Selling and buying a home in Los Angeles and Ventura counties
There are three real ways to turn your home into cash: list it on the open market, take a cash offer, or wait with a plan. Which one wins depends on your timeline, your equity and what you care about most. Below are the three exits, the questions to settle before you decide anything, and straight answers on pricing, preparation, cost, tax and disclosure. Buying instead? The buyer guides are at the bottom. All of it is written by Cade Cashman and Kurt Mellinger and built on our own archive of closed sales.
List on the open market
The path that usually nets the most money. How competitive exposure drives price, what it costs you in time and prep, and when it is clearly the right call.
Read the guide → Exit twoTake a cash offer
Speed and certainty, with a tradeoff. How cash offers really work, the discount you are actually paying for convenience, and how to avoid a lowball.
Read the guide → Exit threeWait, with a plan
Sometimes the smartest move is not yet. The real cost of holding, how appreciation compares to carrying costs, and the Prop 19 timing most owners over 55 never hear about.
Read the guide →Should I sell my house or rent it out?
The landlord math, the tax clock that runs while you rent, and when holding wins.
Read the guide → DownsizingShould I downsize my home?
The full ledger, money and everything else, plus the Prop 19 unlock at 55.
Read the guide → Your rateShould I give up my low mortgage rate to move?
Price the rate like an asset. Then price the life you want against it.
Read the guide → DivorceSelling a house during a divorce in California
Three paths for the house, and the orders that control when you can sell.
Read the guide → DivorceThe spousal buyout in numbers
Half the equity, a refinance in one name, and the tax rules that come with keeping the house.
Read the guide →How much is my house worth?
Four ways the number gets made, and the only one that counts.
Read the guide → PricingHow do I know if my agent priced my house right?
Seven checks you can run on the listing presentation you were handed, before you sign anything.
Read the guide → PricingWhat happens if you overprice your house
Why the first days on market decide the whole result, and what a price cut actually teaches buyers.
Read the guide → Home valueIs your Zillow Zestimate accurate?
Zillow publishes two error rates. The good one does not apply to your house.
Read the guide → TimelineHow long does it take to sell a house?
Days to contract across 18 cities, plus the half of the timeline nobody counts.
Read the guide → TimingThe best time of year to sell a house
What the seasonal pattern actually measures, and how much it is worth.
Read the guide → AppraisalHow does a home appraisal work when you sell?
Who it is really for, and every option when it comes in low.
Read the guide →What to fix before you list
Fix it, price for it, or leave it alone. How to tell which.
Read the guide → InspectionShould you inspect before you list?
What you gain, and what you then have to disclose.
Read the guide → RepairsDo I need a new roof to sell my house?
Almost never. But in a fire zone the roof decides whether your buyer can get insured.
Read the guide → StagingIs home staging worth it?
It depends almost entirely on whether the house is empty or lived in.
Read the guide →What does it cost to sell a house in California?
The full stack worked on a real price, with a source for every rate.
Read the guide → ClosingWho pays closing costs, the buyer or the seller?
No law assigns most of them. Custom varies by county and every line is negotiable.
Read the guide → CompensationHow does agent compensation work now?
What changed in 2024, what a seller decides, and how the money moves at closing.
Read the guide →Capital gains on a California home sale
What the exclusion covers, and what falls outside it.
Read the guide → 55 and olderProp 19 explained
Carry your low property tax basis to a new home anywhere in California.
Read the guide → InheritedSelling an inherited house in California
Probate, the stepped up basis, and who signs the listing agreement.
Read the guide → DisclosureWhat do I have to disclose when selling?
California has the broadest seller disclosure duty in the country.
Read the guide → Family salesWhat is a gift of equity?
Selling to family below market: the down payment trick, the tax paperwork, and the Prop 19 trap.
Read the guide → Loss of a spouseThe step up in basis when a spouse dies
Community property resets both halves. Timing the sale can be worth six figures.
Read the guide → TitleCommunity property with right of survivorship
How you hold title decides probate and taxes at the worst possible moment. Pick on purpose.
Read the guide →What does a listing agent actually do?
Most of the work happens before the sign goes up and after the offer comes in.
Read the guide → Choosing an agentHow to pick the best agent in the Conejo Valley
A straight answer on how to vet an agent, not a list of names.
Read the guide → How we workThe cancel-anytime listing agreement
Walk away at any time, no fee and no penalty. Why we do it this way.
Read the guide → Selling it yourselfCan I sell my house without an agent in California?
