I've built my career where real estate gets hard.
Bank-owned homes, short sales, portfolios and owners facing a deadline. Here's how I got here, and why I co-founded Capital Distress Advisors with Francisco Williams, CCIM.
Owners deserve straight numbers, most of all when time is short.
- License
- Real estate salesperson, California DRE #01433767, licensed since May 2004
- Brokerage
- eXp Realty of California, Inc., DRE #01878277
- Practice
- Co-principal, Capital Distress Advisors
- Counties
- Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino
- Phone
- (562) 858-7065
I got my California real estate license in 2004. A few years later the market turned, and much of my work became bank-owned homes and short sales. I learned what lenders need to approve a sale, how to price a property nobody is living in, and how to talk with families who are losing a home.
That work also taught me broker price opinions, property management and bulk sales: the back office of a hard market. It made me better at the front side too.
Today I work residential and commercial sales and leasing with eXp Realty of California, and I coach newer agents.
I also teach: commercial foreclosure trainings for agents, on Zoom and in person.
In 2026 I co-founded Capital Distress Advisors with Francisco Williams, CCIM, so that owners who receive a foreclosure notice know where to start.
My career, market by market
-
2004
The boom years
Licensed as a California real estate agent
Salesperson license issued May 18, 2004.
California DRE record -
2008
The foreclosure wave
Bank-owned homes and short sales
REO listings, broker price opinions, short sales and property management become the core of my work.
My own account -
2017
The recovery
Listed in NAHREP's California list
California Latino Real Estate Agents, in NAHREP's 2017 Top 250 Latino Agents report: 32 residential sides closed in 2016, listed as Gay-Lynn Barnes, RE/MAX College Park Realty. Agents nominate themselves; brokers confirm the numbers.
NAHREP 2017 report, p. 27 -
2022
The rate shock
Moves my license to eXp
First eXp Commercial of California, then eXp Realty of California, Inc., my responsible broker today.
California DRE record -
2026
Now
Co-founds Capital Distress Advisors and teaches foreclosure
With Francisco Williams, CCIM, for owners facing a foreclosure notice in Southern California. Commercial foreclosure trainings for agents, on Zoom and in Anaheim.
My channel, 2026
Public-record items link to their source.
Recognition
Named to the California Latino Real Estate Agents list in the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP) 2017 Top 250 Latino Agents Award report, with 32 residential transaction sides closed in 2016. Listed under my former name, Gay-Lynn Barnes, at RE/MAX College Park Realty, Los Alamitos.
Source: NAHREP 2017 Top 250 report, p. 27. Agents nominate themselves and their brokers confirm the numbers.
Let's talk about your property.
The first call is free. You decide what happens next.
We are real estate licensees, not a law firm, and we don't give legal or tax advice. If you need legal advice, we can refer you to an independent attorney. Only your lender, the trustee, or a court can change a sale date.