Can I get a home loan with bad credit?

Question: “I have pretty bad credit, so it’s not even worth trying to get a home loan…” Answer: Maybe. Maybe not. One of our lenders just got someone with “awful” credit a mortgage and they were able to realize their dream to own their own home. So unless you’re a professional mortgage lender, let a
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What is the best deposit amount?

Question: “How much should my deposit be?” Answer: Great question! In my experience, I’ve found that 1% of the purchase price is the minimum acceptable deposit. But if you really want to impress the seller to help your offer get accepted, you might want to do 2-3% of the price.
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How can I find foreclosures in San Diego?

Question: “Where do I find more information about buying foreclosures in San Diego?” Answer: The very good news, though not good for your plans, is that foreclosures in San Diego are exceedingly rare. And they’ve been that way since 2012 when our market turned around. So you can hunt around for foreclosure info, but in
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Is it possible to buy a home 20% below market in San Diego?

Question: “What’s the best way to get a good deal? We’d like to find a home at least 20% below market.” Answer: Not sure how to answer that, but I’ll try. First of all, not to sound harsh but your odds of success are just above zero, if that. Opportunities to buy property at such
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Can I trust an offer from a flipper?

Question: “We just got a surprisingly good offer from a flipper. Should we be suspicious?” Answer: Yes! In the past, flippers have made offers on my clients’ homes at attractive prices and gotten us to sign the contract and take the house off the market. Sometimes, the flipper had never even seen the property. Then
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Can a lender deny a loan if they don’t believe you’ll live in the home?

Question: “Years ago, I wanted to scale down and buy a condo in my neighborhood and keep my old house. But the lender denied my loan because they didn’t believe I was actually going to move into the condo. Is that even legal?” Answer: Yes. In fact, it just happened on one of my transactions.
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How do I transfer my property taxes to a new house?

Question: “Is it true that if I’m over 55, I can sell my house and use the property ‘tax base’ as the tax base for a new purchase?” Answer: Under Proposition 60, if you sell a San Diego home that qualifies as your principal residence and buy another principal residence in San Diego, you can
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Should we still buy a house even if the seller won’t lower their price?

Question: “We found a house we like that just hit the market, but the seller won’t budge off his price. Do you think we should still buy it?” Answer: You haven’t provided me the most important information: What are they asking? What do you think it’s worth? If you like the home and it’s worth
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Do houses make good rental properties?

Question: “I live in University City and the house next door just came up for sale for $900,000. Do you think that would make a good rental?” Answer: Maybe. While I do own one rental house, I’ve found that less expensive condos and houses, as well as 2-4 unit properties, make better investments. However, since
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Are condos good investments?

Question: “What do you think of a condo as an investment?” Answer: Excellent question! I own several condos as investments and they’ve been great. Here are some situations where I recommend condos to my clients looking for investment property: You’re a beginning investor and want to start easy. You want to keep things simple so
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