Falling in love with a home is easy. Understanding the steps to actually make it your own is where the real work begins.
In this episode, Andrew speaks with San Francisco real estate agent Sam Buckwalter for a practical, step-by-step roadmap from pre-approval to closing. They discuss how to choose the right lender and agent, where to focus your attention during an open house and in reviewing disclosures, and why recent comparable sales are better anchors than the list price for certain Bay Area communities.
Key Takeaways
Start with the full monthly cost. Work backward from a budget that includes principal, interest, taxes, insurance, and any HOA dues. Compare lenders and get pre-approved early.
Interview agents before choosing one. Ask what services justify their fee, how they handled a difficult transaction, and whether you can speak with past clients.
Look beyond the staging. Pay attention to the roof, foundation, electrical system, and potential insurance issues—as well as noise, natural light, layout, and commute.
Treat disclosures as essential homework. Read the full packet, including seller disclosures, inspection reports, the preliminary title report, and HOA documents. Ask questions before committing.
Build your offer around evidence and your comfort with risk. Use comparable sales rather than list price as your anchor. Understand what contingencies protect before considering waiving them; your agent advises, but you make the decisions.
About the Guest
Sam Buckwalter is a San Francisco Realtor with Compass and cofounder of Renée + Sam Real Homes. Together, Sam and his business partner, Renée Gonsalves, bring 30 years of combined experience and have helped clients buy and sell more than 350 homes throughout San Francisco. Sam is known for helping buyers understand the nuances of the local market and making the homebuying process feel clear, strategic and manageable. A San Francisco resident since 2010, he is also an avid gardener and an active member of the city’s dahlia community.
Resources and Links
https://OwninSF.com- Sam's real estate team website
https://www.instagram.com/sambuckwalter/- Sam's Instagram page
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Andrew:
Welcome back to House Call SF. So you've decided you want to buy a home. Now what? How do you actually go from scrolling Zillow on your couch to submitting a winning offer? Pre-approval, disclosures, contingencies. If those words already feel like a lot, this episode is for you as we're going to walk through the process from start to finish.
One bit of housekeeping before we start, though. This is actually the last episode in our initial test for the podcast. If you found these first few episodes helpful, please subscribe or follow the podcast wherever you're listening. If you have feedback, questions, or ideas for future episodes, you can reach us at housecallsf.com. If we hear that you'd like to learn more, we'll keep releasing episodes. Your feedback really does matter.
And one quick programming note before we get into it. Stick around until the end of the episode because after the interview, I'll come back with my recap and a few of the key takeaways that stood out to me.
Alright, today's guest. Over the course of this show, I want you to hear from a range of voices involved in real estate. Traditional real estate agents, flat tea agents, real estate attorneys, lenders, inspectors, and more. No single person or business model has the whole story, and I think hearing different perspectives is one of the best ways to become a more important buyer.
We're starting today with the traditional real estate agent perspective. And my guest is Sam Buckwalter, a San Francisco-based realtor with Compass and co-founder of Renee and Sam Homes. And in the interest of full transparency, Sam is also a personal friend. Given his experience and the amount of time he spent helping people navigate San Francisco real estate, I thought he would be a great person to help us build a basic roadmap of what actually happens when you buy a home.
This episode is intentionally just an introduction. We could have spent hours on almost every step we discussed today, and then future episodes we will go much deeper on many of them with the relevant experts. And as with any guest, having Sam on the podcast is not an endorsement of his services. The goal is simply to hear his perspective, learn from his experience, and help you better understand the process.
Let me tell you a little bit more about Sam. Together with his business partner, Renee Gonzalves, he brings more than 30 years of combined real estate experience. He's lived in San Francisco since 2010, loves the city, and if you check out his reviews online, you'll see a recurring theme. He helps buyers understand the nuances of the local market and makes a complicated process feel clearer, more strategic, and more manageable. You can learn more about Sam and his team at owninsf.com and find him on Instagram at SamBuckWalter. And as you'll hear toward the end of our conversation, real estate isn't his only San Francisco passion. He's also an avid gardener and an active member of the city's Dahlia community. Okay, let's get into it.
Sam, welcome to House Call SF.
Introduction to Sam’s Real Estate Journey
Andrew: It's great to have you here.
Sam: Hey Andrew, I'm happy to be here. Thank you for having me.
Andrew: Before we get into it, I always enjoy hearing about how people found their way into real estate. I'm wondering, was there a particular experience or person that made you think this is what I want to do?
Sam: That's a great question. You know, it's funny. I was born into real estate. Both of my grandmothers were in real estate, and my father was an estate planning attorney. And so it was just in my blood always to do this. I moved to San Francisco in 2010, fell in love with this city, and then discovered that real estate was going to bring in every single thing that I love about San Francisco, working with people and being in a competitive market that is super dynamic. So it just everything worked out and uh I'm having a lot of fun.
