Laura T Owen

My name is Laura Owen. I’m a real person who bought a home using Sunday as my realtor in October 2009.

For me, there are very few life events as emotional and fear inducing as buying a home. Though I had bought and sold three homes before meeting Sunday, my family and I were new to San Diego and didn’t know the market at all. All I knew from my (extensive) independent research was that Prop 13 adds a lot to the total monthly cost of a home; there are very few historic homes in Southern California; and the market is littered with short sales.

The Prop 13 thing was a big surprise. For my family, adding 1% tax to our spending limit added about $1000 to our monthly bill. That’s big sticker shock to someone used to paying about $200/month in property taxes back East.

The lack of historic homes was heart breaking. We’d moved from Washington, DC, where we were used to 100+ year old homes and really loved the charm and quirkiness of older homes. In our price range, there was little available. Before meeting Sunday, I was sure we’d be stuck in some cookie-cutter McMansion with no character and no discernible difference between it and the homes on the same street.

Then there were the short sales. Lots and lots of short sales. We had plenty of not-so-ethical realtors promise us that they had the inside track on “expediting” short sales. After about 6 months of serious looking, we realized that an expedited short sale is an oxymoron, and anyone who tells you otherwise is lying.

hen we met Sunday through a referral from USAA.

I was not a big fan of realtors before meeting Sunday. Based on my previous experiences, the sole function of a realtor was to lie to you and charge 5-6% for the pleasure. The first time I spoke with her on the phone, I remember saying “When all this is over, we’re going to be friends.” She just had that no-nonsense, plain speaking, do-anything-for-you vibe that most people look for in their friends. When we hung up the phone (after an initial one hour conversation where I told her everything I hate about her profession and those in it), I immediately called my husband and said, “I think I found the one good realtor in the whole world.”

Cut to the finish, after working with Sunday for about 2 months, we ended up closing escrow on a 1925 historic California bungalow, in our price range, with Mills Act tax benefits. Everything we were looking for in a market with precious little inventory.

Throughout the process, Sunday was exceedingly honest. Not even a white lie. Not even a lie on my behalf to the sellers (which my previous realtors were always so proud to tell me they’d done). At the same time, Sunday shielded me from a lot of unnecessary worry and drama that always goes along with the exchange of home ownership. She later told me that she sees her job as getting me to closing. That means protecting me from the insanity and game playing that a lot of other realtors engage in to hype the anxiety and achieve their ends. There is ZERO game playing with Sunday. And she doesn’t tolerate game playing from the other side. Think of her as your Home Ownership Big Sister on the School Yard. There to protect you.

Sunday is one of the smartest, savviest, no BS people I know anywhere. She could have done anything with her life and thrived, but fortunately for home buyers in San Diego, she chose realty. If you’re smart and lucky enough to choose her as your agent, you can be assured that she will work her tail off on your behalf, take your dozens of anxious calls throughout the process and tell you the straight dope always. You will never meet a more ethical person in any profession, period. Sunday knows San Diego. This is her hometown and the long list of resources, allies and professionals she calls friends will only benefit you when you need a plumber, electrician, roofer, carpenter, etc for the new home you buy with her.

If I seem evangelical about Sunday, it’s because she’s really that good. I’m not someone with the time or inclination to suffer fools and phonies. On the rare occasions when I meet someone as exceptional as Sunday, I’m not shy about sharing my praise. Believe me, there are many, many others who do not receive such glowing reviews.