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.

Can You Trade Your San Diego Home For Another?

Question: “Hi Gary.  I’d like to trade down from my house to a nice condo in the beach.  If you find someone who’d like to trade, that would be great…” Answer: I’d love to help you but… The odds of: you liking a specific condo AND that owner liking your specific home AND you being
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Anyone Living on Your Property Quickly Gains Tenant Rights

Question: “A friend of a friend has asked to stay for free in my condo for a month while I look for a permanent tenant.  I’m kind of a softie, so I’ll probably say yes.  My only concern is that I’ve heard that after 30 days, they have the right to stay until you go
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Don’t Base Your San Diego Home Price on One Comp

Question: “There’s a house that’s the same as mine around the block that just sold for $500,000.  So assuming I get that price and…” Answer: OK, I know haven’t asked me a question yet.  But I’m going to pretend you asked if you should be able to get the same price that an identical home
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Factors When Picking a Neighborhood to Buy a San Diego Home

Question: “I’m about to start my home search, but now it occurs to me that first I have to find the right neighborhood. What factors do I need to consider when choosing a neighborhood to buy in?” Answer: There are lots of factors to consider.  How you weigh them depends on what’s important to you.
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Advantages of Investing in Residential vs. Commercial Real Estate

Question: “What are the advantages of investing in residential rather than commercial real estate?” Answer: Great question. Each has its advantages.  I always recommend residential for new investors as overall it’s much simpler than commercial real estate. Though I wouldn’t necessarily say residential is easier.  You could argue that dealing with residential tenant issues are
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How Long to Wait Before Dropping Your San Diego Home Price

Question: “When we put our home on the market, how long should we wait before dropping the price if it’s not selling?” Answer: Smart question.  Too many people get stubbornly attached to their asking price and ignore the reality of feedback from the market. To answer your question, let’s assume three things: Your home is
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What’s a HUD Home?

Question: “I was looking into what kind of home I want to buy and heard someone mention HUD homes. What are those?” Answer: HUD is the U.S. Dept of Housing and Urban Development.  HUD guarantees FHA loans.  So HUD homes are FHA foreclosures. With so few foreclosures now, you missed the boat on those. Or
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How to Buy Tenant Credit Reports

Question: “Hi Gary…As long as I have had a home in Clairemont (early 80’s), you have been the one Realtor that has stayed in real estate, and kept me up to speed with your newsletter! Now that my home is a rental, I need a referral.  The company I used to buy credit reports [to
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Can a Neighbor Run a Business From His Driveway?

Question: “Hi Gary.  I want to sell my home, but I’m afraid that my neighbor is dragging down my home value because he runs some kind of appliance repair shop out of his garage.  He always has several washers and dryers in his driveway.  Is all that even legal?” Answer: These are the zoning rules
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How to Tell If the Market is Slowing Down or Speeding Up

Question: “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
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