Selling in San Diego County
Pricing grounded in real comparables, preparation advice that pays for itself, professional marketing, and negotiation that holds the line.
Two things decide how a sale goes, and neither of them is marketing. The first is the price you launch at. The second is how the negotiation is handled after the inspection, when both sides are tired and the buyer has found something.
Everything else matters at the margin. Those two decide it.
What I actually do for a seller
Price it correctly at launch
From real comparable sales, not an algorithm and not what you'd like it to be. The first two weeks on market are the only two weeks with full attention — correct pricing then beats three reductions later, every time.
Tell you what not to spend money on
Most preparation advice is generic and expensive. I'll walk the house and tell you specifically what pays back and what doesn't, including — frequently — "nothing, list it as it is." I make nothing from your contractor.
Market it properly
Professional photography as a baseline, not an upsell. Nearly every buyer sees the photographs before the house, and a lot of them never see the house because of the photographs.
Hold the line in negotiation
Including the second negotiation, after inspection, which is often harder than the first. Knowing which requests to concede and which to refuse is most of the value, and it's the part that's hard to do for yourself.
Weekly updates, good news or not
The most common complaint people have about their last agent is silence. You'll hear from me every week your house is listed, and the day anything changes.
Get the disclosures right
The most expensive mistake in residential real estate is under-disclosure, and it surfaces years later. I'll push you to disclose more, not less.
What is it worth?
Usually the first thing anyone wants to know, and the thing the internet answers worst. The instant valuations you can get elsewhere are statistical models run over public records; they have never been inside your house and cannot see the kitchen you redid, the parkway you back onto, or whether your block carries a Mello-Roos assessment when the next one doesn't.
So there's a worksheet here instead of a number. It runs the same sales comparison method an appraiser uses, on sold comparables you look up yourself, and it returns a range with its reasoning visible — because a range is the honest answer, and the width of it tells you something too.
What you'd actually walk away with
Not what the house is worth — what lands in your account after the loan payoff, commissions, San Diego County's documentary transfer tax at $1.10 per $1,000, escrow, title and preparation.
Proposition 19 may let you carry your existing property tax base to your next home anywhere in California. For someone who has owned for decades, that is frequently a bigger number than anything else in the transaction — and the sequence of selling and buying can matter.
Commission, plainly
Negotiable — by law and in practice. There is no standard rate and none set by any association. Since the 2024 rule changes, whether you contribute anything toward the buyer's agent is genuinely your decision, including deciding not to.
Model it both ways in the net proceeds calculator and see what it's actually worth to you. Then we'll talk about what makes sense for your property.
Start with a valuation
Properly done, from real comparables, with no obligation and no follow-up campaign afterwards. What I won't do is give you a number over the phone without seeing the house — that number would be worthless and you'd make decisions with it.