Paulo Serna

Paulo Serna is a San Francisco Real Estate Agent with Compass and a Certified Real Estate Planner. He works with buyers, sellers, and small investors across Central Richmond, the Sunset District, Inner Sunset, and surrounding Westside San Francisco neighborhoods.

He approaches real estate as a long-term financial decision, not a transaction. Clients come to him for clarity around pricing strategy, disclosure review, rent-controlled properties, and how a purchase or sale may perform five, ten, or twenty years from now.

Paulo has been involved in more than $31.5 million in San Francisco residential sales, across 24 completed transactions, including over $15 million as primary agent in 2024-2025. His work spans single-family homes, condominiums, TICs, duplexes, and 2-4 unit buildings, with a growing track record in multi-unit and mixed-use properties throughout Westside San Francisco.

Before real estate, Paulo worked in property management, construction project management, and solar engineering. That background shapes how he evaluates homes. Most buyers notice finishes. He looks at structure, permitting history, disclosure risk, and long-term equity performance.

As a Certified Real Estate Planner, Paulo integrates local market data, macroeconomic signals, leverage strategy, and tax considerations into each recommendation. He works with first-time homebuyers seeking structure and clarity, move-up sellers navigating complex transitions, and small multifamily investors evaluating cash flow and appreciation potential in San Francisco. His role is not to push a decision, but to help clients understand the trade-offs clearly and move when it makes sense for their life.

Paulo has lived in San Francisco since 1995, first in the Sunset near West Portal and now in Central Richmond, where he regularly bikes across the Golden Gate Bridge and into the Marin Headlands. He knows these neighborhoods block by block: the morning line at Arsicault Bakery, the breakfast sandwiches at Devil's Teeth, the depth of Clement Street's food scene, and which streets catch the afternoon sun.

Born in Colombia and fluent in English and Spanish, he learned to read body language before he was fluent in English. That early experience shapes how he negotiates and guides clients through high-pressure decisions in competitive San Francisco transactions.

As part of the Level Up Group at Compass, Paulo combines the resources of a high-performing real estate team with a focused advisory role. He concentrates on strategic pricing, negotiation, disclosure analysis, and guiding clients from listing preparation through closing with clarity and calm.

Outside of real estate, you will often find him cycling across the Golden Gate Bridge, playing bocce at the waterfront courts near the Ferry Building, or earning a croissant at Arsicault Bakery after a long ride. Cycling and bocce have taught him the same things real estate demands: pace yourself, read the conditions, and pick the right gear for the terrain. And there are few better rewards than a flaky pastry after a hard climb, except calling a client to tell them they got the house.