What People Are Saying
“James is a smart talented real estate agent who I highly recommend to anyone looking to buy or sell a house or condo in San Francisco. James was instrumental helping me find my new home with everything I wanted - a great place in a great building with a great view! James and Compass provided me with early access to condos which weren't yet listed on MLS; giving me an advantage in finding my new home. The process was quick and easy. James offered me assistance at every turn and was able to anticipate my needs. Everything went so well I enlisted James to help me sell my old condo - which SOLD IN LESS THAN 3 HOURS! Thanks James for a great agent experience!”
George G.
“It gives me great joy to write this review for James. We have had the pleasure to Buy and Sell our home with James and he is absolutely phenomenal! We have a great deal of respect for him and really value him as our realtor and advisor in dealing with the ever-evolving and always-interesting SF real estate market. Most notably we've really admired his keen ability to understand our needs and tie that with what's best for us. When we were looking for our first home in 2012 James was incredibly patient with us and took the time to really understand the kind of home that we were looking for. All his recommendations were spot on and truly fit our needs. We lost a few homes because of the competitive SF housing market at the time but through all of it James was a constant source of support and encouragement and never allowed us to lose hope. He guided us without pressuring us and always always respected our decisions. He was instrumental in our eventual purchase and if not for him we would not have found and bid on our dream SF home.Fast forward 6 years when we were recently selling our home we saw a whole new side of James that we appreciated even more. He is essentially a one-man army able to elegantly schedule manage and juggle all the coordination and challenges that come with remodeling and selling a home. His recommendations on the painter stager and handyman were excellent and truly allowed us to showcase our home in the best possible light. He also suggested that we use Compass Concierge to support the costs of remodeling and staging and that was an excellent idea. Compass Concierge was really easy and convenient and made it stress-free to get our home ready for sale. James worked incredibly hard to accommodate potential buyers/agents/painters/stagers etc and treated our home with the care and attention that he would his own. We felt we were in great hands and were able to get a great price for our home thanks to all his efforts and guidance.We highly highly recommend working with James for buying or selling your SF home. We know we couldn't have done better!”
Vikas & Suman
“We were so happy to work with James to sell our home. Selling your home can be a complicated and difficult process, and there is no better professional than James to help you navigate the experience. He brings to bear his deep experience, connections, and extensive knowledge about the market to advise us on everything from the most important decisions all the way down to the smallest of details. He takes what would have otherwise been a stressful and consuming process and makes it smooth and simple. Simply put, we achieved all of our objectives in the sale and we could not have been happier with both the process and the final results. James is well known for his integrity, his competence, and his knowledge, but he is also easy to work with and his hard work pays dividends for his clients. We can't imagine selling our home without James as our agent. Next time we are in the market, he'll be our very first call!”
Connor M.
“As first time homebuyers we could not have asked for a better agent than James Haywood. He guided us through the process from start to finish ensuring we understood the market and expectations on next steps at every turn. One thing we particularly enjoyed about working with James was his very friendly and warm personality. We never felt any pressure to make an offer on something that wasn't quite right for us. James is also very prompt at replying to questions which we found so helpful (especially when it comes to time-sensitive matters during the process)! Overall we know we were very lucky to work with James and will absolutely recommend him to family and friends in the future.”
Christina Z
James is an absolute pleasure to work with. I've worked with him twice now when I bought my condo and when I sold it. James' knowledge of San Francisco and the complex market provided invaluable; and his intuition and ability to read the situation of buyers and sellers ensured 'above expectations' outcomes both times. More than anything though I truly valued how much I knew I could trust James. His ability to listen to you guide you through the process ease my concerns and fears and highlight any areas of concern made me certain that he had my best interest at heart. As a first-time buyer James helped me navigate the very foreign and extremely complex world of San Francisco real estate. He drove me to endless open houses so I could get an idea of the neighborhoods I liked the best and highlighted benefits and tradeoffs of each area. As a seller I relied upon him for every detail and the process was so stress free that I had an above asking offer in hand a week after listing. I am extremely grateful for James and would recommend him to anyone buying or selling in San Francisco. Thank you James!
Annin
“When I decided it was time to sell my condo I interviewed several realty agents for the task. James impressed me the most. I thought the process would be a "hard sell" but James took me through all the right steps and the place sold in about two weeks after it was listed. Not only did the condo sell fast it also sold for more than I expected. Also James went beyond his agent duties assisting me with several hurdles outside his job description. All the while he was professional helpful and extremely kind. Boy was I lucky to hire him!”
Ted C.
