Miriam and her husband were fed up with renting on the Peninsula but knew that their budget of less than $2 million wouldn’t get them far toward buying a home in Palo Alto or Menlo Park. After losing out on two homes that received multiple offers, they set their sights on San Francisco; in particular, neighborhoods right off I-280, like Miraloma, offering a relatively easy commute to work on the Peninsula.
They soon realized that in San Francisco, the asking price is just a suggestion, and the final sales price can be $1 million more.
“It’s a very aggressive guessing game,” she said. “When you’re dealing with that level of ambiguity, it doesn’t feel good to put bids in.”…