About Jennifer
Born and raised in Pasadena, Jen McDonald is a California woman through-and-through. Having spent her summers growing up on the beach between San Juan Capistrano and Balboa Island, she made a more permanent move south for college, graduating on the Dean’s list from Chapman University.
For the next 23 years, Jen lived in various places in Orange County, including Irvine, Mesa Verde, Corona del Mar, and Newport Heights. Over these two decades, Jen gained an encyclopedic knowledge of the area, getting acquainted with the ins and outs of each unique community.
Jen's clients range in locale between Los Angeles and Orange County due to her keen knowledge of both areas. 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.
Client Testimonials
★★★★★We worked with Jen to do a 1031 exchange which is not an easy project! She was fantastic, from start to finish-I did not think I could find a home that I would love so much in our price range, but she found us one that checked all of the boxes! Once we closed, she then was able to rent the new home for us right away and just made it all so easy and stress free. Thank you Jen, I look forward to working with you again in the future!! - Mary Calton
★★★★★
"When it came time to sell our house and jump into this crazy market, we knew we needed someone to ensure the whole process would be seamless from start to finish. With a new baby at home, it was important to us that everything from open houses to closing felt manageable, while still getting top dollar for our property! Jen made the whole process easier than ever expected and found the perfect family for our first home. Better yet, we had more offers than we could have imagined and were able to purchase our dream home as a result. Thanks Jen and team for all of your hard work, we are so appreciative"- The Craig Family
"When it came time to sell our house and jump into this crazy market, we knew we needed someone to ensure the whole process would be seamless from start to finish. With a new baby at home, it was important to us that everything from open houses to closing felt manageable, while still getting top dollar for our property! Jen made the whole process easier than ever expected and found the perfect family for our first home. Better yet, we had more offers than we could have imagined and were able to purchase our dream home as a result. Thanks Jen and team for all of your hard work, we are so appreciative"- The Craig Family
★★★★★
""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!""- 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!""- Summer Hickam
★★★★★
"Buying a house has always been something that intimidated me but when my fiancé and I met Jen, we knew we had found the right person for the job. From our very first conversation, she was reassuring, knowledgeable, professional but also incredibly easygoing. For our first set of showings, we had to completely change the schedule due to a lack of communication on our part and she handled it swiftly and without question. When looking at homes, we felt like we had a friend and an advocate there to help us think through the decision, ask the right questions and decide on the next best step. We trusted her. That made all the difference in the world. When we started looking, Jen had prepared me for what could be a lengthy process but said, “just one day at a time.” Well what I was so fearful of and thought might be lengthy turned into 2 weeks from viewing our home to making an offer and subsequently it being accepted! I credit Jen always making herself available, answering all of my questions about every part of the process day or night, and her making us both feel like we had the best working to find us the perfect house for us, for it all coming together so smoothly. Some agents are pushy or unapproachable but Jen is the EXACT opposite. She is patient, consultative, and friendly. Not to mention, she is surrounded by a great team that made themselves available to help for anything we needed and even consulted with us about what to offer fairly. All in all, we are so thrilled we chose to work with Jen and are incredibly grateful to own such a beautiful home that she made happen for us!!"- Stacey
"Buying a house has always been something that intimidated me but when my fiancé and I met Jen, we knew we had found the right person for the job. From our very first conversation, she was reassuring, knowledgeable, professional but also incredibly easygoing. For our first set of showings, we had to completely change the schedule due to a lack of communication on our part and she handled it swiftly and without question. When looking at homes, we felt like we had a friend and an advocate there to help us think through the decision, ask the right questions and decide on the next best step. We trusted her. That made all the difference in the world. When we started looking, Jen had prepared me for what could be a lengthy process but said, “just one day at a time.” Well what I was so fearful of and thought might be lengthy turned into 2 weeks from viewing our home to making an offer and subsequently it being accepted! I credit Jen always making herself available, answering all of my questions about every part of the process day or night, and her making us both feel like we had the best working to find us the perfect house for us, for it all coming together so smoothly. Some agents are pushy or unapproachable but Jen is the EXACT opposite. She is patient, consultative, and friendly. Not to mention, she is surrounded by a great team that made themselves available to help for anything we needed and even consulted with us about what to offer fairly. All in all, we are so thrilled we chose to work with Jen and are incredibly grateful to own such a beautiful home that she made happen for us!!"- Stacey
★★★★★
"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 Annie and Jen through a very good friend who works for 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.
Annie and Jen gave us effective suggestions at minimal cost to showcase our beautiful home. In addition, Concierge was extremely helpful in staging our home and was able to capture the love we have had our home.
We had showings even prior to the Broker Preview and several offers 4 days after our first . 2 offers were 50k over our asking price and we are now looking at Escrow closing at the end of this month. We are EXTREMELY happy with the way they handled everything. Annie and Jennifer’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 Annie and Jennifer of to anyone wanting a smooth and stress-free sale of their home. "- Kim Stansfield and Gary LoGalbo | 3100 Sunnywood Drive
★★★★★
"As much as one would try, you can never anticipate everything when preparing to sell your home. What you can do is surround yourself with the best people to get you through to the finish line. Working with Jen and Annie was the best decision we ever made. In the middle of selling our home the Covid19 pandemic took shape. Our agents met every challenge, had every answer and overcame every stumbling block getting us through 2 difficult escrows to a successful close. Selling a home is so much more than achieving a sales price. Jen and Annie’s collective understanding and experience had us protected and making the right decisions all the way through the process. In what would have been a complicated deal in normal times, our team of all-stars got the job done. Our gratitude for their hard work and expertise is endless. "- Ryan
★★★★★
"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 recommend working with Jen and team. I wouldn't hesitate to work with them again."- Anna
★★★★★
"My husband and I 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, honest, knowledgeable, 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 friendship. I would highly recommend this "A team"!"- Sandy Demitroff
★★★★★
"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 of all her help post-closing to get our rental property ready to go. We highly recommend working with Jen."!"- Stuart & Laura McElhinney
★★★★★
"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"- Nadia Prioleau
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"- Nadia Prioleau