Common Misconceptions for First-Time Buyers
Andrew: And we're happy to have you. And you've been doing it for a while. You've worked with lots of buyers. The other thing I'm wondering about before we really dive into the home buying process is what are the things that you've seen even smart, well-prepared first-time buyers commonly misunderstand?
Sam: The biggest misconception would be what their monthly costs are going to be. Everyone's plugging in their budget, what they I think their budget is, into a mortgage calculator. That's spinning out a number that is not giving you what your total, what we're going to call P-I-T-I, your principal interest taxes, and insurance is going to cost you. And so what I like to do is have my buyers talk to a lender, ideally a local lender, and we could talk about that, uh, the importance of having a local lender, and have them reverse engineer this whole thing and understand what each month is going to cost them. Because I have walked buyers into a $3 million property and then I talk them through it, and they go, No, this is way more than I ever thought. I was going, This is going to cost me. They weren't calculating the taxes. They weren't calculating the HOA dues. They weren't calculating multiple things.
Andrew: That's a really interesting point. So you start from the monthly payments and you work your way back to sale price kind of from there.
Sam: Yes. Yes. That's how I want to. That's how I want to outline things because I think about things on a monthly basis. Yes, taxes are twice a year. Yes, a lot of these payments are going to be big balloon payments, but I want something calculated down to a monthly cost for me. That's that's that's beneficial for and my buyers like that too. And what we can do is we can work backwards from there.
Overview of the Home Buying Process
Andrew: That seems like a really practical way to go about it. And that's exactly why I wanted to do this episode. I'm hoping we can clear up a few more things for buyers along the way. There's enough here, like we said, to be a three-part episode. So we are just going to scratch the surface with a basic introduction to the home buying process. So let's go ahead and imagine we are a first-time buyer. We listened to last week's episode, we have a budget, we know our target price range, we've decided that buying is indeed the right decision for us. Maybe we work in healthcare, we have busy, unpredictable schedules, we know almost nothing about what happens next. Can you just outline for us what are the major steps in the home buying process that we're going to have to go through?
Sam: Absolutely. First step, like you said, understand your budget and identify a lender. And if you are going to finance this property, you need to get pre-approved. We need to understand how much you can spend. I would work with a local lender, talk to an agent that knows the market and can share with you a lender that can get the job done. The goal is to have somebody on your team that knows the seller's agent and can sell you. So we identify that lender. Then you're going to identify your realtor. There are multiple questions I want you to ask a realtor. There are things I want you to understand, but it is a relationship. You need this person to represent you because this person is going to sell you to that seller, to that seller's agent, especially in this seller's market. After you identify the realtor, you're going to identify what your needs are and prioritize those needs and see what you are willing to compromise on.
Once we figure that out, we can go out and start touring properties. We go out and we tour properties. And in that process, we're going to be refining your needs each time we see something. Things are going to come up. We're going to look at lighting. We're going to look at feeling. We're going to look at how busy a street is. We're going to look at parking. There are so many things that you cannot predict that are going to be important to you until you're actually in a home.
Once we identify the property, the realtor, your representative, is going to start building a relationship with that seller's agent, and they're going to ask for the disclosures. This disclosure packet in San Francisco is most often, not always, unfortunately, most often complete and ready to go. That means that they have completed the seller's disclosures, they've completed the inspections, they have all the advisories, everything is signed on the seller's end. So if a cash offer comes in that day, they can close within seven days. So we're going to take those disclosures and we are going to scour them. We are going to do our due diligence. There are ways we can front load this work where we can read it before we actually go into an offer. There's boilerplate advisories that we can do that, but there are a few, and we can get into that, that we have to pay attention to. Once we do that, we are going to come up with an offer strategy. We're going to decide we're going to look at comps in the neighborhood. We're going to see what we think this property is worth. We're also going to look at competition. And in this process, your representative should be building a relationship with that seller's agent and understanding what they want in this offer because we want a clean offer submitted.
Once we've got everything, we will put it in a docu-sign and we will submit that offer on offer day. If there's not an offer day, we will try and get this offer in early. Timing matters. Preparation matters in this situation. We will submit the offer. Multiple things can happen at this stage. We can be accepted. We can be denied and just not responded to, say you offended somebody. We could be countered directly, or we can receive a multiple counter. We decide what we want to do in that moment. You have to be ready to react because we're talking about minutes. We have to be ready to jump up a hundred, two hundred, a quarter million within minutes in order to win this. And that's where this relationship is. This is this is when you are working with an agent that you trust that is representing you and you know can negotiate on your behalf. You get accepted. Yay. Everything's wonderful.
And you then go into escrow. And escrow period can last some odd days. It's predetermined. And in that escrow period, title is cleaning up the title report and making sure that there's no liens against the property. You've already reviewed that in your disclosure review. And uh you move through escrow, and then on close of escrow, you get your keys.
