We Buy Houses in Santa Monica, CA

Selling in Santa Monica? Here is the quick answer

We can buy your Santa Monica 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.

Santa Monica is one of only five Los Angeles County cities that charge a documentary transfer tax of their own, and it is also a rent-control city with an elected board, so a sale here has to be planned around both.

The city’s own schedule, effective March 1, 2023, sets the tax at $3.00 per $1,000 on sales under $5 million, $6.00 per $1,000 from $5 million to just under $8 million, and $56.00 per $1,000 at $8 million and above, all on top of the county’s $1.10.

On the city’s roughly $1.6 million median sale, that is about $4,800 to the city before the county’s share.

And because nearly 73 percent of Santa Monica’s occupied housing is rented, a large fraction of the properties that change hands are covered by the Rent Control Charter Amendment and its Rent Control Board.

Cash Home Buyers CA is a Woodland Hills company that buys property across Los Angeles County, and on the Westside we buy the properties whose paperwork scares off financed buyers: rent-controlled duplexes and small buildings with long-term tenants, original houses in Sunset Park and the Pico neighborhood that need a full rebuild, and condos in older buildings with special assessments.

We give a written cash offer within 24 to 48 hours, buy as-is with no commission, and close on the date you choose.

Santa Monica sale prices and timing, August 2026

Movoto’s August 2026 report shows a Santa Monica median sold price of about $1,599,000, roughly $1,060 per square foot, on 332 closed sales versus 337 a year earlier. The average property took 60 days to sell, up from 56, with 378 active listings.

Those figures blend a condo-heavy market with a few very expensive houses north of Montana Avenue, so the median tells you less here than in a city of single-family tracts.

What it does show is a market that is stable, slow and expensive, where every sale is negotiated on the specifics of the building.

At these prices buyers use jumbo loans, and jumbo lenders scrutinize condition, HOA finances and, on income property, the rent roll. A two-unit building with long-controlled rents will not appraise on income, and an unmodernised house draws a long repair list. A cash buyer removes the lender entirely, which in Santa Monica is often the only way to sell a rent-controlled building without first emptying it.

The transfer tax, the Rent Control Board and the coastal zone: Santa Monica’s rules

• City transfer tax: tiered by sale price, per the City of Santa Monica’s own schedule for transfers on and after March 1, 2023: $3.00 per $1,000 below $5 million, $6.00 per $1,000 from $5 million to $7,999,999, and $56.00 per $1,000 at $8 million and up. The top tier came from Measure GS, approved by voters on November 8, 2022, and it is what makes an $8 million sale in Santa Monica cost $448,000 in city tax. The county adds $0.55 per $500. Seller customarily pays; we cover it within our offer.
• Rent control: Santa Monica’s Rent Control Charter Amendment, Article XVIII of the city charter, is administered by an elected Rent Control Board. The charter defines controlled rental units as all residential rental units in the city subject to listed exemptions, one of which is units constructed after the Article was adopted on April 10, 1979 – though units created by conversion rather than new construction stay covered. Controlled units must be registered with the Board, and the charter lists ten permitted grounds for eviction, including owner or relative move-in with restrictions and withdrawal from the rental business; all other evictions are prohibited. Ask the Board’s staff what your specific building’s status and obligations are. Selling does not disturb any of this; the buyer takes the building subject to the rules.
• Point-of-sale: the city does not require a presale inspection or city-issued report. State disclosures and the standard alarm and water-heater requirements apply.
• Coastal zone: a substantial part of western Santa Monica, including the beachfront in Ocean Park and along Palisades Beach Road, lies in the state Coastal Zone under the city’s Local Coastal Program, which governs redevelopment rather than the sale itself. The boundary is drawn parcel by parcel, so check the city’s Local Coastal Program map for your address rather than assuming a street line.
• Fire and Mello-Roos: no Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone in the city and no Mello-Roos districts. HOAs govern the large condo stock.

Santa Monica neighborhoods and ZIP codes we buy in: Ocean Park, Sunset Park, Pico and north of Montana

Santa Monica incorporated in 1886 and holds about 93,000 people in 8.4 square miles. North of Montana Avenue is the expensive single-family district of large lots and rebuilt houses. Wilshire-Montana and Mid-City are mid-century apartment buildings and condos, and downtown and the blocks near the pier are condos and apartments over retail.

Ocean Park, south of Pico Boulevard near the beach, keeps its early-1900s cottages, beach bungalows and small duplexes on narrow lots. Sunset Park, east of Lincoln and south of Pico, is the city’s postwar single-family neighborhood, where many houses still have their original kitchens.

The Pico neighborhood between the freeway and Pico Boulevard mixes small houses, duplexes and older apartment buildings.

We buy rent-controlled duplexes, triplexes and small apartment buildings with tenants in place, original Sunset Park and Ocean Park houses that need everything, condos in older buildings with deferred maintenance or pending assessments, and houses with unpermitted units or additions.

Santa Monica’s residential ZIP codes are 90401 downtown and near the pier, 90402 north of Montana, 90403 Wilshire-Montana and Mid-City, 90404 the Pico neighborhood and the blocks around the hospital, and 90405 Ocean Park and Sunset Park. We buy in all five, and the lot, the building type and the rent-control status matter far more to the offer than the ZIP code does.

