Twenty years of transactions in this city, a probate specialty, and a 48-unit development of my own on Crenshaw Boulevard. You will get a price you can defend, the three sold comps behind it, and a straight answer about whether now is even the right time.
Not at the negotiating table. Earlier. They lose it in the pricing conversation, in the two weeks of prep they skipped, and in choosing an agent based on who promised the biggest number rather than who could defend one.
Los Angeles is not one market. A house in Windsor Hills, a duplex in Hyde Park, a condo in Westchester, and a lot in Leimert Park all price on completely different logic. Anyone who gives you a number without telling you which three sales it came from is guessing, and you are the one paying for the guess.
A price you cannot name three sold comps for is not a price. It is a hope.
A defensible valuation comes from closed, arm's-length sales — not active listings, not an automated estimate off a website, not what your neighbor says he turned down. Active listings tell you what sellers want. Closed sales tell you what buyers did.
When I price a home, I start with recent recorded sales in the same submarket, adjust for lot size, condition, permitted square footage, parking, and zoning, and then throw out the outliers: the off-market family transfer, the flipper's full gut, the distressed sale. What survives is usually three comps. Those three become the argument that holds up when an appraiser or a buyer's agent pushes back.
I will show you those three by address. If I cannot, I have not done the work.
A defensible number comes from recent closed, arm's-length sales in your specific submarket — not active listings and not an automated online estimate. Los Angeles prices block by block, so a valuation that does not name the specific sold comparables behind it is a guess. I provide a written range with the three strongest sales identified by address, at no cost.
Plan on commission, escrow and title fees, county documentary transfer tax, any city transfer tax, a natural hazard disclosure report, and negotiated repair or credit items. Inside the City of Los Angeles, Measure ULA adds a substantially higher transfer tax on sales above its threshold, and it applies to the entire sale price rather than only the amount over the line. Inglewood, Culver City, and unincorporated areas such as View Park-Windsor Hills and Ladera Heights are outside the City of Los Angeles and not subject to ULA.
Almost never a full renovation. In two decades of South and Central LA transactions I have not seen a full kitchen remodel return its cost on resale, but I have repeatedly seen paint, landscaping, minor repairs, and a pre-listing inspection return several times theirs. Buyers do not discount for repairs so much as for uncertainty, and uncertainty is always more expensive than the fix.
For a well-priced, prepared home, expect roughly one to three weeks to an accepted offer and another thirty days to close on a financed sale. Overpricing is the single largest cause of long market time, and a listing that sits gets treated as damaged goods by the same buyers who would have competed for it in week one.
No, and you should compare it against a real market valuation before you respond. Unsolicited cash offers are typically priced well below market because speed and certainty are what the buyer is selling. Sometimes that trade is worth it — a distressed property, a hard deadline, a family that simply wants it over. Just make the trade knowingly.
I am a broker and a developer. I am building a 48-unit mixed-use project on the Crenshaw corridor on land my family has owned since 1985, which means when we discuss lot value, zoning, ADU potential, or what a builder will actually pay for your parcel, I am speaking from the other side of that table. I also hold Certified Probate Specialist and Senior Real Estate Specialist designations for estate and trust sales.
Yes. I represent sellers across Los Angeles County, with the deepest concentration in South and Central LA, Inglewood, View Park-Windsor Hills, Ladera Heights, Baldwin Hills, Leimert Park, Crenshaw, Hyde Park, Culver City, and Westchester.
See what it could sell for, rent for, or become — and what a transfer means for your family's property tax. One business day. No obligation.