In Cerritos, along with most of Los Angeles County and Orange County, sellers will most likely expect an earnest money deposit around 3 percent of the purchase price. That’s the norm I see most often working listings and buyer offers across this part of Southern California, and it’s the number I tell clients to plan around unless something about their specific deal points elsewhere.
That doesn’t mean 3 percent is a rule written anywhere. It’s a regional expectation, and offers that come in noticeably under it can read as less serious to a Cerritos seller, even when everything else about the offer is strong.
Head east into the Inland Empire and the norm loosens up. Deposits there commonly land somewhere between 1 and 2 percent, lower than what’s typical in Cerritos or the rest of LA and Orange County.
It’s not a fixed rule either. I’ve seen Inland Empire sellers ask for up to 3 percent when the situation calls for it — a competitive listing, a buyer they want more assurance from, or just a seller who wants to match what’s customary closer to the coast. Regional norms tell you where to start the conversation, not where it has to end.
Local custom, mostly, and it tends to track with how competitive the market is. A tighter, higher-demand market like Cerritos gives sellers more room to expect a stronger deposit, because there’s usually another offer close behind if this one doesn’t feel serious enough. In markets with more breathing room, sellers have less pull to push the deposit number up, and 1 to 2 percent becomes the comfortable default.
This is exactly why working with an agent who actually tracks these regional patterns matters. A buyer who shows up in Cerritos with an Inland Empire number can lose ground on an offer for a reason that has nothing to do with the house itself.
Yes, the refund mechanics don’t change by zip code. Whether you’re putting down 1 percent in the Inland Empire or 3 percent in Cerritos, a standard California purchase contract gives you contingency periods, typically covering inspection, loan approval, and appraisal, where you can cancel for a covered reason and have your deposit returned.
What changes region to region is the size of the number sitting in escrow, not whether it’s protected while your contingencies are open. The protection comes from the contract terms, not from the market you’re buying in.
Once your contingencies are removed or waived, in any region, the deposit is no longer protected the way it was during the contingency period. From that point, walking away without a contractual reason puts it at risk. This is the same in Cerritos as it is anywhere else in Southern California — the regional difference is only in how much money is actually on the table when that moment arrives.
If you’re buying in Cerritos or elsewhere in LA or Orange County, plan for something closer to 3 percent and know what that money is actually protecting you against while your contingencies are open. If you’re buying further out in the Inland Empire, don’t assume the lower regional norm applies just because you crossed a county line — some sellers there will still ask for more.
Either way, the number on the deposit matters less than understanding exactly what protects it and when. That’s where having someone who knows the contract inside and out earns its keep, on both sides of the table, with the same goal every time: getting to a closing that actually holds together.
For the fuller breakdown of what an earnest money deposit protects and when, see earnest money deposits explained. This piece is the regional companion, focused specifically on an earnest money deposit in Cerritos versus what’s typical further inland.
Most sellers in Cerritos, and most of LA and Orange County, expect around 3 percent of the purchase price as the deposit, though it’s a regional norm rather than a fixed rule.
Deposits there commonly run 1 to 2 percent, tracking a less competitive market. Sellers in tighter, higher-demand areas like Cerritos have more room to expect a stronger deposit since another offer is usually close behind.
No. Refund mechanics come from the contract terms and apply the same way regardless of region. What changes by area is the size of the deposit, not whether it’s protected during open contingencies.
It can read as less serious to the seller even if the rest of the offer is strong, since 3 percent is the regional expectation in Cerritos and most of LA and Orange County.
Once contingencies are removed or waived. From that point, walking away without a contractual reason puts the deposit at risk everywhere in Southern California.
Christine Almarines is a Realtor® with CA Real Estate Group, working buyers and sellers across Cerritos, Buena Park, and the surrounding Orange County and Los Angeles County communities.
If you’re buying: know the regional norm before you write your offer, so your deposit reads as serious instead of light. What buyers need to do before they start shopping for a home is a good starting point. To see the full process, start with the free First-Time Home Buyer Course.
If you’re selling: knowing what’s typical for your area helps you evaluate whether an offer’s deposit is a real signal or a red flag. Why pricing your Cerritos home correctly matters more than ever covers the pricing side of staying competitive. If you want a read on your home’s value first, start with the free EPIC Home Value Report. Ready for the full process to sell for top dollar, start with the free Sure Seller Course.
