Rebuildto Sell
Free assessment
For owners who aren't moving back

Your lot is worth more than land.

If you're not moving back, selling the empty lot leaves real money on the table. We rebuild it, then list and sell it for you — you never manage a contractor, a permit, or a showing. You keep the title and collect the proceeds. Think of it as an investment we run end to end.

Get my free property assessment → See how it works

You keep the title. We're your builder and your agent — never a buyer.

Sell as-is
Cleared lot
Buyers pay land value for dirt and a view.
Sell smarter
Approved plans
Shovel-ready plans make your lot far more sellable.
Sell for the most
Finished home
A completed build commands full home value.

The value ladder — illustrative. Actual outcomes vary by property, location, and market.

The process

We handle the rebuild. And the sale.

From a burned lot to a closed sale — design, permits, construction, and the listing, all in one hand. You're the investor: you approve the decisions and collect the proceeds. We do the work.

01

Free property & value assessment

Week 1

We evaluate your lot, your situation, and the resale upside — and tell you honestly whether rebuilding to sell makes sense for you.

02

We design & permit

~6 months preconstruction

Architecture, structural engineering, and a full set of plans through city plan-check. We know the system and move it fast.

03

We build — or hand you the plans

Your call

Take the fastest exit and sell with shovel-ready approved plans, or have us build a spec home to a budget that maximizes resale.

04

We list it and sell it

1.5% listing fee

As your listing agent, we bring the finished home — or the permitted lot — to market and run the sale for a 1.5% fee, a fraction of the usual commission. You approve the price and collect the proceeds.

Three ways to sell

Pick the exit that fits you.

Lowest lift to highest value — you choose how far to take it, and we scope the work around that. Whichever path you pick, we can list and sell it for you.

Lowest lift

Sell with approved plans

Fastest path to sale
  • We design and permit a build-ready set of plans
  • Your lot lists as shovel-ready, not raw dirt
  • Attracts builders and buyers who want to skip the wait
Most value Hands-off

Sell a completed spec home

Highest resale potential
  • We manage the full build to a resale-smart budget
  • You sell a finished home at full home value
  • No contractor to manage, no site visits required
End to end

Full rebuild-to-sale

Completely managed
  • Design, permitting, construction, and the sale in one hand
  • We list and sell it for you — just a 1.5% fee
  • Built for owners who'd rather be investors than project managers
Why us

Thirty years of building. A team that knows the way through.

Rebuild to Sell is run by a team with three decades in construction — the last ten in design-build. Since the 2025 wildfires we've guided families through the hardest, slowest part of the process: turning a cleared lot into an approved, buildable set of plans. We know the permit counter, and we know how to move.

You don't have to move back, hire a contractor, or set foot on the lot.

30+
Years in construction
10
Years of design-build
10+
Homes guided to approved plans
$50M+
In construction bids issued
The math, plainly

Why a rebuild changes the number.

Cleared lot
Land value
+ Approved plans
More
+ Finished home
Full home value

Illustrative only — not a guarantee. Real values depend on your property and market.

Buyers pay for what a property is, not what it was.

An empty lot is priced as land. The moment it comes with a permitted, build-ready design — or a completed home — you're no longer competing with every other burned parcel on the street. You're selling something scarce.

That gap between land value and built value is the upside most owners give away when they sell as-is. Rebuilding to sell is simply a way to capture it — while we carry the time, the paperwork, and the construction.

Market intelligence

We know these markets cold.

Rebuild-to-sell only works when you understand the local numbers — and they're different in every neighborhood. Here's what the public record shows, by area.

The rebuild rules changed what your lot can be.

Before the fire, ordinary zoning capped many Palisades lots at a smaller home than what burned. The wildfire rebuild provisions measure against the pre-fire footprint instead — so a lot that would only allow around 1,600 square feet can now be approved for 3,800 or more. That right transfers with the land, so it's already priced into what a buyer will pay. Building is how you capture that value yourself — along with tax benefits that only apply to rebuilding your own property — instead of handing the margin to whoever buys it.

127
New-home permits issued in the core blocks since the fire
~3,400 sf
Median approved size — the area is rebuilding about a third larger than before
~$1,300/sf
Where the new-build resale market clears
~$300/sf
What burned lots are trading at as raw land

Price it right and it moves.

