I worked with Lucas Sorah for my home buying process, and from the start he was incredibly knowledgeable, friendly, and excited to work with a first time home buyer. We sat down a few times before officially starting looking for houses to discuss the SF market, different neighborhoods, my likes and dislikes, and what the process would look like moving forward.
Once we started process of getting the loan approved and narrowing in on neighborhoods, it was clear that Lucas was very tuned in to the market dynamics of the city. We placed an offer on a house over the asking, but under what Lucas had recommended, and the house sold to someone else for exactly the price Lucas thought it would! The same held true for houses that we didn't end up placing an offer on, but that were sold within a few days of being on the market.
So when we found a place that we thought could be the one (the place was not on the market), we worked closely with Lucas on the offer and to our delight, was accepted! Couldn't be more happy to have had a good partner and someone in your corner throughout the process.
My only word of advice would be to get the loan 100% buttoned up before placing in an offer. That turned out to the be most stressful part of our experience and things would have been a lot more smooth had we nailed down that first. But then we may not have found the place we did... so I guess it all balances out!
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I met Lucas as he was representing an open house for an incredible condo in in Bernal. It was clear this thing was going to go well over asking, and well over my budget, but still ended up having a great conversation with him.
I've been looking on and off for years, figuring there was little a buying agent could do for me more than I could do on my own with some well crafted Zillow and Redfin alerts. I'd heard of off-market listings, but every realtor I had spoken to had promised big and never delivered.
Sure enough, within a week or two of having met him, Lucas emailed me with an off-market listing in Duboce. Not the area I had been focused on, but figured i'd check it out. I'm so glad we did. Even with the rainy, dark, and miserable weather and the general clutter of an un-staged home, it was clear this could be an incredible home.
The escrow process was not without difficulties - an inept insurance salesman, an over-aggressive underwriting department of a smaller bank - but Lucas worked closely with the seller to guide this all to completion.
This review is slightly overdue but beyond warranted nonetheless. We worked with Sasha Lupercio of the SF Hotlist team and with Danielle in a more peripheral sense. It was a fantastic experience! We started searching in January and closed on a property by mid-March! considering that we were new to the SF area and market (just moved from Philadelphia August 2016) we were full of trepidation. Luckily, the process was very smooth. I would say the plus side to working with this team is that they are very very responsive and hyper-realistic about your goals and what works financially for their clients. Considering the market we never thought we would end up in a single family home in one of the most desirable neighborhoods in the city. Our purchase was unique as it was 'off-market' which was completely arranged by the SF Hotlist team and has made our dream-home come true. Escrow was a well thought out breeze. Additionally, their network of ancillary services is unparalleled. I will continue to recommend them to all of our friends and family who are actively searching for their own piece of space in this city!
