How Our Century City Cash-Offer Process Works

Buying a Century City condo with our own funds means skipping the building-approval and appraisal steps a financed buyer’s lender requires, but we still follow a clear process from first contact to recorded deed. Here’s what actually happens at each stage.

Step One: You Tell Us About the Unit

We start with the basics: which building, what floor, how many bedrooms, and why you’re selling, whether that’s a foreclosure timeline, an inherited unit, a tenant in place, a divorce, a relocation, or simply wanting to skip the listing process entirely. We also ask about the HOA — whether dues are current, whether there’s a pending special assessment, and whether the unit is currently rented — since that shapes both our offer and what documentation we’ll need later.

Step Two: We Build a Written Offer

• We pull comparable Century City sales. Redfin’s March 2026 data shows a median sale price near $2,325,000 across just 30 sales that month, so we weight comps by building and floor rather than relying on a single neighborhood-wide number.
• We factor in the unit’s condition as-is. No repair estimate or contractor walkthrough is required before we can make an offer — we price the unit as it sits today.
• We account for HOA standing. Current dues, any special assessment, and the building’s rental-cap status all factor into the number, rather than being negotiated separately later.
• We deliver the offer in writing, typically within 24 to 48 hours. There’s no obligation attached — you can compare it against a listing estimate or another offer with no pressure to decide immediately.

Step Three: You Decide, No Pressure

If the offer works for you, we move to a purchase agreement. If it doesn’t, there’s no fee, no obligation, and no follow-up pressure — the offer stands as a data point you can use however you want, including as a floor to compare against a traditional listing. Many sellers use both processes in parallel: listing with an agent while holding our written offer as a fallback in case the financed sale stalls in building-approval review.

Step Four: We Open Escrow and Order Title

Once you accept, we open escrow with a licensed Los Angeles title company and order a title report and the Department of Building and Safety’s 9A Report of Residential Property Records, which discloses the unit’s permit history. We also request the HOA’s payoff demand, current financial statements, and rental-cap status directly from the building’s management company — the same documents a financed buyer’s lender would need, except we’re not waiting on a lender’s underwriter to review them.

Step Five: We Handle the HOA and City Paperwork

We coordinate directly with the HOA’s management company to confirm dues are current through closing and to process the ownership transfer in the building’s own records. We also handle the city of Los Angeles’s $4.50 per $1,000 transfer tax plus the county’s $1.10 per $1,000, a combined $5.60 per $1,000 of the sale price, as part of the purchase — you don’t pay this separately or need to calculate it yourself.

Step Six: Signing

Signing happens through the title company, either in person or remotely through a mobile notary if you’re out of the area or have already relocated. If the unit is jointly owned, whether by spouses, siblings, or co-heirs, we coordinate signatures from all owners of record through escrow rather than requiring everyone in the same room at the same time.

Step Seven: Recording and Funding

Once signed documents are back with the title company, we wire funds into escrow and the deed is recorded at the LA County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk in Norwalk. Proceeds are wired to you the same day recording is confirmed, typically within seven to fourteen days of accepting our offer, depending on how quickly the HOA returns its payoff demand and financial documents.

What Makes This Different From a Financed Buyer’s Process

A financed buyer’s lender needs to independently underwrite the building itself, reviewing the HOA’s reserve study, litigation history, insurance coverage, and owner-occupancy ratio before it will approve the loan, on top of underwriting the buyer’s own credit. A building with a pending assessment, a high rental ratio, or a reserve study showing deferred maintenance, all more common in Century City’s original 1960s towers, can stall or sink that approval entirely. Because we’re not financing the purchase, that entire layer of review simply doesn’t apply, which is the main reason our timeline runs in days rather than the months a Redfin-reported 123-day median time on market suggests is typical here.

How We Price Different Building Eras

Century City spans buildings from the original 1963-64 towers, including the I.M. Pei-designed Century Towers at 2220 and 2222 Avenue of the Stars, through several later phases of development on the roughly 176-acre former 20th Century Fox backlot. Comparing a unit in one of the original towers against a listing in a newer high-rise isn’t a straight apples-to-apples exercise, since reserve-fund health, assessment history, and unit layouts vary meaningfully by building generation. We price each offer against sales in comparable buildings rather than a single blended neighborhood average, which is part of why our written offer reflects your specific building rather than a generic estimate.

Handling an Estate or Multiple Owners

When a unit is held in a trust, an open probate estate, or jointly by several heirs or co-owners, the same seven-step process applies, with one adjustment: we confirm who holds legal authority to sign, whether that’s a successor trustee, a court-appointed personal representative, or all co-owners of record, before drafting the purchase agreement. We’re used to coordinating that confirmation directly with an estate’s attorney or a title company’s probate department, so it doesn’t fall entirely on whichever family member happens to be handling the sale.

What We Need From You

Beyond your decision to accept the offer, we ask for a copy of your HOA’s contact information, your most recent property tax bill if you have it handy, and, if the unit is rented, the current lease. We don’t require you to gather the HOA’s financial documents yourself — we request those directly from the management company once escrow opens, which keeps the paperwork burden almost entirely off your plate.

What Happens If Something Comes Up During Escrow

Occasionally title work turns up something that needs resolving before closing, such as an old lien that was never released or a discrepancy between the HOA’s records and the county’s. When that happens, we work with the title company and the HOA’s management company directly to resolve it, rather than asking you to track down decades-old paperwork yourself. Most of these issues are administrative and resolve within a few days without changing the purchase price or terms.

The Same Process Applies Across Los Angeles

This same seven-step process applies to any property we buy in the city; the HOA coordination steps above are specific to a condominium purchase rather than a single-family house. See our page on how our cash-offer process works across the rest of Los Angeles for the broader picture.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does the whole process take?

From accepted offer to funded closing, most Century City purchases take 7 to 14 days, depending on how quickly the HOA returns its payoff demand and financial documents.

Do I need to get the unit inspected first?

No. We buy as-is and don’t require a pre-sale inspection or repair estimate.

Who pays for the title report and 9A report?

We order and pay for both as part of the purchase.

What if the HOA is slow to respond?

We follow up directly with the management company, and while an unusually slow HOA can add a few days, it doesn’t require any extra effort on your part.

Can I back out after accepting the offer?

The purchase agreement is a binding contract once signed, like any real estate purchase agreement, so we’d encourage asking any questions before signing rather than after.

Ready to see what your Century City condo is worth? Call or text 424-493-4424 for a written offer within 24 to 48 hours.