What Furniture to Keep When Selling Your San Diego Home

Question: “Hi Gary, we inherited a house that we’ll be calling you to sell.  We’ve moved out some of the furniture, but there’s still a couch,  bed, a couple of chairs, and a coffee table.” Answer: Depending on the home and the furniture, some homes look better furnished. But… Leaving just a few sticks of
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Can a Contract Clause Keep the Buyer From Suing?

Question: “I’d like to put an As Is clause in the contract that says the buyer can’t sue me after they buy my home…” Answer: The standard California contract already has a clause that reads: “Unless otherwise agreed: (i) the Property is sold (a) in its present physical (‘as is’) condition as of the date
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Finding Out if You Owe Tax When Selling

Question: “I’m selling my home. My proceeds will be under 250K, so I won’t have to pay any taxes…” Answer: Hold on! That’s not how you figure out whether you owe taxes when you sell your home. Taxes are not based on the size of your check at closing. If it were, everyone would put
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Using Imperfect Comps to Sell Your San Diego Home

Question: “I don’t see how you can use comps to determine value.  My house is remodeled and the house across the street just sold and it was in terrible condition.  You can’t tell me my home is worth what his is.” Answer: You’re right.  I can’t and I won’t. Even though a “comp” is supposed
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Bad Realtors Don’t Deserve Second Chances

Question: “Hi Gary. Turns out you were right on about the price of our home. The agent we listed with was about $400,000 too high. But he worked hard for 6 months, so we’re going to give him another shot and relist the house with him next month…” Answer: (NOTE: this is what I wanted
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Should You Set Your Alarm When Selling Your Home?

Question: “We have an alarm on our home and want to keep it on when we’re not at home.” Answer: Do you like to annoy your neighbors?  Do you enjoy frequent visits from the police?  Do you like paying fines for excessive false alarms? If so, go right ahead and set your alarm. What I’m
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Why List Prices May Not Be Accurate

Question: “I’ve heard you say that you can’t look at the asking price of a home as an idea of value.  But those prices were set by a professional real estate agent.  So they must be fairly accurate, don’t you think?” Answer: Nope. I’d like to think what you said was true.  But reality is
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Agents Can Sell You or Advise You

Question: “Hi Gary. Thank you for coming by my condo, but I’m going to hire Joyce from ABC Realty [names changed]. You said I could only get $475,000, but I’d like to get $550,000. Joyce seemed really positive that she could get me the $550,000.” Answer: When an agent walks in your door, they can
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Don’t Use Open Houses to Find Your Home Value

Question: “Hi Gary.  I’m not ready to sell yet, but what do you think about going to open houses to get an idea of what my home is worth?” Answer: Let me tell you a story… There’s a Bay Park home that had been on and off the market for years, usually listed 20-50% over
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Don’t Use Others’ List Price to Get Your Home Value

Question: “Can you compare this listing at [address removed] to our house? It has no garage and is not remodeled like ours, but it’s listed at $725,000. Based on this, don’t you think our home is worth more than $800,000?” Answer: I’d say your house is worth more than the one you referenced. However, as
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