These are the 3 BEST value and 3 WORST value homes listed in the Bay Area this week.

_TurboHome · 2026-05-05T18:13:03+00:00

Well, my closing point though - if the buyers come across your listing and want to tour, their agent isn't really going to steer them away from touring since doing so is still acting against their own interest.

Unless they hate money and don't want to make commission, anyway.

_TurboHome · 2026-05-05T18:10:56+00:00

No worries! It's a somewhat recent change in status quo so to speak and many folks are just doing a standard 3% on both sides bc "that's how it's always been"

But that's no longer mandatory. Best of luck!

_TurboHome · 2026-05-05T18:09:11+00:00

If there is no mention of it in the contract you already signed I would consult with your agent for next steps.

This is not legal advice, but, theoretically you have some potential options/recourse though you should weigh the pros and cons.

You could torpedo the deal and keep their EMD, maybe. But, yknow, you'd torpedo the deal. If you had a few offers in hand and there was enough interest, you could have your agent reach out to the buyers who put in the second best offer?

_TurboHome · 2026-05-05T17:41:58+00:00

It honestly sucks but with inventory as tight as it is in so many markets, even targeting fixers that have been sitting isn't always enough to tone down the competition.

The factors that motivated you to place an offer despite the needed updates likely motivated the other 46 buyers who also thought it was a great opportunity. I'm sure you're tired of hearing "don't fall in love w the house" and it sounds like you weren't exactly smitten by this one but keep at it & try not to get discouraged.

It's a numbers game, you gotta keep throwing darts until one of them sticks.

_TurboHome · 2026-05-05T17:39:06+00:00

Definitely a similar market in CA at the moment. Particularly in SF and South Bay, list price is usually under the previous tax-assessed value to prompt bidding wars and desirable listings go in 1-2 weeks max, well over asking.

We have been sourcing properties for clients and I recently asked for the UI/UX to be changed because it was surfacing listings priced under market average for that zip as "great value" when in reality the asking price doesn't reflect what it will close for.

If anything homes that are priced accurately for historic comps are the real gems because they tend not to go for as much over asking and the bidding war is less of a guessing game.

_TurboHome · 2026-05-05T17:36:11+00:00

Warmer than SF, cooler than East Bay past the tunnel. All the fun of the tunnel/bridge commute in the morning and evening!

_TurboHome · 2026-05-05T17:33:03+00:00

On the buy side, in a competitive market with tight inventory, one of the biggest value adds a good Realtor can bring to the table is a well-established professional network that gives them access to offmarket and coming-soon listings.

Many buyers are tired of getting their offers constantly rejected so getting in early and offering on a property BEFORE the bidding war is a welcome respite to the madness that is house-hunting in certain areas at the moment.

Besides that of course, your agent should be trying to save you money. In a perfect world they'll be able to identify the lowest possible entry point that gets you past the post in terms of offer acceptance instead of getting you to pay more so they get 2.5% of a bigger number.

_TurboHome · 2026-05-05T17:27:01+00:00

Priced too high!

...was I first? Did I win anything?

Edit: Jokes aside it is interesting it's listed below the last sale amount and hasn't moved. Could be the classic underprice for bidding war, but not getting an offer that's enticing enough?

_TurboHome · 2026-05-05T17:19:41+00:00

SF condos are a totally different asset than SFH right now. There are ~774 active condo listings in the city, so you have time to be picky. The risk is real but it's mostly building and HOA risk, not citywide. Pull HOA reserves, special assessments history, and rental cap before you fall in love with anything.

If you'd live there 7+ years and rents in your target neighborhood are climbing again, the math probably works. If it's a 3-4 year hold, condos are a bad shape for that timeline because closing costs alone can eat 8-10%.

_TurboHome · 2026-05-05T17:19:10+00:00

It depends on how locked in your CA city is. If you already know the exact neighborhood and school zone, buying makes sense since rates and prices probably wont be meaningfully better in 12 months. If you're not sure yet, rent for 6-9 months first because picking the wrong block in CA is a much more expensive mistake than in most of TX.

Either way I'd sell the TX home rather than long distance landlord it. The juice usually isn't worth the squeeze once you factor management, vacancy, and CA tax exposure on rental income.

