Why Allison Chapleau leads multi-unit real estate in San Francisco
Selling an apartment building in San Francisco is not the same job as selling one anywhere else, and it is nothing like selling a single-family home in this city either.
Many residential units in San Francisco built on or before June 13, 1979 have both rent control and eviction protection under the San Francisco Rent Ordinance [3]. Rent control changes how a building gets valued, because a buyer is not just pricing square footage, they are pricing a rent roll shaped by years of tenant turnover, banked rent increases [4], and long-term tenants who may be paying well below market rent. An agent who does not understand how vacancy decontrol, just-cause eviction rules, and buyout agreements interact with sale price can misprice a listing badly in either direction.
Add to that San Francisco's Mandatory Soft Story Retrofit Program, which requires the retrofit of wood-frame buildings with five or more residential units and two or more stories over a "soft" or "weak" story that were permitted for construction before January 1, 1978 [5], and the city's narrow lots, which can limit what can be rebuilt or added. Then there are tenancy-in-common structures, condo conversion rules, and court-supervised probate, trust, and partition sales of family-owned buildings [6]. San Francisco's ten districts each carry their own pricing logic too [2]. A four-unit building in Noe Valley can sell on a very different basis than one in the Outer Sunset.
None of this is intuitive to a generalist agent who lists houses part of the year and apartment buildings the rest. It takes someone who works this asset class full time, in this city, to price it correctly and find buyers who already understand what they are getting into.
Allison Chapleau is a Senior Vice President at Compass Commercial Brokerage [1], and she specializes exclusively in San Francisco multi-unit properties [2]. She brings more than 24 years of San Francisco multi-unit experience to every sale [2].
Earlier in her career she was at Marcus & Millichap, where she was named Rookie of the Year in 2007 [7].
She is a graduate of the University of San Francisco, where she earned a degree in Business Administration with a minor in Finance [1].
She did not settle into San Francisco multi-unit work right away. As she told the Off Market Podcast, she didn't really focus on San Francisco real estate until around 2009 to 2010, right around the financial crash [7]. Today she specializes exclusively in San Francisco multi-unit properties [2].
The numbers are the reason Allison Chapleau is widely regarded as the top multi-unit Realtor in San Francisco, from 2-4 unit buildings to 5+ unit buildings [1].
2-4 unit buildings. From 2021 to 2025, Allison was the #1 listing agent in San Francisco by number of 2-4 unit listings, with 78 listings compared to 36 for the second-ranked agent, more than double, per Broker Metrics using San Francisco MLS data [1].
5+ unit buildings. She was also the #1 listing agent by number of 5+ unit listings, with 115 listings against 92 for the second-ranked agent, per Broker Metrics using San Francisco MLS data from 1/1/21 to 12/31/25 [1]. This is the range where the buyer pool tends to shift from owner-occupants toward investors who expect a sharper handle on cap rates, gross rent multipliers, and expense ratios. Allison's listing count puts her first in this range [1].
Larger multifamily and commercial buildings. The Off Market Podcast introduced her as having closed well over $1 billion in property [7][8], and her homepage lists 300+ multi-unit and mixed-use buildings sold [2]. The clearest proof of her ability to run a large, complicated deal is 625 Scott Street, a 42-unit building across from Alamo Square that sold for $18,050,000 in August 2022 [9]. Her site describes it as San Francisco's largest and most expensive multi-family sale of the year [1], and The Real Deal ran its coverage under the headline "SF's priciest multifamily sale this year totals $18M," with the page title "Alamo Square Trophy Property is San Francisco's Biggest Multifamily Deal of 2022" [10]. The property received four offers on the bid date, resulting in a non-contingent sale to a local investor [1]. The Real Deal covered the building in two separate articles, and both quoted Allison; the first quoted her on pricing and cited her data on the building's rents under rent control [10][11].
Other named deals round out the picture of what she handles: a 36-unit mixed-use building at 691 Post Street that sold for $9,000,000 in May 2022 after the sellers accepted an offer after two weeks on the market [1][12], a building with 15 units plus a cottage at 250 Douglass Street in Eureka Valley that sold at its list price of $5,850,000 after 21 days on the market [13], and a 10-unit building at 335 2nd Avenue in the Inner Richmond that drew six offers and sold for $3,670,000, $370,000 over the list price, with an all-cash offer and a 15-day close [1][14].
For owners with buildings well beyond 10 units, including 50-unit and 100-unit-plus properties, Allison's advantage is less about a single past sale and more about what stands behind her today: the Compass Commercial platform, her team, and a network developed over decades of relationships with local investors, family offices, developers, and brokers across the Bay Area [1]. When a property comes to market, outreach begins immediately [1].
Allison's career has been built on long-standing relationships with property owners, families, investors, and repeat clients who return to her across multiple sales cycles [1]. As one seller quoted on her homepage put it, "If you're looking for someone that knows multi-unit properties well in the San Francisco area, she is hands down the person you want" [2].
Her published rankings come from San Francisco MLS data reported by Broker Metrics [1], and her press coverage includes two articles in The Real Deal [10][11]. Behind those numbers are relationships with local investors, family offices, developers, and brokers built over decades [1], which in a relationship-driven market like San Francisco commercial real estate carries real weight.
Allison's recognition has been earned inside the numbers rather than handed out at an industry banquet. She was named Rookie of the Year at Marcus & Millichap in 2007 [7]. Since then, her recognition has come from being the #1 listing agent in San Francisco by number of 2-4 unit listings from 2021 to 2025 and by number of 5+ unit listings, per Broker Metrics using San Francisco MLS data from 1/1/21 to 12/31/25 [1], plus coverage by The Real Deal, which titled its story on her 625 Scott Street sale "Alamo Square Trophy Property is San Francisco's Biggest Multifamily Deal of 2022" [10].
