Leave a Message

Thank you for your message. We will be in touch with you shortly.

Exceptional Service for Exceptional Clients

Your Realtors In Shining Armor

 Service with Respect, Integrity, Creativity and Empathy.

 

main

Meet Aethos Real Estate

Welcome to Aethos Real Estate! Founded by John Woodruff, a third-generation realtor with over 35 years of experience as a top-producing agent in San Francisco, Aethos is a boutique brokerage dedicated to providing exceptional, concierge service to homeowners and investors in and around San Francisco.

We make buying and selling a successful pleasure. And with Aethos you get a team of agents supporting each other and you. If you are looking to buy or sell a property, we want to help. We are your Realtors in Shining Armor. And with the backing of the real estate technology company, Side, we can offer state of the art marketing and exposure while still retaining the intimacy of a small, family-run company. And we provide an array of cutting edge tools and services to help you, including our Aethos Revive programs that allow us to help our sellers maximize their profits and our buyers to achieve their goals in competitive markets. 

Of course, we represent buyers and sellers. Our agents do not write offers on their own listings, representing both sides in a transaction is not good for anyone.  Please see our For Buyers and For Sellers sections for more information on how we can give you our best representation.  

Aethos was recognized in 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022 & 2023 by RealTrends as one of America’s Best Real Estate Teams. We have sold over $1 Billion in properties and are in the top 1% of Agents in San Francisco.

And introducing the new Aethos Property Search App with Real Scout, just click HERE. Now you can search for properties throughout the greater San Francisco Bay Area right on your smart phone.  And and unlike Redfin or Zillow or so many others, we do not sell your info to other agents or vendors. Promise. (Or you can capture the app with the QR code below).

In the Press
Our listings and agents have been featured in the following: Curbed, CurbedSF, The San Francisco Chronicle, The San Francisco Examiner, The Wall Street Journal, The Week, HGTV, The New York Times, and Mansionglobal.com

Meet the Team

Meet Our Agents

Get to know our dedicated and talented team.

$1B+

Total Sales

110+

Combined Years of Experience

1%

Top Agent Ranking in the Bay Area

Woodruff
John Woodruff

Founder and Realtor®
Ye
Corey Ye

Founding Associate / Realtor®
Lee
Debra Lee

Associate / Realtor®
Lum
Amber Lum

Associate / Realtor®
Linton
Gina Linton

Realtor®
Collier-Kent
Jessamy Collier-Kent

Realtor®
Targonsky
Anat Tal Targonsky

Realtor Associate
Bobo
Katie Bobo

Business Manager
Saunders
Hilary Saunders

Real Estate & Tax Lawyer | Broker-of-Record Side, Inc. License No. 02014153
View Our Team
Shane
Siamak A.
Dave & Lily
Guillaume
Zachary
Ajay
Nicole
Andrew
Snehi
Laird C.
Vijay S.
Frances
Bill B.
Kelley G.
Vanessa
John
German
Andy
Christian & Ricarda
Chuck F.
Sam & Liz
Isaac & Nobl
Jenny
Sarah
Anya C.
Paul G.
Allyson B.
WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

John recently helped us close on an extremely competitive home in San Francisco. It was our second time working with John to purchase a home.He is thoughtful, patient, funny, and has a deep knowledge of the San Francisco real estate market regardless of what neighborhood you are looking in.John is our go-to referral for friends looking as working with him will truly give you an edge in your real estate h...

— Shane

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

We have worked with John and Aethos Real Estate for over 25 years, in at least 10 projects, for approximately 20 residential and live-work transactions. Over the course of our collaboration, we enjoyed and benefited from his maturity, diligence, discipline, ethics, market knowledge, team spirit, and ‘can-do’ attitude. We would use them again and recommend them to anyone looking for a successful and head...

— Siamak A.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

We have done 3 transactions with John over the years. Most recently, he helped us sell our home AND subsequently purchase our new place. He was thorough and walked us through every step of the way. It always felt like he was on our side and had our best interests at heart. John looked out for us and made sure the process went as smoothly as possible.

— Dave & Lily

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

We worked with John in 2015 and after 8 months in a very competitive market, he helped us close on our favorite house. He has a great knowledge of San Francisco and helped us discover some great neighborhoods for our family. He was patient, available (via email, text, in person, etc.), fun to work with, not pushy, and really keen to help us find what we wanted. We recommend him if you are looking for a p...

— Guillaume

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

John was great to work with. Over several months, my wife and I looked at dozens of houses with John’s help. We were not easy clients as we couldn’t decide what we were looking for exactly! John was always patient and helpful though. John clearly had incredibly deep relationships in the SF real estate community and helped us put in several competitive offers, the last of which we won. John was also gener...

— Zachary

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Working with John was a true pleasure! He helped us buy a home in an extremely competitive situation, and it was clear that his relationships within the real estate community made a tremendous difference in our success. Most importantly, he was not only a pleasure to work with, but also a truly honest partner in the process! As someone who’s bought multiple properties and been involved in both residentia...

— Ajay

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

I have worked with John on 3 real estate transactions over the past 13 years, 2 purchases and 1 sale. He has always made the process very easy, stress-free, and enjoyable too. He’s a great guy and I would always trust him with my San Francisco real estate needs.

— Nicole

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

John helped me and my wife find our perfect house in 2012. He patiently waited through our “should we rent/should we buy” phase, and was there for us every step of the way. We liked him so much, and have such a good experience with him, that we still keep in contact socially 4 years later, and we have referred friends and family to him, all of whom rave about him. He is not only a great human being, but ...

— Andrew

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

John’s knowledge of the Bay Area real estate market is unparalleled. He always gave us his honest opinion on the different places we looked at and pointed out both the good and bad with each place. We had heard horror stories of friends that had put in 10-20, even more, offers before finding a place. We were lucky to have John on our side, he read the market well and the first offer we put in was accepte...