Andrew: That was great. Easier said than done. Having gone through it, there's emotions riding high, it's high stakes along the whole way. We are going to do a future episode about escrow, so I think we'll leave that. But what I'm hearing then is that it sounds like there's a few steps to the process. One is figuring out your budget and identifying a lender. And then you identify your representation, and then you identify your needs and tour some homes that could potentially meet those needs. And then you're investigating the disclosures, making sure the property checks out, and then you're putting an offer together. Is that about right?
Sam: That's correct.
Andrew: Okay. Why don't we start from the beginning? We already talked in the last episode about how to figure out your budget, but you mentioned something about local lenders and how important that is. So I'm wondering, as people are shopping around for lenders, what are the qualities in a lender that we should be looking for? What are the important things?
Sam: If you have a relationship with a bank, I would start there. That's where you're going to get your best rate. And multiple lending institutions will offer a relationship banking interest rate. And that means if you drop a quarter million, a half a million, a million plus into the bank or it already exists, or you can get a gift from somebody, or somehow you can get that money into that account, you can save a quarter point. You could save a half a point. Once you have that established, then we want to find a local lender within that lending institution. And if you don't have a local lender, you want to start talking to a lender that is recommended by your realtor. Why that is important is we want to make sure when we are lending, our goal is to make this offer look as close to cash as possible. One way we do that is by shortening up and tightening up the terms. And we want to ensure that we are not going to fall out of escrow. Sellers will choose cash over a financed offer because of the risk involved in a financed offer. If there's a local lender that they just worked with or they've worked with multiple times, say Barbara at Chase, whom I love, if she calls day of and says, Hey, Sam Buckwalter's client, Andrew, is strong, he's ready to go. This is as good as cash. Listen, Sally, I can get this done in 10 days. I will get it done. You have my word. Click. That is worth its weight in gold.
So it is important to have that. Again, we're going to talk about relationships in this business. The relationships are the strongest thing that you have behind money, dollars, cents, and all that.
Andrew: You need to find your Barbara from Chase.
Sam: Yeah, you do.
Andrew: To be an advocate for you. Can I ask you one other thing here, Sam? I've always wondered when is the right time to be shopping around for lenders? Is it just at in the beginning to get pre-approval, or is it really after you found the property and need to get the full approval and qualification and stuff?
Sam: As soon as possible. I want you, you need to be pre-approved because it's going to help with, I'm sure this was in the last episode, but it's going to help with the budgeting conversation as well. You need to know what kind of loan you can afford. With the fluctuating interest rates over the past couple of years, banks will not fully underwrite you until you're in contract. Most banks, unless you've got some odd millions of dollars in the bank. It's a little different. But um you will shop around, you'll have an idea of what your interest rate is going to be. You write the offer, and then they will give you the exact number. After you submit that offer, you can shift lenders if you want. It is not recommended. We don't want any changes. We want things to run smoothly, and we want to hit our goals, and that is the job of your agent to manage.
Choosing the Right Representation
Andrew: That's great advice. So start early with that, make the process as smooth as possible. Understood.
Sam: Exactly.
Andrew: Why don't we move on to the representation piece of this? So can you tell us more about choosing the right representation as a buyer? I guess why should a buyer choose a traditional real estate agent over one of the newer flat fee companies or someone like a real estate attorney?
Sam: This is going to go back and you're going to hear me talk about it a lot. I'm going to go back to relationship business. Real estate is a relationship business. The seller's agent has a lot of power in deciding who they're going to work with. You need to find an agent who is well connected in the agent community. When you're going with these flat rate realtors, especially in a seller's market like San Francisco, you are not going to get your foot in the door like a seasoned agent at one of the main brokerages here in San Francisco. The attorneys, you can do that if you have identified the property. You're changing hands within family, you're doing something that is easy, you understand. But the agent's also going to represent you in a way that that attorney's not going to represent you. The agent knows the market. They know how much that house is worth. Someone can be swindling someone in that transaction. So having representation on both sides that understands the market definitely holds the value of why you should have a why you should pick a realtor who knows the market and is not charging a flat rate.
Andrew: That actually could be a good segue into you mentioned uh with the real estate attorney versus an agent and the advocacy piece of it all. I didn't know this when I first started out, but in one sentence, can you just explain to us what should a buyer expect from a buyer's agent? Like what are the tasks along the way that the buyer's agent will be responsible for?
Sam: You're giving me one sentence? I got it, I got it, I got it.
Andrew: Do your best.
Sam: I got it, I got it. You need an honest, well-informed advocate who can guide you through this complicated process with ease and with your interests in mind.
Andrew: So it comes down, is it the fiduciary duty that an agent has?
Sam: Yeah.
Andrew: Just the tenets of agency.
