What you can shop for when buying in San Francisco, and where it actually pays

Nothing to save because the reports are free by law. Fixing an error that moves your middle score across a 740, 760 or 780 pricing tier can lower your rate for the life of the loan.

Freddie Mac estimates $600 to $1,200 a year from multiple quotes on typical loan sizes; SF loan sizes are several times larger, so the dollar savings scale accordingly.

Annual PMI runs about 0.46% to 1.50% of the loan depending on credit score and loan-to-value; lenders quote different carriers, so the same borrower can see different premiums.

The same quarter to half point spread seen among all lenders shows up among approved lenders; the program terms themselves are fixed.

Extension fees commonly run about 0.125% to 0.25% of the loan for a 7- to 15-day extension, and published lender schedules step up for longer or repeated extensions (0.25% to 0.5% for a 30-day extension is typical), so on a $1.2 million loan each extension you avoid is roughly $1,500 to $3,000 or more; as of 2026-10-25, confirm each lender's schedule in writing.

Jumbo pricing is not standardized the way agency loans are; bank-advertised relationship discounts alone range from an eighth of a point to a full point depending on the balance you bring, and lenders can differ by half a point on the same borrower.

Brokers often win on conforming and smaller jumbo loans; banks win on large jumbo loans with relationship discounts that can reach half a point to a full point for seven-figure balances.

Section A fees commonly run from a few hundred dollars to over 1% of the loan and are set by the lender; waivers of $1,000 to $3,000 against a competing quote are common.

Flat fees vary widely by firm and by how many owners and units are involved, so get written flat quotes from two or three firms rather than relying on a published range. The saving that matters is avoiding a partition action, which costs far more than any agreement and ends in a sale at a price a court sets.

A half point on a $1.5 million purchase is $7,500 and a point is $15,000; agreement terms decide whether you can leave a poor fit without owing anything.

Bay Area fees cluster around $500 to $850 as of 2026-10-25 (check current figures); report quality varies far more than price.

Roughly $200 to $500 as of 2026-10-25 (check current figures) against lateral replacements estimated elsewhere in the Bay Area at $4,000 to $11,000.

Engineer fees vary widely; national cost guides put a cripple-wall retrofit at roughly $3,300 to $7,600 as of 2026-10-25 (check current figures) with Bay Area labor higher, so an independent opinion is cheap by comparison.

Co-ownership agreements run roughly $1,000 to $2,000 to draft under general California guidance; reviews are often less, and the saving is a bad agreement caught early.

Rates run about 0.5 to 1 point above condo loans with few lenders, so the spread is small; the structure matters more than the start rate.

The inspection itself is cheap and the seller usually supplies one; the money is in the Section 1 repair bids, which can differ by thousands of dollars between contractors.

Fees vary widely by provider and building size, so get two quotes; as of 2026-10-24 there is no published benchmark. One caught special assessment can be worth five figures, which is why it is worth shopping even though the fee itself is small.

Flat-fee consults differ widely between firms, so comparing two quotes is worth it. The downside you are insuring against is large: owner move-in relocation payments for notices served March 2026 through February 2027 are $8,245 per tenant, capped at $24,733 per unit (confirm on the Rent Board's current rates page), and a protected tenant can block the move-in entirely.

Freddie Mac's research puts the saving from multiple quotes at roughly $600 to $1,200 a year on typical loan sizes; a quarter point of rate on a $1.2 million loan is about $3,000 a year in interest, which outweighs a modest builder credit within two or three years.

Published cost guides put a standard Bay Area inspection at roughly $500 to $850, often less for a condo, as of 2026-10-25 (cost-guide figures, not a local survey), so shopping saves perhaps $100 to $200; the real saving is a defect list delivered while repairs are still the developer's cost rather than yours.

Filed title rates and escrow fee schedules differ by company; on an SF purchase the gap between two quotes is typically a few hundred dollars. As of 2026-10-25, get the quotes rather than relying on a published average.

NFIP pricing is set federally, so the saving comes from private carriers and elevation details; there is no published San Francisco benchmark as of 2026-10-25, so compare the two quotes side by side.

Monthly rates a short walk apart often differ noticeably, and a reserved space costs more than an unreserved one. As of 2026-10-24 there is no reliable published San Francisco benchmark, so three quotes are the benchmark.

The spread between quotes comes mostly from the panel's spare capacity and the distance from the panel to your space, not from the charger itself. As of 2026-10-24 there is no source-backed San Francisco average, so compare line items rather than totals; in a condo the HOA approval process, not the price, is the real constraint.

Freddie Mac's research puts the saving from multiple quotes at roughly $600 to $1,200 a year on typical loan sizes, and the spread is wider on multi-unit files because price adjustments and rent treatment are not standardized; on a 2-4 unit purchase the difference between lenders is often approval versus denial rather than a quarter point.

Quotes for the same San Francisco building routinely differ by thousands of dollars a year, some carriers decline older multi-unit buildings outright, and the FAIR Plan fallback was reported to take an average increase of about 29% in October 2026 (check current figures), so two channels is the minimum; as of 2026-10-24 there is no reliable published SF landlord-policy benchmark.

Bids for identical SF scope routinely differ by tens of thousands of dollars, mostly in allowances, exclusions and how they handle the unknowns in an old house. As of 2026-10-24 there is no published San Francisco benchmark, so three bids on the same drawings are the benchmark.

Fee structures vary widely and are negotiable; the larger saving is time. An expediter or architect who knows DBI and Planning can shave months off a project, and every month is a mortgage payment plus rent elsewhere.

Few lenders run renovation programs in San Francisco and their fees and draw rules differ, so the spread between quotes is real. Above the conforming limit the comparison is usually a jumbo plus a HELOC, where the saving comes from the HELOC's rate and the absence of draw fees.

