The tariff tirade may be dissipating, but the effect on mortgage rates will probably last for months. Higher rates add more sluggishness to an generally-overpriced market but sellers are committed to exploring their price discovery in April. We’ll see if loosens up in May or June (doubtful).
Here is the distribution of NSDCC active listings:
Almost $1 billion worth of active listings in Rancho Santa Fe with an average list price over $10 million – wow! La Jolla and Del Mar’s averages are over $9 million!
Home sellers may have noticed a tally of saves, shares and views on their listings on Zillow and wondered how these metrics compare to other homes on the market. A new Zillow analysis reveals the ideal benchmarks that enhance the chances of selling a property faster and at a higher price and ways sellers can help their chances of standing out.
When listings go live on Zillow, home shoppers can interact with properties by viewing the listing to learn more about the home, saving the listing to view again later, or sharing the listing. Each interaction indicates buyer interest in that home, and listings with higher engagement levels tend to sell faster and at or above the list price.
How do the number of views, saves and shares measure up against other listings? Let’s dive into the numbers.
The benchmarks
Since Spring 2023, the median home listing on Zillow, went pending after 15 days, and sold at 98% of the initial listing price.
When it comes to views, 250 per day typically means a home will move to pending status in a week, with 75% of those homes sold in two weeks. Listings that initially attract more than 500 daily views are often sold for more than the list price.
Five is the magic number for daily saves. Home sellers who see their listing saved by at least five potential buyers per day typically accept an offer in a week. Listings with 10 or more saves per day tend to sell for more than the list price.
The majority of for-sale listings shared 10 or more times per day reach pending status in a week. Exceeding 20 shares per day typically means a home will sell above its list price. Savvy sellers — with the help of their agent — can aim to boost these numbers and achieve better results.
How home sellers can help maximize sales impact
Home sellers and their agents can help their listings stand out by highlighting the most desired features. Highlighting the most sought-after amenities in listings signals to buyers that a home is appealing and modern, helping it sell faster and for more money.
Zillow research has shown calling attention to features such as outdoor TVs, soapstone countertops and outdoor showers can help home sellers command premium sale prices, while calling out attributes such as plant ledges, frameless showers and terrazzo flooring contribute to faster-than-expected sales.
This week Zillow Executive Errol Samuelson announced that homes not listed on the MLS within 24 hours of public marketing—won’t be published on Zillow “for the life of the listing.” Simply put, if your listing is not on Zillow within 24 hours, Zillow will retaliate against you and your homeowner by turning off your ability to list on Zillow. It is an incredible move of audacity and a pure power play of epic proportion.
Delayed IDX syndication is allowed under NAR rules. But Zillow is asserting that they, not NAR, not your brokerage, not you the listing agent—and not even the homeowner whose house it is and is paying the commission—should decide how a listing is marketed. This isn’t about protecting consumers. It’s about protecting Zillow’s ability to profit from your listings by selling your leads to competing agents.
Whether or not you support the Clear Cooperation Policy, it is never acceptable for a real estate portal to threaten agents this way. Real estate portals must remain neutral. Whether you’re a buyer’s agent, a listing agent, or both, we support all agents and believe you deserve better. And we believe every real estate professional deserves to be treated with fairness and respect—never bullied by a tech platform looking to control an industry.
Zillow’s lead-diversion model is anti-consumer and anti-agent. Just last week, I listened to focus groups with home sellers who believed that when a buyer clicks the “Contact Agent” button on their listings in Zillow, they’re contacting their listing agent. When they found out that wasn’t true—and that their home was being used as bait to funnel buyers to competing agents—they were outraged. One seller exclaimed, “Holy hell!” Another said, “What the…?”
Zillow’s lead diversion model hijacks your hard-earned listings to generate commission splits for them and grow their brand at your expense. As the listing agent you deserve clear, undisputed credit for your listings. When a buyer believes they are contacting the listing agent, that’s exactly who they should reach.
Homes.com is agent-friendly. We always show the listing agent—and only the listing agent—on listings. We follow the principle of Your Listing, Your Lead. That means we only display your name, your photo, your brokerage, and connect potential buyers only to you. We never take a commission split or sell leads to competing agents. Instead, we earn revenue by promoting your listing to thousands of additional buyers across the internet.