Sam: Yeah. Andrew, what we're looking for, what we're looking for is trust. This is something that is so important. We have thousands of agents in San Francisco. Who do you trust? Who do you trust is going to bring, who's gonna sell you? Who cares about you? Who's listening to you? Who, you know, you're gonna come across so many people. It's like dating. It's a it's a major decision. This is a huge decision when you're choosing representation. So please don't take it lightly. It's something that you need to take time and talk to the agent and ask them. Ask them point blank why should I hire you? Why should I pay you some odd percentage versus the $10,000 flat fee? What are you worth? See what they say. See how they respond. And also observe their selling techniques because they're selling you. They're selling you eventually. Listen to how they are. If if it resonates with you and they can sell you, then they're going to definitely be able to get you in the door and get that house that you need.
Questions to Ask Potential Agents
Andrew: That is a really interesting point. That was the hard part. And I think a lot of people struggle with this is among the thousands of agents out there, how do you decide who you can trust? So I think definitely important to keep what you said in mind there, Sam. I'm wondering, are there questions, like, are there the three most important questions that you would recommend buyers ask to determine whether someone that they're interviewing to be a potential buyer's agent for them is a good fit?
Sam: I love that question. Uh yes, there are questions that you should ask. One, why are you worth two and a half percent? Tell me. I want to know why are you worth it? Tell me about the process. Why is why do I choose you? Yeah. Um, I want to hear about a difficult time, the a difficult transaction that you've managed. And give me an example. And then lastly, I'd love to talk to somebody. Do you have a reference for me that I can reach out to? Uh, ideally, some complicated transaction that I can reach out to a buyer or a listing that you've represented and is willing to have a conversation with me.
Andrew: Yeah, someone who can really who will really vouch for what that particular agent did.
Sam: Yeah. I mean, peer-to-peer is hugely important and valuable. I want to talk to somebody. I'm going to say this over and over again. This is a big decision. So many buyers walk into an open house, they don't know what they're doing. They meet that first person that sells themselves well. It needs to be calculated. You need to make this decision. And so ask them, what should I be asking you? What should I be doing? Ask for that guidance right off the jump and see what they say. See if they're really there to represent you or if they're just there to get the transaction.
Andrew: Mm-hmm. I love the idea of kind of just making it part of your process of the interview to ask for references in this Bay Area. I mean, outside of San Francisco, like how important is neighborhood specific expertise or, you know, East Bay versus Marin versus South Bay versus San Francisco. Can one agent handle all of that? Or really is it more specialized than that?
Sam: Uh there are some superheroes that can do it. I am a huge proponent of the neighborhood specialist. I love, and again, I'm going to say it, the relationships that you can build within a neighborhood are important. I guide buyers into a lifestyle. And that happens street by street. And so for me and for what I'm looking for, and typically the buyers that work with me, a neighborhood specialist, someone who understands exactly where they're looking is hugely important. I'm not going to represent you in Solano. I'm not going to represent you in Oakland and all these different areas. I'm going to re refer you out to an agent that I know will do a good job. And because you have that referral from me, they're going to do an extra good job because they know that I'm watching the whole transaction transpire.
Andrew: Yeah. And Sam, what is your what do you view as your role? What takes up most of your time on a day-to-day basis when you're working with buyers as buyers navigate the rest of the steps in this process? What are the things that you kind of take the lead on?
Sam: I project manage. I make sure things are moving along. Depends where we are. So say we're just in the beginning stages. I'm educating the buyer. I want them to show up to the open house if they show up without me and know what to ask. I want them to know what to say because that relationship starts this moment they walk in the door. And so it is my job to make sure that the buyer is educated and understands how to walk into an open house, what to look for in an open house, what to see, what to pay attention to, what questions to ask that realtor in an open house, to make sure that when they contact me, if I'm not there, uh and say, we're ready to go, we want to write. This is the one that they have taken all those steps, and we can be, we can write essentially that evening if we need to or the next day, because timing matters in San Francisco in this competitive market. If we are, if we've written the offer and I'm managing escrow, I think you guys will do a whole thing on escrow, so that's fine, but I will be managing all the moving parts and getting, you know, making sure staging is getting out, making sure there are so many balls in the air when this is going on in escrow that anything that goes wrong, it can mess everything up. So I'm a project manager.
Andrew: It's reminding me almost like a wedding planner, just like juggling all these really important balls, making sure nothing gets dropped.
Sam: Yeah. Yeah. And if one thing the dates matter. If one thing goes wrong, then you could fall out of contract. You know, this is important. And there isn't in California, there is not an attorney involved. So the agent is managing all these legal matters as well. It's a huge responsibility.
Impact of Recent Changes in Buyer Representation
Andrew: Absolutely. I want to wrap up, we'll put a button in this representation piece before we move on. Just one last thing. Our listeners may know that there was the 2024 National Association of Realtor Settlement that, among other things, reinforced that buyer's agent commissions are negotiable as part of the process, that you have to enter a mandatory written agreement to work with a buyer's agent. The traditional rate in the Bay Area has been 2.5% for buyers' agents. Since this ruling, what have you seen changed in practice or what hasn't changed?
