Seller’s Guide
Jennifer Oldham
Team Leader
Jennifer is a high-performing real estate professional, who is not only an experienced realtor and loan officer, but also a skilled negotiator and a real estate paralegal. What sets Jennifer apart is her ability to listen to her clients’ needs and use her indepth knowledge of the real estate market to negotiate the best deal to exceed the clients’ expectations. With more than two decades of experience working for residential real estate, title, escrow, and specializing in high net worth clients. Jennifer knows exactly what it takes to buy or sell a home. This is one of the reasons why she has been an award-winning Realtor since 2000. When working with clients, Jennifer first learns about what the client wants, then clearly explains the process, sets goals, and works hard to accomplish the best result. Jennifer has built the team on three simple principles: 1. Be Kind, 2. Be Professional, 3. Be an Expert. Jennifer ensures each one of the Oldham Group Team members exemplifies this mantra without exception. Jennifer started in real estate 20 plus years ago in the Bay Area, and never quit.
408.835.4119
jennifer@compass.com
DRE 01325650
She loves seeing great families find the right home, and wonderful agents expand their real estate acumen and experience. An adrenaline junkie, Jennifer has sought out and excelled at every possible extreme sport, from racing dirt bikes to competitive boxing, ice skating to skydiving, she has done it all. Her motto “Don’t eff it up!” pretty much sums up Jenn’s leadership style. Funny and full of love, this bad ass hugger makes long lasting connections with her clients and team members alike. Realtor®
Andrew Oldham
Team Leader / Attorney
Originally a real estate lawyer, Andrew’s 40 years of real estate experience makes him uniquely able to tackle any real estate problem. From legal expertise, to escrow and title specifics, to brokerage, Andrew has done it all and he loves doing it, for his clients and his team. Before starting the Oldham Group, Andrew had a long career as a real estate litigator, and real estate entrepreneur.
After passing the bar, his real estate law career took off and he spent years in escrow litigation as a freelancer and salaried lawyer. In the nineties, Andrew founded a real estate company called eHome. eHome took advantage of burgeoning internet technology, and found a home for real estate there. They raised 30 million in capital and were the first to make the MLS searchable for clients, not just agents, and expanded to three states.
When he’s not assisting clients and agents, or working with Compass to help them improve their tools and resources, Andrew loves walking Asilomar beach with his wife and business partner, Jennifer and their adorable Boston, Abby. Andrew prides himself on being a kind, and loving person first and foremost, and second (but just barely) an excellent real estate professional.
About the Oldham Group
The Oldham Group is a Collective of talented agents, staff, and support, led by Andrew and Jennifer Oldham - Founding Agents for Compass Having closed over $1 Billion in sales volume during their career, Andrew and Jennifer lead a team that has substantially increased its business year over year while covering the expansive Santa Clara, San Mateo, San Francisco, Monterey, Santa Cruz, Alameda, and Contra Costa County real estate markets Because their agents have been selected based on their hyper-local expertise, they confidently represent a vast coverage area with in-depth knowledge across several counties. With over 85 years of combined real estate expertise in marketing, law, title, design, and escrow, they provide their clients talents and expertise unparalleled in the California market. Combining their knowledge and experience with their love and passion for residential real estate, local expertise, exceptional marketing, personal service and the backing of the nation’s best luxury brokerage, Compass, they will prove to you the Oldham Group difference.
$350+M
Closed Volume in 2023
Transactions closed in 2023
#37 Over 250
Teams in the nation
#11
Teams in California
#14
Top 100 producing agents or teams in the SF Bay Area
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OLDHAM GROUP
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Testimonials
Working with The Oldham Group has been the best thing that happen to our family. They are always on top of everything and have our best interest in mind at all times. I will recommend them in a heart beat. We love them and we are so happy they helped us sale our house and get our dream home :)
SELLER
The Oldhams have beyond exceeded our expectations. They were patient with us through a long search process, provided a consultative approach along the way, set realistic expectations without letting us overpay and were never just here to sell us any house. When it came time to sell our home the team of people they work with to prep, the marketing support and the frequency of updates keeping us in the loop has once again been over the top. We could not be happier to be working with them, will 100% be referring our friends and colleagues and will without question use them again in the future.
