The South Bay, street by street, for ten years

I have been selling houses in the South Bay since 2016, which means I have now done this through a frenzy, a freeze, and the strange flat stretch in between. The lesson from all three is the same: almost every problem in a transaction is one somebody knew about early and did not say out loud. So I say things out loud. If your kitchen is fine and your deck is going to cost you the sale, you hear it in the first hour, not in the third week.

I keep my client list deliberately short. I answer my own phone, I show up to the inspections, I write the listing copy and the neighborhood guides on this site myself, and I am at the table when your offer is read. Ten years in one market also means I am going to run into you at Safeway, which is a reasonable thing for a client to be able to count on.