Escrow Out Loud: San Francisco Real Estate

Small rooms, smaller closets, chamber pots and formal dining rooms. Welcome to another episode of Escrow Out Loud, our San Francisco Real Estate podcast. On this week’s Thanksgiving episode we talk about houses and house styles!The layout of a home often reflects the cultural values, attitudes or norms of the time period and what people want out of their houses has changed significantly in San Francisco over the years. The classic Victorian layout was all about lots of small rooms. Perhaps for heating purposes? Nowadays, everyone prefers the big open space that is the living/dining/kitchen area. Everyone knows when people get together the hub of action always seems to be in the kitchen! But do we prefer gas, electricity or induction in the said kitchen?Matt and Britton talk about how the house layouts changed from the Victorian era, through the 1920s/30s, to now. They share their favorite layouts, which leads to an interesting side-bar – why does the term ‘open concept’ irritate Britton so much?Finally, we re

Britton, I Need A Man To Sell My House. Or, sexism in real estate. How would you respond to the following comment: “It’s too complicated, I need a man to handle it.” Is sexism in real estate okay? Is it okay if an older person says it? Do generational differences excuse sexism in real estate? Would you give it a pass if it was coming from another man? How about a woman? Should we be giving comments like this a pass at all, and if not, what can we say in the actual moment when it occurs? San Francisco has a reputation as a very free-thinking, egalitarian city, but the above example is an experience many women in the real estate industry – and we’ll wager women in general – deal with on a day to day basis. If you want to be sure of how to sell your home and where to buy your next one, then check out this DWH conducted survey. #MeToo spread virally to share awareness about sexual assault. Numerous women have been encouraged to come forward with their experiences in the hopes of showing how common this problem re

A legend exists in San Francisco about a secret, tree-lined, magical area of affordable houses. Off-market homes for sale in San Francisco - opportunity or offal? Personally, we don’t know of any magical place with easily affordable San Franciscso real estate, but we sure wish we did. Welcome to another episode of Escrow Out Loud, our San Francisco Real Estate podcast. This week we talk about non-MLS (Multiple Listing Service) listings and finding off-market homes for sale. Join Matt and Britton as they guide us through some of the pitfalls to avoid when searching for that perfect property! Why don't sellers typically answer letters?While (unfortunately!) we can’t conjure up awesome and cheap houses for our clients, we have on occasion sent letters out to homeowners of off-market homes when buyers were interested in a specific block or particular property. Although this method has been known to result in them selling their house with us, more often than not, these letters will go unanswered. There is good rea

Pets in condos. Cats. Chinchillas. Iguanas. Dogs. San Francisco is, after all, rumored to have more dogs than children. What happens when dangerous animals roam the halls? Or when innocent Fido gets heavier than the building weight limit? This week on Escrow Out Loud, our San Francisco Real Estate podcast, we talk about a subject that’s near and dear to a lot of people’s hearts – pets and homeowners’ associations (HOA’s).Being able to finally take give a home for a pet is a very common reason people think about switching from renting to homeownership. However, communal living requires shared agreements about when and where you can do your own thing, and animals tend to want to always do their own thing. Condo homes always have HOAs which, among other things, include rules about animals.We talk about covenants, conditions, and restriction (CC&Rs) set by HOAs about pets in condos; what kind of restrictions are sometimes put in place? Common restrictions for pets in condos can include the number of pets allo

A Realtor in San Francisco is required to present each and every offer received on the property, right? Well, not exactly. While a seller can absolutely be discriminating in the review of offers, they may not discriminate on an illegal basis.  This week on Escrow Out Loud, our San Francisco Real Estate podcast, we talk about offers.Does a Listing Agent Have to Present My Offer to the Seller?There is a misconception that the listing agent is required to present ALL offers to the seller. This is only true if the seller and agent have not had a prior conversation with regard to acceptable offers. A seller can instruct an agent about the offers they will review, some common examples being: no offers before a certain date, no offers below a certain price or only offers with certain contingencies. Does this mean the seller can choose to only view cash offers that close within 10 days?What it doesn’t mean is that the seller can choose which offers to view for reasons that are discriminatory in nature! The conditions

