Claudia Backus, MBA

Tag: Home Sellers

What Is a Contingency in a Real Estate Offer? What California Home Sellers Should Understand

Receiving an offer on your home can be exciting, especially when the price looks good. It is natural for a seller’s attention to go immediately to that number, but the purchase price is only one part of an offer.

The terms of the offer matter too, and contingencies are among the terms sellers should understand before deciding how strong an offer really is.

A contingency generally gives a buyer the ability to move forward with the purchase subject to certain conditions. Depending on the terms of the contract, those conditions may involve the buyer’s investigation of the property, financing, an appraisal, or other circumstances addressed in the agreement.

For a seller, understanding those contingencies can make it easier to evaluate an offer as a whole rather than looking at the purchase price alone.

Why Contingencies Matter to a Seller

When a seller accepts an offer, the transaction begins moving toward closing, but that does not necessarily mean every uncertainty has disappeared.

A buyer may still have important steps to complete during the transaction. The buyer may investigate the condition of the property, work with a lender to obtain financing, or have the property appraised.

The specific rights and obligations of the parties depend on the contract they sign, which is why sellers should pay attention not only to whether an offer contains contingencies, but also to what those contingencies actually say and how much time is provided for them.

An offer with a higher price is not automatically the strongest offer if other terms create substantially more uncertainty for the seller.

An Investigation Contingency Can Give the Buyer Time to Learn More About the Property

Buying a home is a significant financial decision, and buyers commonly want an opportunity to investigate the property.

Depending on the transaction and the contract, this period may involve inspections or other investigations that help the buyer learn more about the home’s condition.

Sellers sometimes hear the word inspection and assume the purpose is simply to create a list of repairs. In reality, the investigation period can be much broader. It gives a buyer an opportunity to gather information about the property and make decisions based on what is discovered, subject to the terms of the agreement.

For the seller, the important point is to understand what the contract allows, the applicable deadlines, and what may happen if an issue is discovered.

Financing Is Another Important Part of an Offer

When a buyer is obtaining a loan to purchase the property, financing can be an important part of the transaction.

A buyer may appear financially strong and may even have a lender’s preapproval, but a preapproval is not the same as a completed loan. The lender may still need to review documents, verify information, evaluate the property, and complete its underwriting process.

This is one reason sellers should look beyond the offer price and consider the buyer’s financing terms as part of the overall offer.

The amount of the down payment, the type of financing, the contingency terms, and the time provided for the buyer to complete certain steps can all be relevant when evaluating the transaction.

The Appraisal Can Matter When Financing Is Involved

An appraisal is another part of many financed real estate transactions.

The lender generally wants an independent opinion of the property’s value because the property is being used as security for the loan. If the appraisal supports the purchase price, this part of the process may proceed without much attention from the seller.

If the appraised value comes in below the purchase price, however, the situation can become more complicated.

What happens next depends on the contract, the financing, and the decisions made by the parties. The buyer and seller may need to consider their options based on the specific circumstances of the transaction.

This is another example of why the highest purchase price on paper does not tell the entire story.

Fewer Contingencies Do Not Automatically Mean the Best Offer

From a seller’s perspective, an offer with fewer uncertainties may initially appear more attractive. However, it is important not to evaluate an offer based on one term alone.

Purchase price, financing, deposit, contingency periods, closing date, possession, and other terms can all contribute to the overall strength of an offer.

The seller’s priorities matter as well.

A seller who needs a particular closing date may evaluate two offers differently from a seller whose primary goal is maximizing price. Another seller may place greater importance on the likelihood of the transaction reaching closing without unnecessary complications.

There is no universal formula that identifies the best offer for every homeowner.

An appraisal can be an important part of a financed home purchase because the lender generally wants an independent opinion of the property’s value.

Pay Attention to the Deadlines

Real estate contracts contain important dates and deadlines, and contingency periods can be among them.

Once an offer is accepted, both buyers and sellers should understand what is expected during the transaction and when certain actions are supposed to occur.

A seller does not need to memorize every provision of a real estate contract before putting a home on the market. However, when an offer arrives, it is worth slowing down enough to understand the terms before making a decision.

A purchase agreement is a contract, not simply a statement of how much someone is willing to pay for the house.

