Buying a House While Doing a Loan Mod

“Hi Gary. I bought a San Diego home a few years ago worth $400K and put a $80K down payment. Right now I’m trying for a modification and still waiting for their decision. …My question is can we still buy a house that is much lower than our current home but one that we can
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Are Tax Assessors’ Home Valuations Accurate?

“In 2005 I bought a house in PB worth $700K. …I just received the property appraisal from the tax assessor and the current value of my house is now down to $488K…” Answer: Let me stop you right there. The tax assessor’s assessment of your Pacific Beach home is not necessarily the value. In fact,
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Buying a San Diego Home From an Auction Site

“I keep seeing these ads for an auction company. I went on their sites and the opening bids are very low compared to what the homes previously sold for. What do you think of buying a San Diego home from an auction site?” Answer: I’m not going to call it a scam. Let’s just say
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Short Sales: To Buy or Not to Buy?

“I hear a lot about short sales. Do you recommend buying them or avoiding them entirely?” Answer: Great question. And like many questions, the answer is “it depends.” In this case it depends on the short sale particulars: – How many loans is the seller going short on? – Does the listing agent seem to
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Is It Hard to Get a Loan on a Fixer-Upper?

“Question. I want to buy a fixer upper house so I can fix and sell it for a profit (hopefully!). Is there any difficulty getting a loan on a fixer?” Answer: Great question. If a home is in poor condition, you may have trouble getting a conventional loan. (An FHA or VA loan would be
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Finding a Good Homestager for Your San Diego Home

“Do you have a home stager you can recommend? And what do they typically cost?” Answer: I do know a good homestager and will be happy to give you her contact info. Homestagers offer a range of services, in increasing order of cost: – Initial consultation (often free) – A list of things you can
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What Exactly Is a Homestead?

“We’ve never bought a home before and I heard it’s a good idea to get a homestead on the house. Can you explain what a homestead is?” Answer: A homestead exemption protects some or all of your equity from unsecured creditors. There are two kinds of homestead exemptions: automatic and declared. Both have similar protections,
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The Wrong Way to Find a Lender

“I’m looking to refi my condo and I’m calling lenders out of the phone book trying to find the lowest rate. Can you recommend me the lender you think has the lowest rates?” Answer: STOP! Shopping rates is NOT the way to find your lender. Here’s why: 1. There’s more to a loan than interest
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Finding Out the Bank’s Appraisal of Your San Diego Home

“When I sell my home, will I find out what how much the bank appraises it for?” Answer: If the appraisal comes in at the sales price or higher, the bank tells us the appraisal was “sufficient” or some similar term, but they don’t usually release the price. If it’s low, they do tell us
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Beware of Agents Illegally Inventing Offers

“I just made an offer on a Pacific Beach home that had been on the market for 8 months. Now suddenly there’s a second offer. Why is it that when I decide to make an offer, suddenly and mysteriously another offer appears? I’m a little suspicious.” Answer: While RARE, agents have been known to unethically
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