The Palisades new-build market clears around $1,300 a square foot. Homes priced there have gone under contract in weeks — while nearly everything asking above ~$1,700 has sat for months, and some have cut price. Pricing to the market, not above it, is the difference between a sale and a stall. Knowing exactly where that line sits is the value we bring.

Dates worth knowing

  • Jan 1, 2027 — the ban on unsolicited offers to buy fire lots repeals
  • ~2029 — window to reinvest insurance proceeds before the gain becomes taxable
  • ~2033 — window to rebuild and keep your old property-tax base

None of this is advice — we're not qualified to give it. We flag the dates so you can ask your accountant, adjuster, or attorney the right questions.

The honest caveat: very few new builds have actually closed here yet, so this is still an emerging market — we'll always give you the argument against, not only the one for. Figures are drawn from public records, permit data, and current market evidence; they're illustrative context, not an appraisal, a valuation, or a guarantee of results.

Illustrative case study

What rebuilding to sell can look like.

A representative ~3,600 sq ft lot in Pacific Palisades — the same math we'd run on yours. The gap between selling the land as-is and selling a finished home is the whole opportunity.

Figures are rounded and illustrative — a typical scenario built from current 90272 market evidence and standard cost assumptions, not an actual client's file.

The decision

Three paths from the same lot.

Roughly $660,000 separates the easiest option from the most rewarding one.

Sell the lot now
~$1.6M
The lot as it stands, plus the insurance cash you keep.
No cost · No risk
No timeline
Sell with permits
~$1.7M
Take it through the City, then sell an approved, build-ready lot.
~$75K in · ~6 months
No construction risk
Build, then sell
~$2.3M
Build a ~3,200 sq ft home and sell the finished house.
Financed build · 22–24 months
We handle the build and the sale

Difference between selling the dirt and selling the finished home: about $660,000 in your pocket.

The envelope

Why the lot is worth more than it looks.

Ordinary zoning would cap a new home near 1,600 sq ft. Wildfire-rebuild provisions measure against what stood before instead — and that's the entire opportunity.

Ordinary zoning
~1,600 sf
A typical plan
~3,200 sf
Rebuild maximum
~3,800 sf

For context, the median home being permitted on comparable Palisades blocks is ~3,400 sq ft.

If you build

The project, line by line.

A ~3,200 sq ft build, financed, sold at the pre-fire median for new construction in these blocks.

Where the insurance sits
Insurance proceeds~$1,000,000
Less mortgage payoff~($500,000)
Available to construction~$500,000
The build
Construction · ~3,200 sf at ~$650/sf~$2,080,000
Design, engineering & permits~$75,000
Less insurance applied~($500,000)
Construction loan required~$1,655,000
Interest over the build (at 6%)~$77,000
Home sells at ~$1,300/sf~$4,160,000
Less selling costs (~4%)~($166,000)
You end up with~$2,260,000

Below about $1,085/sf, the project stops being worth doing.

That's the break-even — the number to watch, rather than any of the ones above it. If the market can't clear it, we tell you before you spend a dollar.

Illustrative only. Figures are rounded and representative of a typical Pacific Palisades rebuild-to-sell scenario, based on current 90272 market evidence and standard cost and timeline assumptions. They are not an actual client's figures, an appraisal, a valuation, or a guarantee of results. Every project differs by lot, plan, permitting, financing, and market conditions. Buildable area depends on lot-specific setback and height review. Insurance figures vary by policy. Nothing here is legal, financial, insurance, tax, or permitting advice. We introduce you to lenders and never advise on financing; you choose and control your own.

Interactive — try it live

Run your own numbers.

Change any number below and watch all three outcomes recalculate. ↓

Illustrative estimate only, not an appraisal or a guarantee. Starts pre-filled with the representative example; change any field to make it yours.

Your inputs

Change any field — the numbers on the right update instantly.

$
sq ft
$/sf
$/sf
$
$
$
%
%
mo
$
Sell as-is
–
With permits
–
Build & sell
–
Build & sell vs. selling as-is
–

Break-even resale: –. Below this, building nets less than selling the lot today.

The build, itemized
Construction–
Design & permits–
Less insurance applied–
Construction loan required–
Interest over the build–
Gross sale–
Less selling costs–
You end up with–

Want these numbers for your actual lot?

