SF Home Buyers: buying your first home in San Francisco, explained

For first-time buyers in San Francisco

We walk you through the whole thing in plain English: what you can afford, getting a loan, picking a neighborhood, making an offer and closing. We check the numbers every week. And if the house needs work, we can show you which local contractors have been doing that kind of job.

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The Painted Ladies on Steiner Street at golden hour, with the downtown skyline and a setting moon behind them

Joshua Sortino / Unsplash

A gray Victorian house with a long front staircase and a pink blossoming tree

David Vives / Unsplash

Morning fog flowing between downtown San Francisco towers as the sun rises over the bay

Zetong Li / Unsplash

How it works

How buying a home here actually works

Five stages, roughly in order. Start at the beginning or skip to where you are now.

1Figure out your budgetWhat you can afford each month, not just the sticker price.

2Get your loan readyPre-approval, your down payment, and what lenders want to see.

3Find the right homeNeighborhoods, types of homes, and how to read the seller's paperwork.

4Make an offerHow offers work here and how to compete without overpaying.

5Close & move inEscrow, insurance and what you'll pay at closing.

Around the city

Victorians, Edwardians and everything in between

Home types explained

Sutro Tower rising above a bank of fog that spills over a hillside of homes — Fog rolling over Sutro Tower

A row of Victorian houses with bay windows and white trim behind clipped hedges — Victorian row with bay windows

A mosaic-tiled public stairway climbing between gardens and homes — 16th Avenue Tiled Steps

Looking down the hedge-lined Lyon Street Steps toward rooftops and the bay in evening light — Lyon Street Steps, Pacific Heights

The Painted Ladies under a bank of fog, with downtown towers fading into the mist — Painted Ladies in the fog, Alamo Square

Late sun flaring down a residential street lined with palm trees and a white Victorian — Late sun on a palm-lined street

Soft fog settling over a hillside of houses and cypress trees — A foggy morning on the hills

A hillside packed with Victorian and Edwardian homes above a line of cypress trees — Homes stacked up a hillside

A steep residential street of bay-windowed homes running downhill toward downtown towers — A steep street toward downtown

A row of Queen Anne Victorian houses with pointed gables and bay windows under a blue sky — Queen Anne Victorians on Steiner Street

A blue Victorian with white trim, bay windows, and a front staircase, framed by autumn branches — Blue Victorian with a front stair

A turquoise house with white window trim beneath leafy street trees — A turquoise house under street trees

Looking down Lombard Street's hydrangea-lined curves toward Telegraph Hill and Coit Tower — Lombard Street toward Coit Tower

Homes and apartment buildings lining the switchbacks of Lombard Street — Homes along Lombard Street, Russian Hill

Dolores Park's lawn on a sunny day, with Mission High's tower and the downtown skyline beyond — Dolores Park on a sunny afternoon

A slate-blue Queen Anne Victorian on a street corner next to a cream Victorian — A corner Queen Anne Victorian

Shingled houses on Russian Hill with the Golden Gate Bridge in soft fog beyond — Russian Hill, Golden Gate in the fog

Victorian row houses along Alamo Square under a sky of scattered clouds — Victorian row, Alamo Square

A pale gray Italianate Victorian with bay windows, a front stoop, and a ground-floor garage — Italianate Victorian with a garage

Tiled front steps leading up to a red door on a white house — Tiled front steps and a red door

Stone steps rising to an arched Victorian entry with a red front door — Arched entry on a Victorian

Find a contractor

Need work done on your home?

Type what you need done. We'll show contractors who have pulled city permits for that kind of job in San Francisco lately, busiest first, straight from public permit records. Nobody pays to be listed, and a listing isn't a recommendation, so check the license at the CSLB before you hire.

Windows1,459 jobs this past year Roofing2,102 jobs this past year Kitchen remodel2,111 jobs this past year Bathroom remodel7,044 jobs this past year Seismic retrofit138 jobs this past year Solar & batteries1,257 jobs this past year Electrical11,981 jobs this past year Plumbing9,223 jobs this past year

Paid partly in company stock?How RSUs, options and company buybacks turn into a down payment, and what you'll owe in taxes.Read the chapter

Checked every week

Rates, loan limits and tax rules change often. Every chapter shows the date we last checked its numbers.

Written for SF

Offer dates, earthquake retrofits, rent control, the transfer tax. The local stuff national sites skip.

No paid placements

Contractors can't pay to rank higher. The order comes from the city's own permit records.

Buying your first place in San Francisco? Start here.

How buying a home here actually works

Victorians, Edwardians and everything in between

Need work done on your home?