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Selling an estate property: what happens to everything inside

A house is not only a house. What happens to a lifetime of tools, equipment and belongings when an estate property sells – and to the people still living in it.

Your Pre-Approval Brought a Knife to a Cash Fight

A third of Bay Area sales this spring were all-cash, and the median San Francisco home sold for $2.05 million. What that actually means if you are buying or selling here.

The Parking Space a Mile and a Half Away: The Cost Nobody Puts in the Listing

A woman stood in the kitchen at one of our open houses last month and told me what she pays to park. Six hundred dollars a month. One space. A mile and a half from the apartment she rents — offered to her, generously, by her own landlord. I have a blind spot here and…

When the Grocery Store Becomes the Listing: What Two Safeway Sites Say About Bay Area Housing

If you want to know where the Bay Area housing market is headed, skip the headlines and watch the grocery stores. In the past 30 days, plans landed on planners’ desks to turn two Safeway sites into housing — 710 new homes between them. As someone who reads planning filings the way other people read…

We Were Never Meant to Do This Alone: Collaboration in Real Estate

Thirteen years in real estate has taught me plenty about houses — foundations, staging, the way morning light moves through a kitchen. But the hardest lesson had nothing to do with property. It’s that most agents don’t work together. They work against each other. And for someone whose great joy in life is bringing people…

The 55 Number: What Prop 19 Means for San Francisco Homeowners Over 55

On Prop 19, the number most people ignore, and a client who didn’t know the door was already open — how a tax rule helps SF homeowners 55+ move without losing their low property-tax base.

Prop 19 in California: How Homeowners Over 55 Can Move Without Losing Their Low Property Tax

Fifty-five feels like a regular birthday until it isn’t. For a California homeowner who’s been holding onto a low property tax bill for decades, turning 55 quietly unlocks one of the most valuable moves in real estate — and most people have no idea the door is even there. I had a client recently who…

The Other Side of the Table: Why the Listing Agent Matters in Your Deal

A listing agent who never called back — and what it taught us about who’s really on the other side of your San Francisco home deal.

Why Your Buyer’s Agent Matters More Than You Think

When people picture a buyer’s agent, they usually picture someone who unlocks doors and writes up offers. That’s the easy part. The real value shows up in the moments you never see — and often in how we read the agent on the other side of the deal. Earlier this spring, clients of mine fell…

What “Active,” “Pending,” and “Contingent” Really Mean in a Listing

Most buyers think that once they find a home online, the hard part is over. It’s not. That’s usually where things start to get complicated — beginning with a single word on the listing: its listing status. A client recently sent me a property they found online. Looked great. Marked active. Seemingly ready to go.…