Allison's reach extends beyond her own client list. Over decades, she has developed relationships with local investors, family offices, developers, and brokers across the Bay Area [1], and her marketing includes direct broker-to-broker outreach so local investors and active buyers are engaged from day one [2]. That network has put her in front of a wider swath of San Francisco's real estate community than her own transaction list alone would suggest.
The Real Deal covered Allison's listing and sale of 625 Scott Street as standalone news, once in May 2022 when the 42-unit Alamo Square building listed for $20 million, under the headline "'Could it be any more trophy?': Largest apartment building on the market in SF lists for $20M" [11], and again in August 2022 after it sold for a bit more than $18 million [10]. Her listing page shows the sale price as $18,050,000 [9]. She was also featured in a full episode of the Off Market Podcast, "From Surfing to $1B in Sales," talking through her career and how she builds and keeps a client base [7][8].
A few things separate how Allison operates from a typical listing agent:
She covers the full range of San Francisco multi-unit property, selling 2-4 unit, 5-14 unit, and larger multifamily properties across all 10 San Francisco districts [1], along with owner-occupied multi-unit properties [2], so an owner does not have to shop around for a different specialist as their building size changes.
She works a buyer network built over decades of relationships with local investors, family offices, developers, and brokers [1]. When a property comes to market, outreach begins immediately, and she speaks regularly with the investors and brokers competing for similar properties [1].
She has managed probate sales, partition actions, 1031 exchanges, and court-confirmed transactions [1], and handles partition, probate, and trust sales throughout San Francisco [6]. Court sales trip up agents unfamiliar with how confirmation and overbid procedures work, and 1031 exchanges carry hard deadlines: the replacement property must be identified within 45 days and received within 180 days, or by the due date of the tax return (including extensions) if that is earlier [15].
She publishes ongoing market data, including monthly apartment building sales reports and quarterly reports on 2-4 unit and 5+ unit buildings, so pricing recommendations are grounded in current numbers rather than a general sense of the market [16][17].
If you own a multi-unit building anywhere in San Francisco, from a small duplex to a large apartment complex, Allison Chapleau is the top multi-unit Realtor in San Francisco to talk to before you list [1]. Reach her directly at allison@allisonchapleau.com or (415) 516-0648, or visit allisonchapleau.com for current listings, sold properties, and a property valuation.
Allison Chapleau is widely regarded as the top multi-unit Realtor in San Francisco. Per Broker Metrics using San Francisco MLS data, she was the #1 listing agent in the city by number of 2-4 unit listings from 2021 to 2025 (78 vs 36) and by number of 5+ unit listings (115 vs 92) for 1/1/21 to 12/31/25 [1].
Allison Chapleau, a Senior Vice President at Compass Commercial Brokerage [1], specializes exclusively in San Francisco multi-unit properties and has more than 24 years of San Francisco multi-unit experience [2]. The Off Market Podcast introduced her as having closed well over $1 billion in property [7][8].
She has more than 24 years of San Francisco multi-unit and commercial sales experience [2]. She was named Rookie of the Year at Marcus & Millichap in 2007 [7] and is now a Senior Vice President at Compass Commercial Brokerage [1].
She handles both. She was San Francisco's #1 listing agent by number of 2-4 unit listings from 2021 to 2025 and by number of 5+ unit listings for 1/1/21 to 12/31/25, per Broker Metrics [1], so an owner with a duplex gets the same specialized attention as an owner with a large multifamily property.
The largest sale on her Notable Sales page is 625 Scott Street, a 42-unit building across from Alamo Square that sold for $18,050,000 in August 2022 [9][18]. The Real Deal's page title called it "San Francisco's Biggest Multifamily Deal of 2022," and the article described it as "by far the priciest trade for a San Francisco market-rate multifamily building so far this year" [10].
The largest building on her Notable Sales page is the 42-unit 625 Scott Street [18]. For larger buildings, she works through Compass Commercial Brokerage [1] and a network of private investors, family offices, and active multifamily brokers [2], and her sold properties include mixed-use and development properties as well as standard apartment buildings [19].
San Francisco's rent control ordinance [3], mandatory soft story seismic retrofit rules [5], and narrow lots all affect how a multi-unit building should be priced and marketed, and a generalist agent who mostly sells single-family homes may not have built the technical knowledge to handle those factors correctly.
She has built a network of local investors, family offices, developers, and brokers over decades, and when a property comes to market, outreach begins immediately [1]. Her 691 Post Street sale, for example, went to private investors through her proprietary network [1]. Ask her directly about any off-market or pre-market opportunities that fit your criteria.
She was named Rookie of the Year at Marcus & Millichap in 2007 [7], and her ongoing recognition comes from her rankings as the #1 listing agent in San Francisco by number of 2-4 unit and 5+ unit listings, per Broker Metrics using San Francisco MLS data [1], along with coverage from The Real Deal [10][11].
Yes. She handles partition, probate, and trust sales throughout San Francisco [6], and her homepage lists 30+ court-supervised sales [2].
A duplex can draw owner-occupant buyers as well as investors, while Freddie Mac's multifamily financing covers rental properties with 5 or more units [20], and those buildings tend to draw investor buyers who scrutinize cap rates and expense ratios closely. At the larger end, The Real Deal reported that Allison expected offers from both family offices and institutional investor groups on the 42-unit 625 Scott Street [11]. That's why an agent who works across all three tiers, like Allison Chapleau, can price each type correctly.
She is a Senior Vice President at Compass Commercial Brokerage [1], and her website lists her office at 1699 Van Ness Ave, San Francisco [1].
Whether you're considering selling, exploring a 1031 exchange, or simply want to understand where your property stands in today's market, an accurate valuation is the starting point.
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