Sam: The biggest thing I love about this settlement is the transparency that we is provided to the buyer. The buyer has to sign an agreement called the BRBC, which outlines what the fiduciary duty of the buyer's agent is to the buyer. What is that relationship? Every single thing is defined within that. They also understand what compensation they will be paying. What's happening in San Francisco and what's changed is very little, actually. The buyers continue to write offers requesting a credit from the seller to pay that buyer's agent.
Andrew: So sellers are still paying here. I guess the other argument is well, they've already inflated the sale of the home to account for that, so the buyer ends up paying more there. But this was our experience as well. It feels like that two and a half percent people are still sticking to the two and a half percent.
Sam: Andrew, I have transacted multiple times since this settlement. I've not had one transaction that's been less than two and a half percent.
Andrew: Yeah, that seems to be the standard.
Sam: No, but I love what I love about it is I love the idea of working with somebody who's committed, who says, I choose you. I'm gonna sign this agreement right now and I'm going to work with you exclusively for a maximum of 90 days. That's all that our that agreement can be signed for. And we're gonna work together. If I buy a house in a certain area, you are going to get 2.5% or whatever we agree upon of the purchase price.
Andrew: Right, right, right. So then just so our listeners who are potential buyers know this is an agreement that you would sign after you pick your real estate agent before touring homes. Is that the timing of it?
Sam: It's legally- that has to be the timing of it. You're not allowed to tour a property with an agent without the BRVC. That's the settlement. That's the transparency piece that I like.
Creating a Wish List for Your Dream Home
Andrew: Speaking of touring homes, why don't we move into the next phase of the home buying process here? We've found our representation. Now we get to the fun part that most people think of when they think of looking for a home. Figuring out what your needs are and finding properties that meet those needs. I feel like most buyers start with a wish list of sorts. I mean, there were all these things that we wanted in a home. How do you help someone focus that wish list into a realistic San Francisco search?
Sam: That's a great question. And yes, it is the fun part. It's my favorite part. Um, going out and shopping and sitting down. And as an agent, I like to understand the buying patterns of the client. So I want to talk to them. I start with, you know, let's do like kind of like a memory palace. Let's talk, let's walk through your house. Let's walk through your childhood home. Let's walk through what do you love? What do you hate? What do you need? And what represents a home for you? And let's start making a list. Tell me everything that you can imagine that you want in this home. Let's write it all down. The more you tell me, the easier it'll be for me to find you the right property. Then I ask them to prioritize it. And that's one through 15. And that's difficult for them. Because then we're going to talk about compromise. Because guess what? San Francisco's expensive. You're going to have to compromise. I'm sorry. You're going to have unless you don't, I mean, guess what? Call me if you don't need to. I'm more than happy to find you that property. But you're going to have to compromise. So I'm going to talk to them. And I am, I mean, this is the another fun thing about this industry. I work with so many different types of people, people that look at the property as solely and instant as an investment, as a family home, as this.
So I'm here trying to understand what they're looking for, but I'm also trying to inject a little bit of magic into this. This is a home. This is where you're going to live with your family or with your by your whomever. This is where you're going to be. And I want it to be seen as such. And so we're going to talk about feeling. We're going to go deep. We're going to talk about what you need in this space. And that to me is a beautiful practice. And it's going to change, it's going to evolve. We're going to go out and you're going to say, oh my God, I didn't realize how important natural light was to me. I didn't realize that southern exposure is going to be too much natural light for me. All the things that we're going to look at. Then we're going to look and see what can actually be manipulated and what can't be manipulated. And when I say that, I'm talking about location. I'm talking about noise. I'm talking about traffic. I'm talking about commute to work. These are concrete things. I can change the paint color. I can change, you know, sort of change the flow of the property, but I can't change the lot size. I cannot change a corner property on Geary where people are whipping around the corner or a neighbor upstairs that has heavy footfall. Those are going to be there. And so we're going to re-rank and we're going to decide that. Long-winded answer.
Andrew: But no, that was great. I mean, you hit on there's an emotional piece to this, there's a psychological piece to this. So then there's like it's important to know what's fixed versus what is something that could potentially be modifiable. Are there common trends or common things that you hear from buyers and then common uh themes to the way buyers' priorities change as they actually move through the home search?
Sam: Yes. Yes, yes. Everyone wants the same thing, Andrew. Everyone wants the same thing. Everyone wants a 3-2. Everyone has a growing family. They want those bedrooms to be on the same level because, of course, no one wants their two-year-old two floors down from them, uh, understandably. People want natural light, people want walkability, people want a little bit of outdoor space, especially since 2020. It's become highly important. People want to be in Noe Valley, people want to be in Pac Heights, people want a view. These are all important things. What we can compromise, I think this is what the question was. What typically people can can change is neighborhood. That's another fun part of this journey that I like to take people on is introducing them to different parts of San Francisco. I love this city. It is so fun. And there are so many pockets that are beautiful and that people have no idea about. You can get up into McLaren Park, you can get all different areas in the city that are up and coming and ready to go and still quote unquote San Francisco affordable. And so people will will change. People will change. They'll go from single family to condo. That's a tough one. They'll go from condo to TIC, which is fractional ownership, a tenancy in common. All of a sudden, they don't need a bathtub anymore. All of a sudden, they don't, a deck will be just fine. They don't need a patch of land. So this is a this is the dance coming to terms with some level of compromise.