Loyalty, confidentiality and the exercise of the utmost care are just a few of our duties to our clients, what are some others? This week on Escrow Out Loud, our San Francisco Real Estate podcast, we talk about one of the most important, and at the same time least understood, concepts in real estate – agency relationships.Welcome and hello to our new listeners, you might want to Begin at the Beginning, otherwise, we jump in with a look at real estate agency -  what an agent does and what our fiduciary duties entail. Now that we know what an agent does, let’s talk about who they do it for. There are three types of agency relationships in California, but keep in mind that this does differ by state. Britton gives an overview of buyer agency, seller agency, and dual agency.People often think dual-agency means that both the buyer and the seller must be working with the same individual i.e, the same exact person with the same exact face! Britton and Matt myth-bust this assumption for us! They explain that the fiduc

Should you walk into an open house and ask the agent standing there to write an offer for you? That's the heart of this week's episode. But first... Matt and Britton have started a new real estate brokerage, Jackson Fuller Real Estate! Congrats to Matt and Britton for their new San Francisco real estate offices in the Westfield at 845 Market St., Suite 450. It[s quite a drive from their old office, but since they got i4mt, they have nothing to worry about. Unfortunately, in his excitement to move into the new offices, Matt messed up and armed the wrong mic when recording this podcast episode. Our amazing audio engineer did his best, but we apologize Matt sounds so distant. Matt and Britton started their real estate blog in 2006 and have always had an active online presence, so we start an episode about agency with a comment from one of our listeners. Our listeners wrote in about an experience with a listing agent who was acting as a dual agent at their request, based on one of the many articles we've publishe

Welcome to Escrow Out Loud, our San Francisco real estate podcast! In previous episodes we've touched on some interesting behavior from clients, but what happens when agents themselves are behaving badly? In what might become a recurring theme, welcome to this edition of Agents Behaving Badly! After listening to Episode 4 – Bye Felicia about a bad BMR listing agent some delightful clients from Shivering Heights reminded us of another property situation which was a prime example of an agent behaving badly.In this episode of Escrow Out Loud, our San Francisco Real Estate podcast, we go back to one of the properties we mentioned in our Open House episode. In hindsight, that open home experience should have given us a hint of what was to come! Matt explains the oxymoron that is the short-sale property, a process that is anything but short. Short sales involve a long process which includes getting the existing lender's approval, as they will be coming up short because the seller is unable to pay the entire loan th

Private showings. Open Houses. When a buyer is ready to buy, they obviously want to see homes. What happens in homes across San Francisco during private showings? Generally, nothing of note. But every now and again, something unexpected does happen.In this episode of Escrow Out Loud, our San Francisco Real Estate podcast, we talk about some of our more sketchy showings from decades of listing and showing homes in San Francisco.As we mentioned in episode 10 - Open House OMG! - in San Francisco, there are very few properties that are on lockbox. Maybe 10 to 15 percent of properties on the market use lockboxes, but generally homes are shown only by open house or during a private appointment.Episode 11 belongs to Britton Jackson, who has a story of a private showing that is so... well, it just left Matt speechless and we all know how rare that is! In episode 11 of Escrow Out Loud, Matt gets quiet for and Britton takes the floor with a terrifying showing.What's your first thought when you walk into a room full of

How are open houses in San Francisco different to other markets? In this episode of Escrow Out Loud, our San Francisco Real Estate podcast, we talk about how open houses in a seller’s market such as San Francisco – really do – sell houses. Open houses do more than just sell homes in SF - take a few minutes and listen in to what unexpected bonuses open homes can provide! Episode 10! We've made it double digits. For our tenth show, we thought it would be fun to share some of the interesting things that have happened to us over the years at open homes. San Francisco, for the most part, is not a real estate market that uses lockboxes to provide access to a property. There are some great urban legends about why this is, but at this point take a look at our price points and you can understand why most homes are only available to seen by private appointment or at an open home. We have hosted our share of open houses over the years, and some interesting things have happened over the years on Saturday and Sunday after

