A: San Francisco’s housing inventory darling — the single-family home — is scarce and in high demand. Housing stock continues to be 30% below normal. Unfulfilled buyers are now joined by all-cash buyers, which is why about 80% of single-family homes sell over list price, many within two weeks — hundreds of thousands over asking, if not a million or more. Early signs suggest the condo market is starting to follow.
The usual playbook — vacate, paint, stage, list — is still very effective, but it’s increasingly being supplemented by sellers moving faster or bolder.
We’re seeing:
- Off-market and coming-soon listings with minimal or phone-shot photos.
- More owner-occupied and tenant-occupied properties hit the MLS without staging — yes, that’s their stuff.
- Listings using virtual staging because real stagers are booked.
- Homes being renovated selling before final inspections, some during construction.
- At the other end, personal art collections left in place alongside design magazine quality photography.
These premature or extravagant property listings reflect that the seller rush is real.
Guiding buyer clients through this means reading between the lines, asking more questions, and making smarter calls in real time. It’s where I’ve been spending much of my time lately, because diligence matters more than ever — especially at these prices.