Yesterday, reader Jim repeated the common belief about the Compass 3-Phase Marketing Plan:
Compass isn’t going this route to protect sellers – they are trying to increase their dual agency transactions which will lead to more profits for a publicly traded company. In addition to hoarding inventory which numerous studies say will not increase the selling price for a seller, Compass is trying to force agents to join their brokerage or be left out of a portion of the inventory.
I’ll agree that the Compass messaging hasn’t been great.
It hasn’t acknowledged that selling homes before they go on the open market is a VERY sensitive topic. Observers are quick to assume that the money-grubbing agents only care about padding their wallets, and not what is best for consumers. It does appear that way, though a case can be made that in a soft market it might be better for the sellers to not risk a listing launch failure.
When the first phase of our 3-Phase Marketing Plan is called Private Exclusives and we publicly declare that’s where we ‘test pricing’ among other Compass agents only, it’s natural for outsiders to assume we’re making deals there.
But nobody within Compass is pushing it – in fact, there is no organized effort to arrange off-market sales. It’s the category where a new listing starts out on our platform, and most have no photos, descriptions, or showing instructions.
How is it working?
The graph above shows the monthly sales between January 1, 2024 and March 31, 2025.
There were 155 of the 2,234 sales (7%) that showed zero days on market, which is the universal sign of an off-market sale. There is a MLS rule that states all sales must be inputted into the MLS at some point, and the glee with which the listing agents display their off-market escapades is remarkable. I doubt I’m missing any.
Of the 155 off-market sales:
Compass agents had 37, or 24%
Three-quarters of all off-market sales are done by non-Compass agents!
All the complaining comes from industry veterans and the ivory-tower types. You won’t hear ANY agents on the street complain about round-tripping their listings off-market – they are proud of them!
The Compass NSDCC market share is ~30%, so the 24% sounds right.
Of the 37 Compass off-market sales:
Only 25 were sold to Compass buyers
So there it is – the off-market sales within the Compass brokerage amount to about 1% of the total sales. It’s hard to believe that another 12 were sold to outside agents, which shows that selling to other Compass agents isn’t a priority. Completing a sexy off-market sale with any agent is the goal!
Has Reffkin’s relentless battle against the CCP caused any changes?
It started soon after the NAR Settlement began on August 17th, so let’s compare (I stretched out the time period to Apr 15th to get about the same number of sales in each sample):
There hasn’t been any discernible change in the number of off-market sales between Compass agents.
This hot topic provides our competitors an opportunity to dogpile on Compass and Robert Reffkin, which is fine. We are taking a very public stance about the CCP.
You don’t hear ANYONE talking about eliminating off-market sales. NOBODY!
The Clear Cooperation Policy allows for off-market sales within a brokerage, and EVERY company is doing them.
If you ever hear industry leaders demanding a change regarding off-market sales – and not just beating the crap out of Compass – then you know their intentions are pure.
If living in the rural countryside is acceptable but being closer to San Diego is a must – maybe Anza might work for you! It’s only 65 miles from Carlsbad and a place where homes are in the $400,000 – $600,000 range!
The March new listings in the San Diego metro area look good with our 12.7% being one of the lowest national increases year-over-year (above).
But after a few months of this, the unsolds are starting to stack up:
Buyers don’t seem to mind, and for them it can only get better because a few sellers will run out of patience and lower their price. Wouldn’t it be a kick if most sellers dumped on price before the year is out!
Yesterday, Zillow released a statement….an excerpt:
Our standards are straightforward: If a listing is marketed directly to consumers without being listed on the MLS and made widely available where buyers search for homes, it will not be published on Zillow. These new standards will go into effect on Zillow and Trulia in May 2025.
Now we have NAR, the MLS, and Zillow putting restrictions on how sellers and their agents can market their homes. We’ll see what the DOJ says about it!
Our fearless leader, Robert Reffkin, says we’re not changing anything.
Zillow teamed up with eXp to make the announcement, and included a link to the eXp website, where you can find their eXp Exclusives. Either eXp has failed to alter/delete their Exclusives or Zillow is leaving room for the permitted intraoffice sales. Compass calls ours the Private Exclusives and I can set up a collection of them for a client to peruse.