Yes. Here is the honest operating manual for the work involved.
Read the guide → Expired listingsMy listing expired. What do I do now?
Nothing happened to the house. The useful question is what to do differently.
Read the guide →Should I sell before I buy, or buy first?
Four real options, what each costs, and how each one fails.
Read the guide → Cash offersOpendoor vs. a real cash offer
One company's model against competing verified buyers.
Read the guide → Choosing an agentRedfin vs. a full-service agent
What the lower listing fee actually trades away.
Read the guide → As isWhat does selling as is really mean?
Every California sale is already as is. The label changes expectations, not the law.
Read the guide →Is it better to rent or buy in Los Angeles?
The honest math on both sides, and the five-year test that decides it.
Read the guide → TimingShould I buy a house now or wait?
Nobody can call rates or prices. Four readiness questions decide it instead.
Read the guide → BudgetHow much house can I afford?
What lenders cap, what a smart budget caps, and the full monthly line.
Read the guide → Down paymentHow much down payment do you need?
Twenty percent avoids PMI. It was never a requirement.
Read the guide → TimelineHow long does it take to buy a house?
Every phase from pre-approval to keys, and which ones you control.
Read the guide → Mello-RoosWhat is Mello-Roos?
The extra tax on newer neighborhoods, how to spot it before you offer, and when it ends.
Read the guide → Bidding warsWhat is an escalation clause?
It can win the house and hand the seller your max. When to use it and when to go best and final.
Read the guide → WalkthroughThe final walkthrough checklist
What to check in the last days before closing, and what to do when something is wrong.
Read the guide → BuydownsWhat is a 2-1 buydown?
Two years of lower payments, funded up front. The math, and when a price cut beats it.
Read the guide → Loan typeARM vs fixed rate
Fixed is the default for a reason. The honest rule for when an ARM actually wins.
Read the guide → WarrantiesIs a home warranty worth it?
What it covers, what it refuses, and the two situations where it earns its keep.
Read the guide → EscrowHow does escrow work in California?
How escrow works, what it refuses to do, and where a California escrow goes wrong.
Read the guide → ContingenciesWhat are home buying contingencies in California?
Investigation, loan and appraisal. What each one protects and what removing it costs.
Read the guide → CancellingCan a seller back out of an accepted offer in California?
A seller holds far fewer exits than a buyer. The legal ones, and what a buyer can do if you walk.
Read the guide → TenantsCan you sell a house with tenants living in it in California?
The tenancy runs with the property. How the lease shapes your buyer pool, your price and your timeline.
Read the guide → RentalSelling your rental: vacant, occupied, or exchanged
Pick the buyer first, then the notices, the relocation money and the 1031 deadlines.
Read the guide → PermitsHow do you sell a house with unpermitted work?
Disclose it, price it, sell it. What unpermitted square footage does to the appraisal and the loan.
Read the guide → SolarHow do you sell a house with solar panels?
Owned, financed or leased. Only two of the three complicate an escrow, and one of them stalls it.
Read the guide → TitleBuying a house before marriage: how should you hold title?
Unmarried buyers cannot use the community property vestings, so the deed has to say what you mean.
Read the guide → Open housesDo open houses work, or do they mostly help the agent?
Sometimes, and rarely for the reason people expect. What actually moves a house on an open weekend.
Read the guide → EarthquakeDo you need earthquake insurance in California?
Your homeowners policy excludes it. How the California Earthquake Authority works and how to decide.
Read the guide → Prop 19Prop 19 parent to child: can you keep the low tax base?
Only if the child moves in within a year, and the exclusion caps at a set amount over the parent's base, adjusted every two years.
Read the guide → Missed paymentI missed a mortgage payment. What happens now?
The first 120 days in order, what the servicer has to do, and the call to make this week.
Read the guide → ForeclosureCan I sell my house in foreclosure?
Yes, up to the trustee sale. How the payoff works and how to keep your equity.
Read the guide → ForeclosureWhen is it too late to stop foreclosure?
The reinstatement deadline, postponements, and what changes once the sale is held.
Read the guide → ForeclosureHow long does foreclosure take in California?
Every step from the first missed payment to the sale, with the legal minimum for each.
Read the guide → ForeclosureShort sale vs foreclosure vs deed in lieu
What each one does to the debt, your credit wait, and when a regular sale beats all three.
Read the guide → ForeclosureGot a notice of default or trustee sale?
What each notice means, what the dates mean, and what to do in the first week.
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