Should You Rent or Sell Your San Diego Home?

Question: “My mom needs to move to an assisted living home and we’re debating whether we want to rent her home or sell it. What do you suggest?” Answer: Everyone’s situation is different. But I’ll give you some general pros and cons: Renting Pros: You may get a better return than putting the money in
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Selling Your San Diego Home “As-Is” Can Be Risky

Question: “I plan to sell my house As Is. I don’t want to fix anything. If the buyer insists on repairs, they can buy another house…” Answer: I understand where you’re coming from. Ultimately, you’re looking for the best possible outcome from your home sale. With that in mind… When I represent a client selling
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An Alternative to Selling Your San Diego Home

Question: “Hi Gary. Our kids have finally moved out on their own. We love our four bedroom home, but we only need two bedrooms plus a den. Do you know of homes for sale like that in our neighborhood?” Answer: Shut the door of your fourth bedroom and fuhgeddaboudit (if you don’t speak DeNiro, that’s
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How Much Does Your San Diego Home Need Remodeling?

Question: “Hi Gary. I recently read that when you sell your home, you only recoup 79.4% of the cost of a kitchen remodel. But my kitchen was really busted up and I’ve got to think I’ll get more than that back. What do you think?” Answer: You’ve hit upon a big beef I have with
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Do Banks Do Short Sales on Reverse Mortgages?

Question: “My mother moved to a senior home and we need to sell. She has a reverse mortgage and is upside down. Do banks do short sales on reverse mortgages?” Answer: Yes! Short sales on reverse mortgages are as fast and easy as they get. In fact, we just did one and got the bank’s
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Hard to Find Your San Diego Home Value Online

Question: “Which website do you recommend to find out a home’s value?” Answer: Two types of websites purport to tell you your home value online: 1) automated; 2) agent/referral. Automated sites use complex but flawed software to calculate values. However the values they tell you are typically far from correct. This is due to incomplete/inaccurate
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What Should You Expect to Pay for Rentback?

Question: “Hi Gary. My wife and I have an offer and are closing quickly this year for tax reasons. We want to rent the house back for 30 days. What rent should we expect to pay?” Answer: Because rentbacks are usually requested by the seller, the typical practice is for the seller to pay the
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Your Bank May Lie to You About Your Short Sale

Question: “We’re behind on our mortgage and want to do a short sale, and our bank says we have to be current in order for them to approve it. That doesn’t sound right. What’s your take on this?” Answer: They’re lying to you! You’re talking with a department whose job it is to get you
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How the 3.8% Obamacare Tax Impacts Your Sale

Question: “How does the new 3.8% Obamacare tax work if/when I sell my home?” Answer: This (very long!) answer is from the National Association of Realtors: Top 10 Things You Need to Know About the 3.8% Tax 1. When you add up all of your income from every possible source, and that total is less
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Should You Get Your San Diego Home Staged?

Question: “Do you recommend getting a home staged before you sell?” Answer: I recently had a home for sale that was getting no action. But when the seller agreed to a small price adjustment and staged the home, we sold it immediately for full price. And I’ve had other clients sell their homes shortly after
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