did a GREAT job of keeping us up-to-date!

Our smooth, "no hassle" transaction closed right on time, and exactly as planned. We saved several thousand dollars because Terry had presented our proposal in the very best light possible, and because he had only charged the seller his standard 3½% commission, rather than the usual 6%!We also received Hunter-Broker's "BUYER INSTANT REBATE" OF SEVERAL THOUSAND DOLLARS! (1% of the selling price!). In the end, the total commission was about 1/3 of the usual (only 3½% paid by the sellers, less 1% rebate to us, for a net of only 2½%, NOT the usual 6%!). The sellers saved, we saved, and Hunter-Broker has an enthusiastic endorsement from the sellers and from us to all our friends and family! Terry will DEFINITELY be our broker again with the next property we buy or sell!"

Lynae Chang & Hilton Yee, Senior Operations Analysts (Sellers: 108A S. Cross Creek, Orange)

"We met Terry by sheer chance. He had just helped our new neighbor John Mendiola acquire his residence in our Irvine neighborhood.

Later, we called Terry because of his low commission rate when we decided to sell our property in Orange (We thought the 6% that other brokers quoted us was ABSURD!)After meeting again with Terry, we decided to give it try.

After all, his commissions were about half what other brokers asked, and he STILL promised to pay the selling office the 3% they expect (keeping only ½% for himself!!). Furthermore, he provided us a written 30-Day Satisfaction Guarantee.

We soon found out we had made the RIGHT decision! By following Terry's strategy, we received the HIGHEST NET after commission ever received in the complex!! And, we did it in a VERY reasonable amount of time, despite the cooling-off of the market. Weeks after our sale, most of the competing properties are still unsold on the market!!

Our transaction was smooth. Terry did a GREAT job of keeping us up-to-the-minute on developments in the marketing process. He used his mobile phone, email, and his custom website to keep in touch. He routinely emailed us periodic reports on activity in our complex and he was virtually ALWAYS available by mobile phone when we called him. It's a total pleasure to work with someone who could understand US and anticipate our needs, as well as understand the technical aspects of the transaction.

Choosing the right broker certainly made a major difference in OUR "bottom line", and we highly recommend Terry and Hunter-Broker to ANYONE who wants to sell their property smoothly and for a top net dollar!! We're going to use him again!"

Patricia Yau International Financial Planner(Seller: 19422 Merion Circle, Seacliff-on-the-Greens, Huntington Beach)

"While other competing properties languished on the market seemingly forever, Terry's marketing approach and up-to-the-minute technology edge got MY property SOLD! Once we received the "winning" offer, his negotiating skill got me over 99% of my asking price, and THEN he saved me an ADDITIONAL $10,600 with his "Sellers Save About Half" commission program! (I am REALLY glad I saved his postcard until I was ready to sell!)

Terry was polite, attentive and patient (and AVAILABLE) during the entire marketing process, including the two months it took us to move my tenant out and repaint and re-carpet. He kept me advised during the renovation, during the marketing, and during escrow. It seemed he was ALWAYS available by cell phone. More important to my busy lifestyle, though, I didn't NEED to call him because his constant flow of conversations, voice messages, email and fax updates answered my questions BEFORE I asked them. My career is in the financial markets, and I appreciate creative and analytical thinking in business. It is unusual for me to receive the same kind of careful & thoughtful service I give my OWN clients, but I recognize it and appreciate it when it DOES happen. It happens with Terry, and I enthusiastically recommend him and Hunter-Broker to ANYONE who wants energetic and creative representation in buying or selling real estate!"

Doug Thyberg (VP Quality Control) & Katherine Thyberg (Sellers 3540 Lama, Long Beach)

"Terry's whirlwind marketing plan (web, MLS, mail-outs, ads in multiple newspapers, open houses, and so forth) very quickly produced a qualified buyer for our home. In the midst of the negotiations, however, OUR situation changed drastically, and we decided NOT to sell. Terry was sensitive to our situation, and immediately terminated the negotiations and stopped the marketing plan. No fuss, no muss, no bother!

