A Sellers Reserve Relaunch · 96 Abrigo, Unit 67
A private, view facing single level home in Los Portillos. Repositioned and relaunched Wednesday, September 23. Sold under the hammer, Saturday, October 3, 2026.
Introduction
96 Abrigo has been available to the market for some time now. That is not a reflection of the home. It is a reflection of how the home has been presented, positioned and priced against everything else a buyer can see this week in Rancho Santa Margarita.
A listing that sits does not simply pause. It quietly teaches the market to wait. Buyers assume there is room to negotiate, agents stop showing it, and the longer it stays visible at the same number, the more the market discounts it in its own mind. That is the position we are in today, and it is entirely recoverable.
The answer is not another price reduction. Reductions confirm the market's suspicion and invite the next one. The answer is a genuine relaunch: new positioning, new media, a new price guide engineered to attract rather than repel, and a fixed sale date that forces every interested buyer to act in the same three weeks instead of drifting for another three months.
What follows is the method, the marketing program, the competitive positioning against the other listings you are up against, the pricing strategy and the day by day calendar, all converging on a live on-site auction on Saturday, October 3, 2026.
Lucy Spencer & Michael Mahon
The Reposition
A relisting changes the date on the same tired campaign. A relaunch changes everything a buyer sees, feels and has to decide about. Here is exactly what changes on 96 Abrigo.
Days on market, reset
The current campaign is withdrawn and rebuilt. The property returns to the market as a new, dated event with a deadline, not as an aging listing that buyers scroll past.
From asking price to price guide
A single fixed asking price has been doing the filtering for us, and filtering the wrong way. A guide that can move upward on evidence brings buyers in instead of keeping them out.
From listing photos to a campaign
Twilight, aerial, lifestyle and a directed property film. The private courtyard, the greenbelt outlook and the resort pool become the story, not incidental features in a photo set.
From passive to hunted
We do not wait for the portals. We call every buyer who has missed out on a comparable condo in the last ninety days, every agent with a matching buyer, and every investor tracking Los Portillos.
From open ended to a deadline
Saturday, October 3 at 2:00 PM. Every enquiry, inspection and conversation now points at one date, which is the single most powerful thing we can give a hesitant buyer.
From negotiating down to bidding up
Today every offer starts below your number and works down. On auction day buyers start below and are pushed up by each other. The direction of travel reverses.
Pricing Strategy
Our core objective is simple and it never changes: achieve the maximum price the market is willing to pay for 96 Abrigo. Price is not something we declare at the start. It is the outcome of a process, and the quality of that process determines the number you sign for.
Relaunch Price Guide
$525K+
We relaunch with a guide from $525,000. This is a deliberate entry point engineered to pull the maximum number of qualified buyers through the door in the first ten days. It is not a valuation, it is not a reduction, and it is emphatically not a ceiling.
The $575,000 asking price has been tested by the market for weeks and has produced no contract. A guide that sits just beneath the search threshold most buyers use captures an entirely new audience, and those buyers then compete their way back up past it.
Your reserve remains private and entirely yours
Why not simply reduce again?
A reduction on an aging listing reads as weakness. It tells every watching buyer that another reduction is coming, so the rational move is to wait rather than to offer.
Why not hold at $575,000?
It has already been tested. A fixed asking price becomes a ceiling, because no buyer offers above the number on the sign. Competition, not a price tag, is what takes a result past expectation.
Why a guide that can rise?
An upward revision is the most powerful signal in a campaign. It tells the market demand is real, it validates the buyers already engaged, and it moves them from watching to acting.
Where does the reserve sit?
We set the reserve privately with you in auction week, after three weeks of real evidence. The home never sells below it, so a low guide carries no risk to you.
"A compelling value proposition attracts the buyers. A clever, strategically sound pricing strategy converts that attraction into competition. You need both."
Attract
Maximum enquiry, inspections and engagement in the first ten days.
Optimize
Qualify buyers, gather feedback, and lift the guide as evidence allows.
Compete
Bring qualified buyers together on one day where they must act.
For context: the home is currently offered at $575,000, or $657 per square foot, with an automated estimate of $573,900 and a tax assessed value of $406,202. Estimates disagree, and every week on market widens that disagreement. October 3 replaces all of it with one number that real buyers actually bid.
The Competition
In this price band in Rancho Santa Margarita a buyer will shortlist several two bedroom condominiums in a single Saturday. Most of them are interior facing, on a shared stairwell, with an original kitchen and an older HVAC. Our entire job is to make sure that on the way home, they are still thinking about yours.
One of the most private positions in the community, with green, scenic views from the living room, the primary bedroom and the patio. Competing units look at another building. This is the single hardest thing for a rival listing to copy, so we lead every asset with it.
Upgraded kitchen with granite counters, farmhouse stainless sink, recessed lighting and modern finishes, plus a new central HVAC system. Buyers at this price are comparing against units needing $40,000 and six months of work.
