Korean-Speaking Real Estate Agent in Irvine | 얼바인 한인 부동산 에이전트

Who Veronica Lee is

Veronica Lee works with clients in Korean and English and has lived in Irvine since 1998. Alongside her sales, CRMLS records more than 280 closed leases for her since 2000.

Most of her Irvine sales fall in six villages:

Outside Irvine, the cities where she has closed the most sales are Tustin (23), Fullerton (14) and Lake Forest (12). She represented the seller in 261 sales and the buyer in 190. Those add to more than the total because in some sales she represented both sides.

Three of her larger Irvine sales:

• 127 Quiet Place, $6.35 million, 2023, representing the buyer
• 115 Treasure, $5.38 million, 2024, representing both the seller and the buyer (she also represented the buyer when it sold in 2018 for $3.3 million)
• 5 Sunset Cove, $3.93 million, 2023, representing the seller

What happens in Korean

Any conversation where you make a decision can happen in Korean:

• Pricing and offers. Comparable sales, list price, offer terms, counteroffers and competing offers, explained and negotiated in Korean.
• Disclosures and inspections. A walkthrough of the seller's disclosure package and the inspection report, item by item, in Korean, before you sign off on either.
• Escrow updates. Where the loan, appraisal, title work and closing date stand, by phone in Korean, through the day you get the keys.

The purchase paperwork itself is in English. California's contract translation statute, Civil Code §1632, lists the contract types that must be translated when they are negotiated in Korean, and home purchase agreements are not on that list. So California purchase contracts and disclosures are generally English documents. Veronica Lee explains them in Korean, and the English version is what you sign. For legal advice on a specific term, consult a California attorney.

Leases are different. Under §1632, a business that negotiates a residential lease or rental agreement for longer than one month primarily in Korean must deliver a Korean translation of every term before it is signed. The exception is a tenant who negotiates through their own interpreter, meaning an adult who speaks both languages fluently and reads both with full understanding, and who is not employed by or provided through the business. Whether you are the owner or the tenant, plan for the translation step when a lease is negotiated in Korean.

You are always welcome to bring your own interpreter or a family member to any meeting.

If you are buying or selling from overseas

Federal withholding (FIRPTA). When the seller is a foreign person for U.S. tax purposes, the buyer is generally the withholding agent and must withhold 15% of the amount realized on the sale. Two price-based rules can lower or remove the withholding, and both require that the buyer plan to live in the home (at least half the days it is used in each of the first two years):

On a $1,500,000 sale, 15% is $225,000. If you are the buyer and the seller is a foreign person, the withholding obligation is generally yours.

California (Form 593). A Form 593 Real Estate Withholding Statement is filed with the Franchise Tax Board after every California real estate transaction. California withholding may apply unless an exemption applies; one exemption is property sold for $100,000 or less.

Bring in a CPA early. Whether you count as a foreign person, and whether an exemption applies to you, are questions for a CPA or tax attorney. Veronica Lee does not give tax advice. Talk to a CPA before you list or write an offer.

How to reach Veronica Lee

Call Veronica Lee at 949-678-5013. You can speak with her in Korean or English. Her full profile is on her agent page, and the rest of the team is on Meet the Team. The team line is (949) 241-2596. The team also works in Mandarin with Amy Liu and in Vietnamese with Nicole Vu.