The Number That Matters Is the One You Keep
Before anything goes on the market, I want you looking at the whole picture. The likely value range, your mortgage payoff, selling costs, escrow and title, commissions, repairs, preparation, any credits you may end up giving, and what the move itself costs.
What comes out of that is your net. It is the only number that describes your life after this sale, and it is the one worth optimizing rather than the list price.
Price is part of a strategy. It is not the strategy. The full method is here, in four parts, and it is the same method whether your house is on the Eastside of Costa Mesa or on the water in Newport Beach.
Talk about your sale
Or call 714-319-9751. You can also read how I do it, step by step
You Do Not List a House. You Launch It.
Putting a home on the MLS reaches the people already looking for it. It does nothing at all for the people who would buy your house and have not started looking, and that second group is where the competing offer usually comes from.
So we go wide by geography and let the house do the sorting. We tell its story properly, in video and in writing, so the buyer it suits recognizes it.
The gap between a few hundred views and the right buyers is where your net proceeds live. That is attention pointed at your home, instead of just a sign in the yard and a hope.
What That Has Looked Like
Two campaigns, both real, both specific. What any one home does depends on the home, the price and the market it launches into.
- One property reached 93,105 impressions with 71,882 video plays and nearly 56 hours of watch time. We beat Zillow on that home by more than 91,000 views.
- Another, on Wrightwood, reached 86,183 impressions with 71,361 video plays and 84.7 hours of watch time. That is nearly four full days of people watching a home rather than scrolling past it.
Dan sold in Costa Mesa:
They absolutely knocked it out of the park with their marketing, their open house. The right eyes saw our home, and it sold within less than three days. We had offers within twenty-four hours, multiple within forty-eight, and ended up selling for over asking.
Before You Ever See an Offer, I Vet It
I call the buyer's lender. I confirm they are genuinely approved. I verify their proof of funds.
The highest offer is not always the safest offer. My job is to know which buyer can close, so you are not pulled off the market by a deal that falls apart in escrow.
A sale that collapses three weeks in costs you the buyers who moved on, the days on market that now sit on your listing, and the plans you made around a closing date. That is why the vetting happens before the offer reaches you rather than after you have accepted it.
Where I Work
Orange County, and four cities in particular: Newport Beach, Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach and Irvine.
I grew up in Newport Beach and have raised my family in Costa Mesa for thirty years. If your situation is a divorce, a trust or an inherited property, those have their own pages, because the house is the same and the decision is not.
What I Will Not Tell You
I will not promise you a price, a timeline, or a number of offers. Those depend on the market and on other people, and anyone promising them is guessing in a confident voice.
This page describes how I generally work with sellers. It is not legal, tax or lending advice. I am a practicing California attorney, but when I am representing you in a sale I am acting as your real estate broker and not as your attorney. Tax questions go to your CPA.
Frequently Asked Questions
What do I keep after selling?
That is the number worth starting from, and it is not the list price. Your net is what is left after the mortgage payoff, selling costs, escrow and title, commissions, any repairs or preparation, any credits you end up giving, and the cost of the move itself. I would rather work that out with you before we pick a price than hand you a number on a sign and let you discover the rest at closing. It is the only figure that describes your life after the sale.
How do you decide what to list at?
Price is part of a strategy. It is not the strategy. The number comes out of where you stand in the data, where you stand in a negotiation, and what you are trying to accomplish, which is why the first conversation is about the goal rather than the figure. A price set without that is a guess with a decimal point in it.
What happens if a buyer's offer falls apart?
The point is to find that out before you accept it rather than three weeks into escrow. Before an offer reaches you I call the buyer's lender, confirm they are genuinely approved, and verify proof of funds. The highest offer is not always the safest one, and a sale that collapses costs you the buyers who moved on, the days now sitting on your listing, and whatever you planned around the closing date.
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