Key Considerations During Open House Tours
Andrew: So as you're touring these neighborhoods, some maybe that you haven't explored before, you're going to open houses. Sam, what are you looking for at an open house that an inexperienced buyer may not notice?
Sam: So I go straight to what the insurance companies are looking at. I'm looking at the roof, I'm looking at the electrical, I'm looking at the foundation. Those are the three things. And then plumbing, which you typically can't see, but I would like to see that in the inspection report. Insurance companies want these to all be updated. There's something called knob and tube wiring in San Francisco. And almost all insurance companies want this to be removed from the property because it is a potential fire hazard. So what I want to look at is the junction box, and I want to look at everything and see if the electrical has been updated. I'm going to look at the foundation. I'm going to see if I can, if it's visible, if it's hidden, if there's anything that's obviously a little shady about how they're presenting this property. And then lastly, I'm just going to look up at the roof and see what that looks like. Roof's a quick, easy fix, but these are all things that need to be done before you can get this home properly insured. Yeah, those are the main things.
And then flow. Flow is huge for me. I'm looking at flow. I'm look walking in there and getting a sense of the of how this property is going to be lived in. And I'm talking, I'm guiding my client's eyes into seeing that. Hey, where's your TV going to go? You're in front of a TV all day. Where are you going to plop down and have your 100-inch TV mounted on the wall? This is important. I'm looking at natural light. I'm looking to see the orientation of the home and how this will this will be. And I'm listening. I'm listening to the noise. I am such a stickler for sound. I am such a little diva when it comes to footfall, road noise, school bells, fire engines, all that. So I'm listening.
Andrew: I've heard people say that they're using their nose too to identify any weird smells or anything. It's a full sensory experience.
Sam: Andrew, mold is a real, this is San Francisco. It is a wet, we are, it's wet out there. Mold is real. I do not want to smell. I am again very, very absolutely. We're using our noses, we're using our eyes, we're looking everywhere. We're listening.
Andrew: You're thinking structural stuff as it impacts insurability. And then it sounds like you're just envisioning what your client's life is going to look like and how does this property work for that? I did want to ask you about a lot of the HouseCall SF listeners are busy healthcare professionals, with clinical schedules that are pretty full. Might be difficult to attend every open house or respond immediately. How do you work with buyers in that position? How can an agent and a buyer in those shoes structure their home search so that things still can move forward and the search remains manageable and doable?
Sam: Yeah. I mean, this happens all the time. It's not just with the healthcare professionals. I work with executives that have tight schedules. I just worked with an attorney that would give me five minute segments with her because it just there was no time. There was no time. What I do is I preview the property. I go in and I provide a video of the property if need be to do a virtual tour. And then back to that relationship, I talk to the listing agent. Help me out. Give me the keys. Let me in. I have a schedule that I have to work around that is difficult. We're going to pop in there at 8:30 at night. We're going to pop in there at five in the morning. Not ideally. It's not what I want to be doing, but it's it's absolutely what needs to get done, and it's totally fine. And if it gets the deal done and it makes the client happy and we can get into a property before anybody else, it's huge. It's wonderful for everyone. So it's previewing, preparation, and then getting in there at any time, no matter what it takes, no matter what it takes. The pushy realtors get it done. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. It's you have to ask, have to ask. And you need somebody that's going to push for your representation.
Decoding Disclosure Packages
Andrew: Well, that's good to know there are ways to work around tough schedules like that and still make it happen. Let's move on to the investigating properties piece of all this. You mentioned that there's often a large disclosure packet available as the home is listed. Can you walk us through what a typical Bay Area disclosure package looks like? What are the most important documents that deserve our closest attention?
Sam: Well, I will say on record, every document is important. And I need you to read every word of that document. And I'm not joking. It is, we need to read everything. Uh, are there boilerplate advisories that can be read in advance or just once that are repeat throughout all the disclosure packets? What I want you to focus on after you've read all those documents is the seller's disclosures. And this is where the seller is going to disclose every material fact they know about the property. I want you to review all the inspections. And like I said, most likely the seller is going to front load this and do their own inspections and provide those. I want you to contact that inspector if we have any questions. I want you to look at the title report to make sure that there aren't any major liens, easements, issues with ingress, egress on this property. Everything will be recorded that has been recorded with the city on the title report. So the preliminary title report is important.
