Team K.Ho · Vanguard Properties · A Perspective

Unicorn Sales: When a Home Finds Its Right Owner

It almost sounds like a fairy tale — but when it happens, it’s deeply satisfying, and the outcome is more optimal for everyone.

By Kevin Ho · Team K.Ho, Vanguard Properties · DRE #01875957

They say real estate is a relationship business

Lately, in the most competitive corners of the market, it can feel like the opposite — more of a numbers game, an auction. Probate and trust sales often arrive that way by design: the facts, the offer terms, the price. Highest accepted wins.

And it makes sense that they do. A probate or trust sale typically means the owner has passed away, and the people now selling — the heirs, beneficiaries, or successors in interest — often have no real connection to the property. Court-confirmation sales are designed around that reality most explicitly of all: the structure exists to convert the asset into money, fairly and transparently, on behalf of an estate.

Mr. Radu, official greeter of unicorn sales — a reminder that the best ones do feel a little like fairy tales.

That isn’t always how it ends, of course. I’ve handled plenty of probate and trust sales where the heirs or successors in interest genuinely cared who would buy the property — and chose on factors beyond the financial. It’s one reason I still believe in submitting a buyer letter when the moment calls for it.

A Quick Note on Buyer Letters

Used carefully and within fair housing law, a thoughtful buyer letter can give a seller something the offer paperwork can't — a sense of who the next owner will be. It doesn't replace strong terms, and it isn't appropriate in every situation. But when it fits, it can matter.

What I really want to talk about, though, is the rarer thing. The sale where it all seems to have lined up — where the circumstances feel almost predestined. I call them unicorn sales, because, rightly or wrongly, there are so few of them.

When the biographies and circumstances align

A unicorn sale is what happens when the biographies and circumstances of the seller and the buyer align just right — or as close to it as possible. The priorities on both sides of the transaction are simply different from the market’s defaults.

The seller may not have improved the property to be catalog perfect. They may not have made the choices that score well with the broadest pool of buyers. Instead, they cared about something else — how the house lived over the long run, the unconventional decisions that, to the right person, read as shrewd, clever, or rare.

They may never meet in person

I should say — “meets” is mostly figurative out here. Unlike the East Coast, where buyer and seller often sit across from each other at the closing table, in San Francisco the process is more informal — and, in its own way, more impersonal. The two parties may never meet at all. To each other, they’re often just names on a page. I’ve brokered transactions like that with great success: the resonance was real, even when the handshake never happened.

There are other times when they should meet, or when I wish they had. And there are moments where you realize the buyer is almost a mirror image of the seller as the seller was when they first bought the home — lifelong pen pals who’d never been introduced. When the resonances stack up like that, the goodwill in a transaction multiplies. It carries a different feel from an ordinary sale — warmer, less transactional, more durable on both sides of the closing.

“When that seller meets that buyer, the dynamic of the sale changes. It stops being an auction. It becomes a relationship.”

Finding them is its own work

Finding these matches is harder than it sounds. It means finding buyers who can see the longer-term perspective — who can look at an unconventional choice and understand why it was made. It means listening for the real priorities on both sides, not the stated ones, and very often unearthing them from people who haven’t fully articulated them even to themselves.

The truth is, all transactions are ultimately relationship-based — some just feel better than others. Unicorn sales are the ones I find genuinely rewarding and satisfying. They’re a nice departure from the marketplace as it usually runs. And the ideal, of course, is when the lucrative transactions and the personally meaningful ones happen to be the same transaction.

If you’re a seller whose home took an unconventional path, or a buyer who can see what others miss — I’d be glad to talk.

Sometimes the right fit isn't the obvious one.

If you're selling a home with an unconventional story — or buying with an eye for what others might overlook — let's talk. The best outcome isn't always just about the highest number. Sometimes it's about recognizing the right match when it appears.

Get In Touch

Kevin Ho · Team K.Ho, Vanguard Properties

team-kho.com · 415.297.7462 · DRE #01875957

Kevin Ho is a licensed California real estate agent (DRE 01875957) and attorney with Vanguard Properties. This article is provided for general informational purposes only and is not legal, tax, or financial advice. The circumstances of every real estate transaction are different. Buyer communications, offer strategy, probate and trust sales, and other transaction practices should always be considered in light of applicable law, fair housing requirements, and the facts of the individual sale. Not intended as the solicitation of a property already listed. Equal Housing Opportunity.