Above a Bar? In the middle of an industrial neighborhood? Off a lobby? Through a garage? What are some of the weirder places you would live? Is hiring a crane to move your furniture in a deal breaker? Give a San Franciscan a little bit of space, and pretty soon you'll have a pretty awesome home. San Franciscan's are creative urban dwellers, and we chat about a few of the more challenging places and spaces where people live in San Francisco. Show Notes:No links to share for properties above bars at 16th and Guerrero, but if that's what you are looking for, let us know!Buildings with homes off the lobby:45 Lansing - TheJasper,77 Dow - Dow PlaceWhat's for sale at The Infinity:Mentioned in the context of the BMR units built at 888 7th and 1600 Market St. What's for sale at 888 7th: A large development that consists primarily of BMR homes with some market rate homes. What's for sale in Noe Valley?That cottage on Clipper? That's a Noe Valley address - here's everything else on the market right now in Noe Valley. By

Cash changes everything. Why do sellers like cash offers? If all sales are all-cash to the seller at the end of the day (one of Britton's least favorite sayings), what's the difference? In this episode of Escrow Out Loud, our San Francisco Real Estate podcast, we look at all cash offers for San Francisco homes. From the dynamics of an individual purchase to the way a competitive market changes in response to cash offers: cash changes everything. Here's a 2012 blog post we wrote about how cash changes everything for everyone as well. Episode 08 - Cash Changes EverythingSeptember 6, 2017If you are a buyer in a competitive situation and you are financing your purchase, please visit California contractor bond because how can you compete against an all cash offer? Is it even worth trying? If you are a buyer and you are making an all cash offer, will you typically receive a discount in San Francisco? Does the highest offer always win in San Francisco? An offer to purchase consists of price and terms, and when one o

In this episode - Elevators! As a little kid, Matt wasn't much of a fan of elevators. As a little person, he still isn't. City life is a vertical life here in San Francisco, and every broker's tour or property tour involves lots of stairs and typically a few elevators. From historic old buildings with accordion-style safety gates that you latch yourself, to the most modern of elevators that whisk you to the stars so quickly your ears will pop! Hop on, this episode of Escrow Out Loud is going up!Episode 07: Elevator KryptoniteWhat elevators in San Francisco are the fastest? The oldest and coolest? The saddest and most tragic? From the high-speed marvels at One Rincon Hill to the 1920s classics in art-deco buildings, SF has some very cool and unique elevators. SF also has some elevators that fail to elevate as promised, and in this podcast, we dedicate ourselves to an exploration of San Francisco. One elevator at a time.Links to neighborhoods and buildings mentioned in this episode:One Rincon HillPark Hill Cond

In this episode - It's About Time! Time is of the essence, and weekends and holidays count! A real estate offer has two basic components - price and terms. OTime is one of the most important terms in a real estate offer, and timing is to the offer process as location is to the actual home. In other words, while life in your new home might be all about location, location, location, making a deal happen (or not happen) it often about timing, timing, and timing!Episode 06: It's About TimeHow long should it take to find a home during a San Francisco home search? What's the shortest home search we've ever had with a client? What's the longest home search? How long is an escrow in San Francisco? What's the longest and shortest escrow we've had? Time is of the essence, so we made a little time to talk about some of the more interesting stories involving time, and it's essence, from our years in San Francisco real estate.Escrow Out Loud IndexIf you didn't catch Episode 1 or any of our other podcast episodes, please s