Christine Almarines
Real Estate Agent | CA Real Estate Group | Caliber Real Estate
714-476-4637
christine@carealestategroup.com
DRE #01412944
Christine Almarines is a top real estate agent in Buena Park and Cerritos helping homeowners buy and sell in Orange County and Los Angeles County.
Some homes sell. Others become the talk of the neighborhood. 15618 Caulfield Avenue in Norwalk was the second kind. It hit the MLS at $949,000 on August 13, 2026. Twelve days later it was under contract, and on September 22 it closed at $1,055,000, a full $106,000 over asking. This is how that home sold over asking, told from the beginning, with every real number and none of the fluff.
Spoiler: it wasn’t luck, and it definitely wasn’t Zillow doing the heavy lifting.
15618 Caulfield Ave sold over asking because we built the demand on purpose instead of waiting for it to show up. We staged it, photographed it like a magazine cover, and priced it to start a conversation. Then we gave it a week of coming-soon buzz and a video and social campaign that reached roughly 17 times more people than its Zillow listing did. The result was about 66 buyer groups in one weekend, 5 offers, and a winner that waived both the appraisal and loan contingencies.
Before the story, the scoreboard. Keep an eye on the Zillow row; we’ll come back to it.
| What we measured | 15618 Caulfield Ave |
|---|---|
| List price | $949,000 |
| Sale price | $1,055,000 ($106,000 over asking, about 11%) |
| Days on market to accepted offer | 12 (live Aug 13, under contract Aug 25) |
| Closed | September 22, 2026 |
| Zillow views / saves (the default exposure) | 1,639 views, 101 saves |
| Custom property video | 27,800+ views, 22,400+ individual viewers, 3+ days of total watch time |
| Social carousel | 19,100+ views, 626 clicks straight to the listing |
| Open house turnout | About 66 buyer groups in one weekend |
| Offers | 5 offers, 4 of them over asking |
And the house at the center of it all: a completely remodeled single-story with 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and about 1,798 square feet. Picture sage-green cabinets wrapping an open kitchen with a big quartz island, a full wall of pantry storage, and a dedicated coffee bar. Then add the detail that made families lean in: a spot inside the ABC Unified School District. The full photo tour lives on the 15618 Caulfield Ave Just Sold page.
Here’s a truth we repeat to every seller: your buyer falls in love on their phone before they ever touch your doorknob. So before a single listing went live, the home was staged and professionally photographed. That meant fresh styling, perfect light, and every room looking like the best version of itself. As Christine puts it, photos decide the price. (Getting your own home ready? Our guides to preparing your home to sell for top dollar and preparing a Cerritos home before you list are the same playbook.)
Then came the number. It’s the part that makes most sellers nervous, and the part that decides whether a home gets sold over asking or sits there collecting “maybe later” clicks. We listed at $949,000, a price designed to fill the room rather than “test the ceiling.” Christine is a certified Pricing Strategy Advisor, and this is exactly the move she breaks down in why pricing your Cerritos home correctly matters more than ever and in 3 ways to price your home, and only one creates a bidding war. Price to invite a crowd and you get a competition. Price to scare the crowd off and you get to know the words “price reduction” a little too well.
The listing agreement was signed August 10. The home wouldn’t go live until August 13. We weren’t going to spend that week quietly waiting.
For about a week before launch, Caulfield ran as a coming-soon listing with its own landing page and a priority list for early photos and showing times. It also had a hook that local buyers couldn’t scroll past: “Think this is Cerritos? It’s actually Norwalk.” The home sits just outside Cerritos with the same look and feel, and it’s in ABC Unified: Whitmann Elementary, Ross Middle and Gahr High (buyers should always verify school assignments for themselves). For a lot of families, that’s the whole reason they move to this area for ABC Unified in the first place.
By the time the listing hit the MLS, people weren’t discovering Caulfield. They’d been waiting for it. That’s the magic of a well-run coming-soon strategy: the demand shows up before the “For Sale” sign does.
Let’s talk about that Zillow row. Every listing goes on the MLS and gets syndicated to Zillow. That’s the default. It happens whether you hire the best agent in town or no agent at all. For Caulfield, the default delivered 1,639 Zillow views and 101 saves. That’s respectable, but it’s the starting line, not the race.
