Associate | DRE# 02092799
Jen McDonald
Working alongside the top performing AC Team, Jen McDonald brings her own original style and tireless work ethic to an impressive group of women who together constitute one of the top 100 teams in California. Jen is a So Cal woman through-and-through having spent her summers growing up on the beach between San Juan Capistrano and Balboa Island, she then made a more permanent move south from Pasadena to Orange County over 20 years ago.
In those 20 plus years living the Orange County lifestyle, Jen has gained an encyclopedic knowledge of areas ranging from Costa Mesa to Newport Beach and on down south to Laguna Beach. Due to her keen knowledge of both growing up in the Los Angeles area and then residing and raising a family in the Orange County area, Jen is a wealth of knowledge in each area and what specific neighborhoods have to offer. The basis of her work ethic revolves around her never-give-up, 'nose to the grindstone attitude sprinkled with her fun-loving personality and willingness to take the time to get to know all of her clients both personally and professionally. With the majority of her sales originating from personal referrals, it is a true testament to her strength and ability to connect with people while providing them the trust necessary for solid and successful outcomes in real estate. Her acute intuition of clients and what their needs are for their particular home, guide her to finding optimal results for homeowners.
When Jen isn't with her clients, she enjoys spending time with her husband, Mike and their three kids Jane, Ollie and Fletcher. You can find them at the beach, on the pickle ball courts or relaxing at home with friends and family.
More about Jen
More reviews
We are humbled by the love we receive.
Summer Hickam
We are buyers who recently worked with Jen over a ~9 month process to find and purchase a new home. In short, our experience with Jen was five star. We'd work with her again in a heartbeat for a few reasons:
1) Genuine and builds trust: Jen had a genuine interest from day one in understanding our needs/preferences for a home. This was through in-person conversations and getting real-time feedback from us on listings. We always saw homes that were excellent candidates for our family.
2) Steady hand and process knowledge: we went through two hyper competitive bidding processes with Jen. She was always on the phone on our behalf to gather / share latest information and was very communicative. When things were moving fast, she helped us keep a steady hand.
3) Professional and "reads the room": Jen approaches her clients and peers with a high degree of professionalism and a super high level of emotional intelligence. At the end of the day, she can work with a really broad range of personalities and her clients benefit.
We really valued the partnership with Jen throughout the homebuying process. We recommend her highly. She'll get a call from us the next time we are doing anything in real estate!
Nadia Michalak
Jen came recommended by a good friend and we are so happy we found her! We were hoping to buy a house in Orange County while living in Oakland during this crazy, competitive market. Jen was very attentive, went to countless open houses and agent showings where she took video to send to us and always gave us her honest feedback. She works on a team at Compass with 6 other women, which is great because they all support each other and have access to private exclusives within the brokerage.
The first house we found that we wanted to make an offer on was a zoo at the open house. There ended up being 11 other offers on the house. Thanks to Jen's thoughtful strategy, and the rapport she quickly built with the seller agent, our offer came out on top and we just closed a couple weeks ago. We've had friends who have made countless offers and spent years house hunting, so this was a very welcome surprise. We could not be more grateful and would recommend Jen to anyone looking for a home in Newport Beach, Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach, or the surrounding area.
npashton
Moving to London from Newport over the summer was hectic and a bit stressful. Jennifer took the stress out of finding a house by quickly identifying the neighbourhoods we preferred as well as learning our individual likes and dislikes for houses. She had a challenging task - finding a home for two people with very different ideas, and someone she managed to find us what we both consider to be "the perfect home". During the process, Jennifer readily made herself available and was always quick to respond to any of our questions. She is enthusiastic about her job and I enjoyed my time touring houses with her. The actual escrow process was simple - she always communicated upcoming requirements, nothing was ever last minute and we felt very confident with her in charge.
ChasDella Sala III
Jen is amazing! She showed us probably 50-100 houses before we found our dream home and she definitely went above and beyond to help us throughout the entire process. If you are looking for an agent that cares as much as you do in regards to finding the right property, in the best location, and at the right price then I highly recommend you call Jen McDonald. Five star for sure!
sbm900
Working with Jen has been a true pleasure! The clock was ticking on our 1031 exchange and Jen did an amazing job helping us quickly close on a great house steps from the beach in Newport. We were new to the neighborhood so her local knowledge was so helpful to get us educated. She went above and beyond to ensure all our needs were met and no small details were overlooked. We're also so appreciative for all her help post closing to get our rental property ready to go. We highly recommend working with Jen.
Sandra Demitroff
My husband and I recently took a huge leap to relocate from New York to Southern California - which was exciting and scary at the same time! We really needed to find someone who we trusted 100%, to guide us through the process of finding the right house in the right neighborhood for us. Jen was incredible! She was patient, knowledgeable, honest and willing to go above and beyond. We could not be more thrilled about our new dream home - and extremely grateful to Jen and Annie for their support and partnership. I would highly recommend this "A team"!
annamorfit
Working with Jen was seamless from start to finish. She was knowledgeable about comps, neighborhoods and weighing the pros/cons of different properties.
When we began escrow, her communication was excellent and we were able to get through the inspection process quickly and efficiently with no issues.
I highly rec'd working with Jen and the team and wouldn't hesitate to work with them again.
Kim Stansfield and Gary LoGalbo
We had listed our home previously with a local realtor and got 1 offer , which fell through. After 8 months with no additional offers, we decided to take our home off the market.
We were referred to Jennifer McDonald and Annie Clougherty through a very good friend who works for Compass in the Bay Area. We met with them and immediately felt their passion and enthusiasm. They came to the interview fully prepared with knowledge of our neighborhood, schools and community. Another plus, was the team element that other realtors did not have.
Jen and Annie gave us effective suggestions at minimal cost to showcase our beautiful home. In addition, Compass Concierge was extremely helpful in staging our home and was able to capture the love we have had for our home.
We had showings even prior to the Broker Preview and several offers 4 days after our first Open House. 2 offers were for 50k over our asking price and we closed Escrow at the end of the month!! We are EXTREMELY happy with the way they handled everything. Jennifer and Annie s knowledge and expertise put our minds at ease and we felt comfortable leaving everything up to them and in their hands.
We would recommend Jennifer and Annie of Compass to anyone wanting a smooth and stress-free sale of their home.
Respectfully,
Kim Stansfield and Gary LoGalbo
zuser20160808215923840
I am so honored to be able to write the first review for Jen! When we first spoke we were in a major pickle, we sold our home and needed to find a place before school started to get settled. Jen went above and beyond to find us a rental space to get settled and registered for school - a major burden off my shoulders. Then we got serious about finding our forever home. Jen was able to show us numerous properties that were both on, off, and coming soon to the market, we had a real advantage with her knowledge and connections in the area. She even spent her weekends door knocking to help find us exactly what we wanted where we wanted it. She was confident our entire search that things would work out and they did. She was on our side the entire process and we trusted her advice. The outcome was fantastic! We were so excited to close on our home and owe all of it to Jen's work ethic and willingness to not give up on our dream - even when we lost hope. Hands down the best, and her team is excellent as well. Thank you again.
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