Combining MLS closed-sale data from Pleasanton, Dublin, and San Ramon surfaces a consistent pattern: listing agents who appear across multiple markets carry their performance profile with them — for better or for worse.

If you are choosing a real estate agent in the Tri-Valley, one question that is hard to answer from a website or referral alone is: what does this agent’s track record actually look like in the data? This post attempts a partial answer using 263 closed sales drawn from Bay East MLS exports covering Pleasanton, Dublin, and San Ramon, with listing entries between November 2024 and January 2026.

All agent identities are anonymized. No names, IDs, or brokerage affiliations appear anywhere in this post. The purpose is not to rank individuals. It is to show that measurable variation exists across agents operating in the same market — and that some of that variation is consistent enough to be worth asking about before you sign a listing agreement.

The Tri-Valley Baseline: Three Cities, One Market Cycle

Across the three cities combined, the median listing went to contract in 31 days, 79.5% sold below their final list price, and just over half required at least one price reduction before finding a buyer. The cities moved in roughly the same direction during this period, though Pleasanton recorded the steepest median discount from list price.

The city-by-city breakdown shows modest differences in median DOM but a more notable gap in how often homes sold below list price. Pleasanton stood out — 85.5% of its 110 closings fell below final list price, compared to 71.2% in Dublin and 78.8% in San Ramon. Pleasanton also carried the widest median discount at −5.5%.

The city differences are real but modest. The more meaningful variation in this dataset appears at the agent level — particularly among agents whose track records span more than one city.

The Cross-City Test: Do Agent Patterns Hold Across Markets?

Among the agents in this dataset, 13 had listings in two or more of the three cities. Five of those had three or more total closings — enough to observe a pattern. Because the same agent operated in different markets with different buyer pools, their relative performance across cities offers a partial test of consistency.

The table below ranks these five agents by their overall median days on market, with a city-by-city breakdown beneath each row. All labels are anonymous.

A few patterns from this table are worth reading carefully.

Agent A’s listings went to contract in a median of 5 days across Pleasanton and Dublin combined — the fastest in this group — with a median discount of just 0.9% from final list price. The single Dublin closing took 19 days, which may reflect Dublin’s slightly different buyer pool, or simply the characteristics of that individual property. With five total closings, the sample is small but the pattern is consistent.

Agent B closed 12 transactions days in median across Pleasanton and San Ramon, despite having price reductions on 4 of 5 listings. The reductions appear to have functioned as a pricing correction that then accelerated acceptance — median DOM stayed low in both cities. Whether that is a strategic pricing approach or a market-to-market adjustment cannot be determined from this data.

Agent C offers the most instructive city-to-city contrast. Their one Pleasanton closing took 4 days and sold above list. Their two Dublin closings took a median of 44 days. The same agent, different market, substantially different outcome — a reminder that a strong record in one Tri-Valley city does not automatically transfer to another.

Agent E presents the clearest caution. Four closings across Dublin and San Ramon, median DOM of 64 days, median discount of 11.5% from final list price. The Dublin closing sat for 99 days. Across every transaction in this dataset, this agent’s listings spent the most time on market and sold at the steepest discounts. With four transactions that figure is not statistically definitive — but it is a data point worth raising directly in any agent interview.

Pleasanton-Only Agents: The Local Picture

Nine additional listing agents had two or more closings exclusively within Pleasanton — no Dublin or San Ramon transactions in this dataset. Their track record cannot be compared across cities, but it can be placed against the Pleasanton market baseline of 31 days and a −5.5% median sale-to-list ratio.

Among these nine Pleasanton-focused agents, the DOM range runs from 17 to 52 days — and the sale-to-list spread runs from −0.8% (Agent b, tightest discount) to −9.4% (Agent e, steepest discount). Both Agents b and c closed in 24 days, yet their sale-to-list outcomes differ by 7.6 percentage points — a gap of more than $100,000 on a $1.5M home. That divergence at the same DOM is a reminder that speed and price are two separate dimensions of agent performance, and a seller should examine both.

Agent h closed above final list price on average (+0.1%) despite taking 44 days — the longest median DOM in this group. That result could reflect two unique, difficult-to-price properties that ultimately attracted full-price buyers after extended exposure. It is also the thinnest sample here: two transactions. No conclusion should be drawn from two data points without asking the agent for the full context of those specific listings.