— Snehi

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

John is the perfect Realtor®. He listens, always answers phone calls, responds to queries with cheerful readiness, and is an all around good guy. He and his business partner, Marcus, facilitated the purchase of a property for us in San Francisco, and made it very easy. I recommend him without reservation.

— Laird C.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

We just wanted to express our appreciation for the good work of John in the successful sale of our home in South Beach. What we truly appreciated was that they guided us through the process step by step, made themselves available for questions and within a week of aggressive marketing managed to sell our home in a declining market.

— Vijay S.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

John helped us through multiple potential minefields in the purchase of our first home in San Francisco and later in its sale. We couldn’t ask for a better team in these complex and pivotal — and most personal — decision processes. We are grateful for the day my husband wandered into a cafe and happened to meet John early in our SF sojourn.

— Frances

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

John is ethical, moral and a breath of fresh air in a highly competitive industry. He is honest, knowledgeable and works his butt off for you. Highly recommend.

— Bill B.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

I really enjoyed working with John on the sale of my condo. Being my first sale, I was a bit clueless about the sellers end of the transaction. John diligently walked me through the process and explained things every step of the way. Not only was he professional, responsive, and knowledgeable, he was pleasant to talk with and fun to be around. I can’t speak highly enough about my experience working with ...

— Kelley G.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Buying my new apartment would not have happened without John; he is very proactive in getting things done and always available to answer any questions. I will definitely refer all my friends and family to him when buying property in the future!

— Vanessa

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

John helped us sell our condo in San Francisco. He had a great sense of the market, was well-connected with the numerous agents / vendors / inspectors / etc. required to get through the sales process, and had all the answers to our questions. Throughout the process, John made us feel confident that he was putting our needs and interests first. And most importantly, he got the deal done quickly and smooth...

— John

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

My wife and I worked with John to buy our first home in SF. It was a daunting process and John was always there to advocate for us and explain the process as we went. He brought a very relaxed and knowledgable approach. We never felt pressured and that was very important to us. Most importantly, at the end, we got our house and John even talked us down in price (saving us money, while still getting the p...

— German

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

We recently purchased a home in San Francisco and were incredibly lucky to have been recommended to work with John by a colleague. John was patient with us every step of the way, regardless of our silly questions and general lack of knowledge about how the home buying process works. He was able to deftly navigate the competing home priorities of my wife and I without taking sides, and ultimately helped u...

— Andy

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

John has made our search and buying process a very pleasant experience. He understands the specifics of the market, is very well connected, super responsive and goal oriented. Great job in finding us a good home!

— Christian & Ricarda

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

John has a tremendous command for the SF Real estate market, and strategies to sell and purchase. I’ve bought and sold houses with him. Anyone looking to close a great result in a real estate transaction, I’d highly recommend engaging John for such services.

— Chuck F.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

We approached John with the idea of buying a house in San Francisco in early 2018. We had some specific ideas about what we wanted and where we wanted to buy. However, we were entirely unfamiliar with how the buying market in San Francisco worked. John was great at answering every question we had about real estate transactions, what the state of the market in SF was, and what we should expect from the of...

— Sam & Liz

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

John is an exceptional Realtor®. Even though it took my wife and me over two years to find our perfect home, John was with us every step of the way. When we found our dream property John sprang into action, using his impressive negotiating skills and decades of expertise to get us an excellent deal (under asking price in San Francisco? A miracle!). Since we bought our house we have referred him to a numb...

— Isaac & Nobl

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

As first time home buyers in SF’s overwhelming and intimidating market, we were tremendously grateful for John’s expertise and support. Throughout the entire process, John was communicative and made himself available to answer all our questions. John is exuberant, confident and a true expert in his field. Our first and only offer was accepted without counter and we moved into our dream home less than a m...

— Jenny

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Over the last few years, John has helped my husband and me buy and sell several properties in the Bay Area. He’s always available, returns phone calls fast, is super responsive. Besides that, he’s a lovable guy who’s funny and knowledgeable. I would put him in the “best” category. All of this is huge for me to say, because generally speaking, I don’t like Realtors®. There are too many slimy and aggressiv...

— Sarah

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

You know what it’s like when you spend ages compiling a list of house features that are must haves, nice to haves etc, only for your Realtor® to send you any random thing on their books? Well, working with Debra is so refreshing as she absolutely doesn’t do that. She REALLY listens to what you want, and suggests places that totally meet your brief. But she’s also intuitive enough to understand when a pl...

— Anya C.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Debra is the ultimate real estate agent. She helped my wife and I find the perfect home and we cannot say enough wonderful things about her. We were in escrow within a week from the start of our house search and that says it all. Debra helped us understand the process, connected us with a reputable lender that was able to move quickly and was responsive to our needs past the end of closing. This was our ...

— Paul G.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

The highest praises go to Debra Lee and Amber Lum, the best real estate agents anywhere. They take care of EVERYTHING! We just turned our building into a TIC and sold two units, and these two took care of everything. They arranged painters, having the floors redone, the carpet replaced, the tub reglazed, and various other interior repairs. These wonder women took care of the stager, the beautiful photos...

— Allyson B.

View All

Our Current Portfolio

Our Current Portfolio

Our Current Portfolio

View some of our most exclusive available listings. 

Recent Sales

Recent Sales

Browse through our listing history.

Let’s Talk

You’ve got questions and we can’t wait to answer them.

Contact Us

Follow Us on Instagram

Follow Us on Instagram
Get in Touch
Contact Details

Aethos Real Estate

(415) 999-9827

[email protected]



580 4th Street

San Francisco, CA 94107