If Zillow is fine with Private Exclusives – and how would they know about them – then I don’t mind being in full compliance. It eliminates the Coming Soon option which is a waste of time anyway.
If Zillow finagles a way to find out about our Private Exclusives and bans them too, then the war is on. Hopefully it will be a quick, one shot war and we can get on with the future of selling homes.
I think Compass would quit the NAR, MLS systems, and Zillow, and we make a deal with Homes.com to send them our listings exclusively. We will want to partner with a national search portal to appease our sellers and agents who want more coverage than what’s available with compass.com. Homes.com would love the boost!
Our Private Exclusives are registered with the MLS. If they rat us out and give our Private Exclusives to Zillow, then quitting all of them would be in order.
Let’s talk more about my two favorite topics this week:
Be Bold and Forge Ahead, in spite of the distractions.
Off-market sales.
If you are a potential home buyer or seller who is chuckling to yourself about my lame attempt to instill some hope into the marketplace, take a look at these.
All of these sales happened off-market, and none of them were listed by Compass agents. Reffkin is taking the heat these days, but off-market sales have been around for decades and there is a real chance that they will prevail as a popular choice for sellers.
Consider the pricing on these.
Because they aren’t on the open market, the buyers don’t have the usual test of the price: Are there other offers? It takes guts to pay all the money in this environment!
Almost $6,000,000 in Olivenhain? This isn’t Rancho Santa Fe, and it’s not even in the gated Wildflower Estates. Yet the buyer paid cash for the house (above) without a market test or obvious comps nearby. Gutsy!
The La Jolla home above was listed for $4,980,000 with one of the most successful La Jolla agents – but it didn’t sell. Being on the market between April and August of 2024 was a good test, so the only conclusion is that it wasn’t worth the $4,980,000 then. Yet a different agent takes the listing and finds a buyer who paid within 2% of the price that we know it wasn’t worth last year:
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The house below was a standard 1972 all-original tract house in Olde Carlsbad when it listed for $1,400,000 last April. Kudos to the listing agent who got it bid up to $1,625,000! The buyer and their agent completed a nice renovation and less than a year later they sell it off-market for almost $1,000,000 more!
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The sellers had been here for 40+ years and typically that means the house looked a lot like it did in 1977. The cash buyer was an LLC so it’s probably a flip and this is an area that can handle sales of $10,000,000 to $20,000,000 so I’m sure they know what they are doing. But they will need to add some square footage to get up to that level and the bigger views are across the street (the hill slopes up to right):
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The common denominators:
All sold for retail, or retail-plus.
Selling off-market was the first choice.
Agents marked them ‘sold off-market’ with pride. A badge of honor!
Off-market sales are happening in EVERY brokerage, and they are SEXY! They are pitched to buyers as a way to avoid a bidding war and finally get what they want – they just have to pay the seller’s price!
Compass isn’t trying too hard to sell listings off-market. Our push is more about avoiding future lawsuits and retaining the control of where and when the listing gets advertised.
But this is an ideal environment for off-market sales to flourish. There’s too much noise and distractions in the regular market and making quiet deals off-market sounds attractive to both sellers and buyers. It might be an easier place for buyers to have the guts!
And then there is this – the tail trying to wag the dog. What are they going to do? Send in James Bond to crack our security code and monitor our Private Exclusives? Or NAR or MLS rats us out? (our PE listings are registered with them)
It will be something like this that breaks down the whole system once and for all:
Let’s reflect on recent history, because it’s the only history that is relevant.
Flush with equity, how do home sellers react when faced with adverse uncertainty?
We have recent experience….Covid-19!
In the first couple of months after that drastic game-changing event began, the local real estate market froze up. Full paralysis.
I told Donna, “I don’t know if we’re going to sell another home this year!”
In 2008, the recent purchasers had little, if any, equity and felt deceived by their exotic financing choices. They hit the panic button in an effort to recoup any equity that was left!
There won’t be any panic today. Homeowners are more comfortable than they were in 2008 and 2020 – and they’re sitting on piles of equity. Some might give their house away, but not many. It’s too easy to wait until “it’s a better time to sell”!
