CA
San Francisco Real Estate
City and county. Kate has worked SF since 2006, across SOMA, the Mission, the Richmond and the Pacific Heights area.
The most micro of the micro-markets
Everywhere in the Bay Area, location moves price. In San Francisco it moves it over the space of two blocks.
The same square footage, the same year built, the same condition, two streets apart, can have a different price and a completely different buyer pool. Hills, fog, transit, parking and what is on the corner all do real work here, and none of it shows up in a listing filter.
I have worked the city since 2006, across SOMA, the Mission, the Richmond and the Pacific Heights area among others.
Buying in the city
San Francisco has the widest gap in the Bay Area between what a list price says and what a property actually trades for. Underpricing to generate competition is common practice here, which means the number you filter on may have very little to do with the number you would need.
Reading that correctly is most of the job. Before you write, I pull what genuinely sold nearby and tell you where I think this one lands.
Property type matters here more than in the suburbs. Condominiums, tenancies-in-common and single family homes have different financing, different ownership structures and different resale profiles, and the differences are not obvious from a photograph. If you are looking at a TIC, that is a conversation to have properly before you fall for the unit.
Selling in the city
San Francisco is competitive on the seller side too, which is exactly why the pre-launch work matters. In a city where buyers see dozens of listings a week, going live quietly is how a good property gets overlooked.
The launch approach is on the How I Sell page: identify the buyer, condition the audience with video before it lists, then land everything at once inside the first seven to ten days.
Around the city
Plenty of people looking at San Francisco should also be looking at Alameda County or the northern part of San Mateo County, where the money frequently goes further and the commute is genuinely workable. I will say so when that is the case.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do San Francisco listings sell so far over asking?
Because underpricing to create competition is common practice here. The list price is frequently a strategy rather than a value, which is why I tell you what a property is likely to trade at before you write.
What is a TIC?
A tenancy-in-common, a shared ownership structure common in San Francisco. It finances differently from a condominium and resells differently. It can be a good buy, and it needs to be understood before you commit rather than after.
Buying in San Francisco
The method
How we do it in San Francisco
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