In this episode - it's all relative! No, this isn't a science podcast where we discuss Einstein's theory of relativity. This is a San Francisco real estate podcast where homes in San Francisco look large because, in relative size, homes in San Francisco are generally bigger than a boat.Episode 05: Bigger Than A BoatIf you've been spending your months on the high seas, a one-bedroom home in San Francisco might seem downright spacious. In this episode, we chat about working with The Sailors - clients that were ready to put down anchor in San Francisco. Bonus guest star appearance from one of the most adorable property types around - a one-bedroom single family home.If you didn't catch Episode 1 of our San Francisco real estate podcast, then we hope you'll begin at the beginning and listen in from the very first episode.If you didn't catch Episode 2 of our San Francisco real estate podcast, well... you never know...If you didn't catch Episode 3 of our San Francisco real estate podcast, well... are buyer's liars?

In this episode of our San Francisco real estate podcast Escrow Out Loud with Matt Fuller and Britton Jackson we discuss Below Market Rate homes (BMR) in San Francisco. This podcast looks back at a particular transaction at a particular point in time (2012) with a particular agent that we shall name... Felicia!Episode 04: Bye Felicia!Below Market Rate homes are condo homes in San Francisco with very particular and specific requirements around buyer eligibility and sales price. In this episode we look back at a particular sale that happened during the downturn, when a BMR was a foreclosure and the listing agent was an out-of-area agent. Fun things happened and friendships were made before the deal even began.... or not! If you didn't catch Episode 1 of our San Francisco real estate podcast, then we hope you'll begin at the beginning and listen in from the very first episode.If you didn't catch Episode 2 of our San Francisco real estate podcast, well... you never know...If you didn't catch Episode 3 of our San

Episode 03: Buyers Are Liars?It's a slogan we've heard out of mouths both cynical and not in real estate: Buyers are Liars. Is it true, or is it like the lego movie suggests: It is so because it rhymes? ** (Matt can't quote movie lyrics verbatim.)So I ask Britton - is that her experience? And with a variety of great stories (in our humble opinion) we explore if it is true that buyers or liars, or if the truth is a lot more innocent but less rhyming?If you didn't catch Episode 1 of our San Francisco real estate podcast, then we hope you'll begin at the beginning and listen in from the very first episode.If you didn't catch Episode 2 of our San Francisco real estate podcast, well... you never know - please listen in and subscribe! =Please take a moment to subscribe to our San Francisco real estate podcast. And tell all your friends! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

You Never Know, Episode 02. Welcome to this edition of our San Francisco real estate podcast with team co-founders Matt Fuller and Britton Jackson.Episode 02: You Never KnowIt's a truism in real estate that You Never Know. What can happen when you go to the dog park? In San Francisco real estate, you never know! Will you find a stray dog? a new client? a business partner?What can happen when you go to the dog park? In San Francisco real estate, you never know! Will you find a stray dog? a new client? a business partner?What can happen when you park your car in the mission? In San Francisco real estate, you never know. Britton might meet a new client, might show off one of her many Realtor super-powers, or demonstrate the value of showing up a few minutes early instead of a few minutes late!What can happen when you are on your way to the real estate office? In San Francisco traffic, you never know. Accidents can happen and in the process of doing her civic duty, Britton inadvertently gives something away and h

We've seen some fascinating things over the decades we've spent helping buyers and sellers buy and sell San Francisco real estate. Without revealing names, addresses, or other identifying details, this San Francisco real estate podcast will pull the curtain back just a bit to give you an inside look at San Francisco real estate purchases and sales. From the Mission to the Excelsior (where each of us sold our first homes) to Pacific Heights, Nob Hill, Russian Hill, South Beach and beyond, these are real San Francisco real estate stories. Press play above or subscribe below.From the Mission to the Excelsior (the neighborhoods where each of us sold our first homes) to Pacific Heights, Nob Hill, Russian Hill, South Beach and beyond (of our many neighborhoods, we've sold in almost all of them), these are true San Francisco real estate stories. Press play below or subscribe with your favorite podcast app below:Our goal is to deliver insight with every interaction. If we can get you to say - out loud - “I never woul