Look at the Entire Offer Before Making a Decision

It can be tempting to compare offers by putting the prices next to each other and choosing the largest number. In reality, evaluating an offer requires a more complete picture.

The price matters, but so do the contingencies, financing, timelines, deposit, closing terms, and the seller’s own priorities.

Understanding those pieces does not mean a seller needs to become an expert in real estate contracts. It means asking questions and understanding what is being agreed to before signing.

When an offer arrives, the goal should not simply be to find the highest number. It should be to understand the entire offer and make an informed decision about which terms make the most sense for the seller and the property.

With gratitude and a heart for service,

Claudia Backus, MBA
California Real Estate Broker
REALTOR®
Serving Pacific Palisades & the Westside of Los Angeles

September 2, 2026
How Is the Real Estate Market? The Better Question Every Home Seller Should Ask

One of the most common questions in real estate is also one of the hardest to answer:

“How is the market?”

It sounds like a simple question. But after attending The MLS Summit 2026 at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, one idea stayed with me: before answering that question, we should first ask, which market?

That may seem like a small distinction, but for a homeowner thinking about selling, it can make a very big difference.

There is no single Los Angeles real estate market behaving exactly the same way everywhere. The market for a home in Pacific Palisades may look very different from the market for a condominium in West Los Angeles. Even within the same neighborhood, homes in different price ranges, locations, sizes, and conditions may face very different competition. That is why I believe homeowners deserve something more useful than a general statement that “the market is good” or “the market is slow.”

Your Home Has Its Own Market

When we hear reports about the Los Angeles housing market, we are usually looking at broad statistics. Those numbers can certainly be useful. They help us understand larger trends in prices, inventory, interest rates, and buyer activity.

But when someone is preparing to sell a particular home, the question becomes much more specific.

What are buyers looking at as alternatives to this home right now? How many similar properties are currently available? What price range are they in? How long have they been on the market? What condition are they in? And perhaps most importantly, how does this particular property fit within those choices? That smaller universe is the market that matters most to the homeowner.

Nick Segal presenting “Become an Instant Authority in Any Market!” at The MLS Summit 2026. One takeaway that stayed with me was the importance of defining which market we are actually talking about before discussing real estate conditions.

Why Active Listings Matter When Selling a Home

Something else I brought home from the Summit was a greater appreciation for active inventory.

When homeowners think about the value of their property, it is natural to focus on homes that recently sold. Those sales are extremely important, and they are a major part of a thoughtful comparative market analysis.

But active listings tell us something different.

They show us the competition a seller may be facing today.

Imagine that a buyer is searching for a home within a particular area and price range. That buyer may have several properties to choose from this weekend. Those homes are competing for the buyer’s attention at the same moment. Looking carefully at that active competition can help a seller better understand how buyers may perceive the home’s price, condition, location, features, and overall value.

The Market Can Change Within a Few Blocks

This is especially interesting to me as someone who lives and works on the Westside of Los Angeles.

We often talk about areas such as Pacific Palisades, Brentwood, Santa Monica, Westwood, and the surrounding Westside as though each one represents a single market. In reality, even within those communities there can be smaller markets.

Price range matters. Property type matters. Location within a neighborhood matters. Condition matters. Views, lot size, privacy, layout, renovations, and proximity to certain amenities can matter too.

And then there is timing. The competition a homeowner faces when listing a property today may not be the same competition that existed three months ago or will exist three months from now.

Real estate conditions can vary significantly by neighborhood, property type, price range, and even the competition available to buyers at a particular moment.

Online Estimates Cannot See Everything

Technology has given homeowners access to an incredible amount of real estate information. I think that is a good thing.

A homeowner can look up estimated values, recent sales, neighborhood statistics, and properties for sale in a matter of minutes. Artificial intelligence is making access to information even faster.

But information and interpretation are not quite the same thing.

An automated system may know the square footage and number of bedrooms. It may identify nearby sales. What it may not fully understand is why one comparable is more meaningful than another, how buyers are responding to the current competition, or whether something unique about a home’s condition, location, layout, privacy, view, or improvements changes the comparison. This is one of the reasons I continue to believe that technology and professional judgment work best together.

