[fc id='10' align='center'][/fc]
(Click on each topic to expand)
WELCOME to San Francisco real estate with me, Kevin K. Ho, and my partner Jonathan B. McNarry — Kevin+Jonathan. We're partners in life and in business and we live and breathe real estate with our big black lab Raffi, who is himself a real estate super dog (you’ll see him at open houses, marketing videos and in person). We’re involved, active and successful professionals who rank in the top 1 percent of San Francisco real estate agents. We work with Vanguard Properties, the leading locally owned boutique San Francisco-based brokerage, known for its powerful top-quality branding, LGBT roots and development prowess.
Our clients have bought for less and sold for more in one of the most competitive markets in the world. Better yet, our clients are buyers and sellers — a true testament. Why? We are plugged-in, empathetic and responsive. Our approach to real estate is special — we understand that our clients value on our expertise, service and support in making such consequential decisions in their lives. We view our clients as extended family and we take care of them like family with heart, soul and consideration.
Explore our site, read our reviews and take a look at our seller and buyer successes to see how we stand out from other San Francisco agents.
And of course, be sure to contact us today to put all of our knowledge, personality and experience to work for you!
Kevin K. Ho, Esq.
VANGUARD PROPERTIES
Top Producer & Top 21 Club Vanguard Properties, Realtor (dre 01875957), attorney (sbn 233408) Member: SFAR MLS & Technology Committee, SFAR, CAR, NAR, Residential Builders’ Association, State Bar Real Property Section, Bar Association of San Francisco, the AIA, Top Agent Network (Top 1% of San Francisco Agents)
Jonathan B. McNarry
VANGUARD PROPERTIES
Realtor, Vanguard Properties (dre 01747295), Top Producer, RN, Notary Public, SFAR, CAR, NAR (Top Agent Network, Top 1% of San Francisco Agents)
— Belinda P.
Homeowner, Duboce Park, Administrative Support, Major Architectural Firm
— Howard E.
Luxury Developer & Repeat Client, San Francisco
Click to see the answers.
This is all the more reason to get fully educated on value, potential and context with Kevin+Jonathan.[/stack_accordion_content][/stack_accordion][stack_accordion type="accordion accordion-1 accordion--oneopen"][stack_accordion_content title="Q: What's up with list prices in San Francisco? Are we just being gamed? Why not price accurately?"]ANSWER: One of the realities you’ll should come to accept (and expect) in San Francisco is that a property’s list price is inconsequential for the most part. Unless you’re talking new construction buildings, it’s better to think of a list price as a ‘starting’ price. While you can bristle and grumble about this generally practiced convention (overall statistics show that at least half of all listings sell for over list price), the sooner you come to move past the merits of the convention, the sooner we can meet your goal of getting property here. Real property valuation will be informed by area sales, an agent’s pricing history, development or remodeling potential and area trends.
Ascertaining a property’s real value is all the more reason to be working with Kevin+Jonathan. [/stack_accordion_content][/stack_accordion][stack_accordion type="accordion accordion-1 accordion--oneopen"][stack_accordion_content title="Q: What’s Up with Square Footages for San Francisco? 0 Square Feet?!"]ANSWER: Determining a property’s square footage in San Francisco can be extremely difficult. It’s so difficult, in fact, that many property listings will simply say the figure is ‘unavailable,’ or the space for the number is blank and — worse yet — a property’s square footage is a big, fat, round “0.” Are we living in a quantum singularity?! No, Mr. Hawkins, we’re not living in a warped singularity (it’d be an even tighter squeeze) in San Francisco (although sometimes it may feel like it).