All bedrooms on one level with direct patio access. That matters enormously to downsizers, to buyers with mobility in mind and to long term holders, and it is a niche we will target directly rather than hope finds us.
Resort style community pool and spa, foothills, hiking and biking on the doorstep, and shopping and dining minutes away. Competing listings mention these. We will film them.
The competing units will sell subject to financing, appraisal and inspection contingencies. Ours sells unconditionally on the day, which is worth real money to a seller and real credibility to the buyer pool.
Every other unit is a listing. Yours becomes a dated event with a countdown, a bidder register and a crowd on the day. Scarcity and social proof are what separate a shortlist from a signature.
The Marketing Program
Most listings are advertised. Yours will be campaigned. Our strategy, methodology, creative and collateral are built to a standard no other brokerage in this market delivers, because attraction is the engine of price.
Twilight, aerial, lifestyle stills and a directed property film shot in one coordinated production day. Every asset is created for this home, never templated, and nothing from the previous campaign is reused.
A standalone site for 96 Abrigo with the full media suite, floor plan, disclosures and a bidder registration path. Shareable, trackable, and built to convert.
Multi-wave paid social and search, geo and interest targeted across South Orange County, the Inland Empire and Los Angeles commuter corridors, with retargeting that follows engaged buyers for the full three weeks.
Direct outreach to our qualified buyer database and the Realty of America agent network, plus personal calls to every buyer who has recently missed out on a comparable condominium.
Targeted programs for first home buyers using FHA and VA financing, for 1031 exchange and rental yield investors, and for relocation buyers moving into South Orange County.
Broker preview, twilight tour, weekend open homes and private appointments, each one staged, hosted and followed up with structured feedback captured for you.
Our Philosophy
96 Abrigo offers privacy, an outlook and a level of finish that most buyers in this price band never get to see. A home like this deserves more than exposure, it deserves the right strategy.
The traditional approach is simple: list it, price it, and wait. If the market doesn't respond, the price gets reduced, and over time, that can quietly work against you. Time on market doesn't create value. It erodes it.
At Sellers Reserve we take a different path. We don't just list, we position, and we build a structured campaign engineered to engage the entire market at once, rather than letting it trickle in over time.
Reposition
Elevate how the home is perceived in the market.
Relaunch
A high-impact campaign engineered for maximum attention.
Qualify
Reach out to and pre-screen serious, capable buyers.
Compress
A defined window creates real urgency.
Compete
Bring buyers together where they have to act.
Close
Let the market compete with itself, not with you. Competition is the ultimate driver of price.
"The ideal buyer pays the ideal price. Our job is to attract the right buyers, not just any buyer, and create the conditions for them to compete."
Control & Flexibility
Your reserve price ensures 96 Abrigo will never sell below a level you accept. You retain control throughout the entire campaign, and a lower price guide carries no downside because the reserve, not the guide, protects you.
And if the home doesn't sell under the hammer on October 3, we don't start over. We move immediately into Phase II, where, from a position of strength, we negotiate with the buyers who have already qualified, engaged, and committed to the buying process.
Staying on the current path has a cost too, and it is already being paid: carrying costs, HOA dues, and a listing that grows quieter every week it stays visible.
The Traditional Trap
Limited Initial Exposure
Buyer interest builds slowly, dampening momentum at the very moment a campaign should launch.
No Clear Timeframe
Without a defined deadline, urgency drops and decisions get deferred.
Isolated Negotiations
Buyers act independently, limiting competition and overall leverage.
Extended Time on Market
Prolonged exposure affects perception and, eventually, the price.
A clear difference in approach
| Traditional Sale | SR Auction | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing Approach | A fixed asking price can set an upper ceiling on offers. | A price guide that can rise with demand. No ceiling. |
| Timeframe | No deadline; can sit on the market for a long time. | Defined campaign schedule leading to a specific sale date. |
| Sale Conditions | Often subject to financing, inspection, or other contingencies. | Unconditional sale, providing greater certainty. |
| Buyer Motivation | Without a deadline, buyers can delay or negotiate harder. | A defined date creates urgency and prompts decisive action. |
| Negotiation Style | Private, one-on-one negotiations limit competitive pressure. | Real-time competitive bidding often pushes price higher than expected. |
| Market Perception | An aging listing feels like a waiting game, reducing momentum. | Positioned as an event, generating interest and energy. |
| Price Adjustments | May require reductions if initial pricing is too high. | Guide moves upward as demand is proven. |
| Buyer Pool | May attract conditional or less committed buyers. | Buyers are prepared and ready to meet terms. |
27
Years at the front line of premium real estate
2,000+
Properties successfully sold
25
Years Lucy has been helping families across Southern California
The Property
96 Abrigo, Unit 67, sits in one of the most desirable and private positions in the Los Portillos community, with peaceful seclusion and scenic views from the living room, the primary bedroom and the private covered patio.
