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.

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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Who Should Fix Problems the Inspector Finds?

Question: “I was in escrow buying a home and had the home inspected. The inspector found several items that he told me the seller should fix. But the seller refused to fix them all, including a broken pool heater and replacing the roof, which was old but didn’t leak. I wasn’t too happy when they
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Beware Bad Lenders When Buying a San Diego Home

Question: “Hi Gary. We’re ready to look for a home and have already talked to a lender, so…” Answer: Careful! Just like there are very nice but very bad Realtors, the same holds true for lenders. I could write 100 pages telling you of all the bad experiences my clients and I have had from
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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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Are There One-Bedroom San Diego Homes?

Question: “I’d like to buy my first home. I don’t need a lot of space; one  bedroom should be enough. I don’t want a condo. Is there such a thing as a one bedroom house?” Answer: One-bedroom homes are very rare. I doubt that even close to 1 in a 100 homes have just one
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Don’t Worry About Deflation When Buying a Rental

Question: “I’m a little afraid to buy a rental with everything going on. I’m afraid we’ll have deflation which will push rents down. What do you think?” Answer: I’m by no means an economist, despite a BA in Economics from UCLA. A little knowledge can be dangerous, but I’m willing to share my opinion. The
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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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Why Don’t Home Flyers Show Property Taxes?

Question: “We’ve been driving around pulling property flyers from for sale signs. Why don’t the realtor flyers show the taxes on the property?” Answer: Because the taxes the current owner is paying are irrelevant. In California, properties are reassessed when they’re sold. The approximate rate is 1.1% of the price per year. And that goes
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What Is Debt Coverage Ratio?

Question: “I’m a small-time real estate investor. I have a couple of rental condos in Mira Mesa and North Park, but I’d like to trade into an apartment building. I’ve been talking with people and asking a lot of questions. There’s a term I’ve heard called debt coverage ratio. What is that?” Answer: You’re getting
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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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