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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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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Why NOT to use open houses to price your home

Question: “Hey Gary: We stopped in at an open house at the home at XXXX XXXX. It’s listed at $700,000. We weren’t impressed with it compared to ours. We assume the main draw for that house is location and it’s on a bigger lot. Have you seen it? What’s your opinion?  It makes us think
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Do you charge a fee for your home or property estimates?

Question: “When someone is considering selling and if they want to speak with you regarding how much their property is worth, do you charge a fee for this or only give them a guesstimate? I want to make sure I understand…They have to get a separate appraisal since the value you provide isn’t considered THE appraisal, right? 
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What is the cost to sell a home?

Question: “Hi Gary, besides the Realtor fee, what is the cost to sell a home?” Answer: There are several categories of items that you should be aware of: Standard Seller Closing CostsThese include your portion of the title and escrow fees, the county transfer tax, and other fees. These tend to total .5% to 1%
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How often should my agent hold an open house?

Question: “How many open houses should my agent do?” Answer: Somewhere between zero and who knows. Yes, that’s pretty broad. The truth is that while open houses never hurt, they’re only one small tool in the toolbox of an agent to sell your home. Contrary to popular belief, only about 2% of homes sell from
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What are “iBuyers”?

Question: “Hi, I’ve heard Zillow is going to start buying homes. What’s that about?” Answer: Have you seen those scribbled signs by the side of the road that say, “I’ll buy your home for cash”? Or received one of those letters where they pretend they’re specifically interested in buying your house for cash, but it’s
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Are HOA’s allowed to charge for documents?

Question: “My HOA management company wants to charge me $700 for the condo documents. That’s highway robbery. Is that even legal?” Answer: I’m no attorney, but in my opinion, that is NOT legal (and is, in fact, highway robbery!). Too many HOA management companies are raking it in and breaking the law in the process.
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Is there a downside to value range pricing?

Question: “If I sell my home, is there any downside to value range pricing?” Answer: Only one that I know of… Because value range pricing is rarely seen outside of San Diego, none of the national websites support it. They only have a field for one price, not a range. Their work-around is to use
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Do real estate networks sell homes?

Question: “Are you a member of a big network? We went to a seminar at a retirement community and an agent spoke and said a reason to use them is that they’re with a big firm that has a network that will sell our house.” Answer: Yes, I’m a member of several large networks, including
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