Skip to content

For sellers

Selling your home in Los Angeles County

Whatever is behind the move, there is a version of this that fits your situation. Start with the one that sounds like you, then see what it looks like in your own neighborhood.

A living room staged and ready for listing photography, with light oak floors and tall windows

Seller resources

A man painting a backyard fence while his dog watches from the grass

Selling Your Home

Sell for the most the market will pay, without the process taking over your life.

Learn more →
A woman taping a moving box shut in a half-empty living room

Downsizing

Less house can mean more freedom. We help you take that step at a pace that feels right.

Learn more →
An adult daughter sitting with her elderly mother on a front porch

Selling Your Home as a Senior

For homeowners 55 and older moving to a senior community, a smaller home, or closer to their kids, with patience at every step.

Learn more →
A living room mid-move, with boxes stacked on opposite sides

Selling a Home During Divorce

A hard season deserves a calm, fair process. We keep things steady so you can move forward.

Learn more →
Two adult siblings standing quietly in the doorway of a parent's living room

Probate and Trust Sales

Selling a loved one's home is hard. We carry the details so your family has room to breathe.

Learn more →
A couple reviewing paperwork at a kitchen island with house keys beside them

What Your Home Is Worth

Find out what your home is worth today, with a real number from people who know your neighborhood.

Learn more →

By neighborhood

Selling in your exact area

Start with the question you actually have

Most people who land on a page like this are not ready to list. They are trying to answer one question, quietly, before they tell anyone. What is it worth. Can we afford the next one. Do we have to fix the bathroom first. How long is this going to take.

So this page answers those, plainly, before it asks you for anything. If you want the short version: your number comes from what has actually sold near you, what is competing with you right now, and the real condition of your home. Everything else is detail.

And if what is behind your move is harder than a simple upgrade, a divorce, a parent's estate, a downsize you are not entirely ready for, there is a page written for that specific situation further down. Those are not marketing categories. They are genuinely different transactions with different timelines and different people who have to agree.

What is it actually worth?

Send Me My Home ValueBook an Appointment or Call
Or read how we do it, step by step

What your home is actually worth

An online estimate is a guess built from public records. It has never been inside your home. It does not know you redid the kitchen, or that the house backs to a wash, or that your neighbor's sale closed low because it was a family transfer.

A real number comes from three things:

  • What has genuinely sold. Closed sales in the last 90 days of homes actually like yours. Same area, similar size, similar condition, similar lot. Not the highest number on your street.
  • What you are competing with today. A buyer looking at your home this weekend is looking at four others. If one of them is nicer at the same price, you are the house that helps them choose the other one.
  • Where the search brackets fall. Buyers search in round numbers. A home priced at $1,025,000 is invisible to everyone whose maximum is a million. Sometimes the right move is to price just under a bracket and let more people find you.

Michelle has a real gift for numbers and Jon's background is in accounting, so you get the math, not just the conclusion. Then you get a written net sheet: sale price at the top, every cost itemized, and the number that actually lands in your account at the bottom. If that number does not work for you, we would much rather find out in your kitchen than three weeks into escrow.

Tell us about your home and we will put your number together.

The number, with the math behind it
The number, with the math behind it

What it costs to sell here, honestly

Four things come off the top, and none of them should be a surprise on closing day.

Commission. Negotiable, and since the 2024 changes it is negotiated twice: once for what you pay your own agent, and separately for what, if anything, you offer a buyer's agent. Those are two different decisions now. We put both in writing before you sign anything.

Transfer tax. Los Angeles County's documentary transfer tax is $1.10 per $1,000 of sale price, so roughly $935 on an $850,000 sale. Only five cities in the county add a tax of their own, and as of September 2026 they are Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Culver City, Pomona, and Redondo Beach. Santa Clarita is not one of them. The City of Los Angeles is, and its Measure ULA tax is a much larger number on higher-priced sales, so if your home is inside city limits that belongs in your math early.

Escrow and title. Fees that scale roughly with price, plus a county recording fee.

Getting ready, and what the buyer asks for after inspections. Paint, landscaping, cleaning, and then whatever credits or repairs you agree to once they have inspected. This is the bucket that surprises people, and it is the one good preparation shrinks the most.

Taxes on the gain are a separate question and a real one. Ask a CPA. The short version is that federal law lets many sellers exclude a significant amount of gain on a primary residence, and plenty of sellers here owe nothing at all, but whether you qualify depends on your own facts.

Settled in
Settled in

How long the whole thing takes

Two clocks run, and people tend to only think about the second one.

Before you list. This is the part you control, and it is where the result gets decided. Preparation, photography, and a launch planned on a real calendar. Rushing it to save two weeks routinely costs more than two weeks of carrying the house.

After you accept an offer. Escrow on a financed purchase in California commonly runs 30 to 45 days. Cash can close in one to two weeks. Inside that window the buyer's contingencies default to 17 days on the standard C.A.R. agreement, though every one of those is a blank the parties negotiate.

What actually stretches a timeline is almost never the market. It is an HOA document package that takes three weeks to arrive, a payoff nobody requested early, or a repair negotiation that starts from a surprise. Those are all preventable.

Here is the whole selling process, step by step.

