We Buy Houses San Francisco, CA

San Francisco is the hardest Bay Area market to sell in. Here's why.

Most cash-home-buyer pages flatten "the Bay Area" into one market. San Francisco is its own situation. The transfer tax alone can run six figures on higher-value homes. The buyer pool is narrower than people think. The condo and TIC rules are dense. The tenant protections are some of the strongest in the country, which makes a rental property's resale dynamics very different from a typical single-family home.

A few specifics that shape every San Francisco sale:

Transfer tax. San Francisco's real estate transfer tax tiers from 0.50 percent up to 6 percent on properties above $25M. For a $1.5M home it's roughly $11,250. For a $5M home it's $112,500, because the rate steps up to 2.25 percent at that price. Whichever side of the deal pays it (typically the seller in SF) is a real cost, not a rounding error. We pay it. The full rate table is in our San Francisco transfer tax guide.

Tenant protections. Almost any SF property with two or more units (and many single-family rentals) is subject to the Rent Ordinance. Just-cause eviction rules govern when and why a tenant can be removed. The Costa-Hawkins Act limits rent control on units built after 1979, but most of San Francisco's housing stock is older. For a landlord trying to sell, the tenant situation often determines the price.

Permitting. SF Department of Building Inspection is famously slow. Major work that would take 90 days in Concord can take 9 months here. For us as the cash buyer, that's a holding-cost line item we factor into the offer. For you as the seller, it means our cash path skips the entire permitting cycle traditional buyers' lenders worry about.

San Francisco neighborhoods we buy in

We've closed deals in pretty much every SF neighborhood, and we buy houses San Francisco families have owned for decades as readily as newer condos. Some of the most common:

• Sunset (Inner, Outer, Parkside). A lot of our SF volume. Older single-family stock, longtime owners ready to downsize or families settling estates.
• Excelsior, Visitacion Valley, Bayview. Working-class neighborhoods where deferred maintenance and code-violation situations come up regularly.
• Mission, Bernal Heights. Mix of Victorians and small multi-units. Tenant situations come up often.
• Richmond (Inner, Outer, Central). Similar profile to Sunset; longtime owners, lots of inheritance situations.
• SoMa, South Beach, Mission Bay. Newer condos and TICs. Different deal mechanics than single-family.
• Outer neighborhoods (Lakeview, Crocker-Amazon, Ingleside, OMI). Often the trickiest to list traditionally; we're often the cleanest path.

We also buy in Pacific Heights, Marina, Cow Hollow, and the higher-end neighborhoods, but our offer rarely competes with a strong listing in a hot market. Honest about that.

Cash home buyers in San Francisco: what to ask before you say yes

Not every company with a "we buy houses San Francisco" sign or ad works the same way. Some are investors who buy with their own money. Some are wholesalers who put your house under contract and sell that contract to someone else. Ask who is actually closing, whether the proof of funds is in writing, and whether any fee comes out of your side at the closing table. We buy with our own funds, we have done it since 2009, and we put the offer in writing before you commit to anything.

Sell my house fast in San Francisco: what a realistic timeline looks like

Most San Francisco sellers who call us have a date, not a price. We can close in 3 to 7 days when you need it, or wait weeks or months when you need that instead. The slow parts of a normal SF sale (buyer financing, appraisal, inspection contingencies, repairs) are not part of ours. The part that can still take time is on the property side: a title issue, a probate court date, or a tenant situation. We will tell you which of those applies to your house on the first call.

Selling a San Francisco house with a problem attached

Inherited or probate property. If a parent or relative passed away and the house has to go through probate, the court process sets part of the timeline, not us. We have bought houses from estates and from heirs who live out of state. Our guides on the California probate sale process and selling a parent's house after death explain the steps, and our inherited property page covers how a cash sale fits in.

Soft-story buildings. San Francisco's Mandatory Soft Story Retrofit Program generally covers wood-frame buildings with five or more residential units and two or more stories over a weak ground story, permitted before January 1, 1978. If a building is in the program and the work or the paperwork is not finished, a buyer who needs a loan may not be able to get one. You can check a building's status on the city's soft story property list, and the program is explained on the SF.gov earthquake safety page. We can look at buildings in the program, and the price reflects the retrofit work that is still open.

Tenants and buyouts. If you want the tenants out before a sale, the Rent Ordinance and Ellis Act rules apply, and a buyout agreement has its own rules. We buy houses San Francisco tenants still live in, and we do not ask you to clear the building. See the tenant protections above, and ask us before you sign a buyout agreement.

SF cash sale vs. listing: when each path makes sense

List with a realtor if your SF home is move-in-ready, you have at least 60 to 90 days, and you're comfortable with showings, inspections, and the typical contingency renegotiation. SF agents earn their fee in this market; a good one will likely net you more than our offer for a clean property in a hot neighborhood.

Sell to us if any of these apply:

• The property has tenants you can't easily transition (rent-controlled, long-term, just-cause issues).
• The property is in rough condition. Foundation, electrical, plumbing, code violations. SF lenders are particularly cautious about older homes.
• You're an out-of-state heir who doesn't want to manage prep, showings, or inspectors from a distance. See out-of-state owners.
• You're facing a tight timeline. Pre-foreclosure, medical, or relocation. See avoiding foreclosure in the Bay Area.
• You inherited the home and the family wants a clean resolution rather than a 90-day listing process. See inherited property.

What our SF offer looks like

For most San Francisco properties, our offer is lower than what a strong listing would net after commissions and prep, because we take on the repairs, the timing and the risk. The exact number depends on condition, neighborhood, tenant situation, and how much work the property needs.

We pay all closing costs. We pay the transfer tax. We close on your timeline, anywhere from 3 to 7 days to 90 days. We don't ask you to clean out belongings, fix anything, or vacate a tenant.

If you have a written offer from another SF cash buyer, send it over. If we can match or beat it, we will. If we cannot, we will tell you to take theirs and explain why.

Next door to San Francisco

We also buy in the cities on the other side of the county line: Daly City, South San Francisco, San Bruno and San Mateo. For the wider picture, see how we buy houses across the Bay Area.