Dana Graham

September Newsletter

Dear Neighbor:

I don’t spend a lot of time in the office studying statistics – they are seldom specific enough to be relevant to the Palos Verdes market and they are, of necessity, months behind.  After all, those sales occurred 30-60 days before closing, then it takes time for them to close escrow, statistics compiled, and some sense made out of them.  Out here in the trenches, I am seeing some price resistance in the under $3 million market.  More days on the market and more escrows falling out.  This is toward the bottom of the PV price range, $1.3 million being about as little as you can pay, and I think between that and $2 million many buyers are stretching to get into PV for the schools and the other predictable reasons.  So when the buyer has inspections and there are issues that affect livability, and the seller won’t address them either directly or via a credit, the house goes back on the market.  The included new listing was priced with that in mind.

Last time I included a letter from a very satisfied customer.  I don’t generally solicit testimonials as they are more authentic when the customer is sufficiently impressed to write them un-prompted, but I got another one . . .

I am writing to express my gratitude to Berkshire Hathaway, and particularly to Dana Graham.  After my parents passed, Dana helped us maintain and manage the family home [in PVE] from afar.  After 6-9 months, it became clear that we needed to sell the home – and also that Dana was the right man for the job.  His customer service levels are beyond top notch – stopping to check for mail, meeting contractors at the house, referring other service providers, and generally going above and beyond what we expected from a typical Realtor.  Our past experience with Realtors has been spotty.  Some good people, but narrowly focused on the task at hand – listing a house, getting offers, etc.  Dana was like a home sale concierge in his “old school” approach.  We couldn’t have done it without him given that we were absentee owners.  He even helped me as trustee navigate some thorny family dynamics with siblings and in-laws! 

Also, Dana nailed it on value and process.  We thought maybe that house was worth $2.2M.  Dana thought $2.5M+ and then at listing he ultimately settled on $2.7M.  We all thought it was aspirational, but then he got us a $2.75M bid – and then closed the deal!  We did this all without spending any money on staging the house either.  Dana felt strongly that my parents’ old (outdated but still nice) furnishings would do the trick.  He was right.  We had a long list of potential repairs, but Dana whittled it down to the 3-4 that mattered most and saved us money that we wouldn’t have recouped in the sale.  Again, great advice.  

You probably already know this, but Dana is a star.  There was some push in the family for a younger more aggressive Realtor – you know the types, the ones with the social media presence and the thoroughly staged homes.  But we used Dana and man are we happy we did.  I can’t recommend him highly enough. 

Steve Abbott – Palos Verdes Estates

To have a customer feel this way after the escrow closes and the dust settles is my #1 goal.  I will give your sale the same level of attention, so give me a call if you’re thinking of selling or buying – 310 613-1076.

 

This entry was posted on Friday, September 4th, 2026 at 7:53 pm and is filed under Buyers, Everything I've Written, Newsletters, Palos Verdes Information, Real Estate General Info, Sellers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Comments are closed.