Best Real Estate Agents in Marin County (2026 Guide)

Marin County has no single housing market: Novato and San Rafael along Highway 101 and the SMART line, the hillside towns of southern Marin, the Ross Valley, the Tiburon Peninsula and the ranch and coast country of West Marin each sell differently. Pick an agent with recent sales in the part of the county you’re buying or selling in. Below are licensed agents whose public profiles name Marin County or its towns, with links to their state license records.

Prices are high and inventory is thin. The median existing single-family home sold for $1,678,750 in September 2026, up 1.7% from a year earlier, and C.A.R. singled out Marin for the steepest decline in active listings, down 32.1% year over year.

Marin County by the numbers

Census QuickFacts, 2020-2024 estimates.

About 253,700 people live on Marin’s 520 square miles of land, and much of it is protected: Point Reyes National Seashore alone has a gross area of about 71,055 acres (National Park Service). In the three months to August 2026, Marin homes sold in a median of 36 days at 101.2% of list price, 40.7% went for more than the asking price, and only 15.9% of listings took a price cut (Redfin).

The county median of about $1.51 million over those months hides a wide spread. Novato’s median was about $1.1 million (Redfin) and Mill Valley’s about $1.9 million (Redfin). Ross came in at $3.4 million in the three months to July (Redfin), and Stinson Beach’s three-month median was $4.2 million on just six September sales (Redfin).

Utilities split the county, too. Marin Water, chartered in 1912 as California’s first municipal water district, serves more than 191,000 people in central and southern Marin (Marin Water), and about 75% of its supply begins as rain on its own watershed lands (Marin Water). Novato draws about 80% of its water from the Russian River through the North Marin Water District (NMWD).

Belvedere, the Ross Valley and West Marin

This county guide also covers communities with too few sales for a separate agent list. Agents who name them, or Marin County generally, appear in the table below.

Belvedere

Belvedere is its own small city on the Tiburon Peninsula, so permits for home construction come from Belvedere City Hall, which also runs a parks, open spaces and lanes committee (City of Belvedere). Commuters use the Tiburon ferry landing at the foot of Tiburon Boulevard, which has had weekday Golden Gate service to San Francisco since March 2017 (Golden Gate Ferry). Belvedere does not appear on the published list of Measure C wildfire taxing entities (Frontline Wildfire Defense), so ask the city which vegetation rules apply to a given lot.

Ross, Kentfield and Greenbrae

The Town of Ross is one of the Measure C taxing entities, and so is the Kentfield Fire Protection District (Frontline Wildfire Defense). Ross homes sold in an average of 14 days in the three months to July 2026 (Redfin). The College of Marin’s Kentfield campus is at 835 College Avenue in Kentfield (College of Marin). In Greenbrae, MarinHealth Medical Center sits at 250 Bon Air Road; its new hospital opened in fall 2020 (MarinHealth).

West Marin coast and valleys

In Stinson Beach, the county water district runs both the water system and an onsite wastewater management program for local septic systems (Stinson Beach County Water District). Bolinas is stricter still: its utility district declared a water shortage emergency in November 1971, and the moratorium on new connections to the town water supply is still in effect (BCPUD), so it matters a great deal whether a parcel already has a connection. Tomales Bay State Park lies four miles north of Inverness on the bay’s west side (California State Parks), and Lawson’s Landing, first established in 1929, sits at the mouth of the bay in Dillon Beach (Lawson’s Landing).

Short-term rental licenses are capped township by township in Dillon Beach, Inverness, Marshall, Stinson Beach, Bolinas and the valley communities of Lagunitas and Forest Knolls, with waitlists where demand exceeds the cap (Marin County). The Lagunitas School District, based in San Geronimo, traces its roots to an 1872 district formed to serve area ranches (Lagunitas School District).