We know of people who have had MAJOR conflicts with their broker about cancelling their listing, and we are relieved that we picked the RIGHT broker in the first place, one who had OUR best interests at heart, rather than his own. At some point in the future, we WILL sell, and we look forward to working with Terry again then. In the meantime, we ENTHUSIASTICALLY recommend him to ALL our friends who want to sell or buy real estate! Although now is not the time for us to sell and repurchase, we have become what Terry calls a "Perpetual Client" of Hunter-Broker, and Terry is definitely our "Realtor for life"!"

The Safadi's (Sellers: 5 Carmel Ct., Laguna Beach)

"We met Terry Hunter because Hunter-Broker had listed a 3-bedroom home in our neighborhood. Our second child was on the way, and we NEEDED a bigger home. Terry (Broker for Hunter-Broker) was the listing agent, and we met him at an Open House for the property. We liked him immediately, because of his courtesy, quick sense of humor and his flexible approach to meeting our needs. He seemed very competent, and we retained him to sell our home so we could make the move.

We needed every dime we could get out of the home, so we had to have a top price as well as his reduced commissions to "make it fly" for us. He agreed with us that the prior sales didn't properly reflect the current real market value for homes in our neighborhood, and he agreed to list the home for considerably more than prior sales of the same model. More importantly, he got our price for us!! (Our model sold for somewhat more later on, so it is clear that Terry's understanding of the market value was correct. We didn't want to take advantage of anyone, but we NEEDED the full VALUE to make our move!)

Terry tirelessly worked with us to sell our home and get us a new one. He had the technology at his fingertips to not only show us what was available, but also to show us the floorplans of homes that interested us, and do it in the comfort of our own home. His selling strategies for getting us top dollar worked, and we now have a brand new home in the Irvine area that is in a great location, and is big enough for our family for the foreseeable future.

Terry was the only agent involved in our sale, and this worked out wonderfully well for everybody. The buyer got a great deal, especially with the several thousand dollar REBATE that Hunter-Broker paid (because Hunter-Broker was the only agent involved in the transaction). We got top dollar (highest price ever for our model), and an "over-the-top" net dollar because of Hunter-Broker's low commissions. We were able to move our quickly acquired equity in the property into a property that will serve us for years to come. The entire process was smooth enough for us to handle in the last stages of the pregnancy. At present, we have a terrific new home and a beautiful new baby girl. Life is good, and so is Hunter-Broker. If you're selling or buying, do it right. Get Hunter-Broker to do it for you, and reap the benefits of working with a top professional!"

Gary & Sue Higgins (Buyers 33272 Ocean Bright, Dana Point)

"Terry Hunter is a real PRO! We met Terry at an open house. We loved the property; he negotiated the transaction; and closed the escrow in less than 15 days. Terry made this possible by hand-carrying documents and making sure that everyone who had a part to play in our quick close was moving at at "warp speed". This was very important to us as we needed to have a rapid closing in order to be able to move in within 30 days.

PLUS, we saved thousands of dollars with his "Buyer Instant Rebate", since he was the only broker involved, which also made for a VERY smooth transaction.

He was right about values in the neighborhood; by the time we closed escrow, similar-sized units were on the market for $20,000 more than we paid.

Despite the rebate he gave us and the low commission he charged the seller, Terry provided us with terrific extra-ordinary service. We are impressed and pleased and we happily recommend Terry to ALL our friends. PS: We LOVE our new townhome!"

David & Quianwei Li (Buyers 12 Del Carlo, Irvine)

"Terry worked with us for weeks to find the perfect home for us. When he found it, he was told that it was already sold. He kept checking, however, and found that it really WASN'T sold! He quickly wrote it up for us, then negotiated $10,000 off an already reasonable price, and then he REBATED us an ADDITIONAL $4,700. What a way to turn a good buy into a GREAT buy!

During the transaction, he found us painters, electricians, and a carpet cleaner to handle the minor upgrades, repairs and cleaning. He also told us what to look out for when dealing with the trades people. Terry definitely has the intelligence and experience to make the tactical decisions necessary to negotiate a GREAT deal. He is a "self-starter" who can be depended upon to "do what it takes" to maximize the benefits for his client.

