Tools & guides
Everything here exists because I got asked the same question enough times to build the answer. The calculators run entirely in your browser — nothing you type is sent anywhere or stored.
Run your own numbers
Net Proceeds Calculator
What you actually walk away with after commission, closing costs, city and county transfer taxes, the §121 exclusion, and capital gains — federal brackets, California, and the Net Investment Income Tax.
Run your net proceeds →Prop 19 Tax Base Calculator
How much you can pay for a replacement home and still keep your Prop 13 assessed value — and what your new taxable value becomes if you go above the line. Timing changes the answer.
Find your ceiling →Inherited Home Deadline Clock
Enter a date of death and get every California and federal deadline that attaches to the house, on a real timeline — with the statute behind each one and a calendar file you can import.
Start the clock →The guides
Every one of these is a real document I wrote — not a two-page teaser for a sales call. Download any of them right now. You do not have to give me your email, and I would rather you had the information than had to trade for it.
The Northern California Downsizing Roadmap
The six steps in the right order: sequencing, Prop 19, capital gains, prep that actually returns more than it costs, and what the equity really funds.
Download the PDF →The Surviving Spouse’s Guide to the House
The four clocks that are actually running, the two federal rules that decide how much you keep, the worries that turn out not to be problems, and a 90-day sequence at your own pace.
Download the PDF →The Trustee’s First 30 Days
A week-by-week task list, the deadlines to calendar today with the statute beside each one, and the five mistakes that cost real money — starting with the insurance.
Download the PDF →The Cost Basis Worksheet
What counts as an improvement and what doesn’t, exactly where to dig up 30-year-old records county by county, and a worksheet to fill in and hand your CPA.
Download the PDF →The Room-by-Room Sort
Five piles instead of two, an honest table of what actually sells and what doesn’t, what the help costs, and a realistic timeline. Print it and tick the boxes.
Download the PDF →Lost one? It’s still here.
Nothing on this page expires and nothing disappears after a single click. If you downloaded something once and lost it, come back and take it again — no form, no waiting, no follow-up required.
Or just call: 408-375-1223 →Things I’ll put together for you personally
These need your actual numbers, so they take a conversation or a short form. I read every request myself and reply within one business day.
What’s my home worth?
A real comparative market analysis on your actual house — recent comparable sales on your street, condition adjustments, and an honest price range. Not an algorithm’s guess.
Request your CMA →A written net sheet
The calculator’s output, checked by hand against your actual situation, plus what I’d do to raise the top line before you list.
Request a net sheet →A Prop 19 sequencing review
Send me your numbers and your timing and I’ll tell you plainly whether the order you’re planning costs you money.
Send your scenario →An estate or trust conversation
Where the property fits, what your attorney and CPA need from me, and an honest read on whether the timing is right. No listing pitch attached.
Tell me where things stand →The long-form explainers
Prop 19, plain English
Both halves of it — carrying your tax base at 55+, and what changed for inherited homes.
Read the guide →Sell now, or let them inherit?
Step-up in basis against the Prop 19 occupancy trap. Sometimes the answer really is “keep the house.”
Work through it →After your spouse dies
California’s community property step-up, the two-year $500,000 window, and what genuinely has a deadline.
Read the guide →Probate vs. trust sales
Court confirmation, overbidding, Notice of Proposed Action — which rules apply to your sale, and why.
Read the guide →Downsizing after 55
The whole roadmap: sequencing, taxes, and what your equity actually buys.
Read the guide →A note on the calculators. They’re built to be honest rather than flattering, and they run on published rates and statutory formulas that I re-check against the Board of Equalization, the IRS, and the county recorders. They’re still estimates. They can’t see your CPA’s carryforwards, your depreciation history, or the specific assessment on your parcel. I’m a broker, not a CPA or an attorney — use these to get oriented, then confirm with your own advisors.
Not ready to move? Stay in the loop anyway.
Once a month: what actually sold on both sides of the hill, what changed in California property-tax law, and the occasional honest “don’t sell yet.” No listings spam. Unsubscribe whenever.
Tools give you the number. The conversation moves it.
Pricing, prep, timing, and sequencing swing the outcome far more than any single line item on a calculator.
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