Austin Klar breaks down three things to know before buying new construction in San Francisco. Developers use their own contracts instead of standard ones, so hire someone to aggressively redline it. Expect to pay the transfer tax yourself, not the seller. And since your price becomes the building's comp, negotiate for concessions like transfer-tax credits or a year of HOA fees instead of asking for price cuts.
Chapters
3 things you need to know about if you're buying new construction in San Francisco. First, the developers use their own contract for the sale. They don't use the standard San Francisco purchase agreement. So you need to be working with someone who can read it, understand it, and isn't afraid to redline the shit out of it. Second, when you buy an existing home, seller typically pays transfer tax, but usually buyers pay that when they're buying new construction, or at least that's how the contracts are written. So if you are going to pay that, make sure you're accounting for it in your closing costs. Number 3, it's really hard to get meaningful price reductions because the price of the sale is going to set the comp for all the other units in the building. So more often than not, you're more likely going to get concessions on things like transfer tax, loan points, escrow fees, or a year's worth of HOAs. So just be aware of that when you go to the negotiating table. Follow me for more Bay Area real estate.
