Journal · Deal story

Twelve offers in eight days: what actually happened on Trinidad Island

A $3,925,000 sale. Twelve competing offers. Eight all-cash. $643,000 over asking, and about $1.475 million over Zillow's estimate. The real numbers, and the method behind them.

June 9, 2026 · 4 min read

These are the verified numbers from one transaction, and the method behind them. Nothing here is dramatized.

A waterfront home on Trinidad Island in Huntington Harbour sold for $3,925,000. That was $643,000 over asking, and roughly $1.475 million over the $2.45 million figure Zillow had on the home. Twelve offers came in, eight of them all cash, and it sold in eight days on the market.

Why Zillow was so far off

Zillow's estimate runs on interior square footage and recent recorded sales. On the water in Huntington Harbour, that misses what actually sets the price: usable dock length, water depth and access, channel position, the condition of the dock and seawall, and the buyers who pay a premium for all of it. An algorithm cannot price a dock. The buyers who competed here were buying the water access first and the house second.

How the home was sold

We ran it through the same three-phase system we use on every signature listing.

Phase one, a Compass Private Exclusive. A quiet pre-market launch inside the Compass network, before a public marketing dollar is spent, to test real demand and set the price.

Phase two, a targeted demand campaign. Drone and twilight photography and video built for the home, distributed to the move-up and coastal buyers most likely to compete.

Phase three, a timed public release. The listing hit the MLS on a deliberate day, with open houses and an offer-review deadline that turned interest into competition instead of a single negotiation.

The result was twelve offers, eight all cash, and a closing price the open market set, not one an algorithm estimated.

Why it is worth writing down

Not as a trophy. The point is that the method is repeatable, and any Huntington Harbour seller deserves to understand it before they choose who lists their home. On the water, the dock permit, the water depth, and the buyer pool are the foundation of the pricing conversation, not an afterthought. Know the dock, know the buyer, and let the market do the rest.

Craig has sold the Harbour since 1977. The tools have changed. The logic has not.

This describes one past transaction and is not a prediction of any future result. Ratowsky Group are licensed real estate professionals, not tax or legal advisors. Information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Justin Ratowsky DRE #02026158, Craig Ratowsky DRE #00608046. Compass DRE #01991628. Equal Housing Opportunity.