Home sales will likely slow as sellers and agents wonder what to do.
But risk and reward ride the same elevator!
Be Bold. Take Action!
We are used to the chaos, and are numb to it by now. There will be more chaos tomorrow, next week, and for the next 90 days. Might as well get on with those plans for your life!
Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google.
We sold a home with Jim and Donna and from beginning to end they were consummate professionals. Their initial walk through the property resulted in a list of items to be repaired or updated. They supplied a list of vendors and job quotes to do the repairs and updates. We originally wanted to sell ‘as is’ and just get it over with. They gave us a selling price for ‘as is’ and options for doing a few updates/repairs to doing it all with the selling price for each option. We agreed to do all they suggested and we sold for the exact price they predicted. For every dollar spent we got back more than $2 back in the selling price. And they got that price in a rising interest rate environment! Donna and Jim are extremely detailed and guide you through ever aspect of the sale. There were no surprises thanks to their guidance. We couldn’t be more pleased with their representation.
Thank you Donna and Jim,
Jerry and Mary
Heather Quejada
March 27, 2025
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We have known Jim & Donna Klinge for over a dozen years, having met them in Carlsbad where our children went to the same school. As long time North County residents, it was a no- brainer for us to have the Klinges be our eyes and ears for San Diego real estate in general and North County in particular. As my military career caused our family to move all over the country and overseas to Asia, Europe and the Pacific, we trusted Jim and Donna to help keep our house in Carlsbad rented with reliable and respectful tenants for over 10 years.
Naturally, when the time came to sell our beloved Carlsbad home to pursue a rural lifestyle in retirement out of California, we could think of no better team to represent us than Jim and Donna. They immediately went to work to update our house built in 2004 to current-day standards and trends — in 2 short months they transformed it into a literal modern-day masterpiece. We trusted their judgement implicitly and followed 100% of their recommended changes. When our house finally came on the market, there was a blizzard of serious interest, we had multiple offers by the third day and it sold in just 5 days after a frenzied bidding war for 20% above our asking price! The investment we made in upgrades recommended by Jim and Donna yielded a 4-fold return, in the process setting a new high water mark for a house sold in our community.
In our view, there are no better real estate professionals in all of San Diego than Jim and Donna Klinge. Buying or selling, you must run and beg Jim and Donna Klinge to represent you! Our family will never forget Jim, Donna, and their whole team at Compass — we are forever grateful to them.
Lou F
March 27, 2025
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WeI had the pleasure of working with Klinge Realty Group to sell our home in Carmel Valley, and I cannot recommend them highly enough!
Jim and Donna demonstrated exceptional professionalism, offering expert guidance on market conditions and pricing strategy, which resulted in a quick and successful sale.
Communication was prompt and we were well-informed throughout the entire process.
For anyone looking for a dedicated and knowledgeable real estate team, look no further!
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William Sams
March 25, 2025
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Donna and Jim Klinge of Klinge Realty Group have our highest possible recommendation. From Donna and Jim’s first visit to our house through closing their advice and counsel was candid and honest in all dealings. They kept us fully informed throughout the process. The house sold less than three days after listing with a two-week closing. My wife and I have sold several houses during our lives. This was by far the best experience. Klinge Reality is a premium service realtor. You can’t make a better choice for someone to sell your home fast and for top dollar.
Emily Hernandez
December 29, 2024
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Donna and Jim provided exceptional support and professionalism throughout the entire process. We couldn't have been happier with their efforts. They made our house shine, and thanks to their expertise, it sold above the listing price in the very first weekend! Truly a fantastic experience from start to finish.
Jesus Adrian Sahagun
November 11, 2024
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This year has been difficult on our family, mainly due to having to sell our home. Thankfully we knew God had a plan for us and working with the Klinge team was a key part of it. It was an obvious decision to work with them again after such an amazing experience when purchasing the same home we needed to sell. The challenge was, how will we do this in so little time with so much going on? Jim and Donna held our hand every step of the way. Whenever an unexpected issue arose they found and provided a solution. Never once did we feel pressured to make a decision and the Klinges were always reassuring after providing the information that the decision was ours to make. Despite the curve balls, they never panicked and exemplified the “can do” attitude, making us feel optimistic and taken care of. Their expertise and professionalism was superb. But of all the reasons to work with the Klinges, the most impactful and valuable is their compassion and genuine care for their clients. We pray that we can one day purchase our forever home and you better believe that Jim and Donna will be representing us - as long as they will have us of course. Thank you again Klinge team! Your execution, experience, and care are unmatched.