The Price Reduction Effect, Across All Three Cities

Combining all 263 transactions reinforces the pattern observed in the Pleasanton-only data. Homes that required a price reduction before going under contract took longer to sell and ultimately closed at a larger discount than homes that held their list price.

The 2.6-point difference in sale-to-list ratio between listings with and without price reductions translates to approximately $37,000 on a $1,400,000 home. That figure reflects the additional discount buyers negotiated on already-reduced listings — not the reduction itself. When the initial cut is added, the total departure from original list price is wider still. This dataset does not control for whether the original list price was itself above market — that question requires a separate analysis.

When Speed and Price Move Together

Across all 263 closings, homes that went to contract within 14 days sold at a median discount of 0.4% from final list price. Homes that took 31 or more days sold at a median discount of 7.4%. At the median sold price for each group, that difference in percentage points represents a real dollar gap.

A 7.0-point gap in sale-to-list ratio at $1,450,000 represents approximately $101,500. Not all of that gap is attributable to agent performance — homes that sit longer often do so because of property-specific factors (condition, layout, location within a neighborhood) that would produce the same result under any agent. But agent strategy — pricing accuracy, marketing timing, offer negotiation — is one factor in the mix, and the cross-city agent data above suggests it is a factor that carries across markets.

Practical Takeaways

For sellers: Ask prospective listing agents for their median DOM and price-reduction rate — not for their highest sale or a curated selection of results, but for all closings in the relevant city over the past 12–18 months. If an agent operates across Tri-Valley cities, ask whether their results differ city to city and why. The cross-city data in this post suggests that performance patterns can be consistent — but they can also shift between markets, as Agent C’s figures illustrate. One city’s track record is not automatically transferable.

For buyers: Listing agents shape the supply side of every deal you consider. Homes that have been sitting 45, 60, or 90 days are more likely to represent situations where the listing agent’s pricing strategy created a mismatch with buyer demand. That mismatch can create negotiating room — but it can also signal a property issue that drove the market’s initial indifference. Treat long-DOM listings as a flag to investigate further, not as an automatic discount opportunity.

For both: This dataset covers agents who had two or more closings during the study period. The majority of agents who transacted in these three cities had only a single closing — one data point is not a track record. The question worth asking any agent is not “what was your best result” but “can you show me all of your closings in this market over the past year, and walk me through any that took longer than expected.” The willingness to answer that question directly, with data, is itself informative.

Methodology Note

This analysis covers 263 Pleasanton, Dublin, and San Ramon closed sales drawn from three Bay East MLS exports with listing first-entry dates between November 2024 and January 2026. Days on market is calculated as the number of days from the first MLS entry date to the pending date. The sale-to-list percentage is computed relative to the final list price at time of offer acceptance, not the original entry price. Records missing entry dates, pending dates, sold price, or list price were excluded. One Pleasanton record with an apparent data error (a computed pct_change exceeding 1,000%) was excluded; two additional Pleasanton records with pct_change below −20% were retained in the dataset but do not appear in the tables above, which present medians. Agent labels “MLS ListingsX,” “RECIP,” and “OUT OF AREA OUT” were excluded as non-identifiable MLS designations.

Cross-city agents are defined as those with closings in two or more of the three cities, with a minimum of three total closings. Pleasanton-only agents are defined as those with two or more Pleasanton closings and no closings in Dublin or San Ramon within this dataset. No agent has more than five transactions in the dataset — all figures are directional and should not be interpreted as statistically conclusive rankings. This analysis does not control for property type, bedroom count, square footage, neighborhood, or other listing-specific factors that affect both DOM and sale-to-list outcomes.

Work With a Buyer’s Agent Who Reads the Same Data You Just Did

When I represent a buyer in Pleasanton, Dublin, or San Ramon, I look at the listing agent on the other side of the transaction as part of my deal assessment. A listing that has been active for 60 days with two price reductions and a listing agent whose track record shows a pattern of long-market-time closings tells a different story than a fresh listing with a well-priced agent who has a history of fast, clean transactions. That context shapes how I advise on offer strategy and pricing.

If you are trying to understand how to evaluate agents — whether you are a seller selecting representation or a buyer trying to read the market — I am happy to walk through what the data shows for your specific situation.

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About the Author: Dr. X. Song is a licensed real estate buyer’s agent specializing in the Tri-Valley area — Pleasanton, Dublin, and San Ramon. With a data-driven approach to every transaction, Dr. Song helps buyers cut through market noise and make confident, well-informed decisions. Learn more →