Good Real Estate Advice Starts With Homework

I have written before that I think of preparing a CMA as doing homework, and I really mean that.

The more I learn about the MLS and the information available to real estate professionals, the more I appreciate how much there is to study before giving a homeowner an opinion about their property.

For me, being prepared means looking beyond one number. It means studying relevant sales, examining active competition, understanding the specific micro market, considering the characteristics of the property, and then explaining what the information may mean for the homeowner’s selling strategy. I would much rather tell someone, “Let me study your particular market,” than give them a quick answer based on a headline about Los Angeles real estate.

So, How Is the Market?

The next time someone asks me that question, I may answer with another one:

Which market?

Because if you are thinking about selling your home, the market that matters most is not necessarily the one being discussed on television or summarized in a national headline.

It is the market surrounding your home, your competition, your price range, and your goals.

One of the reasons I enjoy continuing to learn about real estate and the MLS is that better information helps me be of better service. Homeowners make important financial and personal decisions when they sell a home, and I believe they deserve advice based on preparation, context, and careful attention to the market that actually matters to them.

Claudia Backus, MBA
California Real Estate Broker | REALTOR®
Serving Pacific Palisades & the Westside

August 14, 2026
What Is a CMA in Real Estate? What Los Angeles Homeowners Should Know Before Selling

If you are thinking about selling your home, you have probably asked some version of the question, “What is my house worth?” Today, homeowners can find estimates online in seconds, but understanding how a home fits into the current market usually requires more than one automated number.

A Comparative Market Analysis, commonly called a CMA, is one of the tools real estate professionals use to help answer that question. A thoughtful CMA looks at relevant properties, current market conditions, active competition, and the characteristics of a specific home to help a homeowner understand a reasonable pricing range and begin thinking about a selling strategy.

As a mom of three young children, the word “homework” has taken on a whole new meaning in my life. But there is another kind of homework I have come to appreciate in real estate: the work that should happen before advising someone about the value and pricing of their home. To me, a good CMA is exactly that kind of homework.

What Is a CMA in Real Estate?

A CMA is an analysis of comparable properties and market conditions used to help estimate how a home may compete in the current real estate market. It usually includes recent sales, but a good analysis goes beyond finding a few homes nearby and averaging their sale prices.

The goal is to identify properties that are meaningfully comparable and then understand the differences. Location, size, condition, renovations, lot characteristics, views, layout, privacy, and other property specific details can all affect how buyers perceive value. Two homes can be close to one another and still compete very differently in the market. This is one reason I believe a CMA should be researched rather than simply generated. The data matters, but so does deciding which data is actually relevant.

One statistic that caught my attention at The MLS Summit 2026 was how strongly real estate professionals continue to value the CMA, even as consumers have access to more online home valuation tools.

Why Does a CMA Still Matter When We Have Online Home Estimates?

Homeowners now have access to more real estate information than ever before, and I think that is a good thing. Online valuation tools can be useful as a starting point, and artificial intelligence is creating even more ways to organize and analyze information. I use technology myself and enjoy learning how these tools can help us work more intelligently.

But an estimate and an analysis are not quite the same thing. An automated tool may not fully understand a remodeled kitchen, an unusual floor plan, the quality of a view, the condition of a property, or why buyers may respond differently to two homes that look similar on paper. A CMA gives us an opportunity to look at the data in the context of the actual property and the market around it.

That distinction became even clearer to me at The MLS Summit 2026. As public real estate data and AI tools continue to grow, I do not think the professional role becomes less important. I think the responsibility shifts toward understanding the information, verifying it, interpreting it carefully, and explaining it clearly to the homeowner.

A CMA Is More Than Looking at Sold Homes

One of my favorite practical takeaways from the Summit was the importance of looking closely at active inventory. Sold properties tell us what buyers were willing to pay in the recent past, which is important, but active listings tell us what a buyer can choose today.

If you are preparing to sell, your home is not only being compared with properties that sold three months ago. It will compete with the homes buyers can tour and consider right now. Understanding that active competition can help put pricing, condition, presentation, and strategy into perspective.