We are recommending him to ALL our friends!"

Tom Showalter,Principal Credit Sharpie.com (Buyer 36 Stanford Ct., University Town Center, Irvine)

"We met Terry and found the property we wanted all at the same time. We met at an open house, and we worked directly with Terry to successfully and quickly close escrow on the property. My partner and I were busy with our own business start-up, and so we REALLY appreciated Terry's "take-charge" approach. He took care of all the details, right down to having a locksmith provide us with new locks and keys.

We really bought the property on "auto-pilot" because of the time demands of our own business, and we are VERY pleased with the outcome. Terry was also right about the value - prices have ALREADY jumped in the neighborhood! And, we got Terry's 1% Instant Buyer Rebate on top of that! We got the REBATE in escrow, and we were able to use it toward our costs and downpayment.

All in all, it was a relaxed as well as a profitable transaction for us. Terry buffered us from any stress, anticipated our needs, took care of the paperwork, and gave us first-class treatment all the way! Wish all our business dealings were as smooth!"

Melanie - Mission Viejo, CA

I was searching for a condo and trying to sell my own home. So many realtors/brokers charge 6% and that was just not going to work for me. I needed some cash back from the sale of my home in order to buy the condo. And a 6% fee would take most of my equity. I also was recently widowed left to handle this on my own. That's when I met Terry Hunter. I wanted to view a condo and it was Terry who was selling it. On our first meeting I new he was a man of integrity. He wasn't pushy, and he was honest. He not only agreed to sell my home for a fee of 3 1/2 %; but guaranteed me that if I used his services to buy a condo he would give me 1% cash back, which I could also put towards the purchase of my condo. It all sounded too good to be true, but there was something about Terry that I trusted. The one other realtor I found that charged a 4% commission (a 1/2 % more than what Terry charges) made the homeowner hold their own open houses; and I couldn't mentally do that. Terry handled my open houses; even making sure that people would remove their shoes, and providing them with shoe protectors to prevent my light colored carpet from getting soiled. This is just another example of Terry's attention to details. My home sold in a week. After viewing several properties, Terry learned my taste and needs and found me a lovely condo in Mission Viejo. During the two escrows closing, Terry kept me up to the minute with where we were and what was needed. I can say that I highly recommend Terry Hunter and the services he provides; and I will definitely ask for his help in the future. It's truly comforting to know that there are people still in the world who aren't just out for themselves, take pride in their job and who are willing to help others.

Thanks again Terry for a job well done! I love my new home and couldn't be happier.

Eloise F & Ricardo F

I said in an earlier letter of appreciation that I would not do a real estate deal without Terrry (after my previous experience with Terry through 2 sales, 2 purchases, and a number of loans). Well, I just bought my new home & turned my former home into my FIRST RENTAL (Yippee!!). Terry's team handled it for me, and it went even better than my previous ones! He is ALWAYS available, and that's critical in this active Seller's Market, when you have to move quick for the great deals! I have TOTAL confidence in Terry, and the complexity of the negotiations (and my great price) is proof again that my confidence is well-placed! And, of course, I got my 1% Buyer Cash Back Rebate, too, which saved me THOUSANDS!

I am NOT finished, and Terry & I will buy or sell again in the next few months. I say it again! I would not do a Real Estate deal without Terry! YOU shouldn't either!! (In case you can't tell, I am THRILLED & EXCITED with my new home!!)

CN & GN, New Homeowners in Portola Hills

When we decided it was time to buy our first home, we decided it would be a good idea to get "pre-approval" so we would not waste our time looking at homes we could not qualify for. We went to our credit union, but they did not do pre-approvals. They suggested that there were lots of pre-approval sites on the internet, so we began our search. Terry's "15 minute Approval" caught our eye, so we sat down and filled out the pre-approval application. As this was rather late in the evening, Terry called us the next day to let us know we were approved.

