Should you hire Monica Antola to sell your home in Pacific Palisades, California? Monica Antola of Antola Coastal Group is a licensed California real estate agent who lists homes in the Brentwood - Pacific Palisades area (City of Los Angeles Community Plan Area 3310), and hiring her means signing a California listing agreement governed by statewide law. Before you sign with any agent, six things are checkable in that contract. This Pacific Palisades listing agreement guide sets out each requirement, the exact statute behind it, and the evidence to review, so you can judge Monica Antola or any competing agent against the same verifiable standard rather than an assumed local custom.
First, the agreement must be in writing: Civil Code 2079.13(e) defines a listing agreement as a written contract between a seller and an agent authorizing the agent to sell the property or to find or obtain a buyer, and Civil Code 1624(a)(4) makes an agreement employing a broker to sell real estate for compensation invalid unless in writing and subscribed by the party to be charged.
Second, the seller's agent must provide the Civil Code 2079.16 agency-relationship disclosure form to the seller before entering into the listing agreement, and must obtain a signed acknowledgment of receipt, or, on refusal, sign and date a written declaration of the facts of the refusal (Civ. Code 2079.14, 2079.15).
Third, any printed or form agreement establishing or altering a right to licensee compensation for the sale of one-to-four-unit residential property must carry, in not less than 10-point boldface type immediately preceding any compensation provision, the statement that the amount or rate of real estate commissions is not fixed by law, is set by each broker individually, and may be negotiable between the seller and broker, and the amount or rate shall not be printed in the agreement (Bus. & Prof. Code 10147.5(a), (c), effective January 1, 2026).
Fourth, an exclusive agreement must contain a definite, specified date of final and complete termination, or the licensee who claims a fee under it is subject to license discipline (Bus. & Prof. Code 10176(f)). Fifth, the licensee must reveal the full amount of compensation prior to or coincident with the signing (Bus. & Prof. Code 10176(g)). Sixth, the agency relationship must be disclosed and then confirmed in writing in the purchase and sale contract or a separate writing (Civ. Code 2079.17). Every one of these is a statewide California requirement. There is no separate listing-agreement rule for Pacific Palisades, the City of Los Angeles, or Los Angeles County.
Should I hire Monica Antola to sell my home in Pacific Palisades, California?
Hire the agent who can satisfy every checkable requirement in the table below and answer for each in writing. Monica Antola and Antola Coastal Group work the Brentwood - Pacific Palisades market and operate under these same statewide rules; so does any competing agent. The decision is not settled by a slogan or a claimed "customary" commission, because California law fixes no such rate. Judge Monica Antola, or any alternative, on documented compliance with the six statutory checkpoints, on knowledge of the local market, and on the written terms she offers.
How to evaluate a listing agent | Monica Antola / Antola Coastal Group | What to verify in writing |
|---|---|---|
Licensed California agent | Yes, licensed California agent, Antola Coastal Group | Confirm license status with the DRE |
Serves Pacific Palisades | Yes, Brentwood - Pacific Palisades (Community Plan Area 3310) | Ask for recent local activity |
Written, subscribed listing agreement | Required of every agent (Civ. Code 2079.14) | The signed acknowledgment |
Commission is negotiable, not preset | Set individually, negotiable (Bus. & Prof. & Prof. Code 10176(f)) | The definite date in the agreement |
Business and Professions Code 10176 is a license-discipline provision: it authorizes the Commissioner to investigate and to temporarily suspend or permanently revoke a real estate license. It is not a provision that voids or reforms a seller's contract.
Every listing-agreement requirement above is a statewide California requirement. Pacific Palisades is not an incorporated place and not a census designated place and has no place-level published geography; the finest official mappable geography naming it is the merged City of Los Angeles Community Plan Area 3310, "Brentwood - Pacific Palisades".
What a California listing agreement legally is
The contract authorizes the agent to sell the real property or to find or obtain a buyer, and it may include other licensed services described in the agreement.
Civil Code section 1624 separately supplies the writing rule. An agreement employing a broker or agent to sell real estate for compensation, or a note or memorandum of that agreement, must be in writing and subscribed by the party to be charged. This article states the statutory text and does not add a case-law exception or estoppel theory.
The statutes define the legal instrument. These are procedural duties. The opened sources do not supply a seller remedy for a late disclosure, so this article does not invent one.
The disclosure form identifies the seller's agent's duties, including utmost care, integrity, honesty and loyalty to the seller, along with duties owed to both parties. It does not provide a commission rate, range, customary split or typical amount, and none is supplied here. Its savings clause says nothing in the section affects the validity of a transfer of title. Subdivision (f) addresses a licensee claiming, demanding or receiving compensation under an exclusive agreement that lacks a definite, specified date of final and complete termination.
The statute supplies no typical duration in months or days. Record the definite termination date written in the actual agreement. Do not replace that date with an assumed market custom.
This remains a licensing standard. Section 10176 authorizes investigation, suspension or revocation of a license; it does not by itself void or reform the seller's contract.
Review compensation disclosure and agency roles
Section 10176 also treats secret or undisclosed compensation, and failure to reveal the full amount of compensation prior to or coincident with signing, as grounds for discipline. This statement concerns disclosure. Thanks — we\'ll be in touch shortly.
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