So we built the race on top of it:
The property video itself: drone views, a walkthrough of every room, and the neighborhood from above.
Here’s why that gap matters so much. Zillow shows a home to people who are already hunting. Targeted video and social ads reach the buyer who wasn’t searching that afternoon but absolutely would move for the right house. Those are the people who turn one decent offer into five, and that reach is the single biggest reason this home sold over asking. It’s the heart of how Christine helps Orange County and Los Angeles County homeowners sell for top dollar with digital marketing (here’s the Cerritos version). Christine calls it the secret sauce. You can see the full sold-over-asking breakdown on Instagram, too.
We don’t do “prop the door open and hope.” Before the weekend, we walked the neighborhood and handed out flyers inviting the neighbors. Neighbors talk, and they almost always know someone who’s been dying to buy on their street. Then we hired a professional barista to run a complimentary espresso bar inside the home.
Picture it: fresh espresso, a staged kitchen that looked like the photos (because it was), and a steady stream of people who’d been watching this house online all week. Over one weekend, August 15 and 16, about 66 buyer groups came through the door.
A crowd like that changes the mood in every room. Nobody is wondering whether the price is right. They’re wondering how fast they can get an offer written. That’s the urgency that gets a home sold over asking, and it’s why bidding wars start with alignment, not luck.
Then the offers landed: five of them, and four were over asking. All five were financed, so the question wasn’t just “who’s paying the most?” It was “who’s paying the most and actually getting to the finish line?”
In this case, the highest offer was also the strongest one. The winning buyer came in with:
That fine print is what makes a big number hold. When a financed buyer agrees to pay $106,000 over asking, the obvious risk is an appraisal that comes in short. With that contingency waived, a low appraisal couldn’t unravel the deal or reopen negotiations, and the quick inspection window meant any surprises would surface fast. A home sold over asking only counts if it closes at that price, which is why Christine always reads price and terms together. (Weighing offers of your own? Start with how to choose the best offer when selling your home and what “price and terms” actually means.)
It doesn’t always shake out this way. Sometimes the cleaner, lower offer is the smarter pick, like in this Buena Park sale where the highest offer didn’t win. On Caulfield, the best offer and the biggest offer happened to be the same one.
Accepting an offer feels like the finish line. It’s really the start of the hardest stretch. From the signed contract on August 25 to closing day on September 22, we stayed involved, communicated constantly, and kept every deadline on track, because a home sold over asking on paper still has to make it to the closing table. It did, at $1,055,000. If escrow still feels like a mystery, our plain-English guides to what escrow is, why the close of escrow date is negotiable and earnest money deposits clear it right up.
If you own a home in Norwalk, Cerritos, or anywhere in the ABC Unified area, a sale like this just moved the comparables on your street. It also proves something we see every single season: the market doesn’t hand anyone an extra $106,000. Preparation does. So do smart pricing, marketing that goes way past the Zillow default, and careful negotiation. That’s how a home gets sold over asking and actually closes there.
Curious what that could look like for you? Here’s where to start:
Buying instead of selling? Watching a home like Caulfield slip away is exactly why buyers need a head start. Grab the free Smart Buyer Bootcamp and our guide to buying a home in Cerritos, so you’re the one holding the keys next time.
It listed at $949,000 and sold for $1,055,000, which is $106,000 over asking, or about 11% above list price. It went under contract 12 days after hitting the MLS and closed on September 22, 2026.
Through a deliberate process: staging and professional photography, a price set to create competition, about a week of coming-soon marketing before the MLS, a custom video and social ad campaign that reached roughly 17 times more people than Zillow, and an open house weekend that drew about 66 buyer groups. That demand produced 5 offers, 4 over asking.
The MLS and Zillow are the default exposure every listing gets. For this home, Zillow delivered 1,639 views and 101 saves. The custom video alone reached more than 27,800 views, and the social carousel drove 626 clicks straight to the listing. The extra reach is what turns a single offer into several, and it’s a big part of why this home sold over asking.
If the appraisal comes in below the contract price, a buyer with an appraisal contingency can renegotiate or walk away. On Caulfield, the winning buyer waived both the appraisal and loan contingencies and had a 5-day inspection contingency, which protected the $1,055,000 price through closing.
