Desperate buyer paid double the asking price — just to skip bidding war, as Bay Area housing market goes wild
Desperate buyer paid double the asking price — just to skip bidding war, as Bay Area housing market goes wild
Mary K. Jacob Wed, October 7, 2026 at 11:19 PM UTC
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More than 200 people toured the 1906 Berkeley Craftsman, but one surprise offer took it off market in four days.
One Bay Area house hunter wanted to skip a bidding war so badly that they offered almost twice the asking price.
A buyer shelled out $2.05 million for a 1906 Craftsman in Berkeley, a jaw-dropping 87% more than its $1.095 million price tag, after lobbing in an early offer that cut the rest of the field out of the running, The Post has learned.
The house at 2129 Roosevelt Ave. came to market Sept. 2 and was off the table four days later, according to listing agent Jodi Nishimura of Kai Real Estate, as she told The Post that the Bay Area housing market has gone wild.
The markup alone comes to almost $1 million. The buyer has not yet been identified.
A buyer in Berkeley, Calif., is on track to pay roughly $2.05 million for a 1906 Craftsman that was listed at $1.095 million. Open Homes Photography
The price works out to about 87% above asking, or close to $1 million extra. Open Homes Photography
The house at 2129 Roosevelt Ave. hit the market Sept. 2 and had a deal in place four days later. Open Homes Photography
Despite the crazy markup, the modest but well appointed property offers just three bedrooms, two baths, and occupies only 1,490 square feet. Though the full lot itself is 6,500 square feet.
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“The home was on fire from the start,” Nishimura told The Post. “The broker’s tour was extremely busy, so I knew pretty quickly that we had a hot property. What I wasn’t anticipating was receiving a preemptive offer.”
In fact, Nishimura told The Post that even before it hit the market, so many agents representing buyers packed the preview that a queue formed outside.
“The broker’s tour was so busy that, at one point, people were actually lining up to get through the front door,” she said.
Listing agent Jodi Nishimura of Kai Real Estate said the agent preview was so crowded that people had to wait in line to get inside. Open Homes Photography
An unsolicited early offer arrived that same night, shortly after she sent out the disclosure documents. Open Homes Photography
The seller, who lives on the East Coast, couldn’t respond to the offer right away because she was in the hospital after her dog tripped her and she broke her kneecap. Open Homes Photography
A few wanted the disclosure packet before it was even finished.
“As soon as I sent them out, agents started reviewing them, and then late that same night, a surprise offer came in,” Nishimura said.
Then came a plot twist. Despite the nearly $1 million above asking price offer, the owner of the house, who now lives on the East Coast, had just been knocked over by her dog and broken her kneecap.
“She was in the emergency room and then in surgery, so between the time difference, her surgery, and her recovery, there wasn’t an immediate acceptance,” Nishimura said.
So the weekend showings went ahead as planned, pulling in upward of 200 house hunters.
Once the seller signed off, the would-be rivals were out of luck. Nishimura said she “received a lot of calls and texts from agents who were disappointed to see that the property was already pending.”
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Jodi Nishimura of Kai Real Estate. Courtesy of Becca Henry
Weekend open houses went ahead in the meantime and attracted more than 200 visitors. When the owner finally said yes, competing agents flooded Nishimura with messages lamenting that they never got a shot. Open Homes Photography
Inside are original redwood ceilings and wainscoting alongside a new foundation and an kitchen. Open Homes Photography
Even against that backdrop, this sale would be almost triple the usual premium. Nishimura handled a similar blowout last year, when a home she listed at $795,000 sold for $1.6 million. Open Homes Photography
Berkeley is no stranger to runaway prices. Sellers there routinely list low to whip up competition, and Zillow’s most recent figures show 89.2% of the city’s homes going for more than the sticker price, with the median deal landing 29.6% higher.
The San Francisco Chronicle recently found the city had the widest gulf between list and sale prices of any Bay Area community it studied.
Even so, the Roosevelt Avenue haul amounts to almost three times the usual markup.
“The 87% figure is definitely well above average,” Nishimura said. “I think it reflects a combination of strong execution and presentation, along with an element of luck and timing.”
It isn’t her first rodeo. Last year she put a John Hans Ostwald-designed home at 995 Spruce St. on the market for $795,000. More than 300 people turned up to see it, and it traded for $1.6 million, or 101% over.
This time there’s no marquee architect attached. The draw, Nishimura said, is the setting. The house sits far back from the road on an oversized lot, thick with tropical plantings the owner has long cared for.
“It almost feels like a secret garden,” she said.
The property is no trophy estate, but it sits well back from the street on a large lot filled with tropical plants. Open Homes Photography
Berkeley is known for deliberately low list prices meant to spark competition. Zillow data show 89.2% of homes there sell above list, with the median deal coming in 29.6% higher. Open Homes Photography
Nishimura said young families showed the most interest, and she credits the result to smart preparation plus a dose of luck and timing. Open Homes Photography
The crowd skewed toward young families, she added.
“You could really see them imagining their kids playing in that yard while still having the ability to commute easily and enjoy all the conveniences of central Berkeley,” she said.
Early strikes like this home are becoming more common on the most coveted listings, Nishimura said, even if she has mixed feelings about them.
“It’s certainly not something I love when I’m representing a buyer, but as a listing agent, I’m required to present every offer,” she said. “When an offer is especially compelling, a seller may decide it makes sense to accept it.”
The Roosevelt Avenue scramble is part of a wider Bay Area fever. In San Francisco, where an artificial intelligence boom has created a growing class of buyers with big salaries and stock options, homes sold for 26% over asking in July, the biggest overbid in 21 years.
“Many buyers in the Bay Area face intensely competitive conditions as the recent AI boom continues to boost buyer budgets,” Realtor.com Senior Economist Hannah Jones told the California Post.
“As growing budgets meet a lack of housing inventory, home prices are pushed ever-higher. To circumvent the stress of bidding wars, some cash-rich buyers may find it appealing to offer well-above asking and win the war before it even starts.”
Compass data show 144 homes in the city went for at least $1 million above list in the first half of 2026, compared with just eight in the same stretch a year earlier. Crowds are part of the spectacle, with The Wall Street Journal describing a line of house hunters climbing eight flights of stairs to tour a two-bedroom co-op in Pacific Heights in January.
Source: “AOL Money”
