What SF First-Time Buyers Wish They Had Known

Every regret below comes from the same root: San Francisco runs on customs that national advice never mentions, and buyers find out at the moment it costs the most. The list price is a marketing number. A second tax bill arrives after you move in. The disclosure package replaces the inspection period. The insurance market can block your closing. Here they are, in the words buyers use a year later.

"The list price was never the price"

In 2026, by brokerage and MLS counts, roughly 85% of SF sales closed above list. Single-family homes averaged about 23% over asking in April and about 26% in July; condos were under 10% over asking in the spring and summer, but the share of condos selling above list was reported to have nearly doubled, from under a third to roughly half, between August 2025 and August 2026 (as of 2026-10-25, check current figures). Compass counted 144 homes that sold at least $1M over asking in the first six months of the year.

Listing agents here price low on purpose to draw a crowd to a set offer date. Search up to your maximum by list price and you will tour homes you cannot afford and lose offer after offer. Search 15% to 25% below your ceiling for houses, less for condos, and price every offer from what comparable homes actually closed for. The comps tool shows the closed sales; why list prices are low explains the game, and reading comps teaches you to adjust them.

"Nobody told me about the supplemental tax bill"

Your purchase resets the assessed value to your price. The regular tax bills for the first year were computed on the seller's old value, so the Assessor sends a supplemental assessment, typically six months to a year after your deed records, and the Treasurer bills the difference, prorated for the part of the fiscal year you own. It is not paid from your lender's impound account.

On a $1.1M purchase where the seller's assessed value was $660,000, the gap is $440,000, about $5,200 a year at the 1.18% rate, prorated. Keep it in reserves; supplemental tax bills shows how to estimate yours before you close.

"I did not shop my lender, my insurance or my agent's fee"

Three services have real price dispersion, and buyers skip all three because they are busy winning a house.

• Lender. Freddie Mac found two quotes could save up to $600 a year and four or more over $1,200 a year when rates were high, and rates are high now. Get the quotes inside a 14-day window so inquiries count once.
• Insurance. Quotes for the same house differ by thousands in the current California market, the FAIR Plan took an approved statewide average dwelling rate increase of 29.1% effective October 15, 2026, and some carriers decline older homes outright. Shop it before you write offers, not after.
• Buyer-agent compensation. Since August 17, 2024 you sign a written agreement that states your agent's fee before touring, the fee is negotiable, and in a Redfin survey published in February 2025, 54% of agents said clients were putting more effort into negotiating commissions. Most SF sellers still offer to cover some or all of it, and your agreement should say what happens if they do not.

Shopping lenders, homeowners insurance and buyer-agent compensation each explain how. This site is paid through that buyer-side commission only if you choose one of its agents; shop that too.

"I waived the inspection and found out later" and "I did not read the HOA minutes"

SF custom flips the national script. Sellers typically pay for a general and a pest inspection before listing and put the reports in the disclosure package along with the 3R permit history the city requires on every residential sale. Because everything is disclosed up front, winning offers usually waive the inspection contingency. That works only if you actually did the inspecting: read every report, pull the 3R and compare it to what you see, and if the package is thin or the house is complicated, pay for your own inspection before the offer date. Buyers who waive without reading inherit foundations, sewer laterals and unpermitted work.

The HOA version of the same mistake is skipping the minutes. Dues in the SF metro passed a $500 median in 2025, driven by insurance, and Fannie Mae will not finance units in buildings with significant deferred maintenance or unresolved safety directives. Board minutes tell you about the leak, the lawsuit, the insurance non-renewal and the special assessment vote months before the budget does. The disclosure package, HOA documents and contingencies cover what to read and what each waiver risks.

"My agent did not know TICs, soft-story or tenants"

A friend's cousin who sells in the suburbs can tour you around, but SF has three things that need a specialist:

• Tenancy-in-common units with fractional loans and group agreements.
• Seismic risk: the city mandated soft-story retrofits for wood-frame buildings of five or more units and three or more stories permitted before 1978, and smaller buildings with living space over garages can share the weakness without any mandate.
• Tenants and unwarranted units. A listing that says "unwarranted" is telling you the unit's legality is unverified; only the permit history proves it. Legalizing an unwarranted unit requires proof it existed before January 1, 2013, and the work commonly runs into six figures. Tenants in those units are generally covered by rent control and just-cause eviction rules.

Ask any agent you interview how many of each they closed in the last two years. Choosing an agent, condo vs house vs TIC, tenant-occupied homes and SF red flags give you the questions.

"I discovered the insurance market after going into contract"

Lenders will not fund without a bound policy. In the California Association of Realtors' 2024 member survey, 13% of agents had a transaction fall out of escrow because the buyer could not get insurance, most because they were denied coverage. In SF the risk is less wildfire and more an older house with knob-and-tube wiring or an unretrofitted foundation that carriers decline, or a condo building whose master policy has a deductible that lands on you. Get an indicative quote for the type of home you want before you write, then bind on day one of escrow. Earthquake coverage is a separate decision; earthquake insurance lays out the deductible math.

"I gave notice too early" and "I wish I had moved faster"

The first: a buyer gives 30-day notice on their apartment the day the offer is accepted, the HOA questionnaire comes back late, the loan slips a week, and they are moving into a friend's living room. California month-to-month tenants owe at least 30 days written notice. Give it after the loan contingency is removed, or sign up for one month of overlap. If the seller needs time, a rent-back of up to 29 days uses a standard addendum and lenders usually allow up to 60 days on owner-occupied loans.

The second: a buyer waits for rates to drop. A year ago the 30-year average was 6.19%; in October 2026 it ran between 7.28% and 7.40% (as of 2026-10-25, check current figures), and SF medians were reported up more than 20% in between. Nobody can time either number. The lesson is not to rush, it is to be ready, so that when the right home appears you can write a clean offer in 48 hours. The buying timeline shows how long each piece takes.

Turning each regret into a checklist item