How I price a home, 46 sales in
Pricing is the decision that makes or breaks a sale, and it is made before the sign goes in the lawn. Here is how I do it, with the numbers from my own record where they help.
Start in the right pocket
I pull closed sales from the last six months within the home's own micro-neighborhood, and I ignore everything else until I have at least three. Brentwood Park and Brentwood Glen are two miles apart and price like two different cities. A house on 19th Street north of Montana should be compared with houses north of Montana, not with Sunset Park, even though both say Santa Monica on the envelope. When I sold 307 19th Street for $3,935,000, the comps that mattered were all within about ten blocks.
Four adjustments, in order
Lot and position. Corner, flag lot, cul-de-sac, street traffic, what the house faces. A north-of-Montana lot on a wide quiet street and the same square footage on 7th Street near Wilshire are not the same lot.
Condition and era. A renovated 1950s house, an original one and a 2020 new build on the same block are three different products. I adjust for what a buyer would have to spend to get the house to the condition they expect at that price.
Light and layout. Single-level versus two-story, where the bedrooms sit, whether the kitchen opens to the yard, which way the main rooms face. These show up in buyer behavior more than in appraisals, and buyer behavior is what sets the price.
The intangible that is actually tangible. The view, the trees, the sound of the street at dusk. I walk every listing at the end of the day before I set a number, because that is when buyers tour.
The first ten days
A home gets the most attention it will ever get in its first ten days on the market. If the price is right, the offers come in that window, and they come from buyers competing with each other. If the price is high, the house sits, the buyers who saw it move on, and the eventual price is lower than where an accurate number would have landed. I have seen this play out enough times that I will not list a home at a price I cannot defend with comps on day one. When a seller and I disagree, we look at the three comps together and talk it through. That conversation is the job.
What the numbers look like in practice
379 N. Kenter Avenue in Brentwood sold at $6,500,000. 11366 Farlin Street in Brentwood Glen sold at $3,110,000. 486 E. Channel Road in Santa Monica Canyon closed at $4,695,000 with me on the buyer side. Same agent, same quarter of the city, three very different numbers, because each one was priced from its own pocket and not from a citywide average. You can see every closing, sales and leases, highest to lowest, on my home page. I put them there on purpose. A pricing opinion is only as good as the closings behind it.
If you are thinking about selling
Send me the address. I will come back with a range, the three comps it rests on and the plan for the first ten days. No automated estimate, no pressure, and nothing goes on a mailing list.
Questions about a street, a house or a number? Text or call me at 310.498.1415, or email cwgrazianorealty@gmail.com.
Christina Woodward Graziano is a California real estate licensee (DRE #02072713) with Keller Williams Beverly Hills, 439 N. Canon Drive, Penthouse, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. Each Keller Williams office is independently owned and operated. Equal Housing Opportunity. This post is general information from one agent, not legal, tax, insurance or financial advice; talk to your own professionals before you act on it. Business mentions are personal opinion. Nobody paid to be in this post.