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How do I find comparable sales for a San Francisco property tax appeal?

Comparable sales for a San Francisco property tax appeal are arm's-length closed sales of similar properties, timed to the January 1 lien date, then adjusted for differences. The Assessment Appeals Board may not consider a sale that closed more than 90 days after January 1. Informal review will not consider a sale after March 31. Listing-site estimates are not sales. Neighborhoods on the Planning map are not interchangeable.

That is the evidence rule. Everything else on this page is how to apply it on this city's geography without inventing a median. AppealKit builds an adjustment grid from closed sales; it is not a law firm, and this is not an appraisal.

The filing sequence lives on how to appeal property tax in San Francisco. This page is only the comps.

What makes a sale "comparable" under California rules?

Publication 30 gives three tests, and San Francisco's AAB information page repeats them.

Arm's-length, open market. Was the property exposed for sale? Available to anyone? Listed? Did the parties know each other? A sale between relatives, a rushed foreclosure, or an off-market transfer between related entities is a weak indicator of what a willing buyer would have paid. The Board is allowed to discount or ignore it.

Physical similarity. Distance, zoning, use, bedroom and bathroom count, year built, square footage of the improvement, lot size and attributes (corner, view, terrain), extra improvements (decks, parking, extra units), quality of construction, and condition. A two-unit building is not a single-family house. A condo is not a TIC share. A live-work loft is not a Victorian flat.

Timing. Sales may be from well before the valuation date. Sales more than 90 days after the valuation date cannot be admitted. For a regular Proposition 8 case the valuation date is January 1, so a closing after about April 1 is out. The state calls attempting to submit those sales "the most common error among all assessment appeals" (Publication 30; BOE FAQs). The Assessor's informal review is stricter still: two comps, as close as possible to January 1, no later than March 31 (apply for a decline-in-value).

A base-year or supplemental case uses the event date, not January 1, and the 90-day clock runs from that event. Do not mix the two calendars. See deadlines.

How do I adjust comps instead of just listing them?

Listing five addresses is not a grid. Publication 30 tells you to discuss similarities and differences, then adjust the sale price up or down so each comparable is expressed as if it were your house. A sale with an extra bathroom or a better view is adjusted downward before you compare. A sale that is smaller, in worse condition, or without parking is adjusted upward.

The state's preferred residential yardstick is price per square foot of living area. Living area excludes garage, porch, and patio. Divide the (adjusted) sale price by living-area square feet. Then apply that figure to your living area. Do not use lot square footage as if it were living area, and do not treat a listing agent's "total area" that includes a deck as the Assessor's improved square footage.

How many? Enough to show a pattern, not a pile. Three to five tight closed sales beat twelve stretch comps from the wrong side of a hill. Active listings, pending sales, and automated value models from consumer sites are not closed sales. They can help you find candidates. They cannot walk into the hearing as the opinion of value.

Condition is an adjustment, not a vibe. Dated photos of a failing roof plus a contractor's written estimate give the Board a dollar figure. "The house needs work" does not.

Why can't I use a sale from a different San Francisco neighborhood?

Because the Planning Department itself treats them as different places. San Francisco neighborhoods "have no official boundaries," but Planning established 37 distinct neighborhoods for notification, and those names do not always match other maps. For appeal comps, the practical rule is: start inside the same named neighborhood, then tighten further.

That is why this cluster has separate spokes instead of one "west side" page:

  • Noe Valley is not the Mission down the hill, and not Castro/Upper Market.
  • Pacific Heights is not Presidio Heights and not the Marina.
  • The Sunset is Inner Sunset, Outer Sunset, and Parkside on Planning's list — three names, not one market.
  • The Richmond is Inner Richmond, Outer Richmond, and Seacliff — and it is not the Sunset just because both are west of the park.
  • The Mission is not Bernal Heights, even where the border is a short walk.

A condo's first stop is the same building, then very similar buildings on the same block, adjusted for floor, view, parking, outdoor space, and monthly dues. A house's first stop is the same street fabric and the same property type. Crossing a named neighborhood because the sale price is convenient is how a grid looks sophisticated and still fails the similarity test.

We do not publish neighborhood medians. Competing sites disagree on citywide medians, and a median is not a comparable sale.

Where do I actually find the sales?

Publication 30 says most county Assessors keep a comparable-sales listing you can inspect, at little or no cost (a statutory cap of $10). Additional sources: local agents, appraisers, mortgage brokers — with the warning that they have to target the right valuation date, not "what's on the market this week." Whatever the source, you need a full address or Assessor's parcel number for each sale you will present. Drive the comps. Photographs help the Board see what you saw.

San Francisco's Assessor community portal is where many owners already look up their own Notice of Assessed Value. It is not, by itself, a substitute for a sales grid. If you request an exchange of information with the Assessor (optional for you at any value; available to the Assessor when assessed value is at least $100,000), you will see their list at least 15 days before hearing if they respond on time (BOE FAQs). Use that to attack their comps — wrong neighborhood, wrong type, too new — as much as to admire your own.

