Secret Real Estate Listings Ignite Fight Over How Homes Are Sold

Perched atop San Francisco’s northern hills, Pacific Heights is a bastion of old money, new fortunes and off-market home sales. Here, discretion in real estate isn’t just expected, it’s required.

Butch Haze would know: Real estate is the family business. His late mother was a top Sotheby’s agent. Today, he’s one of the founding agents of Compass Inc.’s San Francisco business and runs a team that ranks among the top 100 across all firms nationwide.

Butch Haze at the Pacific Heights home in San Francisco.

Photographer: Gabriela Hasbun for Bloomberg Markets

On a bright May morning, Haze unlocks the doors to a sprawling midcentury modern compound he quietly marketed to a select group of ...