I want you to look at the HOA docs. This is important. I want you to see how the HOA is formed. This is, of course, for multi-unit properties or something that's in a gated community. Um, I want you to look at the meeting minutes. Read through the minutes. How are people talking to one another? Is this a community that you want to live in? Is this a community that you want to enter? Are there any ongoing disputes? Is there any litigation against the building? This is all going to be in the HOA documents provided by the HOA.
Andrew: Mm-hmm. Have you ever seen a situation where information that did come out in the disclosures or in the inspections really changed a buyer's view of a home and maybe pushed them away from it when they thought they loved it?
Sam: Absolutely. Absolutely. And that's the job of your realtor is to guide you through this and understand what is a big deal and what is not a big deal. And just recently I had a duplex where we had an ongoing dispute between the two owners of the property that led into litigation, nasty emails shared back and forth, cameras placed all over the property. It was a hostile environment, and that was all outlined in the disclosures. Mind you, my client called me and said, This is the one. This is the property. This is it. And we opened up disclosures and I said, Hey, listen, we have to take this seriously. This is a big deal. They will halt construction. A neighbor that is has a you know, has it out for you or a personal vendetta against you, for some reason, they can make your life a living hell. And so that's a big deal. That's a big deal. How do you discover? How do you calculate, how do you walk through that? Is what I did with my client. We sat down, we read everything, we talked to the listing agent and said, tell us about your client. And then talk to us as much as you know about the neighbor upstairs. And then it's a risk. You move forward or you don't move forward. We decided to move forward, and my client is over the moon because the guy's wonderful. The guy's wonderful upstairs, and they are ecstatic and they're expanding and they're turning this property into a much higher valued property, and it's just turned out to be a dream. But you, we that was a risk they were willing to take.
Crafting Competitive Offers in a Seller's Market
Andrew: Yeah. I guess you just need to know what you're getting into and are you willing to assume that risk. So we actually are going to devote a future HouseCall SF episode to disclosures and inspections entirely. So we're going to resist the urge to go too far into the weeds today. But now let's say we've reviewed the property, we've asked our questions, we decided we still want it. Now it's time to write an offer. So one of the frustrating things out here is how list prices are intentionally set below the expected sale price. And there's a number of reasons for that. In these situations, how do you figure out what a home is actually worth? And then follow-up to that would be who determines what price to put in the offer? Is it the buyer? Is it the agent? Is it a they're working together to come up with it? What do you think?
Sam: Well, I'll start there. The buyer makes all the decisions. The agent is there to guide the buyer. The buyer makes every decision. So just that is clear. Um, how do we come up with the price and why are things priced as they are? San Francisco has a tendency to price low. I tell my clients, let's not anchor this against the price at all. Ideally, we can maybe get an idea, but today, tomorrow, this market we're in right now with the AI boom and what's happening with these numbers and 144 homes going over a million dollars over asking price in the first six months of this year, that number is arbitrary. That number does not, that number is just thrown out there. So what do we do? We look at the comps. We look what has the comparables, what has sold in the neighborhood that we can compare it to, and at what price did it sell. And we have to dig deep into that. We have to see, we I would like to talk to the agent, see what happened, how competitive it was, how many offers came in, how many were cash, how many were end users, how many are developers. We're seeing more developers come out than we've ever seen, and and all of that. Then what you need to do to craft this offer, once you've got an idea of what the price is going to be, is talk to that listing agent. This is that relationship piece that I will talk about over and over again. Your agent has to be able to build a strong relationship with this listing agent. It is a seller's market. They have the upper hand. So what do you do? You talk to them. What do you need? What does this offer need to look like? How many disclosures are out? How many confirmed offers are you expecting? Can you get all that information? And at the same time, this agent is reading this listing agent and deciding maybe they want a little bit less information. Maybe they don't want so much information. It's a dance. It's a delicate dance because when it comes down to it, the numbers get close. And whoever gets that last opportunity and that last phone call wins the deal. Which means you have to be prepared and you have to be on time, ideally early. So I mean, it's it, it there's little things. I mean, there's so many things we can do. There's so many things we can do. Cash, contingency free, seven-day close is the cleanest offer we can offer. We could see. Let's get it as close as we can to that as possible.
Andrew: So you brought up a point about the contingencies and waiving the contingencies. Can you just say a little bit about what are those contingencies? And then just confirm. So it sounds like people are generally still waiving all contingencies in this market. And this is not advice, but just sharing what you're seeing people commonly do.