How long the whole thing takes

From listed to moved

Whatever is behind the move

A sale where two people have to agree on everything is not the same transaction as a straightforward upgrade. Neither is settling a parent's estate while your siblings live in three different states, or downsizing out of the house you raised your family in.

These are the situations we have gone and gotten trained for specifically, rather than learning on somebody's transaction:

Keep, donate, decide later
Keep, donate, decide later

Frequently Asked Questions

How much is my home worth right now?

A real answer comes from closed sales of homes genuinely like yours in the last 90 days, what is actively competing with you today, and your home's real condition. Online estimates cannot see any of that. They cannot see the kitchen you redid, and they cannot see that the sale down the street closed low because it was a family transfer. We will put a real number together, with the comparable sales shown to you, and a written net sheet so you can see what would actually land in your account. Tell us about your home here.

What does it cost to sell a home in Los Angeles County?

Commission, transfer tax, escrow and title fees, and whatever you spend preparing the home plus any credits you agree to after inspections. The county's documentary transfer tax is $1.10 per $1,000 of sale price, about $935 on an $850,000 sale. Only a few cities in the county add their own. Santa Clarita does not. The City of Los Angeles does, and its Measure ULA tax is a much larger number on higher-priced sales. You get every line itemized in writing before you list.

Is the commission negotiable?

Yes, and since the 2024 changes to how buyer agents are paid it is negotiated twice. Once for what you pay your own agent, and separately for what, if anything, you offer a buyer's agent. Those are two different decisions now, and some sellers choose differently on each. We put both in writing before you sign anything and explain what each one buys you.

Do I need to fix up my house before selling it?

Some of it, not all of it. Paint, landscaping, decluttering, deep cleaning, dated light fixtures and cabinet hardware, and anything that photographs badly usually return more than they cost, because they change the first photo a buyer sees. Big remodels done specifically to sell usually do not, and they delay your launch by months. We will walk your home with you and tell you plainly which is which, including the things we would skip.

How long does it take to sell a house?

Escrow on a financed purchase in California commonly runs 30 to 45 days after you accept an offer, and cash can close sooner. The part people underestimate is what happens before you list. Preparation, photography and a planned launch are where the result actually gets decided. What stretches a timeline is usually an HOA package that takes weeks to arrive or a repair negotiation that started from a surprise, and both are preventable.

Should I sell first or buy the next one first?

It depends on whether you need your equity for the down payment and how much risk you are comfortable carrying. Selling first is financially safer and leaves you needing somewhere to live. Buying first is easier on your life and riskier on your money. Most of our clients land in between, using a rent-back after closing or a contingent offer. We map both sides on one timeline so the dates work for you instead of against you.

Will I owe taxes when I sell?

Often not, but this is a CPA question and worth actually asking. Federal law lets qualifying sellers exclude a substantial amount of gain on a primary residence, and many sellers here owe nothing on the sale. Whether you qualify and how much applies depends on how long you lived there, your filing status, and your timing. An investment property, an inherited home, or a home you moved out of years ago all work differently.

Can I keep my property tax base if I move?

Possibly, and it is worth checking before you do anything else. California's Proposition 19 lets homeowners who are 55 or older, severely disabled, or the victim of a wildfire or natural disaster transfer their existing property tax base to a replacement home anywhere in California, up to three times. For a longtime owner that can be the single biggest financial factor in the whole move, and it is the thing people most often find out about too late.

Do you only sell in Santa Clarita?

No. We live in the Santa Clarita Valley and we work all over Los Angeles County, including the San Fernando Valley, the Antelope Valley, Burbank, Glendale, and Los Angeles, plus nearby Simi Valley and Ventura. If you are moving farther than that, we will introduce you to an agent we have vetted ourselves in the market you are moving to. See the areas we serve.

What if I am not ready to sell yet?

That is completely fine and it is most of the people who call us. Knowing your number and your timeline early is what makes the decision easier later, and it costs you nothing. We are not going to chase you. Plenty of people talk to us a year or two before they move, and that is usually the conversation that makes the move go smoothly when it happens.
Michelle and Jon Dubner, REALTORS with Equity Union in the Santa Clarita Valley

Meet the team

The team that would sell your home

We are Michelle and Jon Dubner, husband and wife, and Dubner Real Estate Group is ours. Our team is here to serve you: to understand what you are hoping for, walk you through it step by step, and make sure you get there. Michelle answers her own phone and is quickest by text, so ask us anything, at any point, however small it feels.

Michelle Dubner DRE #01496647 Jon Dubner DRE #02118617 Equity Union

661-219-5517More about us

Reading for sellers

All 30 articles →

The method

How we do it

  1. EquityKnow exactly where your home stands before we set a price.
  2. PresentationPhotos, video, a 3D tour, and words that help buyers fall in love first.
  3. ImpactYour home in front of the right buyers, not just the MLS.
  4. CampaignA real launch, because the first week matters most.

Read the whole process, step by step

Keep exploring

Dubner Real Estate Group homeHow we sell a homeWhat is my home worth?Homes we have soldBuying too?NeighborhoodsTalk with us

Ready to make your move with Dubner Real Estate Group?

Get in touchCall 661-219-5517