SELLER AND BUYER
Jennifer, Andrew, and the entire Oldham Group have been great to work withpersonally and professionally - in both the sale of our old house and purchase of our new one. Without getting into detail, our situation was quite complex on the purchase sideso much so that my wife and I agreed that it required more expertise than could be fairly expected of any typical realtor or broker. The Oldhams provided that expertise for us, and we've already referred another couple to them. 5 stars!
SELLER AND BUYER
The Oldham Group were wonderful to work with, starting with pricing and sales strategy right up to negotiations and closing. Highly recommended. They both are seasoned professionals able to manage the entire sales process, and having a lawyer on the team provides additional clarity for occasional complexities.
SELLER
Marketing Your Home
WEBSITE
Escrow
Escrow: What is it?
Escrow is the period of time between your offer being accepted and your purchase being finalized. Escrow is a deposit of funds, a deed or other instrument by one party for the delivery to another party upon completion of a particular condition or event.
Why Do I Need an Escrow?
Whether you are the buyer, seller, lender or borrower, you want assurance that no funds or property will change hands until ALL of the instructions in the transaction have been followed. The escrow holder has the obligation to safeguard the funds and/or documents while they are in the possession of the escrow holder, and to disburse funds and/or convey title only when all provisions of the escrow have been complied with. The escrow officer is a neutral third party and does not represent any one party.
Your title company will provide you with a preliminary title report for the buyer to be made aware of any encumbrances on the property.
Your title company also provides title insurance to ensure delivery of clean title.
How Does Escrow Work?
The principals to the escrow—buyer, seller, lender, agents—cause escrow instructions, most usually in writing, to be created, signed and delivered to the escrow officer. If a broker is involved, he will normally provide the escrow officer with the information necessary for the preparation of your escrow instructions and documents. The escrow officer will process the escrow, in accordance with the escrow instructions, and when all conditions required in the escrow can be met or achieved, the escrow will be “closed.” The duties of an escrow holder include: following the instructions given by the principals and parties to the transaction in a timely manner; handling the funds and/or documents in accordance with the instruction; paying all bills as authorized; responding to authorized requests from the principals; closing the escrow only when all terms funds in accordance with instructions and provide an accounting for same: the Closing or Settlement Statement. The escrow officer can ONLY take instructions from all parties in agreement. No one party in the transaction can soley give instructions. The escrow officer does not represent any one party— they are a neutral 3rd party in the transaction.
Escrow
How Long Does Escrow Last?
This is determined on a case by case basis and will be written into the offer. Generally, 30 days is common. However, in some cases, you (or the seller) may need more time. In some cases, it is shorter, for example with an all cash deal.
Who Chooses the Escrow?
In the Bay Area, it is usually the buyer’s choice, as the buyer pays the escrow fees. The selection of the escrow holder is normally done by agreement between the principals. If a real estate broker is involved in the transaction, the broker may recommend an escrow holder. However, it is the right of the principals to use an escrow holder who is competent and who is experienced in handling the type of escrow at hand. There are laws that prohibit the payment of referral fees; this affords the consumer the best possible escrow services without any compromise caused by a person receiving a referral fee.
What Happens During Escrow?
The escrow period gives all parties involved the time needed to comply with the terms of the offer and prepare to transfer title from the seller to the buyer. During this period, you do several things, all of which your agent will help you with:
01
You put down a refundable deposit of 3% of the purchase price which is held by the title company
02
Your lender processes your loan and will ask you for various information needed to approve you
03
You review and sign disclosures
04
You do your due diligence on the property, and remove your contingencies by the deadlines you requested in your offer
05
You have any inspections you wrote into your offer done
06
The lender orders an appraisal for the property
07
You sign all loan and title documents when they are ready
08
Closing happens a couple days after you sign documents
Our Exclusive Pre Advantage
Private Exclusive
A Private Exclusive listing is an off-market home that can be shared by a Compass agent with their Compass colleagues directly. Property details aren’t disseminated and won’t appear on public home search websites. Listing your home as a Private Exclusive allows you to control what information is shared while still getting exposure to top agents at Compass.
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Coming
Soon
Compass Coming Soon gives us valuable opportunities to market your property while building anticipation among potential buyers and pressuretesting our pricing strategy — all without accruing days on market.
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2–3x
7% ~19% More views by consumers and agents* Fewer days on market vs. listings that go straight to active** More traffic at an open house***