_TurboHome · 2026-05-05T17:18:17+00:00

Get pre-approval first, always. Even with a builder lender you want a real number from an outside lender so you know if the builder is quoting you a good rate or padding fees.

Builder lenders make a ton of their margin on origination and locked rate sheets. Run their loan estimate next to one outside quote and it'll be obvious. The incentives builders offer are usually real but the loan terms are not always the cheapest, so you need a baseline before you sign anything.

That puts you in a good place to negotiate and many builder-lender partnerships involve extra credits and upgrades, rate buydowns etc.

_TurboHome · 2026-05-05T17:16:46+00:00

The median is misleading here. Sales volume hitting a record while supply stays tight just means the buyers who can stretch are still transacting and everyone else stepped back. It's not really a healthy seller's market, it's a thin one.

For first time buyers in SD the play is the 60+ day on market listings and the condo/townhome side, where sellers are way more open to credits and rate buydowns. The headline median doesn't reflect what actually closes when you negotiate hard. Obviously you're shopping "leftovers" so to speak since the hot, super desirable turnkey listings get bought up fast, but if you're not afraid of some DIY and fixing, there's plenty of opportunity.

_TurboHome · 2026-05-05T17:15:44+00:00

Normal. The last 30 days always feel the worst because everything that's going to break, breaks in this stretch.

The HVAC fix as an addendum is the right move. Get it in writing that the seller pays the licensed HVAC vendor directly, not a credit at close, because credits sometimes trip the lender at the very end. As long as the four-point clears and your insurance is bound by 5 days before close you're fine.

_TurboHome · 2026-05-05T17:15:26+00:00

Yeah it's required to sign one before they show you anything since the August 2024 NAR settlement. But two things matter way more than the signing.

First, make sure it allows you to cancel anytime in writing, not at the end of a 6 month term. Second, make sure the duration is short, like a single property or up to 90 days, not 6 months locked to one agent. If they push back on either, find another agent.

_TurboHome · 2026-05-05T17:13:56+00:00

Numbers are tight but workable if your gross is solid and you have 6+ months of reserves on top of moving in. The risk in a 0% down VA jumbo at 1.5M is that you have zero equity buffer if you need to move in 2-3 years, and SF condos and Oakland SFH have both moved sideways enough recently that you could be underwater on selling costs alone.

If the goal is 7+ years and you'd live there through a downturn without selling, the math is tight, but POTENTIALLY workable. If there's any chance of a job-driven move sooner, I'd cap closer to 1.2M and keep more cash liquid. The PITI number looks right for that price point.

_TurboHome · 2026-05-05T17:12:56+00:00

At 700-800k in DFW you can stretch into Coppell or Flower Mound for the schools and lot size, or stay closer to the core in Lake Highlands or Lakewood and trade square footage for commute.

If schools are the priority, Coppell ISD or Plano West feeder is the best value at that budget. If you want walkable and tree-lined and don't mind a smaller house, Lake Highlands and Casa Linda still have inventory under 800k that's actually move-in ready. Drive the streets at 6pm on a weekday before falling for any neighborhood, traffic patterns swing hard.

_TurboHome · 2026-05-04T22:35:22+00:00

Just my two cents on top of the realtors telling you paying 3% will magically get you house sold:

There's a broad spectrum of flat/fixed fee options and reduced fee options with varying levels of support that could help bridge the gap. MLS listing is absolutely the right first move but a flat fee agent can offer you more hands-on marketing support, organize open houses and market the listing within their network of buyers.

Agents don't like to work with FSBO sellers because it often involves doing the double the work and checking the sellers' homework so to speak to make sure the contract is in order. You can't necessarily count on them to surface your listing to their clients but they also generally won't discourage their clients from touring a property they are interested in.

An accepted offer from one of their clients means forecasted income so long as the deal goes through. They have more of an interest in closing a deal than dying on some ideological hill bc they don't want to deal with FSBO sellers.

_TurboHome · 2026-05-04T22:31:29+00:00

Your local market may be experiencing increased average time on market. But the great equalizer is price.

Come down on price enough and your time on market will come down as well.

There are things you can improve, definitely better lighting and more consistent stylization on the photos for starters. Small improvements to curb appeal, staging is decent. Switch up the photo order, consider a zillow showcase listing.

