DeLeon Insight- September 2025 Cover Page

The DeLeon Insight – September 2025



Legal Updates: New Photoshopping Rules, Stacked Development Near Transit, and Limits on Institutional Investors

By Colette R. Thomason, Esq. We have recently seen several noteworthy updates in the legal real estate arena.  The first new law discussed below has been implemented, the second will be in the summer, and the third is still evolving. 1) Effective…

Tapping into Two of Silicon Valley’s Most Powerful Buyer Pools

By Audrey Sun, Director of Listings Silicon Valley remains the epicenter of the tech world, drawing elite talent from across computer science, engineering, law, and venture capital. The buyer pool remains dominated by the best and the brightest from…

Sell Before the ARMs Race

By Francis Lopez, Director of Listings The housing inventory on the peninsula has continued its momentous decline over the past several years. This can be attributed to interest rates in two intertwined ways: (1) with interest rates above 6%, homeowners…

Referral Fee Transparency Gets a Kickback

By Alexander Lewicki, Esq., Director of Listings “Referral fees,” “incentives” or “kickbacks” (i.e., payment to another individual for the referral of a client) have long been present in the real estate industry. These fees, which often…

Make Your Home Stand Out This Autumn

By Francis Lopez Meetings with homeowners often include a variation of the question: How can my home stand out among other homes on the market? This question becomes even more important during the traditionally busy fall real estate market. The market…

The AI Boom and the Stock Market Rally: Catalysts for Silicon Valley’s Luxury Real Estate Surge

By Ken DeLeon Silicon Valley has always been synonymous with innovation, wealth creation, and disruptive technologies. But in 2025, the latest wave of innovation is shaping our luxury real estate market: the AI revolution. Fueled by surging stock market…

The Latest Successes from the Integra Law Group, LLP

By Colette R. Thomason At DeLeon Realty, one of the ways we earn our commission is by providing sellers with free legal services through the Integra Law Group when they run into issues with a buyer while in escrow. These issues jeopardize closing and…

Marketing Across Cultures: Insights from Our Work with Chinese Buyers

By Pamela Tao, DeLeon Chinese Marketing Specialist The San Francisco Bay Area has long been a prime destination for international homebuyers—including an important and growing Chinese population. With world-class universities, a strong tech economy,…

Why We Need an Indexed Capital Gains Tax Exemption

By Ken DeLeon, Berkeley Law Graduate, Stanford Graduate School of Business Graduate The following article that I wrote was sent to journalists and inspired articles in Fortune Magazine and The Epoch Times. These articles, which quoted me extensively,…

Advocating for Asian and Pacific Islander Homeownership with AREAA

By Francis Lopez Every May, we celebrate Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month. Serving clients in the San Francisco Bay Area Peninsula, we understand the importance of this community, as AANHPI’s individuals…