Why Santa Monica owners sell to us

• Landlords leaving rent control. Owners of a small building with long-term tenants and a Board registration to keep current often decide that a sale with the tenants in place beats years of below-market rent. Selling a tenant-occupied property in Santa Monica explains how we take over the rent roll and Rent Control Board obligations.
• Original houses that need a rebuild. A Sunset Park house that has not been updated since the 1950s is priced by listing buyers on the lot anyway; we pay that price directly. See selling a Santa Monica house as-is.
• Divorce and relocation at Westside prices. Both need a firm date and a number that is not subject to a jumbo appraisal. See selling during a divorce in Santa Monica and selling a Santa Monica house when relocating.
• Foreclosure. A jumbo loan in default on a Santa Monica property moves quickly toward a trustee’s sale, and only cash is certain to close before it. See selling a Santa Monica house in foreclosure.

For the fastest route from call to closing, begin at sell my house fast in Santa Monica.

Escrow, title and the transfer tax at a Santa Monica closing

After acceptance, escrow opens and title issues the preliminary report. On a rent-controlled building we also collect the current Rent Control Board registration, the rent roll and any tenant estoppels, and we calculate the tiered city transfer tax so there is no surprise at the end.

When title is clear we wire the funds and the grant deed records with the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk in Norwalk, with both transfer taxes paid at recording.

Two to three weeks is typical for a house, three to four for a building with several tenants, and later if you need it.

Los Angeles County custom has the seller paying both transfer taxes and the owner’s title policy, with escrow fees split. At Santa Monica’s rates the transfer tax is one of the largest closing costs, and our offer is written net of it.

Is selling to a cash home buyer in Santa Monica legit? Red flags to check

Cash home buyers in Santa Monica are ordinary private buyers, and the legitimate ones behave in ways you can verify before signing:

• A written offer with a price and a closing date, not a verbal range that moves after the walkthrough.
• Proof of funds, and a deposit held by a neutral escrow company rather than handed to the buyer.
• A contract that names the buyer. We buy directly or bring a vetted cash buyer, and the written agreement names the buyer.
• No upfront fee of any kind. Requesting an offer is free, and turning it down costs nothing.
• Straight answers on rent control. On a tenant-occupied building, a buyer who cannot explain the Rent Control Board registration or the just-cause rules has not done the homework.

Two things should make you slow down: pressure to sign the same day, and a request to deed the property over before closing. A real purchase records through escrow at the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder, not in a kitchen.

Listing versus a cash offer in Santa Monica

On a $1.6 million sale, a 5 percent commission (a common, not universal, rate) is about $80,000, and the combined city and county transfer tax is about $6,560.

A renovated house north of Montana or a well-run condo in a healthy building will attract several jumbo buyers and belongs on the open market; the commission buys real competition there and we will say so.

The picture changes for a rent-controlled building, an original house or a condo with assessment problems: the listing buyer discounts for the same issues we do, the lender adds conditions, and two months of marketing turns into four when the first escrow fails.

Our offer is lower than a turnkey comparable, and it is net of commission, repairs, holding costs and lender risk.

Santa Monica cash sale questions

How much is the transfer tax when I sell in Santa Monica?

Below $5 million the city charges $3.00 per $1,000 and the county $1.10 per $1,000, so $4.10 per $1,000 in total, about $6,560 on a $1.6 million sale. Sales from $5 million pay $6.00 per $1,000 to the city and sales of $8 million or more pay $56.00 per $1,000. We cover the tax inside our offer.

Can I sell a rent-controlled building in Santa Monica with tenants in place?

Yes. The sale transfers the building subject to the Rent Control Charter Amendment, and we take over the registered rents, the Board registration and the just-cause obligations. You do not need to withdraw the building from the rental market or negotiate buyouts to sell.

Do you buy original houses in Sunset Park and Ocean Park that need a full remodel?

Yes. We price them on the lot and the rebuild potential, and you do not need to clean out, repair or stage anything before closing.

How long does a Santa Monica cash sale take?

Written offer in 24 to 48 hours, then two to three weeks to record for a house with clear title, or three to four weeks for a multi-unit building while we gather tenant paperwork. You set the closing date.

Do you buy houses in any condition in Santa Monica?

Yes, in whatever condition the property is in now: deferred maintenance, an original kitchen and bath, water or mold damage, unpermitted work or a failed city inspection. You do not repair, clean out or stage anything, and we do not ask for repair credits later.

Will you buy a Santa Monica condo with a large special assessment pending?

Yes. We review the HOA documents in escrow, factor the assessment into our offer and close without waiting for the project to finish, which is something most financed buyers cannot do.

To get a written cash offer on a Santa Monica house, condo or rent-controlled building, call 424-435-2326 or send us the address. We will review the rent roll and title, calculate the transfer tax, and give you a number to compare against a listing. Every step is at how it works.

2026 local market research: See our Santa Monica 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 and the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder as of August and September 2026 and are updated periodically.