Sam: Thank you for adding that. Uh, this is not my advice. My advice is that you keep your contingencies. But what we're talking about when we're talking about contingencies are four main contingencies. The first one is the inspection contingency. Then we have an appraisal contingency. Then we have a loan contingency or a finance contingency. And lastly, the new one is the insurance contingency, which has become more and more difficult in our beautiful state of California. These are the four. The strongest contingency that you can put in place that the seller wants to see the least is the investigative contingency. This means for some odd period of time, once you go into contract, the seller can walk into the property, look at everything, and investigate if anything is amiss. Footfall, barking dog, whatever it is, they can say, nope, I'm out. This is not the right property for me. So we can see why waiving these four contingencies makes the offer that much stronger because we know this is not going to fall out of contract. The worst thing that could happen is you go into contract, you remove a listing from the MLS, and then it falls out of contract. You immediately devalue the property potentially. What's wrong? Why did someone fall out? The questions begin. The frenzy has calmed down. People have moved on to the next shiny object. The seller's agent is working as hard as they can to make sure nothing is falling out of contract. And it is your buyer's agent's responsibility to convey that you will get the job done.
Preparing for Home Buying: First Steps
Andrew: Sam, we're coming to a close on the podcast here. Maybe just final takeaways. I would love to hear from you. If someone hopes to buy a home, let's say six to 12 months from now, what do you think is the single best process related thing they can do right now, this week, to prepare themselves?
Sam: One thing before that is you guys, you can do it. You can do this. It's possible. It is a hundred percent possible. It seems unfathomable, and the process seems so difficult. But just know that it is possible and people are doing it every day, and you can win and you can do it. Go and get pre-approved. Just do it. Call your lender, get a pre-approval, get that paper. Once you have that pre-approval, you can write the offer the next day.
Andrew: That's great. So talking to your banks if you have a relationship discount available, maybe start with them, get pre-approved. That's a concrete first step. And I appreciate the encouragement from you, Sam. That's great to hear. Before we let you go, I did want to let listeners know that you have a serious talent and interest outside of real estate too with gardening. So we'll close on this the final and maybe most important question of the interview. How'd we do at the Dahlia Festival this year in San Francisco?
Sam: Oh my God. It was incredible. The Dahlia Society. So those who don't know, the Dahlia is San Francisco's official flower. We just had our 100-year anniversary of determining that this is our official flower. The Dahlia Society, which meets every second Tuesday at Golden Gate Park at this, uh at the Botanical Gardens. Um, I'm a part of. And we have a competition every year. And a gentleman named Lou sweeps the competition every year. And so he did incredibly well. And go down to the Dahlia Dell, which is right next to the Conservatory of Flowers, and go see some of the most beautiful blooms of your life.
Andrew: We got to check them out. Thank you for clueing us into that. Sam, thank you so much for coming on to House Call DF. You've taken a process that can feel mysterious and overwhelming and broken it into these five manageable stages. Could you please inform our listeners where they can go to learn more from you and about you? Sam: Yeah, thank you. Uh, this has been fantastic. Thank you, Andrew. You can go to my website at owninsf.com. I am partnered with a woman named Renee Gonzalves. We have 30 years of combined experience and we've sold over 340 homes at this point. So go to our website. All of our contact information is there, or just simply type in Sam Buckwalter into Google, and you will see my Google business page with all of my reviews. And follow me on Instagram if you want, Sam Buckwalter at Sam Buckwalter.
Andrew: Awesome. Thanks again, Sam.
Sam: My pleasure. This is fun. Thank you, Andrew.
Andrew: Thanks to Sam for sharing his experience and giving us a foundation for understanding the home buying process. In future episodes, we'll dig deeper and hear from people across the industry to help us become better informed buyers. Like I said, our goal is to represent a wide array of voices in the industry to share their knowledge and help us determine what is true with a capital T. My biggest takeaway here? It's something Sam returned to throughout our conversation. Real estate is about relationships. I think that's true in medicine and actually most things in life, but it's especially easy to see how it plays out here. From a listing agent's confidence in your lender to the trust between agents, those relationships can shape a transaction. If you hire an agent, ask about their local connections and their track record. And here's my quick recap of the five steps of the home buying process that Sam outlined. Step one, finding a lender. Ask about relationship discounts and look for a responsive loan officer who knows your local market, whether that's at a national bank or a local credit union. Compare the rates and the fees and get pre-approved early. Step two, choosing representation. Sam suggested three questions for prospective agents. One, what services justify your commission? Two, tell me about a difficult transaction you managed. And three, can I speak with past clients? Step three, touring homes. Prioritize what matters most to you, whether that's natural light, outdoor space, walkability, or your commute. And that open houses look beyond the staging. Does the flow of the home work for the life you envision? Are any areas of open house off limits in? Why might that be? Check out and ask about the foundation, the roof, the electrical system, including if there's any active knob and tube wiring. These can affect repair costs and insurability. Step four, reviewing disclosures. Read the full packet. But start with seller disclosures, inspection reports, the preliminary title report, and any HOA documents. And step five, writing an offer. Use recent comparable sales as your anchor for price in areas where homes are deliberately listed low. And learn what matters to the seller so you can compete on more than the price alone. That's all we've got for you today. Remember to visit housecallsf.com and use the contact us page to send us your questions, suggest a future episode topic, or tell us about the challenges and successes you've experienced while house hunting. We want to build the show around the questions that are most useful to you. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time.