What we’re encountering is that small measuring differences can lead to pretty big differences in values, which matters a lot when values are so high:
Ask Kevin+Jonathan about how this fits into the larger picture and how it will matter to you as a buyer or seller. [/stack_accordion_content][/stack_accordion]
EXPERIENCED DEVELOPMENT + INVESTMENT SELLERS AT SF BORDER
— Paul & Karen
Trades and Attorney, Sellers of an investment property who gained 40% in value after 14 months of ownership after following strategic updates to a charming single-family house at the Daly City-San Francisco border
Issues Handled: Departing tenants, dated finishes, remodeling, pest control clearance
Advantage: Previous successful renovations, previous pest-control-lender issues
FIRST TIME BUYERS IN DOGPATCH WHO FOUND A BRAND-NEW HOME QUICKLY
As first time homebuyers (and in SF no less!), Kevin helped my wife and I navigate the process from beginning to end. With his exceptional help, we were able to quickly find a place we loved. As others have mentioned, he is extremely responsive and his prior legal background helped in explaining the various contracts we were looking at. We will definitely use Kevin again when looking for our next home and highly recommend him to everyone out there.
— Arun & Maelle
Tech, Buyers, New Construction in Dogpatch
Issues Handled: New construction considerations, job transition to new and lending, location education
Advantage: Previous successful sales with listing brokerage and 1st phase of development, lender experience with similar scenarios
OUT OF TOWN SELLERS WHO ENTRUSTED RENOVATION TO US AND SOLD FOR A RECORD PRICE IN 7 DAYS IN THE RICHMOND
— Lydia & Patrick
Office Manager and Out-of-Town Realtor, Seattle-based Sellers of a Richmond District Condominium
Issues Handled: Maximizing investment dollars for staging and remodeling, HOA membership, estate issues, location, dated building, out-of-state sellers
Advantage: Previous legal experience, design skills, professional network of trades people, vendor discounts, previous remodeling experience, previous trust-seller clients
FIRST TIME BUYERS IN NOE VALLEY WHO GAVE UP BUT MOVED QUICKLY WHEN AN OFF-MARKET LISTING CAME UP
— Andrew & Kaitlyn
Finance + HR, Buyers of an Off-Market Noe Valley Condominium
Issues Handled: Losing out on previous multiple-bidding situations, location education
Advantage: Previous successful area sales and deep knowledge of neighborhood, understanding of remodeling
SELLER AND BUYER SUCCESS
— Clodel G.
Tech, Retail Applications, SOMA Income Property Seller, Excelsior Fixer Buyer
Issues Handled: Commercial + residential tenants, purchase and sale, staging and remodeling, location
Advantage: Previous commercial tenancy knowledge, awareness of construction costs, professional network, neighborhood knowledge, ability to craft marketing to different buyer types (investor vs. owner-occupier)
PREEMPTIVE OFFER WINS SPECTACULAR PROPERTY
— Colleen & Meghan
Tech, Buyers, Sisters Pre-emptive Offer Win in the Castro
Issues Handled: Family purchase, previous multiple-offer bidding, punch list items, location education
Advantage: Being privy to off-market listings within Vanguard Properties, use of technology to show property to all decision-makers, deep neighborhood knowledge and of area sales, vesting issue awareness
Read More Here.[/stack_cards]
Kevin has been an invited commentator/expert featured in the San Francisco Chronicle, Curbed SF, and interviewed a number of times on local television news sharing his thoughts about real estate trends and developments. Kevin, who is from Iowa originally, has lived in the U.K. and has a Master’s degree, a law degree from U.C. Berkeley’s School of Law (Boalt Hall) and a BA from Washington University, St. Louis. He speaks Cantonese and was a reporter and blogger before going to law school. Kevin still carries his law license 'just-in-case' he needs it and practiced as a business attorney in the City and as a mediator for 5 years working with the City's Office of Citizen Complaints — which handles citizen complaints against the SFPD — before focusing on real estate exclusively starting in 2010 after Jonathan said it’d be a 'good idea.' Indeed it has proven to be. Kevin is the chatty one, has the 'vision' thing and casual one.