Yes. 15618 Caulfield Ave is in Norwalk and is served by ABC Unified School District. School assignments should always be independently verified with ABC Unified before you buy.
Christine Almarines
Real Estate Agent | CA Real Estate Group | Caliber Real Estate
714-476-4637
christine@carealestategroup.com
DRE #01412944
Christine Almarines is a top real estate agent in Buena Park and Cerritos helping homeowners sell in Orange County and Los Angeles County.
Meet Christine, Top Real Estate Agent in Cerritos →
It’s the money a buyer puts down shortly after going into contract to show a seller they’re serious. It isn’t the down payment, and it isn’t due at closing. It gets deposited into escrow early in the process, before inspections, before the loan is fully underwritten, before anyone knows for certain the deal will close.
Sellers read it as a signal. A buyer willing to put real money on the table up front is a buyer who intends to follow through, not one testing the market with an offer they can walk away from at no cost.
There’s no single fixed number, but most sellers I work with are looking for somewhere between 2 and 3 percent of the purchase price as the earnest money deposit.
That range isn’t universal. Practices shift depending on which part of Southern California you’re in, and even county to county. What’s customary in one market can look light or heavy in another. If you’re working with an agent who knows the local norms where your home is, you’ll know what’s actually expected instead of guessing off a number you read somewhere online.
Usually, yes, while your contingencies are still open. A standard California purchase contract gives buyers a window to inspect the property, secure their loan, and confirm the appraisal supports the purchase price. As long as you’re still inside those contingency periods and you cancel for a reason the contract allows, your deposit typically comes back to you.
This is the part most first-time buyers don’t fully understand going in. The refund isn’t automatic just because you changed your mind. It’s tied to the specific contingencies still open in your specific contract, which is exactly why the wording of your agreement matters more than any general rule you’ll find in a blog post, including this one.
Once your contingencies are removed or waived, and there’s no longer a contractual reason left to cancel, walking away puts your deposit at risk. The same is true if a buyer breaches the contract outright — missing a deadline without cause, refusing to close for no covered reason.
This is where deals get tense, and where I’ve watched buyers panic over a deposit that was never actually in danger, and sellers get anxious over a deposit that legally wasn’t theirs to claim yet. The contract has an answer for almost every one of these situations. The question is whether the agent handling it actually knows where to find it.
It gives the seller something real if a buyer backs out without a covered reason. A seller who takes their home off the market, turns down other showings, and plans their own next move around a closing date is exposed if the buyer simply disappears. The deposit is the seller’s protection against that exposure, and it’s part of why a serious deposit amount matters in a negotiation — not just as a number on the offer, but as a signal of how much risk the seller is actually taking on.
The agent who knows the contract, not the agent who talks the loudest.
I know this contract inside and out — every contingency, every deadline, every clause that determines whether a deposit is protected or exposed. That knowledge is what lets me negotiate from an accurate read of the risk on both sides instead of a guess. Most disputes over an earnest money deposit aren’t really disputes about the money, they’re disputes about who understood the contract correctly, and the agent who reads it right usually wins that conversation.
Whether I’m representing you as a buyer or a seller, protecting your deposit is part of the job. But the actual goal, on either side of the table, was never to fight over the deposit. It’s keeping the deal together, getting you to a closing that works for you.
None of this replaces reading your actual contract or, when something is genuinely in dispute, talking to a real estate attorney. What’s here is how these deposits typically work. Your specific terms are what control your specific transaction.
It’s money a buyer puts into escrow shortly after going into contract to show a seller they’re serious. It isn’t the down payment and isn’t due at closing.
Most sellers look for somewhere between 2 and 3 percent of the purchase price, though the exact norm varies by area and even county to county.
Usually, yes, while contingencies are still open and you cancel for a reason the contract allows. Once contingencies are removed or waived, walking away puts the deposit at risk.
Once contingencies are removed or waived and there’s no contractual reason left to cancel, or if the buyer breaches the contract outright, such as missing a deadline without cause.
It gives the seller something real if a buyer backs out without a covered reason, offsetting the risk of taking the home off market and turning down other showings.
Christine Almarines is a Realtor® with CA Real Estate Group, working buyers and sellers across Cerritos, Buena Park, and the surrounding Orange County and Los Angeles County communities.
