San Francisco · Buying a Home
Buying a Home in San Francisco
You stop guessing at what a house is worth, and you stop losing offers you should have won.
Two blocks change everything here
Everywhere in the Bay Area location moves price. In San Francisco it moves it over the space of two streets. Same square footage, same year, same condition, a short walk apart, and you have a different price and a different buyer pool.
Hills, fog, transit, parking and what sits on the corner all do real work here, and none of it appears in a search filter. I have worked the city since 2006.
San Francisco list prices are the least literal in the region
Underpricing to generate competition is common practice here, more so than anywhere else in the Bay Area. Which means the number you are filtering on may have very little relationship to what you would actually need.
Read them literally and one of two things happens. You skip the house you could have won because you assumed it was out of reach, or you chase an aspirational listing that will sit for two months and then cut.
Before you write, I pull what genuinely sold nearby and tell you where I think this one lands.
Condo, TIC or single family is not a detail
San Francisco has ownership structures that barely exist elsewhere in the region, and they are not obvious from a photograph.
A condominium is a standard ownership structure with standard financing. A tenancy-in-common is shared ownership of a building, which finances differently and resells to a narrower pool. A single family home is its own market again.
A TIC can be a genuinely good buy, and it can also be the reason a property looks like a bargain. If you are considering one, that conversation happens properly before you fall for the unit, not during the contingency period.
How it runs
Seven steps on the How I Buy page. Before showings we sign a California Buyer Representation Agreement, and the compensation in it is negotiable and agreed between us.
Disclosure packages get translated into plain language, in English or Russian. More on San Francisco, or nearby Alameda County and San Mateo County, where the same budget frequently goes further.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do SF homes sell so far over asking?
Because underpricing to create competition is common local practice. The list price is a strategy rather than a value, which is why I tell you what a property is likely to trade at before you write.
Should I buy a TIC?
Sometimes, and it depends on the building, the agreement and your resale horizon. It finances differently and sells to a narrower pool. It is worth understanding fully before you commit rather than after.
San Francisco
What buying a home looks like in San Francisco
City and county. Kate has worked SF since 2006, across SOMA, the Mission, the Richmond and the Pacific Heights area.
San Francisco is the most micro of the Bay Area's micro-markets. Two blocks can change the price and the buyer pool completely.
- Nearby
- SOMA, the Mission, the Richmond, and the Pacific Heights area.
The method
How we do it in San Francisco
Buying a Home: keep exploring
Ready to make your move with Kate Fomina?