Rules and costs that apply across Marin

• Transfer tax: the county charges $0.55 for each $500 of value, or $1.10 per $1,000. San Rafael adds $2.00 per $1,000, with no exclusion for assumed liens, and the county form lists no other city tax (Marin County Assessor-Recorder transfer tax form). On a $1,678,750 home that is about $1,850 in county tax.
• Wildfire tax: Measure C, approved by 70.8% of voters (Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority), funds the authority for ten years, through fiscal 2029/30, and was expected to raise about $19 million a year (Frontline Wildfire Defense). Inspectors from Marin Wildfire and local fire departments evaluate defensible space and home hardening across its 17 member jurisdictions (Marin Wildfire).
• Fire zones at sale: CAL FIRE maps for state responsibility areas took effect April 1, 2024, and local-area recommendations were released in four phases in February and March 2025 (State Fire Marshal maps). In High and Very High zones, the seller must supply a recent defensible-space inspection or a written agreement for the buyer to comply (State Fire Marshal).
• Insurance: six of the 10 largest home insurance groups have committed to stay and grow in California, and the FAIR Plan added about 16,000 residential policies in the first quarter of 2026, fewer than in earlier quarters (California Department of Insurance). Get quotes before you remove contingencies.
• Short-term rentals: unincorporated Marin allows at most 1,200 licenses, not counting Dillon Beach, and a new license costs $600 (Marin County). Inside a city, city rules govern; Sausalito bans stays under 30 days (City of Sausalito).
• Septic: the county is rewriting its septic program for adoption targeted at the end of 2026. Buyers should request septic records and evaluations, and an addition or ADU can trigger a septic review (Marin County Environmental Health).
• Transit: SMART has six Marin stops, three in Novato, two in San Rafael and one in Larkspur (SMART). Golden Gate ferries have served Sausalito since 1970, Larkspur since December 1976 and Tiburon on weekdays since 2017 (Golden Gate Ferry).

Licensed agents serving Marin County

After our own listing, agents appear alphabetically. Each one names Marin County, a Marin town or a part of the county such as West Marin on a public profile, and the last column shows which of those areas their profile lists. Town-by-town lists are in our guides for Novato, San Rafael, Mill Valley, Sausalito, Corte Madera, Larkspur, San Anselmo, Fairfax and Tiburon.

22 agents, in alphabetical order. Each one names Marin County or a community in it on a public profile; the last column shows which.

Questions to put to a Marin County agent

1. Which part of Marin do you actually work in? A Novato tract home, a Mill Valley hillside lot and a Bolinas cottage draw different buyers. Ask for the addresses of recent sales near yours.
2. Which water and sewer districts serve the address? Marin Water, North Marin Water District and the small West Marin districts set different rules, and in Bolinas a parcel without service may not be able to get it.
3. What does the city require at sale? Mill Valley, for example, wants a sewer lateral inspection report before title transfers (Mill Valley Municipal Code).
4. Has the home had a Marin Wildfire evaluation? Ask for the report and for any corrections the inspector listed.
5. For coastal and rural property, ask how the agent checks septic records, short-term rental eligibility and the permit history of additions.
6. Look up the license yourself through the DRE link in the table, and talk to at least two agents before you sign.

Town-level lists and local detail are in our guides for Novato, San Rafael, Mill Valley and Sausalito.

Marin County agent FAQ

How much transfer tax is due when a Marin home sells?

The county rate is $1.10 per $1,000 of value. In San Rafael the total is $3.10 per $1,000, because the city adds $2.00. Who pays is set in the purchase contract.

Do I need a different agent for West Marin?

It helps to use one who has sold there. Water connections, septic systems and township caps on short-term rental licenses come up far more often than in central Marin.

Can I rent out a Marin home by the night?

It depends on the address. Unincorporated areas need a county license, and some townships have waitlists; Sausalito bans stays under 30 days; Mill Valley requires a business license and registration.

Why do some agents in the table list only “Marin County”?

Their profiles name the county rather than specific towns. Ask them which towns they have sold in during the past year.

Sources & notes

• California DRE license lookup
• Census QuickFacts: Marin County
• C.A.R. September 2026; Redfin for Marin County, Novato, Mill Valley, Ross and Stinson Beach; Point Reyes National Seashore statistics
• Marin County Assessor-Recorder transfer tax form; Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority; Marin Wildfire evaluations; Frontline Wildfire Defense on Measure C; State Fire Marshal maps; State Fire Marshal AB 38 bulletin; California Department of Insurance
• Marin Water; Marin Water system; North Marin Water District; BCPUD moratorium; Stinson Beach County Water District; Marin County LAMP; Marin County short-term rentals
• City of Belvedere; College of Marin; MarinHealth; Tomales Bay State Park; Lawson's Landing; Lagunitas School District; SMART; Golden Gate Ferry; City of Sausalito; Mill Valley Municipal Code

Last reviewed October 2026 by Matthew Martinez.