Two Weekends, $310,000 Over Asking: The Story Behind 1407 Casa Buena Dr

Story of the Sale — Corte Madera, California

Most sellers have one goal. The owners of 1407 Casa Buena Dr had two, and they pulled in opposite directions.

Gray single-story home with solar panels and a stone patio at dusk.

They had already found their next home and bought it. That's the good problem — but it starts a clock. Every week this house sat on the market was another week of carrying two mortgages. They needed speed.

They also needed the number. Moving up in Marin means the proceeds from the sale become the foundation of everything that follows. Leaving money on the table to close quickly wasn't an option they were willing to take.

Speed and price usually trade against each other. Here's how we got both.

The house had good bones, and needed to show it.

Set back into the hillside off Casa Buena Drive, this is a single-level home with real character: vaulted ceilings, exposed beams, skylights pouring light into the main living space, and a kitchen that opens straight through to the dining and living areas.

Open-plan kitchen and dining area with a large island, skylights, and dark wood floors.

Outside, mature eucalyptus, flagstone paths, and a terraced garden give the property a sense of privacy that's genuinely hard to find this close to town.

Wooded backyard with a white shed, raised deck, paved patio, and mature trees.

Gray home glowing at dusk above a stone patio, with a raised deck and flowering garden.

None of that was in question. The question was whether a buyer walking through on a Sunday afternoon would feel it in the first ninety seconds because that's the window you get.

Getting to market fast

We gave the sellers a short list of vendors we've worked with for years, and to their enormous credit, they moved immediately. No shopping around, no second-guessing, no three-week delay comparing bids. They trusted the recommendation and started the same week.

The prep work — staging, painting, landscaping, and repairs — changed how the home read.

Bright white kitchen with a large stainless-steel range and windows overlooking greenery.

Staged living room with a white sofa, lit brick fireplace, exposed beams, and large garden-facing windows.

This is the part of the process sellers most often want to skip, and it's the part that most reliably pays for itself. Not because a house needs to be perfect, but because buyers are comparing your home against every other home they saw that weekend. Small friction — a tired wall, a dark corner, a room whose purpose isn't obvious — costs you real money at the negotiating table, and it costs you time.

Compressing that work into a tight window is where a vendor bench earns its keep. We know who shows up.

Two weekends, then done

The home went live and drew steady traffic across two consecutive weekends of showings. The sellers accepted an offer that cleared their goal. Listed at $1,790,000, sold at $2,100,000 - $310,000 over asking, at 117.32% of list price, with 14 days on market and a close on August 20, 2026.

More to the point: they carried two mortgages for weeks, not months.

Furnished bedroom with open French doors leading to a deck with a lattice railing.

By the numbers

Bright white kitchen with a marble backsplash, stainless steel range, and a wood-topped island with seating.

Bedrooms / Bathrooms	3 / 2
Square footage	1,948
List price	$1,790,000
Sale price	$2,100,000
Over asking	$310,000 — 117.32% of list
Days on market	14

The takeaway

If you're buying before you sell, the carrying-cost math tends to push people toward underpricing. The instinct is understandable: price it low, sell it fast, stop the bleeding.

This sale went the other way. Prep the home properly, price it correctly, get it in front of buyers in a concentrated window, and speed and price stop competing with each other. Fourteen days and $310,000 over asking came from the same decision, not from a trade-off between them.

That decision was made in the first week, before the home ever hit the market.

Gray-sided home nestled among lush gardens, mature trees, and a winding stone path.

Thinking about your own move?

If you're weighing a sale — juggling timing, carrying two properties, or just trying to understand what your home could realistically bring — we'll walk you through it. No pressure, no obligation.

Ben Faber Broker-Associate & REALTOR® · DRE 01913767 Faber Real Estate Team · Compass

415-686-4980 · [email protected] · faberrealestateteam.com

#1 Compass Team in Marin County by Transactions and Volume (Source: MLS 2025)

Faber Real Estate Team is a team of real estate agents licensed by the State of California affiliated with Compass, a real estate broker licensed by the State of California, License Number 01527235, which abides by Equal Housing Opportunity laws. All material herein is for informational purposes only, is compiled from sources deemed reliable, and has not been verified. All measurements and square footage are approximate. Images marked as such are digitally altered. Past results are not a guarantee of future performance. #1 claim source: BAREIS MLS, Compass teams in Marin County ranked by closed transactions and closed sales volume, 1/1/2025–12/31/2025.