When I listed 2949 Avenida Castana on March 31st, it was the only house for sale in La Costa Valley. Well, besides this one, which we thought would never sell while priced at $2,400,000 (the model-match comp had just closed under list at $2,175,000 on March 27th).

We listed Castana for $1,900,000, and took a $2,000,000 offer on April 8th after my slow-motion auction gave all five bidders a chance to win.

But the $2.4 listing did go pending on April 16th, shocking everyone. Two weeks later, their cash buyer closed for $2,375,000, which set off a cascading surge of new listings.

Above are the six La Costa Valley listings that hit the open market between April 28 and May 19th, with their initial list prices.

Here are today’s results for the same six listings:

Everyone – sellers, buyers, and agents – were working with the most-recent $2,175,000 comp until the $2,375,000 closed on May 1st. Vista Acedera had already gone on the open market, but the other five listings had a chance to adjust their price before hitting the MLS in May.

COULD ONE HIGH COMP GIVE EVERYONE ELSE A 10% BUMP?

• Avenida Ciruela went with their planned list price and looked like a giveaway, relatively. No surprise that their buyer paid the $250,000 premium that was already built in by the new comp of $2,375,000.
• Camino Serbal stuck with their list price (it was telegraphed in advance), and they got a $50,000 bonus.
• We were going to start lower with my listing on Corte Cidro, but we bumped it to $2,100,000. I conducted my open-house extravaganza and procured three offers. After giving all three a chance to pay more, the winner agreed to $2,200,000. I raised my list price to signal to others (buyers and agents) that we were fortunate to go higher, in hopes of not getting undercut while in escrow.

The other three listings are still active, and have only adjusted their prices modestly. Now that my listing offcially closed yesterday for $2,200,000, there probably won’t be much change in their prices now – heck, two out of three are below mine, and my listing had power lines and a full bath added without permits!

It shows how easy it is to miss in the post-frenzy market. Some homes aren’t going to get their price, and others aren’t going to sell at all. The reading of the market conditions, and the strategy employed by the listing agent is what makes the difference.