We used Terry's automatic daily updates by email to see ALL the homes on the market that matched our criteria - GREAT convenience! Then we cruised the neighborhoods to eliminate the ones that didn't appeal to us, and Terry showed us the homes that did. We found a terrific home in Portola Hills, saw it early in the evening, & wrote up an offer on it about 8 PM. Terry hand-carried the offer to the listing broker and discussed it with them at 10 PM, because we had made a Zero-Down offer on the home, and also because the sellers had wanted to sell ONLY after they had found a replacement home (which they hadn't), and we didn't want to agree to THAT (because we wouldn't have known if we had a real deal or not)!

Terry partially overcame the skepticism of the listing broker about the Zero-Down offer, and also went over what he had put in our offer to provide the seller the "breathing-room" they needed to feel safe about selling BEFORE they had an agreement on their new home. The KEY to our successful agreement came at MIDNIGHT, though! Our pre-approval was for less money than the home we found, so Terry had more work to do.

During Terry's meeting with the listing broker, he promised to provide them with our Full-Credit Loan Pre-Approval. Terry was also our LENDER!! So, he went back to his office, and by MIDNIGHT he had re-qualified us for the new amount, and emailed them our Pre-Approval. That was the turning-point. The listing agent presented our offer to the seller the next morning, the sellers ACCEPTED it, and the rest, as they say, is history! And we couldn't be happier!

Throughout the entire buying process, Terry's email after email after email kept us right up-to-date on our search. Likewise for our escrow & our loan. He is easy to reach because of his mobile phone/fax/email, but the good news is that we didn't have to reach him, because he kept US constantly informed.

Our purchase has just closed (right on time, after Terry was able to modify our loan to extend our escrow to meet the needs of the seller in their new purchase). Terry negotiated even a better deal for us on our loan than we had approved, so our closing was even better than we expected. So, in a matter of a few weeks we found our home, bought it, financed it, and closed it. We did it with nothing down and got Terry's 1% Cash-Back Rebate through escrow. What a way to buy a home!! We recommend Terry to EVERYBODY!

PS: Terry asked the listing agent after our escrow closed what changed her mind about our Zero-Down offer (which she was initially very skeptical of). She said that it was clear that he (Terry) "knew what he was talking about" as the lender, and that he had clearly had prior success doing just what he promised to do on her listing. Otherwise, they NEVER would have accepted our Zero-Down offer!

Experience, technology, and Terry's "midnight loan pre-approval" capability as an associate of a major bank with 24-hour automated pre-approval won the day for us!

ML & SL, Happy Former Irvine Oak Creek Residents

Like the humorous line from the 1950's song: "So I signed my name and became a star…" , We signed OUR names to have Terry sell our home and he became our "Star" in a "well-scripted play". Our high selling price/low commission closing has put a tidy sum in our savings account, sweetened by additional savings on other closing costs where Terry has negotiated lower prices for his clients.

It all started well, and got better from there. We found Terry on the Internet, and he quickly met with us at our home & gave us an in-depth presentation of the current market and a description of his comprehensive, high-tech processes for quickly & safely getting us "top dollar" for our home. (It astonished us that Terry's website was #1 out of THOUSANDS of low-commission realty sites that came up in both Google & Yahoo - a portent of good things to come, we learned!).

Just 12 days later, we had a buyer willing to pay our price, finished our offers & counter offers, and opened escrow. BEFORE we agreed to the offer, though, Terry gave us the peace-of-mind of knowing that our buyer was very well qualified for the financing. As a lender himself, Terry provided us (AND the buyer, who naturally wanted us to take our home off the market immediately to sell to him) with a near-instant Full-Credit Loan Pre-Approval on the buyer. So, we didn't have to rely on the word of some lender or loan broker hired by the buyer, someone we didn't even know! Terry routinely does this on a no-cost, no-obligation basis after a short phone call to the buyer (or on-line, if the buyer prefers), so there is little reason for a legitimate buyer to refuse. Ultimately, our stockbroker buyer decided to use one of his own clients (also a lender) for the actual loan. Too bad!! The only "hiccup" in our entire transaction was that the buyer's lender was a few days late in closing. Terry has a GREAT track record of closing his loans on time, and we're sure that even this would have been avoided if Terry had been the actual lender. Being up-to-the-minute with Terry's constant updates minimized the hassle of the late closing caused by the buyer's lender, though. We knew that the delay wouldn't result in the cancellation of our sale, however, because Terry had already qualified the buyer at the start.

