Meet the team
An affordable, accessible real estate brokerage team for California home buyers.
1% cash back rebate at Closing.
Meet the team behind Unlocked, the people who guide you through every step of your home buying journey from start to finish. We work collaboratively, which means you're never handed off from one person to the next or left waiting because your agent is busy with someone else. Instead, our whole team stays involved and invested in your experience from day one, so you always have support close at hand and a range of expertise working in your favor. Whether it's touring homes that fit what you're looking for, carefully reviewing disclosures so nothing catches you off guard, putting together a custom valuation report, negotiating on your behalf, or managing the details of escrow, we handle every piece of the process together. It's this hands-on, team-based approach, rather than relying on a single agent juggling everything alone, that lets us give you the kind of thorough, personal support that buying a home deserves.
Meet the Team behind Unlocked
Matthew Armstrong
Matthew wishes that Unlocked existed when he and his wife bought their San Francisco home. Alas, it didn’t, but he’s excited Unlocked is now able to help other Bay Area home buyers. Matthew previously worked at Bain & Company, Bain Capital and Lending Club, and holds an MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, and a BScience/BCommerce from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia.
Jesse Payne-Johnson
Jesse likes making things work. When he’s not hard at work at Unlocked, look for Jesse desperately trying to find a flat running route in San Francisco, or enjoying a hike in Marin. Jesse previously worked at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and the Boston Consulting Group, and is a graduate of Harvard College and Yale Law School.
Katrina Tom
Born and raised in the Bay Area, Katrina Tom brings an intimate understanding of the region and a deep-rooted passion for real estate to every client relationship. Her lifelong connection to the Bay Area, combined with years of industry experience, allows her to offer clients a uniquely informed perspective on properties and market dynamics. Since joining Unlocked, Katrina has successfully guided clients through 70+ closed transactions representing more than $134 million in sales volume over the past five years. Her experience across a wide range of transactions has sharpened her ability to navigate complex negotiations, identify opportunities, and anticipate challenges before they arise. In her free time she is likely at one of her daughters' activities, diving into a book, working on a DIY project, or trying a new recipe.
Justin Lemucchi
Justin is a proud California native who joined Unlocked after buying his own home with Unlocked! As a former educator, he understands the importance of making strong connections with and utilizing the best data for each client to deliver the best possible home-buying experience. With hundreds of successful transactions under his belt, Justin is one of Unlocked's most experienced Lead Agents, and he has represented everyone from first-time buyers to ultra-luxury clients. He holds a B.A. in History from U.C.L.A. and a Master's degree from Harvard. In his free time, Justin enjoys experimenting with his pizza oven, reading fantasy and sci-fi books, and exploring new neighborhoods with his rescue dog, Lucy.
Rebekah Ahn
Rebekah is a Bay Area native, born and raised, with a lifelong love of real estate that started early on. The very first course she signed up for at UC Berkeley was Real Estate Finance, and browsing home listings was her favorite pastime long before it became her job. She's especially drawn to the impact she can make helping startups grow over the long term, often working behind the scenes on the operations side, building out the systems, processes, and day-to-day infrastructure that let a growing company scale smoothly. She finds real estate endlessly interesting, and still loves browsing listings, touring open houses, and picking up on all the little details that make each home unique. Outside of work, you'll find her hanging out with her dogs, kayaking, or cooking.
Edris Kamal
Edris is a Bay Area native who joined the Unlocked team back in 2019. A UC Davis graduate with a degree in economics, he brings a sharp, analytical eye to the operations team, where he builds out the systems and processes that keep agents supported and set up to succeed. Scaling systems and building out operations seems to come as second nature to him, and it's what he enjoys most. He's always been drawn to the real estate world and the fast-moving pace of growing companies, and he loves being part of the behind-the-scenes work that helps a startup go from scrappy to scalable. Watching a business mature and finding smarter, more efficient ways to support that growth is what keeps him excited about the work. In his free time, you can catch Edris playing fantasy basketball, hiking, or hanging out with family.