If you’re buying: understand exactly what you’re agreeing to before you sign, not after something goes wrong. What buyers need to do before they start shopping for a home and how to structure a winning offer in Orange County and Los Angeles County are good places to start. To see the full process, start with the free First-Time Home Buyer Course.
If you’re selling: knowing what a serious earnest money deposit looks like, and what actually protects you if a buyer walks, is part of evaluating any offer. If you just want a read on your home’s value first, start with the free EPIC Home Value Report. If you’re ready to see the full process for selling for top dollar, start with the free Sure Seller Course.
Christine Almarines
Real Estate Agent | CA Real Estate Group | Caliber Real Estate
714-476-4637
christine@carealestategroup.com
DRE #01412944
Christine Almarines is a top real estate agent in Buena Park and Cerritos helping homeowners buy and sell in Orange County and Los Angeles County.
Yes, Orange County home price reductions are becoming more common — but that doesn’t necessarily mean home values are falling. In Orange County and Los Angeles County, buyers have more choices, affordability remains challenging, and homes have to compete harder for attention. For sellers, pricing correctly from the beginning is becoming increasingly important.
If you’ve been watching homes for sale in Orange County or Los Angeles County lately, you may have noticed something that wasn’t nearly as common during the peak seller’s market: price reductions.
A home comes on the market at one price. A few weeks later, the price drops.
Does that mean the housing market is crashing? Not necessarily.
In many cases, it means the market is becoming more balanced — and sellers are adjusting to what today’s buyers are actually willing and able to pay.
Nationally, Keeping Current Matters recently reported that more than 4 in 10 active listings had experienced at least one price reduction, citing HousingWire data. KCM also notes that higher mortgage rates and increased buyer choice are contributing to those adjustments.
Here in Southern California, the numbers tell an important story too.
For several years, buyers often had to make decisions quickly. There were fewer homes available, multiple offers were common, and waiting even a day or two could sometimes mean losing the house.
Today, the environment is different. Buyers are still purchasing homes, but many have more time to compare properties, evaluate monthly payments and negotiate terms.
That matters because affordability continues to be one of the biggest challenges in Southern California. As of August 2026, the median sale price was approximately $1.22 million in Orange County and $922,000 in Los Angeles County, according to Redfin.
When you’re combining prices at those levels with today’s mortgage payments, buyers tend to become much more sensitive to price. And when buyers have several similar homes to choose from, an overpriced property can become much easier to pass over.
This isn’t just a national trend. Redfin reported that in August 2026:
That doesn’t mean every seller needs to lower their price. It means buyers are paying attention to value.
The homes that are priced, presented and marketed correctly can still attract strong interest. But when buyers believe a property is priced above the competition, they now have more ability to move on to another home.
One of the most important decisions a seller makes happens before the home ever appears online: the initial asking price.
It’s understandable why homeowners sometimes want to “test the market.” You may think: “Let’s start a little higher. We can always reduce it later.”
The problem is that the first days and weeks on the market are often when a listing receives the most attention. If buyers immediately see better value somewhere else, the property can lose that initial momentum. Then the seller may eventually reduce the price anyway.
Instead of using a price reduction as Plan A, the better goal is to understand where buyers are placing value before the property launches.
This is important for buyers too.
When you see a home that has dropped its price, don’t automatically assume there’s something wrong with it. Sometimes there is an issue that needs investigation. But often, the explanation is much simpler: the seller’s original price didn’t match the market.
Keeping Current Matters notes that today’s price reductions often reflect sellers catching up to current buyer demand rather than a problem with the property itself.
That can create an opportunity for a buyer. A seller whose property has been on the market for several weeks may be more open to discussing:
Every property and seller is different, of course, which is why the individual listing history matters.
Absolutely. A changing market does not mean homes aren’t selling.
In August 2026, Redfin reported 1,865 Orange County home sales and 4,265 Los Angeles County home sales.
The more useful question for homeowners isn’t “Are homes selling?” It’s “Which homes are selling — and why?”
Pricing is one piece of that equation. Condition, presentation, photography, marketing, accessibility for showings, negotiation strategy and the home’s competition all matter too.
