Selling Off-Market in Carmel-by-the-Sea

For sellers · Carmel-by-the-Sea & the Monterey Peninsula

Selling Off-Market in Carmel-by-the-Sea: 5 Reasons Sellers Start as a Compass Private Exclusive

A Compass Private Exclusive lets you put your home in front of serious agents and buyers quietly, before it ever appears on the public market. It isn’t the right fit for every home, and it isn’t a default. But for the right seller, it’s a smart first step. Below are the five concerns I hear most often in sellers’ living rooms, how a Private Exclusive can help with each, and what you give up.

The short answerSellers start as a Compass Private Exclusive to test a price, get the home ready, or plan a future sale without building a public listing history. Price changes during the private phase aren’t part of the public listing history. The tradeoff is reach: fewer buyers see the home, so I don’t keep it private long unless you want me to.

What is a Compass Private Exclusive?

Short answerIt’s a quiet first phase of selling. Your home is shared with Compass agents and their buyers, and with agents I talk to one-on-one, but it isn’t advertised on public sites. Then we decide whether to move to Compass Coming Soon and the open market. You stay in control of when your home goes public.
Phase 1

Private Exclusive

Shared quietly. We test the price, build interest and collect feedback.

Phase 2

Coming Soon

Shown publicly on Compass before the full launch, to build anticipation.

Phase 3

Open market

Fully public, on the MLS and the major home search sites.

Listing rules change from time to time, and I’ll walk you through the ones that apply when we talk. If you’re curious how buyers find these homes, here’s how buyers find off-market homes in Carmel-by-the-Sea.

1. Can I test a higher price without a public price cut?

Short answerYes. That’s one of the biggest reasons to start private. We can try your price, hear what agents and buyers really think, and adjust if we need to, without a public price drop or a growing days-on-market count following your home. Private-phase price changes aren’t part of the public listing history.

Here’s a conversation I have a lot. A neighbor sold a couple of years ago, and you feel your home deserves more because your kitchen is bigger or your view is better. You may be right. The question is how to find out without hurting your position.

When a home goes public at a price the market doesn’t accept, the price cut that follows is visible to everyone. So is every day the home sits. In my experience, that tells buyers you might be motivated, and some wait longer or come in low. Starting as a Private Exclusive lets us get real feedback on your number first. If it holds, great. If not, we adjust before the public ever sees a price.

Want to see how I’ve priced and negotiated recent sales? See how I’ve handled recent sales.

2. My home isn’t ready to show. Can I start marketing anyway?

Short answerYes, and this is my specialty. As a Private Exclusive, we can build interest while your home is being prepared. I have a broad, reliable team of local vendors to get the work done, and I pass the pricing I get on to you. You don’t have to have everything perfect before we start.

Getting homes ready, and keeping them that way, is part of my everyday work. Besides selling real estate, I co-own Peninsula Luxe, a luxury property management and rental company here on the Monterey Peninsula. That means I’m working with the same trades week in and week out:

  • Staging
  • Packing & removing personal items
  • Trash & junk removal
  • Painting
  • Carpets
  • Handyman work
  • And more

Because I use these vendors consistently, I get their best pricing, and I pass it on to my seller clients. Just as important, they show up and do the job right, which matters when you’re on a timeline or living out of the area.

How it usually goes

  1. We start as a Private Exclusive while we walk the home together and decide what’s worth doing and what isn’t.
  2. I line up the work, whether that’s clearing out, painting, carpets, repairs or staging, and keep it moving.
  3. We share the home quietly with interested agents and buyers. Buyers looking at off-market homes are often more forgiving about condition and about showings that can’t happen on 24 hours’ notice. Many are simply glad to see a home before other buyers do.
  4. Or we wait until it’s ready. If you’d rather only show it finished, we can schedule back-to-back tours when it goes public, which creates a real sense of demand from day one.
Hypothetical example, for illustration onlyPicture a Carmel-by-the-Sea cottage that’s been a family home for decades: full closets, tired paint, worn carpet. Instead of waiting months to list, the owners start as a Private Exclusive. Agents and their buyers hear about it early, while the cleanout, paint and staging happen in the background. By the time it’s ready, there’s already a list of people who want to see it.

3. I’m not ready to sell for a year. Why start now?

Short answerBecause the right buyer might already be out there. If there’s a price you’d sell for today, even an aspirational one, we can quietly market at that price. Nothing goes on the public record, so if it doesn’t happen, you haven’t built up any public listing history before you list later.

Maybe you’re a year from retiring, or waiting for the kids to finish the school year. I’ll ask you a simple question: is there a price you’d sell for today?

