Licensed since 1984, San Diego real estate broker Gary Kent is a recognized authority on real estate. In addition to selling over 5,500 homes for clients, he has been an expert court witness, trainer of other agents, and he does seminars on home buying, home selling, and investing. Gary has sold homes for The Salvation Army, dozens of major banks, and Fannie Mae, amongst others. You can find Gary on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

Selling A San Diego Condo

“My wife and I need to sell our condo, but we owe $519,000 and it’s only worth about $495,000. An agent we know told us we could do something called a short sale where the bank agrees to accept the proceeds from the sale even though it’s less than the $520,000? The agent made it
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Refinancing San Diego Homes

“Hi Gary: My friend bought a home a year ago. He’s getting ready to refinance it so he can get money to pay off other debts. After he refinances he’s going to sell and get another place. I told him he’d have to pay taxes because he’s had it less than 2 years. But he
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Loan Approved With Conditions?

“Hi Gary. I’m selling my home and my agent told me that my buyer just got what she called ‘loan approved with conditions’. My agent said she doesn’t know exactly what that means and told me not to worry about it. What does that mean?” ***ANSWER: Yours is a simple question. And if your agent
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Slowing or Speeding Market

“How can I tell if the market is slowing down or speeding up?” ***ANSWER: One way is by looking at changes in the “absorption rate”. Absorption rate is defined as “the number of months (or weeks) it would take to sell the current inventory of homes at the present rate of sales.” To determine the
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Smart San Diego Home Buyers

“Hi Gary. I want to be a smart buyer. I know that everyone selling a home wants the highest price. Any creative ideas on how to make my offer stronger w/o just raising the price?” ***ANSWER: While top dollar is most sellers’ #1 priority, finding a well-qualified buyer is also important, especially now with all
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California Smoke Detector Law

“I’m buying a home and there was only one smoke detector in the hallway. My contractor says that’s fine, but my agent says they have to be in the bedrooms. Which is correct?” ***ANSWER: Per California law, the smoke detectors must be centrally located outside each “sleeping area” (sounds like a bedroom to me). They
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Cause Of San Diego Foreclosures

“What’s causing all the foreclosures in San Diego?” ***ANSWER: Last week I answered this question, attributing them to: 1. Subprime Loans 2. “Pay Option” ARMs 3. No-documentation loans 4. Zero-down 5. Mortgage Fraud 6. Increased Interest Rates 7. Lower Values 8. Difficult Short Sales 9. Tightened-up Financing Upon reflection I left off at least four
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Profitable Fix Up? Yes or No

“We’re planning to sell our home. Truth be told, our home is far from perfect. The kitchen is old, the inside needs a new coat of paint, the yard’s a mess, to name a few. Do you think we I fix up my home first or just sell it?” ***ANSWER: Great question—another one that I
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San Diego Mortagage Brokers

“I tried to buy a condo about a week ago, but it fell out of escrow because my mortgage broker couldn’t find a loan for me when my credit score fell mysteriously. My realtor’s broker has informed me that the seller is entitled to my $3000 good faith deposit. My realtor never informed me of
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The Reason For San Diego Foreclosures

“What’s causing all the foreclosures in San Diego?” ***ANSWER: People ask me this all the time. The answer has many related parts. The causes include: 1. Subprime- Too many people with bad credit (aka “subprime” or “non-prime”) were granted home loans. Surprise: people with a poor history of paying their bills didn’t pay their mortgage.
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