Selling a home in San Francisco is a complicated endeavor in the best of times — let alone selling your San Francisco home during a pandemic.
We all remember the chaos and uncertainty that began in March 2020 and quickly extended to everything, from work to travel to toilet paper.
San Francisco real estate was another casualty. The market ground to a halt.
Eventually, real estate was deemed an essential industry. We could start helping clients again to buy and sell homes in San Francisco, with extra attention to safety and health. But beyond sanitation and restricted showings, the San Francisco real estate market itself was different.
The biggest change to San Francisco real estate was a huge spike in condo listing inventory at the start of the pandemic. San Francisco homebuyer tastes shifted towards single-family homes with private exterior space and without shared common areas.
After such a dramatic shift in demand — which occurred under many sellers' feet with their homes already on the market — most condo sellers in San Francisco had to readjust their expectations, reassess their goals, and make some tough choices.
Of course, we were there to help. Whether market conditions are favorable or not, it's our role as your trusted real estate advisors to inform and protect you throughout the process. We help make a good situation great, or a bad situation better.
Now ~18 months into the COVID-19 pandemic, we are proud of how our Danielle Lazier Real Estate and Vivre Real Estate team has managed to help dozens of homebuyers and sellers all throughout San Francisco and the greater Bay Area. So (as a little pat on our own back), here's a glowing review from a seller client we helped in the thick of pandemic uncertainty!
The following is a 5-star San Francisco Realtor Review originally posted to Zillow by our client Dan, who shared his experience working with Danielle Lazier Real Estate to sell his condo in Hayes Valley.
I can highly recommend Danielle and her team. I met Danielle 4 years ago when I first considered selling my home, I interviewed her along with other agents and was most impressed with Danielle. I ended up not selling my home then but knew that if and when the time came I would want to work with Danielle. In June 2020 I decided to sell and reconnected with Danielle. I'm glad that I did. She is extremely knowledgeable, understanding, efficient and straight forward. I moved out in July 2020 so that Danielle and her team, which included a staging company and various contractors, could prepare my condo (with minor updates, painting, etc) and stage it. They were very responsive and professional and did an awesome job. The condo and staging looked great. We put the condo on sale in August and Danielle did an excellent job of marketing it through social media and a website with photos and a spectacular virtual tour.
The SF market had changed from a seller's to a buyer's market (after 9 years, primarily due to COVID), and I was glad for Danielle's guidance and strategy in navigating this market change so that my condo would sell. She was very realistic about setting a listing price given the increase in inventory and competition, and although the price was lower than what I would have liked from the recent pre-COVID days, I trusted her judgment and experience and straight-forwardness in accepting that the market had changed. It paid off. The days of multiple bids had ended, unfortunately 🙁 We had 15 one-on-one private showings (no open houses due to COVID) and received only one bid, for slightly below asking. Danielle worked persistently with the buyer to secure the bid and helped me strategically negotiate the best price. Due to COVID-caused delays by the buyer's bank and appraiser the escrow process took longer than expected, but Danielle diligently stayed on top of them all throughout to a successful closing.
With Danielle's guidance I sold my condo within 2-3 weeks of it being listed in a rapidly changing buyer's market with greatly increased competition. We stayed ahead of the curve and moved my property while others have remained on the market. Danielle's expertise was invaluable and I can highly recommend her and her team.
Hayes Valley is a San Francisco neighborhood located between Mid-Market, Lower Haight, and the Western Addition. The sunny enclave once had a less-than-stellar reputation, but in recent decades the area has been revitalized with SoHo-style fashion boutiques and art galleries, vibrant restaurants, cafes and nightlife.
Learn more about San Francisco communities at VivreRealEstate.com.
Our team has nearly two decades of experience helping San Francisco homeowners to make the most of their investments. If you are considering selling your home in San Francisco, we are happy to answer your questions in a no-pressure initial consultation. To get started, fill out our seller worksheet here!
If you're looking to buy a home in San Francisco, let us know more about what you're looking for by filling out our buyer worksheet here.
We look forward to hearing from you!
