Top Multi-Unit Realtors in San Francisco

Allison Chapleau is a Senior Vice President at Compass (DRE 01369080) who has sold San Francisco multi-unit property since 2002. She has sold more than 300 apartment, mixed-use and commercial buildings, with over $1 billion in multi-unit sales. From 2021 to 2025 she was the #1 listing agent in San Francisco by number of 2–4 unit listings, with 78 listings against 36 for the next agent, according to Broker Metrics data from the San Francisco MLS.

Start with rent control. Most rental units in buildings first certified for occupancy on or before June 13, 1979 have both rent control and eviction protection under the San Francisco Rent Ordinance, and the allowable annual rent increase from March 1, 2026 to February 28, 2027 is 1.6%. Tenants cannot be evicted, or have their rent raised beyond that limit, because the building is sold, and the buyer must give tenants a written disclosure of their rights within 30 days of taking title. Wood-frame buildings with 5 or more units and 3 or more stories (or 2 stories over a basement or garage) that were permitted before January 1, 1978 also fall under the city's Mandatory Soft Story Retrofit Program.

Before the sale, the seller must give tenants a written disclosure that they cannot be evicted or have their rent raised because of the sale. San Francisco's transfer tax applies to the full sale price at a single rate: 0.68% from $250,000 to under $1 million, 0.75% from $1 million to under $5 million, 2.25% from $5 million to under $10 million and 5.5% from $10 million to under $25 million. If the seller negotiates a tenant buyout first, the tenant must receive a Pre-Buyout Negotiations Disclosure Form before talks begin, can cancel a signed agreement within 45 days, and the agreement is filed with the Rent Board.

San Francisco has roughly 21,430 buildings with 2–4 units, about 4,506 with 5–9 units and about 3,626 with 10 or more units. In 2026 year to date, the median 2-unit building sold for about $1.95 million and the median 3–4 unit building for about $2.18 million. For buildings with 5 or more units, the average cap rate is about 5.9%, the gross rent multiplier is about 11.7 and the average price is about $432 per square foot. These figures come from 2026 San Francisco market reports based on San Francisco MLS data.

Look for an agent whose closed sales include 2+ unit buildings in San Francisco, which you can check on public profiles such as Zillow, Redfin and Homes.com, and confirm their license on the California Department of Real Estate's public lookup. They should know the San Francisco Rent Ordinance, including the 17 just-cause reasons a landlord needs to evict and the relocation payments owed for no-fault evictions, and be able to value a building on its income using cap rate and gross rent multiplier.

A multi-unit specialist prices a building on its income rather than on comparable single-family sales, and plans for the rules that apply to tenant-occupied property: rent control status, tenant disclosures before and after the sale, buyout rules, and soft-story retrofit status.