This is a model. We'll run a real, property-specific analysis — buildable area, current comps, and your financing — at no cost.

Get my free assessment →

Illustrative estimate only. Results are a simplified model based on the inputs you enter and standard assumptions (interest approximated on an average staged construction-loan balance; financing capped at 6%). They are not an appraisal, a valuation, a lending decision, or a guarantee of results, and do not account for taxes, carrying costs beyond those shown, or site-specific conditions. Buildable area depends on lot-specific setback and height review. We introduce you to lenders and never advise on financing; you choose and control your own. Nothing here is legal, financial, insurance, tax, or permitting advice — confirm specifics with your own advisors.

Financing the rebuild

You may not need your own cash to do it.

The number one reason owners sell as-is is the assumption they can't afford to rebuild. Often, they can. If your lot is paid off, a construction loan can fund the build against it — and it's designed to be repaid when the property sells. We'll connect you with lenders who work with fire-rebuild properties and walk you through how it works.

The lot

You may not need to put your own cash in

If your lot is paid off, a lender may be able to fund the build against it. The finished value of the property — not just cash on hand — is what supports the loan.

The cost

A construction loan may cost less than you expect

It's a line of credit released in stages as work is completed, so you only pay interest on what's actually been drawn — often far less than people assume.

The payoff

It can be repaid when you sell

A construction loan is built to be paid off at the end. For a rebuild-to-sell, that typically means from the proceeds of the sale — not out of your pocket along the way.

The claim

Settling your insurance claim comes first

Lenders need your claim finalized before a loan can close — and a settled claim is worth having whether or not you decide to rebuild.

We introduce you to independent lenders and explain how the process works — we don't give financial advice or determine what you qualify for. All loan terms, eligibility, and decisions are made solely by the lender.

Who you're working with

Three decades of building — now working for the seller.

We've spent thirty years building high-end homes across Los Angeles. When the fires came through, we watched owners who weren't planning to move back get stuck with a hard choice: sell the bare lot for a fraction of its potential, or take on a two-year rebuild — financing, permits, contractors, and a sale — entirely on their own.

Rebuild to Sell exists to remove that choice. One accountable team designs the home, pulls the permits, builds it under a fixed-price contract, and then lists and sells it for you. You stay an investor, not a project manager — you keep the title the entire way, approve every decision, and collect the proceeds. We're your builder and your agent, never a buyer, and we never take an ownership position in your property.

Fixed-price buildA defined schedule, not an open-ended allowance sheet.
Your title, start to finishYou own the property throughout. We never take a position in it.
Builder and agentWe design, build, and sell — never a buyer of your lot.
Licensed & insuredLicensed California general contractor.
Straight answers

Questions owners ask us first.

Do I have to move back in?

No. This is built specifically for owners who'd rather sell than return. We handle the rebuild so you never have to move back, live through construction, or manage the project.

Do you buy my property?

No — and this is never an offer to buy your property. You keep the title the whole way and approve every decision, including the sale. We can act as your listing agent and sell it for you, but we never take an ownership position. We're your builder and agent, not a buyer.

Do I have to handle the sale myself?

No. If you'd like, we act as your listing agent and run the entire sale for a 1.5% fee — well below the typical listing commission. You approve the asking price and the offer; we handle the marketing, showings, and closing. You stay the investor, not the project manager.

How long does it take?

Getting an approved set of plans typically takes about six months of preconstruction. Building a home on top of that varies by scope. Selling with approved plans in hand is the fastest path if speed matters most.

What does it cost, and how do I pay for it?

It depends on the path you choose. Some owners fund the work directly, some use construction financing against a lot they already own free and clear, and some structure it around the eventual sale. We'll walk you through the options and can introduce you to independent lenders — we don't give financial advice.

Is my lot a good candidate?

It works best when the property is in a strong resale market — Pacific Palisades, Malibu, and parts of Altadena — and when you own the lot outright. The free assessment is where we tell you honestly whether the numbers make sense.

Start here

Find out what your lot could be worth.

Tell us a little about your property and situation. We'll come back with an honest read on whether rebuilding to sell makes sense for you — no pressure, no obligation.

  • You keep the title. We build it and sell it; you collect.
  • No cost to find out. The assessment is free.
  • We know the system. 30+ years building, fast through permits.

We'll reply within 1–2 business days. Your details stay private.

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