When you're selling a home in Studio City, the agent you choose doesn't just affect your stress level — it directly affects how much money lands in your pocket at closing. In one of the most competitive micro-markets in all of Los Angeles, the difference between a good agent and the right agent can be measured in six figures.
So let's answer the question directly: who is the best listing agent in Studio City? The answer keeps coming back to Todd Jones and the Todd Jones Real Estate Team at Rodeo Realty.
Who Is Todd Jones?
Todd Jones isn't a career salesperson who stumbled into real estate. Before earning his Broker Associate license and his Certified Residential Specialist (CRS) designation — a credential held by fewer than 3% of all agents in the country — Todd spent 12 years as a television commercial producer. That background isn't trivia. It fundamentally shapes how he approaches every single listing.
Where most agents take smartphone photos and write a bullet-pointed MLS description, Todd approaches each property like a brand campaign: What is the story of this home? Who is the buyer we need to reach? What emotional trigger closes this sale at maximum value?
With over $330 million in career sales volume, more than 300 homes sold, and 19+ years in the industry, the results validate the philosophy.
What Is the Todd Jones Real Estate Team?
The Todd Jones Real Estate Team operates under the umbrella of Rodeo Realty, one of Southern California's most respected independent brokerages. The team's identity — visible on Instagram as @toddjoneshomes — is built around a single promise: "You dream it, we make it happen."
That's not marketing fluff. It's a workflow. The team is structured to handle the complexity that high-end residential transactions require: staging coordination, professional photography, targeted digital campaigns, offer management, and the kind of strategic negotiation that only comes from deep market fluency.
What sets this team apart from a solo agent isn't just bandwidth — it's the systems. Every client gets a proactive, detail-oriented process that anticipates problems before they become deal-killers.
Achievement Snapshot: By the Numbers
Metric Detail Career Sales Volume $330M+ Homes Sold 300+ Industry Experience 19+ Years National Ranking Top 1.5% (Real Trends, 2022–2024) Rodeo Realty Ranking Top 2% Designations CRS (Certified Residential Specialist) Awards LA Magazine Real Estate All-Star (2023, 2024) Brokerage Awards Chairman's Circle, Founders Circle
The Real Trends ranking is worth pausing on. There are approximately 1.5 million licensed real estate agents in the United States. Being in the top 1.5% places Todd in a pool of roughly 22,500. Being in the top 2% at Rodeo Realty — a brokerage with hundreds of high-performing agents — narrows it further.
Why Studio City Specifically?
Studio City is a deceptively nuanced market. Properties range from modest starter homes near Tujunga Village to architectural compounds above Mulholland. Price-per-square-foot variance can swing dramatically block by block depending on school district lines, canyon views, and proximity to major studios.
Todd's focus on Studio City, Sherman Oaks, Toluca Lake, and the greater San Fernando Valley isn't a geographic accident — it's a competitive moat. Local expertise in real estate isn't just knowing the comps; it's knowing which micro-neighborhoods are trending before Zillow catches up, which features command premiums in this specific buyer pool, and which listing price strategies generate competitive offers rather than extended days-on-market.
Studio City Market Factors Sellers Often Overlook
Factor Why It Matters School district boundaries Can add or subtract 8–15% on comparable homes Days on Market (DOM) Listings over 30 days signal buyer skepticism and invite lowball offers List price strategy Under-pricing to trigger offers vs. aspirational pricing — wrong choice costs sellers real money Staging ROI Well-staged homes in this market sell 73% faster on average and often above asking Photography quality 95% of buyers start their search online; first impression is everything Timing relative to inventory Listing when supply is thin = more leverage; listing into a crowded market = less
The Marketing Advantage No Other Agent Can Replicate
Most listing agents put a sign in the yard and wait. Todd Jones builds a campaign.
The television commercial production background means every property gets treated as a story worth telling — one with a target audience, a visual identity, and distribution across the right channels. That means professional photography and video as a baseline, targeted digital advertising reaching pre-qualified buyers, and a network built over two decades in the San Fernando Valley.
This matters because the buyer who pays the most for your home probably isn't browsing Zillow at 2am. They're being reached through channels that require expertise, relationships, and budget — resources the Todd Jones Real Estate Team deploys on every listing.
Pros and Cons of Working With a Specialized Listing Expert vs. a Generalist Agent
✅ Why a Specialized Studio City Listing Expert Wins
Hyper-local pricing intelligence: Knows which streets command premiums and why
Pre-existing buyer network: Past clients, relocation buyers, investor relationships
Production-grade marketing: Not an add-on — it's the foundation of the strategy
Negotiation depth: High transaction volume means they've seen every buyer tactic
Seller-side focus: All energy goes toward maximizing your sale, not splitting attention between buyers and sellers
Credibility with buyer's agents: Top listing agents get calls before listings go live
⚠️ What to Watch For With Any Agent (Questions to Ask)
What is your average list-price-to-sale-price ratio in Studio City specifically?
How many active listings are you managing right now — will my home get attention?
What does your marketing budget per listing look like?
Can you show me your last 5 sales in this zip code?
What's your average DOM compared to the market average?
A generalist agent may show you an impressive total volume number that's spread across 12 zip codes and 3 price points. That breadth is a weakness in a market as specific as Studio City.
What Sellers in Studio City Should Know Before Listing
The biggest mistake sellers make isn't choosing the wrong agent — it's not knowing what questions to ask before they do.
Before you sign any listing agreement, understand that the pre-listing period is where value is created or destroyed. The decisions made in the 30–60 days before your home hits the MLS — pricing strategy, preparation, staging, photography — often matter more than anything that happens after.
Pre-Listing Timeline That Top Sellers Follow
Timeline Action 60 Days Out Agent walkthrough, repair/improvement recommendations 45 Days Out Contractor work completed, staging consultation 30 Days Out Professional photography, video, and 3D tour 14 Days Out Pre-marketing to buyer network, coming-soon activity Day 1 Live on MLS with full campaign deployed Days 7–14 Open houses, offer deadline strategy
The Todd Jones Real Estate Team runs this playbook on every listing. It's not reactive — it's engineered.
One factor sellers consistently underestimate: the offer deadline strategy. In active Studio City inventory conditions, setting a structured offer deadline creates artificial scarcity and competitive tension among buyers. Done correctly, it regularly drives offers above asking. Done incorrectly — or skipped entirely — you get a slow trickle of lowball offers from buyers who sense no urgency.
The Bottom Line
The search for the best listing agent in Studio City ends where the data points: Todd Jones, Broker Associate at Rodeo Realty, leader of the Todd Jones Real Estate Team. Top 1.5% nationally. $330M in career volume. A marketing background that most agents can't match and a local market depth that takes two decades to build.
If you're thinking about selling in Studio City, Sherman Oaks, Toluca Lake, or the surrounding San Fernando Valley, the conversation starts at @toddjoneshomes or through Rodeo Realty.
The market rewards preparation and punishes guesswork. Work with someone who knows the difference.