This is also where the idea of a micro market matters. Asking “How is the Los Angeles market?” is often too broad to be very useful for one homeowner. The more helpful question is: what is happening in the particular market in which this particular home will compete? Price range, neighborhood, property type, size, condition, and buyer expectations can create very different markets within the same city.

A Home Is Not Just a Collection of Data

A CMA depends on data, but a home is not simply a collection of numbers. This is where professional judgment and local context become important. How does the home compare with the competition buyers are seeing right now? Which comparable properties are truly comparable? Does a renovation add the value a homeowner expects it to add? How might buyers respond to the condition, layout, lot, view, privacy, or location?

Those questions do not mean the data is less important. They mean the data needs to be interpreted. A good CMA should help a homeowner understand not only what the numbers say, but why certain properties are more relevant than others and what those comparisons may mean for the home’s position in the market.

Pricing Can Be Personal

Pricing a home is both analytical and personal. For many homeowners, a house represents far more than an investment. It may be where children grew up, where holidays were celebrated, where years of improvements were made, or simply a place filled with memories. It makes sense that conversations about value can carry emotion.

Pricing was a major theme during the CMA discussion at The MLS Summit 2026. The presentation shared survey data showing that pricing was the number one seller objection at a listing presentation, reported by 63.7 percent of surveyed agents. I do not interpret that statistic as homeowners being difficult. I see it as a reminder of how important it is for a real estate professional to arrive prepared and be able to explain the evidence behind a pricing recommendation.

Pricing was an important part of the CMA discussion at The MLS Summit 2026. A thoughtful CMA can give homeowners an evidence based starting point for understanding how their home fits into the current market.

A CMA Is a Starting Point for a Conversation

I do not think the purpose of a CMA is to walk into someone’s home, announce a number, and end the conversation. The more useful approach is to walk through the information together. Which properties were selected as comparables? Why were they selected? What is currently competing for buyers’ attention? Where is the subject property stronger or weaker? What has changed in the market?

The homeowner’s goals matter too. One seller may prioritize achieving the highest possible price and have flexibility with timing. Another may need to move within a certain period. Someone else may value privacy, simplicity, or certainty. The market data helps inform the strategy, but the strategy should also reflect the person making the decision.

That is why I like thinking of a CMA as the beginning of a thoughtful pricing conversation rather than a final verdict on what a home is worth.

Doing the Homework Before Selling

The more I learn about real estate, the more I appreciate how much responsibility comes with giving someone guidance about their home. A CMA may begin with numbers, but its purpose is not simply to produce a number. It is to help a homeowner understand the market, ask better questions, and make a decision with more information and confidence.

To me, that is what doing the homework is really about. If someone trusts me enough to ask for guidance about one of their largest assets, I want to come prepared, keep learning, explain what I see as clearly as I can, and do my best to be of service.

Claudia Backus, MBA, REALTOR®
California Real Estate Broker
Serving Pacific Palisades & the Westside

August 14, 2026
How AI Is Changing Real Estate Without Replacing Human Judgment

This week, while attending The MLS Summit 2026 at the Skirball Cultural Center on the Westside of Los Angeles, I was especially interested in the conversations about artificial intelligence and the ways AI is becoming part of the real estate industry. I love AI. I use it, I learn from it, and I am fascinated by how quickly the technology is developing. At the same time, I believe that the more powerful these tools become, the more important it is to understand what they can do well, where they can be wrong, and when human judgment still matters.

For homeowners thinking about selling, I believe that distinction is particularly important. Technology can help us work faster and analyze more information, but selling a home is still a very personal decision that involves goals, timing, finances, circumstances, and sometimes a great deal of emotion.

My Interest in AI Started Before the MLS Summit

My interest in artificial intelligence did not begin at this conference. Last summer, I took a UCLA Extension course called AI Safety, Policy, and Ethics: What is Responsible AI. I wanted to understand not only what artificial intelligence can do, but also how it should be used responsibly, including questions involving ethics, safety, transparency, accountability, and privacy.

Even after completing my formal education, I have always enjoyed taking classes and continuing to learn. Real estate, technology, finance, and business are constantly changing, and I do not think learning should stop simply because you have a degree or a professional license.