.svg) Unlocked | Flat Fee Agent | Traditional Agent | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buyer Rebate | 1% | ? | 0% |
| Dedicated Agent | Dedicated Agent Plus Backup Coverage 7 Days A Week | Single Agent Handling Multiple Clients At Once | Single Agent Often With No Backup Coverage |
| Valuation Analysis | Unlocked Proprietary Custom Valuation Report | AI Driven (inaccurate) or non-data driven | Non-Data Driven |
| Disclosure Review | Unlocked Proprietary Disclosure Review Summary | AI Driven (inaccurate) or Cursory Review | Cursory Review |
| Offer Strategy Advice | Yes | Sometimes | Yes |
| Negotiation Guidance | Yes | Sometimes | Sometimes |
| Support During Closing | Yes | ? | Handed off to Transaction Coordinator |
| Private Tours | Yes | Limited Showings | Yes |
We’re excited to get you started.
You can reach out to us here, email us at [email protected], or give us a call at 650-770-0266.
Got Questions?
We've Got Answers
No question is too big or too small. Find answers to everything you've been wondering about Unlocked.
We cover the entire Bay Area. We've helped clients buy homes in San Francisco, North Bay, East Bay and South Bay. We also cover LA and San Diego in Southern California.
We provide all of the services of a traditional real estate agent, with better data-driven tools, increased transparency and more responsive customer service. We can help with as little or as much of the home-buying process as you require. Some clients come to us with a home already found and a price in mind, and need assistance with assessing the home and executing the transaction. Others are still figuring out their budget, what they're looking for, and advice on where to focus their search. Wherever you are in your home buying journey, we’re here to seamlessly guide you through your home buying process - finding the right home, valuing it, understanding the disclosures, submitting a competitive offer, and closing the transaction. We're with you from start to finish.
Yes. Unlocked is a fully-licensed California brokerage (CalDRE #02060530) and all of our agents are fully-licensed California sales agents and members of the California Association of Realtors (TM) and the National Association of Realtors (TM).
With Unlocked, you’ll be working with one of our fully-licensed real estate agents to get all of the services provided by a traditional real estate agent, with better data-driven tools, increased transparency and more responsive customer service. So in many respects, your buying experience will be the same as working with a traditional real estate agent - only better!
In terms of how we’re different, firstly, we offer 1% cash back. This is the largest buyer’s rebate in California (that we know about)! That is tens of thousands of dollars that you can put that towards buying new furniture, renovating your kitchen and bathrooms or throwing that all important housewarming party (or more responsible uses like paying down your mortgage).
Secondly, our backgrounds are different than traditional real estate agents. We are a Stanford MBA and a Yale Law JD, who have also worked at some of the top management consulting, law and private equity firms (Bain & Company, Boston Consulting Group, Wachtell and Bain Capital). We leverage our data-driven, customer-oriented experiences to deliver a more insightful, analytical and responsive home buying experience.
Thirdly, Unlocked has built custom analytical tools to bring data, insight and transparency to the key buying decision points and streamlined the buying process. For every home you’re interested in, we provide our Custom Valuation Report, an easy-to-interpret spreadsheet of recent comparable transactions, competing listings and third-party valuations, as well as our Disclosure Review Summary, a comprehensive summary of the 200+ pages of disclosures.
All-in-all, we’ve designed the buying experience that we would have wanted when we bought our homes, and we’re sure you’ll love it, just like our current and past clients have (check out our Yelp reviews).
One of our licensed real estate agents personally leads each transaction and will be your day-to-day point of contact throughout your home buying journey. We work closely as a team, and are able to jump in for each other if and when you have a time-sensitive request.
Unlocked's total commission for Buyer agent services is 1.5% of the purchase price of your home, subject to a $15,000 minimum commission per transaction. Unlocked only receives a commission upon the Closing of your home purchase; Unlocked will never charge a fee for services prior to Closing. Typically, home Sellers will offer to pay a Buyers' agent commission out of the proceeds received from their home sale. The customary commission amount offered from Sellers to a Buyer's broker is 2.5% of the home's final sale price. For a particular transaction, in the event that Sellers have offered, and Unlocked receives, a Buyers' agent commission of 2.5% of your home's sale price, Unlocked will issue a Cash Back Commission Rebate of 1.0% of the sale price to you at Closing (the difference between the 2.5% commission received and Unlocked's 1.5% fee for services), subject to Unlocked's $15,000 minimum commission per transaction. Per applicable IRS guidance, the Unlocked Cash Back Commission Rebate is not taxable to you, and accordingly Unlocked will not issue a Form 1099 or similar with respect to the commission rebate.