We realized that our transaction seemed like a "well-scripted play", because Terry has "scripted" an EXCELLENT high-tech team of escrow, title, termite, transaction coordinators and others, all using the email & Internet to keep us up-to-the-minute, but without intruding. Our password-protected documents were on-line for us to review 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and Terry's constant stream of emails from him and his Transaction Coordinator made it virtually unnecessary to call Terry for anything (all we had to do was to glance at our computer !!).

This sale of our home has been more precise than ANY of our other commercial dealings. As a result we are willing to "bend" our personal long-standing rule of seldom referring ANYBODY, and so we DO recommend Terry without any reservations to ANYONE wanting to sell or buy real estate. This has LITTLE to do with the fact that he charges about ½ the going rate for Sellers, and gives Buyers Cash-Back Rebates (although it is always nice to SAFELY save money), and EVERYTHING to do with Terry's over-the-top, flat-out EXCELLENT service!

We found Terry through his advertisement at the HomeGain Internet site (one of his many marketing avenues), and after a quick meeting, decided that he was the one to get us a high price for our townhome. One reason for our decision was the interwoven marketing efforts that Terry’s company uses, including effective use of the Internet , direct mail, newspapers, flyers , open houses, etc… In short, ALL the traditional methods, mixed in with a powerful mix of new technology.

Good move on our part! Terry kept us up-to-the-minute on the action, and there was PLENTY of that. However, just before we put the property on the market, another agency listed a model similar to ours for MUCH less. We asked Terry if we should “lower our sights” on what we asked for ours, too. His answer (characteristic for him, as we later found out) was a resounding “NO”, that he was sure that he could get the very aggressive price we had already discussed. HERE’S an agent who’s not looking for the “easy dollar” for himself, but instead takes care of his clients first & foremost!

In addition to getting us the highest price ever for our model, he also used the Internet to correspond with us by email, which allowed us to minimize the time spent selling the property, while still maximizing our profit.

The whole process, although there were multiple offers, was very smooth & we DID get a premium price, despite the lower asking prices by other sellers. We were VERY pleased, and would do it again in a heartbeat with Terry.

PS: We saved a BUNDLE on his low commissions, too!

JH, M.D

Terry helped me buy a home in Long Beach before this sale, so I had high expectations of him "going in". And… I was NOT disappointed! In a market that had begun to crumble, his high quality Virtual Tour, his glossy, photo-quality flyers, the text-messaging that allowed buyers to instantly get info on my property, his "Talking House", his traditional marketing, and his incredible Google placement got me the exposure I needed. I JUST closed, and I am HAPPY!! Also, since he only charged a 1% Listing Fee, I was able to pay a PREMIUM 3% to the Buyer Broker, while STILL keeping my total commission at 4%. This allowed MY property to "stand-out" in the marketplace.

I had already referred Terry to my ex-partner and his wife, and they were happy too. EVERY time I, or anyone I know, has worked with Terry, the feelings are always the same… He is on top of EVERYTHING, and he works weekdays and weekends both to make SURE that he is there to grab every opportunity available to maximize our "bottom line"!

Since I am in the "technology business" myself, I appreciate the ease with which Terry takes care of the contract details. I can't even imagine going through this with a "traditional-style" agent, rather than someone technologically savvy like Terry (he holds a Realtor "ePro" designation, so it is not a surprise that he knows his way around real estate marketing technology).

Totally trustworthy, obsessively careful about the details that make me money, Terry + his over-the-top marketing system = a GREAT BARGAIN at 6% or 7% commissions, and a "steal" at 3.5%! California Investor… gone to Florida, with Terry "watching my back" in CA

After finding Terry's Cash-Back Rebate program on the Internet, we called him to make an offer for us on a home we had seen at an open house (after a brief conversation with him that made us comfortable working with him). That property was already sold, but this started the long process of looking at properties weekends & after work, sometimes as late as 8 - 9 PM. Terry was ALWAYS available for us, even though we know that his workday starts at 6 AM!