SABIHA PASHA
July 23, 2024
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Jim and Donna were fantastic! Jim understanding my needs, recommending potential places, pointing out the pros and cons of each property was invaluable. Then when the offer was accepted Donna’s organized guidance through the inspections, paperwork etc made the whole process seem effortless.
So grateful that I had them on my side!
Anu Koberg
July 13, 2024
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We first found Jim through his blog at bubbleinfo.com, which really showcased his knowledge of SoCal real estate. Since then we've done three transactions with Jim and Donna, and they are an incredible full service agency, with Jim's deep market insight and Donna's deft contract and project management. We trust them implicitly in their analysis and strategy, which is based on years of experience. They're always available and on top of things, and we strongly recommend them to anyone.
Bjorn Isachsen
July 10, 2024
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The Good
The Klinge Realty Group operates like a finely tuned machine, with a very personal touch. We contacted them on a Sunday and they were talking to us about our family and our needs on our living room couch the following day. They carefully listened to us and worked with us to identify the best and quickest path to listing within 2 weeks to take advantage of the low inventory conditions in our South Carlsbad neighborhood. They knew our tract specifically and had many previous sales there over the years - they came prepared with a thorough analysis of comparative sales and recommended a pricing strategy that they felt confident would yield offers the first weekend on the market.
The Great
Over the next two weeks Donna coordinated a range of vendors who she knew from experience could get the preparation to list work we needed done on time and with high quality. Our light tune-up involved excellent experiences with their stagers, landscapers, contractors, electricians, and plumbers. Throughout this period Donna's daily communication was clear, concise, and responsive. Any time we had questions Donna picked up the phone or texted immediately - but almost always, she answered our questions before we even knew we had them.
The Outstanding
We had a tricky situation with a shared fence that could have delayed our escrow. Donna used superb mediation skills to negotiate the terms of replacement and was personally on site with the fence contractor to make sure everything went smoothly. The fence looks great and escrow closed on time.
The Truly Exceptional
Our house came on the market on a Wednesday and between then and Monday morning Jim was personally at all three open houses. He was in constant communication explaining potential buyer reaction and strength. As he predicted offers began to come in on Saturday and each one was incrementally higher than the last. At the end we had 5 offers, 4 of which were over list, and the final accepted offer was $100,000 over list. In addition to being over list it included rent back terms that met our needs.
The Recommendation
For all of these reasons we would strongly recommend The Klinge Team to anyone wanting to sell in North County Coastal San Diego. I had been reading Jim's bubbleinfo.com blog for 15 years and knew when the time came to sell that he would be our first call. Jim Klinge is not your standard realtor. He is keenly aware of market conditions and sales strategies. And, works his tail off - though not as hard as Donna . At this point he's gone from realtor to friend and I plan to have him over to grill and chill at our new place to talk real estate, but also just about life and raising kids in San Diego. He's more interested in relationships than his sales numbers - and that's why his sales numbers are so high. We have already recommended the Klinge's to some close friends and another successful sale is on deck right around the corner...
Chris Shea
June 21, 2024
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We recently had the pleasure of working with Jim and Donna from Klinge Realty Group to sell our house, and we couldn't be more satisfied with the experience. From the initial meeting, they listened attentively to our needs and provided invaluable guidance on specific improvements to get our home market ready.
Their responsiveness throughout the entire process was truly impressive. Anytime we had questions or concerns, they were quick to address them, ensuring we felt comfortable and informed every step of the way. What stood out the most was their team and extensive network of tradespeople, which made addressing any necessary repairs or updates seamless and stress-free.
Thanks to their expertise and dedication, our house sold quickly and at a great price. We highly recommend Jim and Donna to anyone looking to buy or sell a home. They are a fantastic team who truly care about their clients and deliver exceptional results.
