The Tri-Valley Home Seller's Guide
How we price, prepare and launch homes in Dublin, Pleasanton, Livermore, San Ramon and Danville, step by step.
Who This Guide Is For
This Tri-Valley home seller's guide is for you if you own a home in Dublin, Pleasanton, Livermore, San Ramon or Danville and you're starting to think about selling. Maybe you've outgrown the house. Maybe you've been there 20 years and the stairs and the yard are more than you need. Either way, you want to know how this works before you talk to anyone.
It's written by Cornerstone Real Estate Team, Jameel Batshon and Ramez Bahu. We've helped people buy and sell in the Tri-Valley for more than 20 years, and this is the same plan we run on every home we sell. By the end, you'll know what happens, in what order, and what to watch out for.
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The Tri-Valley Selling Process, Step by Step
1. Set a price you understand. Start with the recent sales and comparable homes around you, one at a time. Which ones sold, what they sold for, and how each compares to yours. You should be able to explain your price to a neighbor. That's what lets you hold it when an offer comes in below it.
2. Prepare the home like a model home. Professional cleaning, paint, landscaping and staging let buyers see the home at its best. When you list with us, we cover that prep in most cases, and we agree on what's included before any work starts. If a seller takes the home off the market, they pay those costs back.
3. Start the launch before the listing. While the house is being prepared, coming-soon advertising and social media are already running, and about 200 of your neighbors get a coming-soon postcard. Buyers hear about the home before it's ready.
4. Shoot the media once it's ready. Staging goes in first, then professional photos, a property video, drone photos and a 3D tour. Buyers decide whether to visit from their phone, so the media only happens when the home looks its best.
5. Go far past the listing sites. The MLS reaches people already searching. We also run Meta ads on Facebook and Instagram that easily reach more than 100,000 people in a month or less, post the video on YouTube, promote the home on TikTok, Facebook groups, Nextdoor and Pinterest, and send it to other agents. Neighbors get a for-sale postcard with a QR code to the home's own website.
6. Talk to every buyer's agent. Before a buyer tours your home, Jameel personally speaks with their agent, so the first impression isn't left to a lockbox and a flyer. See the full plan on our how we sell page.
Mistakes to Avoid
Pricing on hope. Buyers in the Tri-Valley watch the market closely, and their agents pull the same comps. A home priced above what the sales support gets skipped, and every week it sits makes the next price conversation harder.
Listing before the home is ready. The first stretch on the market is when a home gets the most attention it will ever get. Photos taken before the prep is finished waste it.
Relying on the MLS alone. Plenty of buyers aren't searching listing sites yet. A home that only appears where people are already looking misses everyone else.
Forgetting the neighbors. The people closest to your home often know someone who wants to live near them. Skipping them skips some of your best buyers.
Trusting an automated estimate. An online number doesn't know your home. Recent sales, compared one by one, do. Find out what your home is worth.
How Cornerstone Helps, and Your Next Step
Cornerstone Real Estate Team is brokered by REAL Broker. We've been part of nearly 2,000 transactions and more than $1.5 billion in sales, and we still do the work ourselves. Most homes are listed. Ours are launched.
Your next step is one conversation. Tell us about your home, or call (925) 203-5672, and we'll walk you through what this plan would look like for yours. You can also read about selling your home with us.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to pay for staging and prep?
In most cases, Cornerstone covers the cost of preparing your home when you list with us. Every situation is different, so we agree on what's included before any work starts. If a seller takes the home off the market, they pay those prep costs back.
How do you decide on a list price?
We walk you through the recent sales and comparable homes near you, one by one, and show you how each compares to yours. The price comes out of that conversation, so you understand exactly where it came from.
Where will my home be advertised?
On the MLS and the major listing sites, plus Meta ads on Facebook and Instagram that easily reach more than 100,000 people in a month or less, YouTube, TikTok, Facebook groups, Nextdoor, Pinterest, other agents, and postcards to about 200 neighbors.
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Ready to make your move with Cornerstone Real Estate Team?