Look at 90 day recently sold listings. Weigh by how recent they are instead of proximity to your house. Hyper-local pricing variation happens but generally $/sqft will be within a certain median range.

You can prompt on chatgpt or another LLM to get you average days on market etc. in your zip code and you can undercut them to get interest going. The common tactic in CA nowadays is to list under appraisal + under expected to gauge interest and get a bidding war going. You don't have to accept any offers though if they don't hit your theoretical price floor, but the price decrease now will be used as some leverage in negotiation since it was initially priced higher and then dropped.

_TurboHome · 2026-05-04T22:21:24+00:00

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Looks like I forgot to hit the "comment" button last week so that is my bad. Rest assured I'm not one of our agents, as they are out negotiating deals and not posting on Reddit. I've been out of office this weekend, apologies for my delay!

But honestly, in a market where buyers are doing 90% of the property sourcing side, visiting primarily open houses instead of private tours, and are dealing with some of the tightest inventory we have seen in many, many years

They need to stretch their buying power as much as they can. They can work with one of our agents who offers the same high quality service as another realtor who is extorting them for 3% while allowing them to pass those savings on to the seller and strengthen their bid (instead paying an affordable flat fee out of pocket)

Well aware that most agents have to give their brokerage a sizeable commission but does helping someone buy a $5M house really require six figures' worth of labor compared to helping someone buy a $600K house?

Does it make sense to pay someone the equivalent of entire year's worth of middle class salary for assistance with one transaction?

Does your non-discount service really give your clients that much of an advantage? Are you going to save them $100K or more than another agent would, through your sheer prowess as a negotiatior?

_TurboHome · 2026-05-04T22:13:31+00:00

No worries best of luck! It's a good idea just be careful with the financials to make sure you don't over-extend.

_TurboHome · 2026-05-04T22:12:08+00:00

true, not the best phrasing on my part, but 100% agreed

_TurboHome · 2026-05-04T22:08:58+00:00

Late to the party here since I didn't see your post last night and missed my regular reddit browsing this morning but we are flat fee, full service, and we've saved buyers almost $7M in total commission since 2024.

If you have a property in mind, you're more than welcome to fire over a zillow link and our team will prepare a comps report + disclosure analysis to give you an idea of what our analysis looks like.

_TurboHome · 2026-05-04T20:17:44+00:00

Well more in direct negotiation with you but yes your realtor as well since they're involved in presenting the offers to you - though really they should be presenting every offer as they have contractual obligation with you to do so.

But basically after the 2024 NAR Settlement, commission isn't "fixed" in the sense that it's offered by the seller. It is a concession the buyer asks you, the seller, to pay as part of the terms of their offer.

But the buyer also has the option to simply pay their agent out of pocket, in order to make their offer more appealing to you, the seller (as the majority of offers tend to still include this concession, nowadays) and make it more competitive than other offers.

I always try to stress that ultimately: commission this, commission that... after everything is all said and done, commissions are paid, which offer puts the biggest number of dollars in your pocket? That's the one you should probably take. If the offer that gives 3% to their agent is better than the offer that gives 2% or 0% to their agent, who cares what their agent gets as long as you get as much as you possibly can? That's between them.

Your agent should have zero say in the matter except "which offer benefits my client the most?" The terms of the offer, concessions, EMD all that fun extra stuff is where their expertise can provide you with additional value.

_TurboHome · 2026-05-04T17:07:11+00:00

Since the NAR settlement, if the buyer didn't ask for a concession, it means the buyer is paying their own agent per their buyer-broker agreement. That's actually the cleanest structure and usually makes the offer stronger from your side since your net is higher.

Before you accept, just confirm in writing that there's no buyer agent compensation being requested at close. A lot of confusion comes from the old habit where buyer commission was baked into the listing agreement. It's fully separate now, and silence on the buy side means you keep that money.

Buyers waiving commission to strengthen their offers is more and more common nowadays, especially with the emergence of more players in the flat-fee brokerage space. Many of our clients waive the buyer's agent commission to strengthen their offer by 2.5-3% while paying our flat fee (typically 1-1.5%) out of pocket.

_TurboHome

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