To be a buyer in the SF Real Estate market… a thankless job! Properties selling 7-days (or less) after listing, best-and-final bidding requirements, an abundance of all-cash buyers, and a construction permit process that moves like molasses… My wife and I relocated from the East Coast nine years ago, found a pet friendly 2BR apartment with a balcony, and settled in with our two dogs. We initially thought my job would require us to relocate again after five years, but as life would have it, we fell in love with SF and the job continued so… we decided to look for a place to purchase. Over the next four years, we visited MANY open houses; so much so that we learned a lot about the various neighborhoods. During our journey, we changed agents four times, mainly because the agents failed to locate desirable properties or because they seemed to expect us to significantly overpay (like so many others are willing to do). To be fair, our preferences for pets limited the choices too. By the time we met Todd, we had bid (and lost) on over a dozen properties. Todd met with us several times to better understand our needs and our preferences, usually over coffee. His confidence was evident from the start and he recognized we were very frustrated with the SF market. Todd explained that for decades it’s common practice for properties to list 10% – 20% below fair market value. Although it seems unethical to us, nonetheless it’s apparently not illegal. In fact it’s now the preferred practice throughout the peninsula and the Bay area! Our plight did not discourage Todd and he quickly started to identify properties for us. Over several months we looked but did not find the one… Finally in March a home in the neighborhood we loved most popped up. Todd calmly surveyed the area, spoke with other agents and provided us with his guidance on price. We wrote an offer and finally won the bid and the house! As others have already stated, Todd stays with you before, during and after the purchase. He continues to provide support, recommending architects and contractors, movers and restaurants. Todd even got us a 12-month supply of wine from wineandmoxxi.com 🙂 We hope to stay in touch with Todd and strongly recommend him to anyone crazy enough to try buying a property in San Francisco!!!