Your First Offer Is Usually Your Best Offer
At least once a month, a seller says some version of this to me: "Let's list a little high — we can always come down."
I understand the instinct. It feels safe, like leaving yourself room. But after years of watching how this actually plays out across Los Angeles, I need to tell you the truth: I've never seen a seller get a stronger offer in week six than the one they walked away from in week one.
Here's why, and what the numbers are saying right now.
Buyers don't come back higher. They come back lower.
Here's what actually happens when a home sits. The first two weeks, your listing is fresh — it's at the top of every search, agents are showing it to their buyer clients, and everyone who's been watching your neighborhood sees it immediately. Those are your most motivated, most qualified buyers, and they move fast.
If you turn down their offers to wait for something better, here's what the next wave of buyers thinks when they see 40, 60, 90 days on market: what's wrong with it?
A stale listing doesn't look patient. It looks suspicious. And suspicious doesn't get premium offers — it gets discount offers, inspection-heavy offers, offers with an escape hatch built in. The buyers who were paying closest attention have moved on, and it's much harder to win them back later than it is to adjust early.
This isn't theory. It's this month's market.
Take 123 Wavecrest Ave in Venice: listed at $2.2M, sold September 22 for $2,075,000 — 6% under asking, after 140 days on market. A well-located Venice home that spent nearly five months getting to the price it should have started at. The buyer got a deal. The seller got a long, stressful five months. Everybody would have been happier at $2.1M on day one.
Zoom out and the pattern holds. In Marina del Rey, homes are taking 115 days to sell — up from 87 a year ago — and sellers are closing at about 95% of list price. In Venice overall, there's nearly 7 months of supply sitting on the market. Across the LA metro, price cuts just hit a yearly high.
The market isn't punishing sellers. It's punishing starting prices.
What I'd tell you instead
Price it honestly, not optimistically. I often recommend pricing just slightly below the most recent comparable sales, on purpose. It sounds counterintuitive, but when it draws in a few serious buyers at once, I've watched it turn into a final sale price that lands above where a higher list price ever would have.
Watch your first two weeks like a hawk. Your first ten to fourteen days on the market tell you more than any other stretch of the sale. Strong showings and early offers mean the market is confirming you got it right. Thin traffic and quiet feedback is real information too — and it usually means it's time for an honest conversation about price or presentation, not to wait it out.
Launch on a Thursday. Buyers need a day's notice to plan around your open house. A Friday debut means they've already made weekend plans. Thursday gives your listing time to land in inboxes and searches before the weekend traffic hits — and I've built entire strategies around that first open-house weekend.
The bottom line
The sellers who do best aren't the ones who wait for perfect conditions or hold out for a better number. They're the ones who price honestly, prepare thoughtfully, and read the market's early signals instead of arguing with them.
Your first offers are usually your best offers. The goal is to make sure you get them — and recognize them when they come.
Thinking about selling in Los Angeles — Marina del Rey, Venice, Santa Monica, or anywhere in between? [Let's talk it through directly.]