One more data point worth sitting with: homes are actually moving a bit faster than they were a year ago, not slower. Orange County’s median days on market ran about 43 days in August 2026, down from 52 a year earlier, and Los Angeles County ran about 49 days, down from 51. A rising rate of price reductions and a faster market aren’t a contradiction — they’re both signs of buyers who know what they want and sellers adjusting to meet them there.
This is especially important in Southern California. You can’t accurately describe the entire Orange County or Los Angeles County housing market with one number. Conditions can vary dramatically from one city — and sometimes one neighborhood — to another.
The market for a single-family home in Cerritos may behave differently from a condo in Long Beach. A home in Buena Park may face different competition than one in Anaheim, Cypress, Lakewood, La Mirada or Fullerton. Even two homes in the same neighborhood can receive very different responses depending on price, condition, upgrades, lot location and marketing.
That’s why broad national headlines should be treated as context — not as a substitute for looking at your specific neighborhood. For the current countywide numbers, see today’s Orange County housing market update.
The biggest takeaway for sellers is not “You need to lower your price.”
It’s: you need to understand today’s market before choosing your price.
A strong pricing strategy looks at more than the last home that sold. I also want to know:
That’s how we determine where your home fits in today’s market — the same thinking behind pricing your home correctly from day one rather than chasing the market down after you list.
For buyers, today’s environment may provide something that was difficult to find a few years ago: options.
Not necessarily bargains — Southern California housing remains expensive — but potentially more opportunities to negotiate.
Orange County homes sold for an average of approximately 99.1% of their list price in August, while Los Angeles County homes sold for approximately 99.5% of list price, according to Redfin. Those are countywide numbers, so individual properties can behave very differently.
A desirable home that is priced well can still receive multiple offers. Meanwhile, a property that’s been sitting for 60 days may give a buyer significantly more negotiating room.
That question doesn’t have one answer for every homeowner or buyer.
A price reduction on an individual listing is not the same thing as a decline in overall home values. In fact, Orange County’s median sale price for the three months ending August 2026 was up 3.9% year over year, while Los Angeles County was up approximately 1.4%.
That’s why it’s important to separate these two ideas:
Home price appreciation measures what homes are selling for across a market. A listing price reduction means an individual seller changed their asking price. They aren’t the same thing.
Orange County home price reductions don’t mean the housing market has stopped working. They mean the strategy that worked during an extreme seller’s market may not work exactly the same way today.
Buyers have choices. Affordability matters. Competition matters. And pricing matters.
If you’re considering selling a home in Cerritos, selling a home in Buena Park, Cypress, La Palma, Artesia, Lakewood, Norwalk, Bellflower, Anaheim, Fullerton, La Mirada or elsewhere in Orange County or Los Angeles County, let’s look at what buyers are actually doing in your neighborhood before you decide on a listing price.
A pricing conversation before you list can help you avoid having to chase the market after you list.
Some sellers are reducing their asking prices because buyers have more choices, affordability remains challenging, and homes priced above comparable properties may receive fewer showings or offers. A price reduction often reflects a seller adjusting to current market demand rather than a problem with the home.
Not necessarily. A listing price reduction means the seller lowered the asking price on one property. Overall home values are measured using broader market sales data. In August 2026, Orange County’s three-month median sale price remained higher than a year earlier, according to Redfin.
Yes. Redfin reported 1,865 Orange County home sales in August 2026. Homes that are appropriately priced and marketed can still attract buyers, although results vary significantly by city, neighborhood, property type, condition and price range.
In some situations, yes. Homes that have been on the market longer or have already received a price reduction may offer more room for negotiation on price, closing costs, repairs or other terms. Well-priced homes in desirable locations can still attract strong competition.
Not automatically. Before reducing the price, look at recent comparable sales, current competing listings, buyer activity, showing feedback, days on market and any recent changes in your local market. A neighborhood-specific analysis is more useful than relying on national housing headlines.
A current comparative market analysis should consider recent sales, active competition, pending sales, property condition, location, lot characteristics, upgrades and current buyer demand. For the most accurate picture, the analysis should focus closely on your neighborhood and property type.
Christine Almarines
Real Estate Agent | CA Real Estate Group | Caliber Real Estate
714-476-4637
christine@carealestategroup.com
DRE #01412944
Christine Almarines is a top real estate agent in Buena Park and Cerritos helping homeowners buy and sell in Orange County and Los Angeles County.
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