Seller Services
Seller services from Danielle Lazier and the Vivre Real Estate team, helping San Francisco sellers since 2002.
Selling a home here is a major financial decision, and usually a personal one too. Our goal is to help you net the most from your sale, with a clear plan and a process that doesn't take over your life.
We start with a conversation with everyone involved in the decision about your goals, your timing and the home itself. Then we build a pricing strategy from current market data.
We recommend the preparation and staging worth paying for, and skip what isn't. Our team manages the work with trusted vendors, and our Listing Concierge program can cover up-front costs until closing.
Professional photography, video, floor plans, custom copy and design, a property website, print and email campaigns, and outreach to the agents most likely to have your buyer.
This is where the biggest differences between agents show up. We work for the best price and terms, then manage the 100 to 150 communications that take a sale from offer to closing.
Checklists for comparing agents tend to focus on what's easy to count, like total sales or sales in your neighborhood. In San Francisco, those numbers say less than you'd expect. Thousands of licensed agents compete for a limited number of listings, so even the busiest agents rarely have many recent sales in one neighborhood. Most top agents also follow a similar playbook for preparation, pricing and marketing.
After two decades and roughly 1,000 homes sold across the city, this is what we see make the difference.
Many sellers assume their home needs a remodel to sell well. Often it doesn't. This Potrero Hill home got paint, refinished floors, new lighting and staging, with no kitchen or bathroom remodel, and drew 10 offers in its first week. Preparation is always optional, and we only recommend what we believe is worth it for your home.
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AfterLiving room
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AfterResults reflect this property and the market at the time.
Real estate fees are a significant expense. Commissions are negotiable and not set by law. Since the 2024 NAR settlement, how buyer agents are paid is agreed in writing up front instead of being advertised in the MLS.
There is a meaningful range of fees in San Francisco, and a meaningful range of service, experience and negotiating skill behind them.
We sit at the higher end of that range, with a full-service approach that covers everything from pricing and preparation through marketing, negotiation and closing. In our experience, what clients care about most at the end of the day is their net return and the best possible results for their money.
Read more: Real Estate Agent Commission Rates in San Francisco →
Many sellers reach out with a long list of questions. Some are exactly the right questions. Others matter less in San Francisco than they sound. Here's how we think about the most common ones.
Our fee sits at the higher end of the San Francisco range and covers full service: pricing strategy, preparation and staging management, marketing, negotiation and escrow management. The exact fee is agreed in writing in the listing agreement. Buyer agent compensation is no longer set by the listing. Buyers agree on it with their own agent and may ask a seller to contribute as part of an offer. Whether that makes sense for you is part of the pricing and negotiation strategy for your sale.
It's a common question, but in San Francisco it doesn't tell you much. Thousands of agents compete for a limited number of listings, so even very active agents rarely have more than a handful of recent sales in any one neighborhood. Experienced agents sell all over the city. What matters is knowing both your micro-market and what's working citywide right now, plus the negotiation skill, relationships and process to act on it. Our neighborhood market reports show how we track the market month to month.
A useful price opinion depends on the home itself: its condition, layout, light, views and updates, and what buyers are competing for right now. Without seeing it, any number is a guess, and a flattering guess is a common way to win a listing. We'd rather build a pricing strategy on the home and current data. More on why some agents inflate estimates and the dangers of overpricing.
It depends on the home, and the answer is often less than sellers expect. Paint, floors, lighting and staging usually do more than a remodel, as the Potrero Hill example above shows. Recommendations come after we've seen the home, and our Listing Concierge program can cover up-front costs until closing.
Spring and fall are usually the busiest seasons in San Francisco, and the weeks around the holidays are quieter. But the calendar matters less than how ready your home is and how much competition it will face. A well-prepared home with few alternatives can do very well in a quiet month, as this holiday home sale shows.
We'd rather start with a conversation. A useful plan depends on your goals, timeline and the home. The things that matter most in an agent, like judgment and communication, are also hard to see in a document. The first step is a Zoom call with everyone involved in the decision.
Interviewing more than one agent is smart. These questions tend to reveal more than sales counts:
The first step is a Zoom call with everyone involved in the decision. To help us prepare, please fill out our short seller questionnaire.
