Leigh Ann

“Never again.” That’s what Leigh Ann said after going through the ordeal of a public sale just before moving to Larkspur Marina. “It was a nightmare for my family. As soon as the sign went up there were people driving by slowly and sometimes even knocking on the door asking to take a ‘peek’ inside.”

Then there were the open houses.

“The worst part of open houses is having the entire neighborhood come through my home, and having to keep things clean at all times. I have children. For me, I just wanted to be able to live in my home without having to be on constant guard.”

Listing on the public market violates Leigh Ann’s instincts about what she values most: family.

When she first started thinking about selling again, she wanted to find a better way.

“We’re very private people. We wanted to make sure that we didn’t put a sign out and get it all staged and do all of that. We really wanted to do some research.”

Because Aalto is private, sales happen quietly. Most people don’t realize its growth in popularity.

“I honestly didn’t know about Private Listings, until one day I was looking on Nextdoor and I noticed that somebody was looking for a Private Listing… Then he mentioned: have you heard of Aalto? And I said no, I’ve never heard of it… It seemed like a really interesting concept. That is something I actually want to know more about.”

After consulting with her agent, Tina McArthur, they decided that listing privately was the best course of action. It would allow Leigh Ann to stay in her home with her family and sell on her terms with a longer rent back — all while her address remained hidden. She wouldn’t need to worry about snoops knocking on her door or looking in her windows.

In less than a month Leigh Ann’s home, Stylish Contemporary Home in Larkspur Marina, sold privately for $50,000 over her asking price.

Still, the best part was that she could control the message to her friends and neighbors instead of spinning up the gossip mill before even being sure if the sale would go through.

“Listing privately really worked for our family because it allowed us to set the pace rather than an agent saying ‘this is how things need to be done with the sign going up’ and all of that. It allowed us to say, these are the things we need for our family.”

And as for the happy buyers?

They were able to buy their dream home years before it would have otherwise become available, in a market known for its locked-up inventory. Aalto made it possible.

“If Private Listing had not been an option, I don’t really know what we would have done. We might have waited two years.”

Aalto lets sellers like Leigh Ann move on with their lives, while buyers benefit from a larger inventory pool that wouldn’t otherwise be available, and real estate agents get to service more clients, more often while delivering a refreshing experience.