Looking for SECRET Listings? Here's How to Find Off-Market Homes for Sale in the Bay Area

What's the deal with these secret off-market listings? How the heck do I find one as a buyer in the Bay Area? And even if I do, is it really a good idea to buy something off-market? This is Austin Klar, your lawyer turned real estate agent and real estate developer in San Francisco and Marin County, and I'm gonna answer each of those questions in this video. If you're thinking about relocating or want more information about the San Francisco or Marin County real estate markets, definitely reach out to me. My contact information's in the description below. I will personally answer every call, every email, every text, and I'd be more than happy to help you. And if you like videos just like this, please subscribe to my channel, and don't forget to click the bell so you're alerted every single time I post a video. All right, so this video's all about those elusive off-market listings. An off-market listing is just one that hasn't been uploaded to the Multiple Listing Service. So what does that mean? All the websites that buyers use to look for homes, Zillow, Redfin, realtor.com, you know, Trulia, whatever the website is, they all get their listing data from the same source, and that's the Multiple Listing Service. So agents, when they have a listing, upload the information to the MLS, the Multiple Listing Service,, and then the MLS pumps it out to the Redfins and Zillos and Realtor.coms of the world. If a listing isn't put on the MLS and doesn't go to all of those websites, then it's considered off-market. So if a listing isn't on all of these websites, how is a buyer supposed to find out about them? There are really only two ways you're going to find out about them as a buyer. Either you personally know the selling agent or the owner who is selling the property, or more likely you're working through a buyer's agent who's aware of the off-market listing. An agent spends every day touring properties and learning about what's available, whether on or off off-market, doing transactions with other agents, fostering communications and relationships with those other agents so that they have access to these off-market listings when they become available. When an agent has a listing that either isn't gonna be put on the MLS, so it's off-market, or it won't be put on the MLS for several months, maybe they're preparing the property for market, maybe the seller has a specific reason why they can't put it on the market just yet, the listing agent will let all of their agent friends know about the listing so that they can try and get a transaction done before coming to market. So when I'm acting as a buyer's agent for somebody who's looking in a particular area, in a particular price point, or for a particular type of property, I'm reaching out to all the agents I know in my network that represent sellers typically selling those types of homes or in that area. And doing that is really important in times like this when inventory is really tight. There aren't a lot of sellers selling their homes. So it's really critical not just to wait for something to pop up on the market, but to be proactive and see if you can find something else that's available off market. And it's in the selling agent's best interest to notify everyone they they know about this listing because it's not showing up on the MLS. The only way to get the word out is through direct communication with other agents, and it benefits them to get a transaction done before coming to market because they avoid all the time and expense of marketing the property and the stress of waiting for an offer to potentially come in. So now you know what off-market properties are, you know how to find them. The real question is, is it really a good idea to actually buy one off-market? And it really is going to depend on your situation. There are pluses and minuses, and it's going to depend on your goals. So what are some minuses of buying off-market? Well, first, you might not have as much information upfront about the property as you would if you were to buy an on-market property. Typically in San Francisco and Marin, when a home is listed on the market, the listing agent and the seller have gone through great lengths to make a lot of disclosures about the property. They fill out the Seller Property Questionnaire or the San Francisco Seller Disclosure, the Transfer Disclosure Statement. If it's a condo, they've got all the HOA documents out there upfront. They've typically done inspections already. They have environmental hazards— Report. There's a lot of paperwork that's already out there upfront available to buyers to see for them to determine whether or not they actually want to make an offer on a property. That happens a lot less with off-market properties. Somebody might not really be serious about selling, but if they get the right offer, they'll consider it. So they haven't gone through all of those hoops as if they were putting the home on the market, like going through all of those lengthy disclosure obligations. So as a buyer of a property that's off-market, that might mean that you have to wait until getting into contract before you get your inspections done, before you get those HOA documents done. Before you get those environmental hazards reports and the pest inspection report and all the other reports and disclosures that you would ordinarily get in an on-market transaction before you actually get into escrow. That's not always going to be the case with off-market listings. Some sellers really motivated to sell, ready to sell, but only want to do it off-market. They might have gone through those hoops, but chances are for off-market, as a buyer, you're not going to have that information up front. So practically, what does that mean? Maybe you need an inspection contingency or some other contingencies, contingencies, that depend on what information is in those documents so that you're not stuck going through this contract if something pops up that is really unexpected and materially impacts the property's value. Another potential downside of buying something off-market is that the seller might demand a premium for that exclusivity. As a buyer going through an off-market process, you don't need to compete against everyone else out there that's interested in the property, and for that luxury, a seller might very well ask for a premium compared to what you might pay on the market. Of course, if this is your dream home and you've been waiting years for it, maybe that's okay with you, but maybe you're on a budget and you don't want to pay that extra premium. It's not always going to be the case with every off-market deal, but it's possible. A third potential downside has to do with timing. Most real estate transactions that occur are on-market transactions. It's very rare that something transacts off-market. You know, 90+% of transactions happen on the market. So if you're a buyer that needs to do something very quickly, Maybe you're moving to a new city because you got a new job. Maybe you got divorced, so you need a new house. Maybe you just had a third kid, so you need a bigger space. If you don't have the luxury of time, then you don't necessarily have time to wait for that perfect off-market listing to pop up. You might more likely have to rely on just what is available on the market. Of course, if you have all the time in the world and you just want that perfect listing, maybe it's better to wait for something off-market. Maybe you have to pay a little bit more, but you don't have to compete against other people. You have a higher likelihood of success of actually getting that home. And the exclusivity that we talked about, which might command a higher premium, is one of the pluses of an off-market listing. Because there aren't so many people aware of it, there isn't as much competition for the property. You might be the only offer on that property. You might actually be able to have real negotiations with a seller about that property compared to, you know, say having 3 or 4 other offers that you need to compete against and outbid. And because not as many people know about it, these homes tend to stay available for longer. You might have more time to think about a property after you've seen it before you decide whether or not to make an offer. Whereas if something is on the market, you might only have a week or a few days from when you see it to make a determination of whether or not you wanna make an offer and for how much and what other terms you're going to offer. So the long and short of it, there are pluses and minuses surrounding the exclusive off-market listing process. And depending on your particular situation, it might make sense to wait for one or it might not. So if you're thinking about relocating and wanna know if there are any listings available off-market in what you're looking for, or if buying something off-market makes sense for you, definitely reach out to me. My contact information is in the description below. I will personally answer every call, every email, every text, and I'd be more than happy to help you. And if you like videos just like this, please subscribe to my channel and don't forget to click the bell so you're alerted every single time I post a video.