Certified testing is a few hundred dollars per visit and prices cluster (as of 2026-10-24, check current figures). The saving is avoiding an abatement surprise once walls are open, which is where fixer budgets go wrong.

Published 2026 guides put a Bay Area general inspection at roughly $500 to $850 and a camera scope at about $250 to $500 as of 2026-10-24, so shopping saves perhaps $100 to $200 per report; the value is in avoiding a five-figure sewer or foundation surprise on a non-contingent offer.

Quotes for the same SF home differ by thousands of dollars a year and some carriers decline outright; shopping is often the difference between an admitted carrier and the FAIR Plan.

Inspection fees cluster around $500 to $850 in the Bay Area as of 2026-10-24; repair bids for the same finding differ by thousands, which is where comparison pays.

Deductible choice, a retrofit discount of up to 25% and private alternatives move the premium by hundreds to more than a thousand dollars a year for the same home.

The fee is set by the lender's vendor and is not shoppable.

A few hundred dollars at most, but usually available for the asking.

A camera scope runs about $250 to $500 and chimney or roof add-ons about $100 to $400 per national cost guides as of 2026-10-24; repair bids for the same finding routinely differ by thousands, which is where comparison pays.

The broker's value is access rather than a lower premium on the same policy; for an older house or a FAIR Plan wrap, the difference between the markets a broker can reach and the ones you can is often the whole outcome.

The variance is in the wrap policy and is modest; the real saving is avoiding the FAIR Plan entirely, which is why the broker and the early start matter more than haggling over the wrap.

Plans are similar and coverage is narrow; as of 2026-10-24 a one-year plan typically costs several hundred dollars plus a service fee per call, so the realistic saving is having the seller pay it or keeping the premium as a repair fund.

Small individually, often $25 to $150 a line, but a handful of them is a few hundred dollars that escrow will frequently drop on request.

Signing at the escrow office is usually free; a mobile notary adds a travel fee that commonly runs from about a hundred to a few hundred dollars as of 2026-10-24, so it is a convenience purchase rather than a place to save.

The spread between the highest and lowest legitimate quote for the same SF move is commonly hundreds to more than a thousand dollars as of 2026-10-24; check current quotes for your size of move.

Introductory and post-promotion prices differ widely by provider and block; the realistic saving is picking the right plan for the address rather than a national default, as of 2026-10-24.

Rekeying a few exterior doors is a modest, similar-everywhere cost as of 2026-10-24; the value is security on day one, not the price difference.

Freddie Mac puts the saving from multiple quotes at roughly $600 to $1,200 a year on typical loan sizes; a quarter point on a $1.2 million SF loan is about $200 a month.

Commission and concession are negotiable contract terms; a half point on an SF sale is thousands of dollars, and the preparation and pricing decisions move the result by more than the fee.

Bids for the same dry-rot, drainage or roof work in San Francisco differ widely; an unpermitted job costs you again at resale.

The informal review is free and the formal appeal costs a modest filing fee; contingency firms take a large share of the first-year saving for work most owners can do with comps.

Pricing varies by carrier and bundling, and the quote beside your homeowners renewal is the cheap way to compare; as of 2026-10-24, treat any published average as a starting point only.

Filed title schedules differ by company and reissue or short-term rates are rarely applied unless you ask; on an SF loan the difference is typically a few hundred dollars plus whatever add-on fees you strike from the settlement statement. As of 2026-10-24, get the quotes rather than relying on an average.

Fixed-price design-build packages and architect-plus-contractor bids for the same ADU vary substantially in San Francisco, and the cheaper model depends on the building; the saving from comparing both is usually in the tens of thousands on a six-figure project.

Fees range widely as a percentage of monthly rent and in separate leasing charges, and for a single unit a flat-fee leasing-only service with you handling the rest is often the better buy. As of 2026-10-24, quotes are the only reliable figures.

Converting to a landlord policy is priced very differently by carrier, and the gap between quotes for the same unit is often a meaningful share of the premium; quoting it beside the homeowners renewal costs nothing.

Quotes for the same building differ by thousands of dollars a year and some brokers reach carriers others cannot; we found no published San Francisco benchmark as of 2026-10-24. The real saving is staying off the FAIR Plan, whose placement costs more and can make every unit non-warrantable.

Per-unit fees and add-ons vary widely for small buildings and most contracts carry a monthly minimum that makes a four-unit building expensive per door; many 2-6 unit SF associations self-manage with a bookkeeper and a reserve study every three years for a fraction of the cost. As of 2026-10-24, treat any published average as a starting point only.

Fees cluster in a narrow band for small buildings, so the value is in the funding plan and the component list, not in the price; a study that misses the garage membrane or the sewer lateral costs more than any fee difference.

Bids for an identical bolt-and-brace or soft-story scope in San Francisco routinely differ by thousands of dollars, and as of 2026-10-25 there is no published SF benchmark; a grant of up to $3,000, or up to $13,000 for a soft-story house, covers part of the lowest sound bid, not the highest.

Subsidized city loans sit at one end and PACE at the other, with rates and fees that have generally run well above a HELOC's plus a forced payoff at any sale or conforming refinance; on a five-figure job the difference over the term is thousands of dollars.

Flat-fee retrofit designs and site letters vary by firm and we could not source a reliable San Francisco figure as of 2026-10-25; the biggest saving is not hiring one for a house that fits the prescriptive standard.

Flat-fee trust packages differ by thousands of dollars between San Francisco firms for the same documents; as of 2026-10-25, check current quotes. Online documents are cheaper but routinely mishandle the deed, the PCOR and the lender notice, which are the steps that protect your Prop 13 base and your title coverage.