Even after graduation, I have always enjoyed continuing to learn. Last summer, that curiosity led me to take AI Safety, Policy, and Ethics: What is Responsible AI through UCLA Extension.

AI Has Already Changed the Way I Learn Real Estate

One reason I personally appreciate AI is that it helps me ask better questions. Real estate has an enormous amount to learn, from MLS rules and contracts to disclosures, market statistics, pricing considerations, financing, local regulations, and technology. When I encounter something unfamiliar, AI can help me understand terminology, organize a complicated subject, think through questions I may not have considered, and identify what I need to research further.

I find that incredibly useful, but there is an important distinction between using AI to help formulate a question and assuming that its answer is correct. I still need to verify important information through the appropriate sources, review MLS data, understand the property and local market, and sometimes ask another professional who knows considerably more about a particular subject than I do. AI can help me learn, but it does not eliminate my responsibility to do my homework.

There Is More Than One AI Tool

One of the slides at The MLS Summit showed several general purpose AI tools together, including ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity. I liked that slide because it was a reminder that AI is no longer one mysterious piece of technology. Professionals now have access to different tools that can assist with research, organization, analysis, communication, and productivity.

Artificial intelligence was part of the conversation at The MLS Summit 2026, including how tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity are becoming part of everyday professional workflows.

For real estate professionals, these tools can potentially help us organize information, analyze data, prepare for conversations, research unfamiliar topics, and work more efficiently. That can be valuable, but efficiency is not the same thing as judgment.

A Home Is Not Just a Collection of Data

This is where I think the conversation becomes especially relevant for home sellers. AI can analyze numbers very quickly, recognize patterns, and process amounts of information that would take a person considerably longer to review. That ability can be extremely helpful when we are studying a market or trying to make sense of a large amount of real estate data.

But determining how to position a particular home for sale requires context too. How does the home compare with the competition buyers are seeing right now? Which comparable properties are truly comparable? Does a renovation add the value a homeowner expects it to add? How might buyers respond to the condition of the property? Is there something unusual about the location, lot, layout, view, privacy, or neighborhood that changes the comparison? These are the kinds of questions where data is important, but interpreting the data matters just as much.

There is also something even more important that a computer cannot decide for a homeowner: what the seller actually wants. One person may prioritize price, while another may care more about timing, privacy, convenience, or certainty. A family may also have circumstances that influence which selling strategy makes the most sense. Understanding those priorities requires a conversation, not simply an algorithm.

AI Can Provide Information, but People Provide Context

I do not see AI and real estate professionals as competitors. I think the better question is whether a real estate professional knows how to use technology without outsourcing judgment to it. If AI can help me research something faster, discover a question I should be asking, or organize information so I can spend more time understanding a seller’s goals, I consider that valuable.

At the same time, I never want technology to become a substitute for listening. For me, good real estate service still means understanding the person sitting across from me, doing the research, verifying important information, explaining the available choices, and being willing to say, “I need to look into that further,” when I do not know an answer. In many ways, I think AI makes that responsibility more important, not less.

The Future of Real Estate Can Be Both High Tech and Human

I am excited about artificial intelligence, and I want to keep learning about it, experimenting with it, and finding responsible ways to use it in my work. At the same time, I hope the real estate industry never loses sight of what technology is supposed to accomplish. It should help us become better informed, ask better questions, work more efficiently, and ideally give us more time and better information to serve people well.

Homes are personal. Selling one can involve finances, family, memories, uncertainty, and major life decisions. No matter how sophisticated our technology becomes, I believe there will always be value in having a knowledgeable human being listen, think, research, explain, and care.

I am grateful that I have opportunities to keep learning, whether through a UCLA Extension classroom, a real estate conference, the MLS, or simply asking another question when I realize there is something I do not yet understand. For me, that is what learning is ultimately for: not simply knowing more, but becoming better equipped to be of service to others.

Claudia Backus, MBA, REALTOR®
California Real Estate Broker
Serving Pacific Palisades & the Westside

August 14, 2026
What I Learned at The MLS Summit 2026: Why the MLS Still Matters to Los Angeles Home Sellers

This week, I attended The MLS Summit 2026 at the Skirball Cultural Center on the Westside of Los Angeles. I went ready to learn, and I left with an even greater appreciation for how much information is available through the MLS and how important it is for real estate professionals to know how to use that information well.

