Licensed since 1984, San Diego real estate broker Gary Kent is a recognized authority on real estate. In addition to selling over 5,500 homes for clients, he has been an expert court witness, trainer of other agents, and he does seminars on home buying, home selling, and investing. Gary has sold homes for The Salvation Army, dozens of major banks, and Fannie Mae, amongst others. You can find Gary on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

Do You Need a Lockbox to Sell Your San Diego Home?

“I’m talking to agents about selling my home and one said I don’t need a lockbox for agents to see my home. Won’t it be harder to sell my home without one?” Answer: You’re right. And any agent who (except for special cases or very high-end luxury homes) tells a homeseller not to use a
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Must Agents Present Your Short Sale Offer to the Bank?

“I wrote an offer on a short sale and it was not presented to the bank. Is that legal?” Answer: While an agent owes the seller a duty to present all offers to them, they do not owe that duty to the bank on a short sale. The bank is not their client. The seller
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Why Not Being in a Rush to Sell Doesn’t Matter

“Hi Gary. We’ll be selling our condo in La Jolla next month. We know the comps say it’s around 700K, but we’d like to shoot for 725-750K. We’re not in a rush and are willing to hold out even if it takes several months to sell. How long should we expect it to be on
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Short Sales and Paying HOA Fees

“We are going to attempt a short sale. We have almost no money and can’t pay the mortgage and probably can’t keep paying the HOA fees either. Will not paying the HOA fees hurt our chances of doing a short sale?” Answer: Back HOA fees have to be paid in full in order to do
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How the Homebuyer Tax Credit Works

“How does the homebuyer tax credit work?” Answer: Here are the basics: – $8000 to first time homebuyers (haven’t owned for 3 years) – $6500 to homebuyers who aren’t first-timers – Must buy a primary residence – Must sign contract to buy home by 4/30/10 – Must close by 6/30/10 – Must stay in the
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A Good Time to Invest in San Diego Real Estate

“It’s so hard to know what the market is going to do. Do you think this is a good time to invest [in real estate] in San Diego?” Answer: Of course, many agents will answer “yes” to that whatever the market so they can make a sale. So rather than just answering your question, let
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Can Agents Represent Both Buyer & Seller?

“Is it legal for agents to represent both the buyer and seller? How can they possibly do that?” Answer: Great question. This “dual agency” is legal in California and most other states as long as it’s disclosed. The downside is that some agents abuse the situation. For example, the buyer or seller may tell the
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How to Find Out Property Lines

“How do you find out the property lines. Ask the seller or the agent?” Answer: They may be happy to offer you their opinion, but who knows if they’ll be right or wrong. Unless they’ve seen a survey, they heard from someone else…who may or may not be correct. To know for sure, you can
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Why Value Range Pricing Works

“I don’t agree with this whole value range pricing idea. It just doesn’t make any sense. No one’s ever going to pay any more than the bottom. I’d never sell my home with it.” Answer: I’m with you. And while we’re at it, I don’t agree with this whole electricity thing either. It doesn’t make
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Rolling Cash Over into a San Diego Home

“I’m selling my home and will also be receiving money from a settlement and would love to roll it over into a house. I’m not sure if I can though, so if I were to hold the money for awhile, am I charged with capital gains taxes or penalized for not rolling it over into
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