I like to find property managers with lots of designations. 

It seems like a lot of the houses have the same type of design and probably share a lot of the same attributes?

Building a new house in most of the Bay Area is a very involved process, it's not uncommon for their to be multiple rounds of design review comments and some cities require hearings and neighborhood notification.

Yes you will need an architect however it's likely, especially for larger commercial properties that you will need a team of design and specialty professionals.

A good agent will be able to get you into a couple of designated markets based on your asset criteria.

The sole purpose of designating a animal as ESA is to get around regulations that prevent pets to be taken into certain areas.

I always look at a way of designing a kitchen that opens up and allows people to flow through it and not be hidden from others.

I may not be a newbie in terms of acquiring real estate; but I am a complete newbie in terms of designing a strategy to make real estate work for my life plan.

@Eric D. the state forums are kind of designed for this sort of thing. 

@Aaron T. i'm only looking at single lots, infill is fine/preferable. i see a good amount of inventory, but i'm concerned about the crime is some areas since i don't know the market and i'm also unfamiliar with which neighborhoods could sell a modern house, which is my area of design.