Terry Yamamoto

Terry Yamamoto exceeded my expectations and went more than "above and beyond". I have bought and sold over 7 homes in the last 20 years and have never worked with a more professional, personable, and knowledgeable agent. This was the first time I bought a home "sight unseen" for over 1 million dollars. I never purchase a home without taking a tour and getting a feel for the property. The fact that I purchased this property without being present for the initial tour, final walk through, inspection, and closing should speak volumes regarding my trust and respect for Ms. Yamamoto's expertise and experience.

Our professional relationship began while I was on the Mainland. Ms. Yamamoto was able to quickly connect me with a loan officer to obtain a pre-approval letter and to navigate the process for a VA loan which can be cumbersome. Since there was a 5 hour time difference between us, Ms. Yamamoto worked evenings and weekends to ensure I had all the documents to be competitive during a time where the houses were selling fast (i.e. seller's market). She was always available at a moment's notice by phone, text, and email. In addition, she made us feel as if we were her only clients because she was always ready and available to visit homes during open houses and/or to schedule a showing.

Once we found a home, she was instrumental in ensuring that our paperwork and contracts were accurate and reflected our best interests. Buying a home can be daunting with the mounds of paperwork that is generated over several months however; Ms. Yamamoto kept track of all the documents and compiled them in a professionally bound notebook at the time of closing. I never worked with a more organized Agent. She also was not afraid to keep all parties accountable to timelines and written contracts. She is firm and assertive when warranted in order to keep the best interest of her clients in mind which is often difficult to balance when working with both the Seller's Agent and her clients. We were able to close on our home quickly (less than 60 days) and it was the most seamless transaction in my 20 years of home buying/selling experience. Ms. Yamamoto provided names of locksmiths, provided numbers for the electric and water companies so that my transition to Oahu and my new home was seamless! It was incredibly unbelievable of to step off the plane, pick up the keys, and walk into my new home!

Finally, I was thoroughly impressed with the amount of trustworthy contacts she maintains from Loan officers, electricians, contractors, property managers, plumbers, pest control, etc. It is clearly evident that Ms. Yamamoto is exceptional in her career but it is also amazing how much she cares about her work and the people (clients) she serves. She maintains lifelong contacts with all of her clients in order to provide them with any type of assistance which is another testament to her outstanding character.

A specific example occurred after I moved into my home when my neighbor started to build a concrete fence that was going to encroach onto my property. She did research and found the building permit and called the inspector to ensure that my neighbor's contractors did not build on my property. She was successful in preventing a dispute between two property owners by resolving the issue before it became a real problem. Ms. Yamamoto was always careful to disclose that she does not have any legal or tax expertise and was transparent with all of her recommendations. I have so many other examples of her tireless efforts to help me with the home buying process; there are just too many to list in this one document.

I believe that Ms. Yamamoto's business practice and work ethic goes "above and beyond" what is expected of a good realtor; she is in fact an "exceptional" realtor. Ms. Yamamoto is truly outstanding and is "one of a kind". I would recommend her to all of my friends and business associates that are looking to relocate from the Mainland as well as to my new friends and business associates that I work with on Oahu. Coldwell Banker is fortunate to have her on their team and I was fortunate to have her as my realtor!

We used Terry to both buy and sell the home. She left such a great impression on us when buying that we made sure to use her again when we sold the house.

Since the beginning Terry always went out of her way to make us feel like a member of the family. For years, she personally brought us snacks and treats on holidays, and kept in regular contact.

We've had nothing but great experiences with Terry during both the buying and selling process. Her skills and experience as a realtor assured sure we got the best price for the house when buying and selling, and her personal touch for former clients, even many years after purchase, make her more than worthy of any realtor award. 

Living in Washington state, we picked Terry as our agent blindly and never physically saw our new Hawaii home until after the sale closed. By phone, she advised us on homes, neighborhoods, prices, and bids on every home in which we were interested. She "face-timed" us through numerous tours of homes and consoled us thru five "out-bids", joining us in our stunned disbelief at the craziness of the market. She cautioned us on several issues which weren't apparent in our searches through realtor.com and zillow and constantly made us feel she had ONLY our best interests in her approach. Because of her wise, astute, experienced counsel, we were able to avoid making terrible mistakes.

We were so fortunate to have selected Terry as our realtor. She exceeded our expectations and treated us more than just her clients, but as friends she cares about. We can only imagine: if she served us, clients she had only seen on a telephone screen, so well, her clients living on Oahu must be fortunate beyond belief to have her escort them thru the home-buying experience. After the sale closed, because we weren't actually present yet, she went above and beyond, taking it upon herself to handle many of the niggling details that go along with assumption of ownership. She's even loaning us an air mattress to use until our furniture shipment arrives from the mainland -- some six weeks from now! That is the epitome of service to the client. We can't thank her enough -- at least not until we actually get there! We’re hoping to keep up our great relationship going for many years to come.

Terry has made this home buying experience wonderful. We would recommend others to seek her out if they are in need of an outstanding and exceptional realtor.