The upgraded kitchen features granite countertops, a farmhouse style stainless sink, recessed lighting and modern finishes. A new central HVAC system, an attached garage with laundry, and a resort style community pool and spa complete a genuinely low maintenance home, minutes from shopping, dining, hiking and biking in the foothills.
Bedrooms
2
Bathrooms
2
Interior
875 sq ft
Level
Single level · all bedrooms down
Garage
1 car · laundry inside
Community
Los Portillos · pool & spa
Built 1992 · HOA $506 per month, Los Portillos, includes pool and spa · CRMLS #PW26182892
The Method
The most advanced and effective way to sell real estate in California today. A proprietary platform that creates a high-energy competitive environment among qualified buyers, driving urgency and revealing the property's true market value, in the open.
You hold the reserve. Buyers compete openly. The market, not negotiation, sets the price.
We do not advertise a price and wait. We build a compressed three week campaign designed to attract the widest possible pool of genuine buyers, then convert that attention into inspections, feedback and registered bidders.
An open, on-site forum where qualified buyers reveal true market demand in real time. No back-channel negotiation, no guesswork, no buyer holding information you cannot see.
A defined date, defined terms and an unconditional contract. After weeks of waiting, you finally know exactly when this home sells, and on your terms, with the reserve always in your hands.
"Get the process right, and the price will take care of itself."
Timeline
From the reposition and media day the week of September 14, to the relaunch and broker preview on Wednesday September 23, to the hammer falling on Saturday, October 3 at 2:00 PM, every day is staged.
September 14 to 20, 2026
September 21 to 27, 2026
September 28 to October 3, 2026
Auction Day
A live, on-site auction staged at 96 Abrigo with registered, pre-qualified bidders. Open and transparent. Unconditional contract signed on the day. You hold the reserve.
Auction Day
Your Team
Listing Agent
Realtor® · Realty of America
A Realtor since 2000, Lucy has spent twenty five years helping Southern California families buy and sell, and she is known for taking on the properties other agents find difficult. Clients describe her as exceptionally experienced and efficient, with deep market knowledge and the persistence to see a complicated sale through.
On 96 Abrigo, Lucy leads the buyer relationships, the open homes and the private tours, converting genuine interest into qualified, deposited bidders on auction day.
realtorlucy@outlook.com · (562) 577-1705
CA DRE #01292222 · www.realtorlucy.com
Realty of America · ROA California Inc.
Founder & CEO
Founder, CEO · Sellers Reserve
Twenty-seven years at the front line of high-performance real estate and more than 2,000 homes sold. A leading auction specialist, keynote speaker and operator, Michael founded Sellers Reserve to give sellers a transparent, certain alternative to the traditional listing.
michael@sellersreserve.com · +1 949 887 0350
CA DRE #02076897
The Brokerage
Lucy sells under ROA California Inc., a modern brokerage built around agent ownership, national reach and a technology stack designed for exactly this kind of campaign: syndicated exposure, integrated buyer capture and fast, transparent transaction management. It means a boutique level of personal attention for you, with the marketing reach of a national platform behind it.
National network
Agent to agent referral reach across the country, put to work on buyer outreach.
Technology led
Integrated listing syndication, lead capture and campaign reporting.
Personal service
One agent accountable to you, from relaunch through to close of escrow.
REALTY OF AMERICA · ROA California Inc. · Sellers Reserve is an auction marketing platform operating in partnership with the listing brokerage.
Further Viewing
The thinking behind the method, in Michael's own words.
Time Kills Price
Why Auction?
Investment
Two distinct services, priced separately. Realty of America provides the brokerage representation. Sellers Reserve provides and funds the auction campaign. One does not subsidise or inflate the other, and both are payable only on a successful sale.
Zero out of pocket marketing cost to you
Listing side representation, contract negotiation, disclosure management, escrow oversight and close. Paid to the brokerage at close of escrow, exactly as it would be on any conventional sale. Any compensation offered to a buyer's agent is a separate decision, entirely at your discretion.
A single flat fee covering the entire auction program. Sellers Reserve funds the campaign up front, you are never invoiced for marketing.
Independent of the brokerage commission
Traditional auction houses add a 10 to 15% buyer's premium on top of the winning bid. We do not, because it is counter productive. Buyers simply deduct it from what they are willing to bid, so the seller ends up paying for it indirectly, and it pulls the bidder into a calculating, analytical mindset at the exact moment you want them bidding with emotion.
Contingent on a successful sale. No sale, no fee.
Our commitment is to take full responsibility for everything within our control, strategy, positioning, marketing execution, buyer engagement, and negotiation, and to approach the campaign with absolute commitment to the best possible result.
No agent, platform, or method can fully control the price the market is willing to pay. What we can do is influence the market and create the conditions for the best outcome, and that is exactly what we are built to do.
Next Step
Approving the relaunch this week secures the October 3 auction date, the September 23 relaunch, the media day and the full marketing calendar, so you know exactly when 96 Abrigo sells.