An aspirational price isn’t a pie-in-the-sky price. Outlier sales do happen here, often because of luxury second-home buyers who fall for a particular home. Comparable sales are objective. Whether someone “overpaid” is subjective. The right buyer will pay more than another buyer would and still feel they got the better deal, because your home has more of what they want.

4. I don’t want to give up my low mortgage rate. Does this help?

Short answerIt can. A Private Exclusive lets us quietly test a stretch price with no public listing history. If a buyer offered enough to make giving up your rate worth it, would that change your plans? If no one does, you’ve lost nothing, and you can keep waiting.

I understand not wanting to give up a great rate. For most people the honest answer is that there’s some number that would change their mind. A Private Exclusive is a low-pressure way to find out whether a buyer will pay it. Before you decide, talk to your lender and tax advisor about what a move would really cost you.

5. Is there a slow season here? Should I pull my listing and wait?

Short answerThere’s some seasonality on the Peninsula, but less than in many markets. Spring through early fall brings more sales but also more competing listings. Winter brings slightly fewer sales but less competition. If your listing has gone stale, moving it to a Private Exclusive stops the days on market from adding up while serious buyers can still find it.

Late spring, summer and early fall bring more buyers, and more sellers competing with you. Winter is a little quieter for sales, but you’re up against fewer homes. I tell sellers this:

“Serious buyers look all year round, and serious sellers consider listing all year round.”

If you’ve been on the market a while heading into a quieter stretch, we can take the home off the public market so the days on market stop adding up, keep reaching new buyers as a Private Exclusive, and go public again when the timing is right.

How long does the private phase last, and when do we go public?

Short answerIt’s fluid. The private phase creates activity, interest and a sense of scarcity among agents and buyers, but its real job is collecting feedback. I don’t keep homes private very long unless the seller asks me to. When activity fizzles and great offers haven’t come in, it’s time to go public.

There’s no fixed length. It depends on what we’re hearing. If the feedback says the price or presentation needs adjusting, we adjust before the public launch. Any agent can bring a buyer during the private phase, and I want to work with them.

What do I give up by starting off-market?

Short answerReach. Fewer buyers see your home while it’s private, and fewer buyers can mean less competition. Some buyers only shop public home search sites, and critics, including Zillow, argue that private listings hurt sellers. That’s why I treat the private phase as short and purposeful.

What you gain

  • Price feedback without a public price drop
  • Time to prepare while interest builds
  • Privacy and control over who sees the home
  • A cleaner launch when you go public

What you give up

  • Fewer buyers seeing the home at first
  • Possibly less competition while it’s private
  • Buyers who only shop public sites
  • It’s not right for every home or seller

When should I go straight to the public market?

Short answerIf your home is ready, priced at market, broadly appealing, and you need to sell on a firm timeline, going public right away is often the better move. More eyes and more competition usually help in that situation, and I’ll tell you so.

I’ll always tell you which path I think will net you more, even if that means skipping the private phase entirely. Learn more about my approach as a Monterey Peninsula luxury agent, or read what past sellers say.

Common questions

Does a Private Exclusive change my commission?

No. Listing as a Private Exclusive doesn’t change the commission structure.

Can agents from other brokerages bring buyers?

Yes. Any agent can bring a buyer, and I want to work with them.

Will my home show up on Zillow during the private phase?

No. During the private phase it’s shared quietly, not on public home search sites. It goes on those sites once we go public.

How long will my home stay private?

There’s no set period. It depends on the activity and feedback we get, and I don’t keep homes private long unless you want me to.

Can I go public whenever I want?

Yes. You decide when your home goes public, and I’ll give you my honest read on timing.

Can you help get my home ready?

Yes. I work with a broad team of reliable local vendors for staging, clearing out, painting, carpets, handyman work and more, and I pass the pricing I get on to you.

Jonathan Balog, Compass Broker Associate in Carmel-by-the-Sea

Talk through your options privately

Thinking about selling, now or a year from now? Let’s talk about whether a Private Exclusive makes sense for your home. No pressure, and if going public will net you more, I’ll say so.

Call or text 831-747-0310[email protected]

Jonathan Balog, Broker Associate, Compass · DRE 01980970
6th Avenue 2 SW of San Carlos St., Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA 93921

Jonathan Balog is a real estate broker associate licensed by the State of California affiliated with Compass. Jonathan Balog | CA DRE# 01980970 · Compass California II, Inc. | CA DRE# 01527235. Compass is a real estate broker licensed by the State of California and abides by Equal Housing Opportunity laws. License Number 01527235. All material presented herein is intended for informational purposes only and is compiled from sources deemed reliable but has not been verified. If your property is currently listed for sale this is not a solicitation. Private Exclusives may not be available in all markets, and availability is subject to change. Private Exclusives, inclusive of pre-marketing and listing strategies, are at the discretion of the seller. Compass does not recommend one particular strategy or guarantee results.