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.

Costs of Selling Your San Diego Home

Question: “Hi Gary. We own a home in Pacific Beach that we’ll be calling you to sell in a couple of months. But for now we just want to find out the selling costs so we can do some planning. Can you help us with this?” Answer: To be fairly safe, you can typically figure
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How do Property Taxes Work?

Question: “I’ve never bought a home before. How do property taxes work? How are they determine how can they change?” Answer: Your annual property tax will be a certain percentage of the assessed value. In San Diego County, it’s 1% + some add-ons which bring it to between 1.1% and 1.2%. When you buy a
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This Week’s Crazy Building: Sealand

Sealand by Richard Lazenby licensed under the terms of public domain
This week’s crazy building is the Principality of Sealand, off the coast of Essex, England. This time around, our crazy building is (depending on who you ask) also its own country. Originally a British WWII naval fort known as Roughs Tower, it was occupied by pirate radio broadcaster Paddy Roy Bates in 1967. By 1975,
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How to Handle Showings with Tenants

Question: “I’d like you to handle the sale of my duplex in Clairemont. How do you handle the showings with the tenants?” Answer: Most duplexes are marketed as “show with offer.” So buyers make offers without going inside, contingent on approving the interior. If they don’t like it, they can cancel their offer, even if
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The Lowdown on Termite Fumigation

Question: “Gary, I had my house tented about two years ago. I believe it is effective for three years, so is it true that I won’t need to tent again should I sell within three years?” Answer: I’m not sure if you’re asking… Does a fumigation kill termites for 3 years? Is there a 3-year
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Buying a Home at a Courthouse Foreclosure Sale

Question: “What do you think of buying a home at a foreclosure sale down at the courthouse?” Answer: For sophisticated investors, it can pay off well. However, there are many very real risks and downsides to buying at a trustee sale: Low supply / high demand: There are very few foreclosures now, but plenty of
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This Week’s Crazy Building: House of Bottles

La casa Ecológica de Botellas by Rodrigo Soldon licensed under the terms of CC BY-ND 2.0
This week’s crazy building is the House of Bottles in Puerto Iguazu, Argentina. After the Argentinian economy went bust in 2001, Alfredo Santa Cruz was reduced to sifting through trash. But in an inspiring tale of lemons into lemonade, he decided to make that trash into a home. More specifically, using a system of over 1,200
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Using an FHA Loan to Buy Apartments

Question: “Can I use an FHA loan to buy apartments that I’m going to live in?” Answer: FHA loans are for 1-4 unit owner-occupied properties. So in theory, you can use one if you buy a duplex, triplex, or fourplex. However, the qualifying for a triplex or fourplex is so poorly thought out that’s it’s
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Is Closing Done via E-signatures or in Person?

Question: “We may be out of town when our sale closes. Is the closing done via esignatures, or do we have to be present?” Answer: Good news. Unlike other states, in California you do not need to sign anything at closing. It’s all signed beforehand. Of course, there could be some last-minute document to sign,
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How to Know if Your New Home Was Fumigated

Question: “I just bought a house and closed a couple of weeks ago. My neighbor said he never saw a termite tent go on. How do I know it was fumigated?” Answer: Let me ask a few questions… First, did the contract call for a pest control clearance? If so, was a fumigation required for
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