Jonathan, who was born in the U.K. and raised in Atlanta comes from a family of real estate developers — he had his first open house sign up when he was just 6 years old! He worked in large-scale, high-end, subdivision development there and has been in the Bay Area for 10 years. Jonathan has also worked as a critical care, rapid response ICU nurse at UCSF with Board certifications and was also EMT/Paramedic. He is a Notary Public. He’s also worked in banking and insurance but real estate is in his blood and his role in this powerhouse team is of the details man, the well-dressed one who offers perspective, class and humor to the mix. He's the 'get-to-the point' one.
Raffi was born in Marin County came from a litter where his brother was top of the class who now works in Michigan while his other brother works with folks with diabetes in the East Bay. Raffi trained with the Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Rafael and joined Kevin+Jonathan's family in 2012. He's starred in a number of real estate tour videos for Kevin+Jonathan's property listings and often sits open houses, finds the best place to nap during property visits and inspections for Kevin+Jonathan's buyers. His favorite activity apart from waiting for treats and saying hello to new people is lounging around at Duboce Park, which he frequents nearly every day. Raffi is the silent one, the especially sweet one who will always make himself at home no matter where he's at.
ALL OVER THE MAP
Kevin listened to our story and took the time to understand who we were and our personalities and then asked more than a few more questions to narrow down where we should live. His advice definitely helped us narrow down the choices and helped us with the all important targeting of our search. [H]e gave us very candid and honest responses to our questions including dissuading us from a couple of apartments that in retrospect would have been completely wrong for us.
When we finally found a place that we unquestionably loved, Kevin guided us through the process in winning a bidding war before the house even made it to its first public open house. He helped quell a lot of the eleventh hour jitters and pushed us in the helpful way not the overbearing way. Ultimately, we were absolutely delighted with the purchase and he was integral in the process and could not recommend him more to others.
If there was one word to describe my experience with Kevin and Jonathan, it's "smart". They know the current environment and also helped educate and guide me to getting both buying and selling done. After selling, I had a lot of fear I wouldn't be able to find a new home. I've heard countless stories and read countless articles of buyers losing out to cash offers and it was discouraging. With their help, we were able to orchestrate a truly competitive non-cash offer. I honestly didn't think this would all be done before 2018 arrived, and now I'm an extremely happy client.
In the Know with Kevin+Jonathan …
THIS IS NOT YOUR AUTOMATED NEWSLETTER
We spend hours looking at, researching and writing about San Francisco's real estate markets for our exclusive insider's newsletter that we send to our private list of clients every 2 weeks (sometimes more often than that, sometimes more than that). Yes, you'll see our typos as this newsletter is written by actual humans with thoughts and commentary to boot.
Besides our typos, our readers get access to....
And, yes, your contact information stays private with us. With all that why are you still buying real estate in the dark?
I must say that your entire property from stem to stern, showed Spectacular! Was it staged, or were the furnishings the Seller’s? In any event, everything was extremely well balanced — the pictures, art work, mirrors, window treatments, lighting fixtures, interior & exterior paint jobs, back yard, and the total ambiance that the two of you created in your presence with your cordiality & friendly personalities, made this one of the best open house presentations that I have ever experienced in 40 years as a Realtor!
Needless to say, your asking price is perfectly priced and it is most likely that you will receive multiple offers! All the best to you both!
— Longtime Noe Valley Real Estate Agent.
Needless to say, the property received 5 offers and sold for a record price well over its list price.
— Listing Agent, San Francisco, Corona Heights
(Our Buyers closed on property beating out 2 other offers)
— Listing Agent, San Francisco, Eureka Valley
(Our Buyers' offer was accepted instead of going to market)
— Listing Agent, San Francisco, Haight
(Our Buyers closed on property beating out 1 other offer)
People will notice a handsome dog like Raffi, right? Yes, they do.
In the battle for people's attention Raffi wins as stands out and will draw people's attention too; so many buyers remark they came to see a listing with 'the dog.'
How do you get folks to stay at a property longer?
Having folks stay a bit extra at a property is a good thing. And if people want to pet Raffi...
Instead of kids, people are getting dogs...
Raffi is better behaved than most people, so he's gonna be great at open houses.