We Buy Houses in Los Angeles, CA

Selling in Los Angeles? Here is the quick answer

We can buy your Los Angeles property as-is, with no repairs or showings. After reviewing the property, we can typically provide a written cash offer within 24 to 48 hours. On a direct purchase from us, there is no agent commission charged by us, and we cover the standard closing costs we agree to in the contract. You choose the closing date, and requesting an offer does not obligate you to sell.

Best fit: inherited homes, tenant-occupied rentals, properties needing major repairs, vacant homes, code issues, foreclosure timelines, or sellers who value certainty over maximizing a retail list price. A traditional listing may still produce a higher price for a retail-ready home, so compare net proceeds and timing before deciding.

Want a number first? Call or text (424) 435-2326 or use the cash-offer form above.

Selling a house inside the City of Los Angeles costs more and takes more paperwork than selling the same house in Burbank, Torrance or any of the 87 other cities in the county. The city levies its own transfer tax of $4.50 per $1,000 on every sale, plus the Measure ULA surcharge of 4 percent on sales above $5.4 million and 5.5 percent above $10.9 million as of July 2026. It requires a Residential Property Report from the Department of Building and Safety before a house can change hands, along with a seismic gas shutoff valve, low-flow plumbing fixtures and other retrofit items. And roughly two-thirds of its households rent, most of them in buildings covered by the Rent Stabilization Ordinance or the citywide Just Cause Ordinance.

Cash Home Buyers CA is based in Woodland Hills, which is itself part of the City of Los Angeles, and we buy houses, condos and small apartment buildings across the city, from the San Fernando Valley to San Pedro. We deliver a written cash offer within 24 to 48 hours, buy the property in its current condition with no repairs, commissions or showings, can order the city’s required reports and carry the certifications through escrow, and close on the date you choose.

The Los Angeles market in 2026: a $1.1 million median with 13,000 homes for sale

Movoto’s August 2026 data put the citywide median sold price at about $1.075 million, with 5,001 sales that month, essentially flat against 4,970 a year earlier, a median of 70 days on market versus 68, and nearly 13,000 active listings. Homes.com shows a median of $1.165 million as of September 2026, down about 3 percent year over year, with six months of supply, single-family houses at a $1.425 million median, townhouses around $1.1 million and condos around $786,000.

A Brentwood house and a 1920s bungalow in Pacoima are different markets that share a mayor, but right now they share a slow, balanced pace: six months of supply, ten weeks to find a buyer, prices drifting slightly lower. For a seller with a clean, well-located house that is fine. For a seller with a rent-controlled fourplex, a hillside house that lost its insurance after the January 2025 fires, or an estate with deferred maintenance, the retail path is long and uncertain, and that is where a cash buyer earns a place in the conversation.

What the City of Los Angeles requires when you sell

• City transfer tax and Measure ULA: The city charges $2.25 per $500, or $4.50 per $1,000, on top of Los Angeles County’s $1.10 per $1,000, for a combined $5.60 per $1,000. Effective July 1, 2026, sales above $5.4 million pay an additional 4 percent of the entire price and sales at or above $10.9 million pay 5.5 percent, with the thresholds adjusted each year. On a $1.075 million house the combined city and county tax is about $6,000, customarily paid by the seller.
• Residential Property Report: Before title transfers, the seller must obtain the Report of Residential Property Records, commonly called the 9A report, from the Department of Building and Safety, and deliver it to the buyer. It lists permitted use, zoning and open orders. We can order the report and carry the certifications through escrow; the written offer sets out who pays each line.
• Retrofit items at sale: City ordinances require a seismic gas shutoff valve, water-conserving toilets, showerheads and faucets, working smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, a strapped water heater, and impact-hazard glazing where applicable, with the seller certifying compliance. We buy houses with none of that work done and can carry the certifications through escrow; the written offer sets out who pays each line.
• Rent Stabilization and Just Cause: The RSO covers most rental units in buildings built on or before October 1, 1978, limiting rent increases and evictions. The citywide Just Cause Ordinance extends eviction protections to nearly all other rentals. A sale does not end a tenancy, and no-fault evictions carry substantial relocation payments, so selling with tenants in place is usually the simpler path.
• Fire hazard zones and the coast: Large parts of the Santa Monica Mountains, the Hollywood Hills, the Verdugo and San Gabriel foothills in Sunland-Tujunga, and the Palisades and Brentwood hillsides sit in hillside terrain where parcels commonly fall inside a mapped Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone. The statewide zone maps were redrawn in 2025, so the Fire Department is the place to confirm a specific address; where the zone applies, state law AB 38 requires defensible-space documentation and home-hardening disclosures at sale. Venice, Pacific Palisades, Playa del Rey and San Pedro also sit in the Coastal Zone, which affects rebuilding rather than selling. Mello-Roos is rare in a city this old.

Neighborhoods across the City of Los Angeles where we buy

The city covers about 470 square miles, and we buy in all of it: the postwar ranch tracts of Reseda, Van Nuys, Panorama City and Canoga Park and the older stock of Pacoima and Sylmar in the Valley; the 1920s Spanish and Craftsman houses of Highland Park, Boyle Heights and Mid-City; the RSO fourplexes and courtyard buildings of Koreatown, Hollywood and Palms; the bungalows of South Los Angeles and Watts, where multi-generation ownership is common; and the Westside and coast from Mar Vista and Venice to Pacific Palisades, plus San Pedro and Wilmington in the harbor.

