A three-bedroom home in San Francisco’s Duboce Triangle neighborhood is on the market for $2,995,000, and the seller will take OpenAI or Anthropic stock instead of cash. It’s the kind of sentence that could only come out of San Francisco in 2026.

The listing at 160 Noe St., a 2,495-square-foot top-floor residence with two bathrooms, went live around May 28-29 and immediately drew a flood of inquiries. Listing agent Rachel Swann of the Swann Group reported an overwhelming response within 24 hours.

The seller, described as a luxury developer, is betting that shares in two of the most valuable private AI companies on the planet are worth more than their current inability to be traded on public markets.

The liquidity problem nobody talks about

Here’s the thing about working at a company valued in the hundreds of billions: you might be worth millions on paper and still not be able to buy a sandwich with your equity. That’s the reality for thousands of employees at pre-IPO AI firms like OpenAI and Anthropic, where shares can’t be freely sold on public exchanges.

The 160 Noe St. listing is designed to meet these buyers exactly where they are. Instead of forcing them to find liquidity first, the seller is willing to structure a deal that accepts the stock directly. The lower unit of the same property recently sold for $3 million, which gives some indication of how the building is valued and why the seller feels comfortable getting creative with payment terms.

Not the first, probably not the last

This isn’t even the first time someone has tried this in the Bay Area this year. Storm Duncan, a tech banker, listed a Mill Valley estate valued at approximately $8 million specifically for Anthropic shares earlier in May 2026. That listing was subsequently removed, though the reasons for its disappearance aren’t entirely clear.

What this means for investors and buyers

The legal mechanics of accepting private company stock for real estate are not simple. Structured deals can technically handle these transactions, but private company shares typically come with transfer restrictions. OpenAI and Anthropic, like most pre-IPO startups, have right-of-first-refusal clauses and board approval requirements that can complicate or block share transfers entirely.

A buyer can’t just endorse their stock certificate like a check. Both parties would likely need legal counsel to navigate the regulatory environment, and the AI company itself would need to sign off on the transfer.