As a real estate broker, I believe knowledge is part of service. The more I understand about the market, the tools available to me, and the choices available to sellers, the better prepared I am to help someone make a thoughtful decision about one of their largest assets. One of my biggest takeaways from the day was simple: the MLS is much more than a place where homes are listed for sale.

A fun day of learning at The MLS Summit 2026. There is always more to learn in real estate, and I believe that knowledge helps me better serve my clients.

So, Why Does the MLS Still Matter to Home Sellers?

Today, homeowners have access to an incredible amount of real estate information online. You can search for homes, look at estimated values, review recent sales, and follow the market from your phone. That access is useful, but having information and knowing how to interpret it are not always the same thing.

For a homeowner preparing to sell, the questions become much more specific. Which recently sold homes are actually comparable to yours? What homes are currently competing for the same buyers? How long are similar properties taking to sell? Have there been price reductions? What happened with listings that did not sell? And what does all of that information mean for your particular home?

This is where professional MLS access, combined with research, local knowledge, and human judgment, can become very valuable. The MLS gives real estate professionals detailed information that can help us understand not only what has sold, but also what is happening in the market right now.

A CMA Is More Than a Number

One of the sessions that especially resonated with me was about the Comparative Market Analysis, or CMA. To me, a good CMA is homework. It means studying the property, looking carefully at relevant comparable sales, understanding the current competition, considering the differences between properties, and paying attention to what is happening in that particular market.

That matters because pricing a home is not simply about finding a number that sounds good. A thoughtful pricing strategy should have a reason behind it, and a seller should be able to understand that reason. Data is important, but so is the ability to interpret it and explain what it may mean for a specific property.

Technology Can Help, but Judgment Still Matters

I love AI, and I believe technology will continue changing real estate in ways we are only beginning to understand. AI can help professionals research, organize information, identify patterns, and work more efficiently. I am excited to keep learning how to use these tools responsibly and effectively.

At the same time, the summit reinforced something important for me. More technology does not make good real estate information less important. It makes knowing what information to trust and how to use it even more important. A seller does not need someone simply because that person can pull up data. A seller needs someone who can study the information, ask good questions, explain what matters, and apply it to the seller’s actual situation.

AI was part of the conversation at The MLS Summit 2026, and I believe these tools can help real estate professionals work more efficiently while still relying on human judgment and trusted market information.

Sellers Should Understand Their Options

Another reason the MLS continues to matter is exposure and choice. Not every seller has exactly the same priorities. One homeowner may want broad exposure. Another may care deeply about privacy. Someone else may be focused on timing, convenience, cost, or having more control over the selling process.

My philosophy is not that every homeowner needs exactly the same service. I believe in being a broker who gives sellers options, explains those options clearly, and helps them understand the advantages and limitations of each one. The right approach should be based on the seller’s goals, the property, the market, and the rules that apply.

My job is not to push someone toward the option that benefits me most. My job is to help a seller understand the choices, provide useful information, and support that seller in making a decision that makes sense for them.

Knowledge Is Part of Service

I left The MLS Summit 2026 reminded of how much there is to learn about the MLS and how valuable that learning can be. Real estate changes, technology changes, MLS tools and rules evolve, and markets change. I want to keep learning because every new piece of knowledge gives me another opportunity to become more useful to the people I serve.

For me, being a good broker is not about pretending to know everything. It is about doing the homework, asking questions, continuing to learn, and taking the time to explain things clearly. If you are thinking about selling a home in Pacific Palisades or elsewhere on the Westside of Los Angeles, you deserve to understand the market, the information behind the recommendations you receive, and the choices available to you.

I am grateful for opportunities like The MLS Summit that allow me to learn from others, strengthen my knowledge, and bring that knowledge back to the people I serve. At the end of the day, real estate is about more than properties and numbers. It is about people, trust, and being of service to others. I hope to keep learning with gratitude, keep showing up with a heart for service, and use what I learn to help others make informed decisions with greater confidence.

Claudia Backus, MBA, REALTOR®
California Real Estate Broker
Serving Pacific Palisades & the Westside

August 14, 2026