“We loved working with James! He provided great advice and expert knowledge of the San Francisco area and market. In fact we weren't even going to put an offer in on the house we ended up buying because we assumed it would go for too much but thankfully per James advice we put in an offer and ended up purchasing the house for much less than the average bid up percentage for the neighborhood. James also pointed out some potential gotchas in some other houses that we had looked at that probably would have bit us in the rear had we not know about them.It's also worth pointing out that James was (and still is) super helpful and responsive. We had two realtors before James during the same house-hunting period and they were either unfamiliar with the market or wouldn't respond to emails nor phone calls. James really stands out as a great agent to have on your side.”
Robert & Tuyen
“I worked with James Haywood both when I bought my 1st and condo in 2008 and when I sold it in 2016. I highly recommend him to help you on either side of the buy/sell transaction. He is knowledgeable helpful organized and efficient. As a first time buyer James educated me on the home buying process. He even went the extra mile and offered to come to the appointment where I was selecting flooring for the new construction condo.As a seller he took care of all of the details for me and made the sale painless. He did all of the coordination for the furniture staging & re-carpeting of the bedroom. This included finding the vendors meeting them to let them in and out of the condo and even selecting the carpet for me. Not needing to take time off of work to run back and forth to take care of these tasks was invaluable to me.For my next home purchase James is the only realtor that I would consider using. Over the last 8 years and two transactions he has gained my trust and loyalty. James is a pleasure to work with and I highly recommend him.”
Amy F.
“James has been our trusty guide/realtor through 2 home purchases over the past 5 years. He has a knack for putting you at ease for what would normally be an exciting and utterly nerve-wracking undertaking. We are so grateful for his honesty patience professionalism and overall human kindness. Thank you James!”
Christine & Eugene
It was a pleasure to work with James on the purchase of my condo. His insight and expert knowledge of the market led to a successful transaction. He provided great advice and handled every step of the process from start to finish. Thank you James!
Greg H
My husband and I found James as a referral through close friends. We found a lifetime realtor and friend in James. James is persistent and gets the job done in overwhelming markets always remaining calm. In addition to his years of successful experience he is above board in all business practices and is genuinely a stand up-guy. James you're the BEST!!!
Kelsey & Brian
I worked with James in late 2015-early 2016 to sell my condo and buy a new place (at the same time!). James played multiple roles - industry expert advisor advocate... and therapist. He was always incredibly responsive flexible and ready to deal with any hurdles (as a non-permanent resident buyer I faced many of them!). At every step of the way I felt incredibly supported and well advised. He understood what I was looking for and helped me think through and manage trade-offs. And also helped me manage my parents who also were involved... This is a small but meaningful example: I had to downsize my car because the new place has a really small garage (everything else about it I LOVE). When I told him I was considering a MINI but doubtful it would fit he drove over with his MINI to let me try his to test out the new garage.
Agustina S.
James has been our guide through both the buying and selling process of our San Francisco home. More like an all knowing all seeing extra patient sherpa guide. A sherpa who makes it look so easy and low key you'll hardly know you were scaling a mountain no less the formidable market that is SF. Honestly I think we took just how good James is for granted. He helped us purchase and sell our first ever home while in San Francisco and we knew he was good. But what a difference when we moved to Maryland and worked with a supposedly top-notch "top 1%" firm we were shocked at how badly they communicated with each other and us how long it took to respond if they ever did. And then it dawned on me that James is truly a one man wrecking crew. He accomplished what it takes multiple people to do except better faster more efficiently with less stress and more grace. Whenever we'd have a question email him or text him on a whim we would get a thoughtful / well-researched reply because he completely understood our situation and walks us through the process 100% of the time. There's no delegation there's no deferring your issues to another team member or department no assumptions that someone else will handle the small stuff. Oh and he's so low key that he never once even mentioned that he was one of the first members of Paragon there from the beginning. We didn't even realize this until 4 years later when we happened to read it in some updated literature. Seriously he is the best in the business and he was so nonchalant and low pressure that we never even knew the depth of his experience. We just really liked the guy! Super highly recommended with distinction and honors and our sincere thanks.
Matt
James is a low-key top-performance realtor.   Evidence?  He's a top-notch San Francisco realtor yet he didn't even have a Yelp account!   I am honoured to be the first to write a review for him on Yelp.  Before we hired him we already knew his excellent track record but working with him was indeed a breeze --- a very pleasant one!   He really listened to and cared about what we needed.  He would gently advise along the way using his expertise knowledge/ insight but he always respected our decision.  He developed the whole marketing plan and sales strategy based on our agreed goal executed in precision and perfection ---he definitely delivered more than what we had expected!  I also like him being very organised and that his communications with us were always very clear and timely.  He's very polite considerate and sensitive about clients' privacy.   In that sense he is totally trust-worthy.  In fact we didn't have to do anything except leaving him the key and signing the documents.   During the whole sales process we were not even in San Francisco.  He sold our condo in record short time for record high price.  Thank you James!  I hope more people will benefit from your professionalism like we did.
Sierra