The conditions that suit a cash sale are consistent citywide: original wiring, unbolted foundations, unpermitted garage conversions and back units, hillside drainage problems, fire-damaged lots, RSO buildings with tenants paying a fraction of market rent, and estates untouched for decades.

Common reasons Los Angeles owners sell for cash

• Landlords with RSO or Just Cause tenants. Rent-stabilized units make up a large share of the city’s housing, and a vacancy is not something an owner can create cheaply. We buy tenant-occupied houses and small buildings in Los Angeles with the tenancies intact, so there are no notices, relocation payments or vacancy waits.
• Inherited houses and probate. An inherited house in Los Angeles can be sold from a trust or through the probate court downtown without the heirs paying for a renovation first.
• Foreclosure and default. Once a notice of default is recorded the clock runs to a trustee’s sale date. Because a cash purchase carries no loan to underwrite, a sale of a Los Angeles house in foreclosure can often be completed before that date, which is what keeps the equity with the owner rather than at auction; how much time is left on the notice decides whether it is possible.
• Fire-zone and damaged properties. Owners in the Palisades and other hillside areas who do not want to rebuild, or who cannot get insurance a lender will accept, can sell as-is in Los Angeles and let us handle the lot.

We also buy from owners going through a divorce in Los Angeles who need one firm number, and from people relocating out of Los Angeles on a fixed date.

Escrow, the 9A report and recording in Los Angeles County

Once you accept our offer we open escrow, order title, and request the 9A report from Building and Safety, the one city document that cannot be skipped and the item that usually sets the pace of the file; fire-zone houses get the defensible-space inspection booked at the same time. Probate matters are heard at the Superior Court for Los Angeles County downtown; trust sales need no court involvement.

The deed is recorded with the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk in Norwalk, at 12400 Imperial Highway, and escrow wires proceeds on confirmation. County custom puts the owner’s title policy and both the city and county transfer taxes on the seller, with escrow fees split; the written offer sets out who pays each line. Because there is no lender, appraisal or loan underwriting in a cash file, the schedule is driven by title clearance and the city’s report rather than by an underwriter, so a house with clear title records sooner than a tenant-occupied building or an estate with several signers. The closing date is the one you pick.

Listing in Los Angeles or selling to us: the honest comparison

At the $1.075 million citywide median, a listed sale pays roughly $55,000 in commission at the 5.08 percent statewide average from Clever’s August 2026 survey, about $6,000 in city and county transfer tax, the 9A report and retrofit work, prep and staging, and carrying costs across the ten-week median time on market before a buyer is found, followed by an inspection credit and a 30-day financed escrow that can fail. On a remodeled Highland Park bungalow or a clean Valley ranch, a listing will still usually gross more than we pay, and we say so.

Where our offer competes is on the properties the city’s rules make hard to sell retail: RSO buildings, houses with unpermitted units the 9A report will flag, hillside houses without insurance, fire-damaged lots, and estates that need everything. Subtract commission, repairs, relocation payments and months of carrying cost from a listing price on one of those, and our net is often close, with a date you can plan around.

Questions Los Angeles sellers ask

Do I have to pay the Measure ULA "mansion tax" if I sell to a cash buyer?

Only if the price is above the threshold, which is $5.4 million as of July 2026. ULA applies regardless of who buys, but most city houses sell well below it; every seller pays the base $4.50 per $1,000 city tax plus the county's $1.10.

What is the 9A report and who orders it?

It is the Report of Residential Property Records from the Department of Building and Safety, showing zoning, permitted use and any outstanding code orders. The seller is responsible for providing it before close. We can order the report and carry the certifications through escrow; the written offer sets out who pays each line, and open orders on it do not stop us from buying.

Can I sell a rent-controlled fourplex in Los Angeles without evicting anyone?

Yes, and you should. The RSO and Just Cause Ordinance make no-fault evictions expensive, and a sale does not end any tenancy. We buy with tenants in place, take over the leases and deposits, and register as the new owner with the Housing Department.

Will you buy a fire-damaged or fire-zone property in Los Angeles?

Yes. We buy houses and cleared lots in the Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone, including properties affected by the January 2025 fires. We can order the defensible-space inspection state law requires at sale and carry it through escrow, and we do not need insurance in place to close because we are not using a lender.

How fast can a cash buyer close on a house in Los Angeles?

There is no lender, appraisal or loan approval in a cash file, so the pace is set by title clearance and the 9A report rather than by an underwriter's calendar. A house with clear title is the quickest; estates, tenant-occupied buildings and properties with title problems take longer. You pick the date.

If you own a house, condo or small building anywhere in the City of Los Angeles, call or text 424-435-2326. We will look at the property, pull the city's requirements for it, and hand you a written cash offer within 24 to 48 hours with no obligation. The process is laid out step by step on our how it works page.

2026 local market research: See our Los Angeles Housing & Home Seller Report 2026 for current seller-focused housing context.

Written and reviewed by the Cash Home Buyers CA team, a Woodland Hills-based cash home buyer serving Los Angeles County. Market figures are from Movoto, Homes.com and the U.S. Census Bureau as of September 2026 and are updated periodically.