For a hearing, bring three document sets to a hearing officer or six to a full Board. Evidence attached to the application is not automatically in the record.

What about property-record errors, TICs, and mixed-use buildings?

Before you argue value, read the Assessor's characteristics: living area, beds, baths, year built, lot, use. A house carried as 2,400 square feet that is 2,000 is not a comps problem; it is a data problem, and it is the cleanest reduction there is. Publication 30 tells you to gather information about your own property first, then compare.

Tenancy-in-common units are excluded from the Assessor's informal review because they do not have separate parcel numbers (decline-in-value FAQ). TIC owners still use formal AAB comps, but a condo sale in a subdivided building is not automatically a comparable for an undivided TIC interest. Type-match.

Mixed-use (ground-floor commercial, residential above) is not a pure residential sale. The income approach may be more appropriate; the Board will admit whatever method is customary for the property type (BOE FAQs). Do not force a single-family grid onto a storefront.

How does AppealKit use this method?

The free check looks up closed sales near the subject and builds a per-comp adjustment grid anchored to January 1, flagging sales that fall outside the 90-day window rather than quietly including them. That is the Publication 30 method, applied locally. It is not a guarantee, not an appraisal, and not a promise the Board will agree. If the adjusted comps do not sit below the enrolled value, we say so — before you spend the $120 filing fee.

You still file. You still attend. Neighborhood spokes above exist so the grid starts in the right micro-market. The hub is the process. This page is the evidence.

How do I turn a closing into a number the Board can use?

Publication 30 walks through a simple residential worksheet. Fill yours the same way, with San Francisco dates.

Hypothetical, labeled as such: your house is 1,400 square feet of living area. Sale A closed February 12 (inside the 90-day window), 1,480 square feet, extra bath, no view difference, arm's-length. Sale price $1,110,000. You adjust the extra bath downward, then divide by 1,480, then apply that dollars-per-square-foot figure to your 1,400. Sale B closed the previous November, same block, same type, 1,360 square feet, inferior condition documented with photos and a contractor estimate; you adjust that sale up before you divide. Sale C closed June 8. You drop it. June is more than 90 days after January 1, no matter how similar the house.

Do that for three to five sales, not one. A single sale is an anecdote; a tight cluster is a pattern. Drive the addresses. If Sale A backs up to a commercial strip and yours does not, that is a location adjustment, which is why Sunset Inner versus Outer and Mission versus Noe Valley are not rounding errors.

Write the valuation date at the top of the worksheet so you cannot accidentally mix a supplemental event date with a January 1 decline-in-value date. Bring the worksheet to the hearing in the right number of copies. The Board can only equalize from what you put on the table.

If two of your five sales need giant adjustments — extra unit, commercial zoning, a different Planning name — drop them rather than "adjusting" them into submission. A 40% net adjustment is a confession that the sale was never comparable. The Board is not required to accept your adjustment grid; it is required to weigh competent evidence. Three honest sales beat five heroic ones. Same-building condo closings almost always beat a house three neighborhoods over, even when the dollars-per-square-foot coincidentally match.

Last mechanical check before you print: every sale has a closing date, an address or block/lot, a living-area figure that excludes garage and porch, and a one-line adjustment list. If any of those four is missing, it is not a comparable yet. It is a lead.

FAQ

What comps does the San Francisco Assessment Appeals Board accept?

Arm's-length closed sales of similar properties, timed to the valuation date (January 1 for a regular decline-in-value case), adjusted for differences. Sales more than 90 days after that date are inadmissible (Publication 30; BOE FAQs).

Can I use a sale that closed in June?

Not for a January 1 regular appeal. June is more than 90 days after January 1. Informal review already cut off at March 31 (BOE FAQs; sf.gov apply-decline-value).

How many comps do I need?

The informal review asks for two. For a hearing, three to five tight closed sales are the usual working set; a long list of weak ones does not help. The Board cares about quality against the three tests, not count.

Do listings or Zillow estimates count?

No. They are not closed sales. Use them to hunt candidates, then prove the candidates on closing date, type, and adjustments (Publication 30).

Can I mix Inner Sunset and Outer Sunset comps?

Planning lists them as separate named neighborhoods. Start inside the same one. Crossing the name because the price is convenient is a similarity problem, not a rounding error (sfplanning.org).

Should condo comps come from the same building?

That is the strongest starting set, then adjust for floor, view, parking, outdoor space, and dues. A house sale is not a condo comp.

What if my square footage on the Assessor's record is wrong?

Fix the characteristic first. A fact error is stronger than a valuation argument and changes every price-per-square-foot comparison you make (Publication 30).

Does a neighbor's lower assessment count as a comparable?

No. A comparable is a sale, not another property's enrolled value. California residential appeals are market-value cases.

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This is general information, not legal or tax advice. AppealKit is a self-service tool, not your representative.