We made another offer, but found out during our inspection that this home needed more work than we were willing to do. Fortunately, Terry had insisted, because of the current insurance company concerns about mold, that we "line up" insurance during the 17 day inspection period, so our deposit wouldn't be at risk if we couldn't get insurance at a reasonable price. Sure enough, the only insurance company we could find to insure the home insisted that we have a contract to replace the wood shake roof before they would agree to insure us. Partly for that reason, we decided against that home. Too much work for the price!

We then found a newer home in a gated community that Terry negotiated for us at $31,000 UNDER the appraised value. Our purchase price was SO LOW that the appraiser commented in the appraisal that he assumed the sale was a foreclosure sale. (It wasn't - just a GREAT buy for us, negotiated by Terry!!) Part of our success in the negotiation was Terry's late-night Full-Credit Loan Pre-Approval. (Terry, as an Associate of a major bank, was our lender, too!). Our Pre-Approval was a detailed & official-looking document, which listed ALL the conditions of the Pre-Approval (no "got-cha's" there). Also we were able to make our offer BEFORE we sold our current home, and WITHOUT making a "contingent offer" (which wouldn't have been accepted in this Seller's Market). Since the seller was a sophisticated real estate investor, this detailed Pre-Approval, with NO SALE CONTINGENCY, made our offer look great to the Seller ! On top of that, even though many of our friends told us about the delays that lenders in their transactions had caused them, our financing was delivered on-time & as promised! Sure does reduce the "stress-level" when people deliver!!

Meanwhile, we changed our mind, and decided to sell our current home, rather than keep it for a rental. True to form, Terry sold it for the highest price EVER for our model, despite the substantial road noise from Lake Forest Blvd!! On top of that, we only paid 3.5% commission, and since Terry charged us just 1%, we were still able to attract other brokers with the 2.5% we paid them from the 3.5% total commission. So, we not only got a higher price than more desirably located homes like ours got, we also saved over $6,500 in commission, plus a several hundred dollar discount in closing costs negotiated by Terry, PLUS our $31,000 profit he negotiated for us on our purchase.

But it gets even better!! Remember the Cash-Back Rebate we mentioned on our purchase? That amounted to about $4,600, and Terry's TOTAL Listing Fee for our home was only 1%, or about $2,650. So, in effect, Terry paid US BACK about $2,000 MORE than we paid him to sell our current home (from the commission our seller paid to him in our purchase)!! Even now, it really doesn't seem possible, but the dollars are in our account, for sure!!

Besides seemingly being available on his cell phone whenever we called, Terry also has a sophisticated team that used the Internet & email to CONSTANTLY keep us informed. His high-tech team of Escrow, Transaction Coordinator, Termite, Inspector, and Title was a joy to work with in BOTH our transactions! But the best thing of all is that we knew we could TRUST Terry. We knew after dealing with him for a short time (especially when he told us NOT to buy several properties !!) that both his CHARACTER and his technical EXPERTISE were trustworthy. Instead of trying to sell us something, he actually dissuaded us from buying what he considered non-optimal, then brought ALL his skill to bear when we found the PERFECT one!! We couldn't be happier with our new home, the sale of our old one, and with Terry's expert counseling & assistance. His attention to detail got us out of the home we didn't want, got us into the one we did, and paid us TOP DOLLAR on our own sale. What a combination!!"

- Happy Former Lake Forest Condo-Dwellers who have moved "Up-Town"!

Terry Hunter
Hunter-Broker
61 Finisterra
Irvine, CA 92614
949-278-1595
Fax: 949-266-8023
Email: Terry@SurfMLS.com

Terry has over twenty-five years experience as residential broker, investment/land and business broker, licensed custom homebuilder, residential subdivider, syndication general partner and real estate investor. He is a former Air Force Officer. Terry can UNDERSTAND and relate to your wants and desires! He dedicates himself to serve all your real estate needs. Call or email Terry today!

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