There’s something truly special going on in San Francisco’s real estate scene. Unfortunately we’re not talking about decreasing rent prices. We are, however, talking about the innovative and diverse real estate tech companies coming out of the Bay Area. These companies are changing the market, from how we buy homes to how we manage our rentals or find the ideal short-term living situations.
Top Real Estate Companies in the San Francisco Bay Area
- Zumper
- LendingHome
- Knotel
- Opendoor
- HouseCanary
- Unison
- Snapdocs
- Point
Check out San Francisco’s brightest, most-innovative companies on the cutting edge of real estate.
Founded: 2014
What they do: Opendoor is an online real estate marketplace, where sellers can either choose to sell directly to the company or to list through the company’s platform. When a seller chooses to sell to Opendoor, they receive a competitive cash offer in days, will be able to skip showings and upgrades and will get to move on their own schedule. When it comes to listing on Opendoor, sellers can receive up to $10,000 in advances for renovations and pay just 5% in seller’s fees. To date, Opendoor has contributed to more than 600,000 requested offers.
Founded: 2014
What they do: Side helps real estate agents, teams, and independent brokerages take control over their careers by transforming their talents into successful businesses and boutique brands that are 100% agent-owned. The company partners with successful agents with proven track records and trains them to hone their abilities while taking tasks like marketing, brand development, system implementation, vendor management and more out of their hands, leaving agents to focus solely on prospecting, sales and client services.
Founded: 2012
What they do: Zumper helps users find homes, apartments, condos and even rooms for rent. The platform allows users to filter by location, price range, pet-friendliness and amenities to ensure that they find exactly what they’re looking for. The Zumper app allows for instant applies, which gives a user the ability to jump to the front of the line for a quick landlord review and approval.
Founded: 2004
What they do: Unison’s co-investment strategy helps homebuyers fund the down payments of their homes. The company doesn’t require any extra interest, monthly payments or added debt. Instead, with Unison, buyers put up a certain percentage of the down payment and the company will add the funds to equal the 20% threshold. If buyers ever want to sell, Unison will take a percentage of the home’s appreciation value based on its initial down payment investment or it will even take the financial hit alongside the seller if the home depreciates.
Founded: 2016
What they do: Knotel partners with brands all over the world to create tailored, full-service workspaces to fit each company’s individual needs. The company will use their global portfolio of real estate to match businesses with spaces that meet each business’s unique needs, and will tailor the design to match the culture and workflow of an organization. Knotel creates flexible office spaces in major cities, like Chicago, Toronto, NYC, London, Paris, Sao Paulo and Tokyo.
Founded: 2014
What they do: Better.com makes buying a home more accessible to people from all backgrounds, eliminating unnecessary fees and streamlining the entire loan process. The company provides instant access to estimates on mortgage rates, homeowner’s insurance, title insurance, as well as access to commision-free real estate agents committed to pairing people with their perfect properties.
Founded: 2014
What they do: Point provides shared home equity financing as an alternative to traditional lending to new and existing homeowners. Palo Alto-based Point invests in a buyer’s home equity, paying them anywhere from $35,000-$350,000 depending on the home value. Then, the homeowners can use the equity to manage everything from unexpected expenses to home improvements. Then, when the buyers sell their home, Point will receive the original amount they invested, plus a portion of the home’s appreciation value.
Founded: 2015
What they do: Qualia’s platform streamlines the residential and commercial real estate closing process by including all involved parties in one channel. With the platform, lenders, underwriters, brokers, investors, buyers and sellers are all provided with real-time data and constant lines of communication so they have complete transparency and efficiency to get the real estate deal done.
Founded: 2012
What they do: Homelight's vision is a world where software powers the real estate industry, making the process of buying a home or matching with a loan quicker and more efficient with the help of technology. By processing realtor and home data through their platform, HomeLight customers can leverage insights to make decisions during the negotiation and closing processes.
Founded: 2013
What they do: HouseCanary is a real estate data and analytics platform. The HouseCanary platform uses machine learning to produce historical sales data, neighborhood information and millions of other data points to provide an accurate home valuation for every potential investment. Real estate investors and lenders use the platform for valuation details that help to fuel acquisitions, underwriting processes and portfolio management.
Founded: 2013
What they do: LendingHome offers flexible bridge loans to real estate investors who are looking to purchase and flip a home. The short-term loans are especially ideal for investors who prefer to finance the purchase of their fixer upper rather than buy fully in cash. The loans close in as few as five days and investors can take out up to 90% of the total cost of the home’s purchase and 100% of rehab costs. Since 2013, LendingHome has financed more than 20,000 investment property purchases worth over $4 billion.
Founded: 2011
What they do: Apartment List lets users list and prioritize their preferences so they can find their perfect apartment. Is location most important to you? What about price? Maybe you really want an apartment with in-unit laundry that also allows pets? With the Apartment Lists platform, apartment hunters can specify their biggest wants and needs, and the platform will optimize its listings to meet them.
Founded: 2011
What they do: Zeus offers flexible, modern apartments meant for business or personal travel of more than 30 days. The company rents trendy apartments in major cities, like Los Angeles, Boston, New York, San Francisco and Seattle, that are all equipped with essentials like smart TVs, top-rated mattresses, in-home laundry and coffee makers with coffees from local roasteries. All travelers need to do is take a 3D tour of the home, sign their short-term lease, check-in through their digital smart lock and they’re all set.
Founded: 2012
What they do: SnapDocs is a platform that helps speed up the real estate closing process through automation. Lenders, escrow agents, real estate agents and homebuyers are all connected in one streamlined platform to ensure that every party is kept in constant communication. Then, with automation, SnapDocs’s platform speeds closing processes to days instead of weeks or even months.
Founded: 2010
What they do: Carbon Lighthouse uses data, software and solar energy strategies to help building owners reduce their carbon emissions. The company uses hundreds of IoT sensors to capture data points to build baseline energy consumption metrics and potential performance details. Then, using statistical modeling, Carbon Lighthouse will find hidden inefficiencies and guide the building towards installing more eco-friendly tools and practices.
Founded: 2014
What they do: Lyric offers upscale, carefully curated apartments and short-term rentals for business travelers. In order to craft comfortability, and to give travelers a sense of local culture, the apartments come with boutique amenities like curated vinyl music, coffee blends from close by coffee shops, fully stocked kitchens and artwork by local artists.
Founded: 2016
What they do: Bungalow realizes that moving and finding roommates are difficult. Not only does the company offer move-in ready rooms and homes, but it also hand-picks roommates that match each other’s personalities. The apartments come with flexible leases, contemporarily furnished common areas, regular cleanings, moving help and all kitchen essentials. In order to secure an apartment, users just choose their ideal spot, meet potential roommates and then the group signs their lease.
Founded: 2014
What they do: Wheelhouse helps apartment and vacation rental hosts, owners and property managers efficiently price their short-term rentals. The Wheelhouse platform, using the insights gained from billions of real estate data points, helps rental managers dynamically and competitively price their listings in order to maximize profit and occupancy rates.
Founded: 2015
What they do: Haus co-invests in homes. Homebuyers, looking for a co-investor, initially put up at least 10% of the cost of the house and Haus will cover the rest. Homeowners then make fixed monthly payments to purchase more equity from the company. As buyers purchase more equity, they can choose to sell it for cash or keep it as an investment.
