“Hi Gary. I’m being transferred to Virginia and we’ll probably never move back to San Diego. My wife and I are debating whether we should sell our home or rent it out for income. It’s in Pacific Beach and we just remodeled it 2 years ago. We think it’s worth around $1M. What should we

“Help! My mother inherited a home in University City. She’s not real estate savvy, so she asked me to handle it for her. I hired an agent and he hasn’t called us since listing the home 3 weeks ago. I’m planning to call him to find out what’s going on, but I can already tell

“What’s the difference between a cap rate and the gross rent multiplier?” ***ANSWER: Cap rate is the opposite of a price/earnings ratio, used with stocks. Here are some random cap rates and GRMs in San Diego: CapGRM Area 415 Pacific Beach 513 North Park 5.312 El Cajon As you can see, as cap rates go

“How come I never see for sale signs in La Jolla?” ***ANSWER: La Jolla regulations bans all commercial For Sale signs. Interestingly, this conflicts with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that says signs up to 8″x5″ must be allowed. Given that, why no signs? Public opinion. La Jollans don’t want For Sale signs. And no

Still smiling about your parrot story, and here are a couple for you: The neighborhood pharmacist where I grew up kept a parrot, who greeted him every morning with, “It’s about time you got here!” in a sarcastic tone of voice. One night a neighbor noticed smoke coming from the building. When the fire department

“I read in the Union that interest only loans can be risky. I mean you’re not paying your loan down, so in 5 years you’ll still owe the same amount of money. Do you think they’re a good idea?” ***ANSWER: It depends. These loans can be good or bad depending on your situation. They can

***QUESTION: “Last time I got a mortgage, I shopped and signed up with a lender with a rate 1/4% lower than anyone else. But when I got my loan documents, that 1/4% savings wasn’t there–it was for the same rate everyone else quoted. I don’t think he ever intended to give me that low rate.

“I know it’s a good idea to use a broker to sell a home, but I need to get every penny out of it and I’m thinking of trying to sell on my own. Can you give me any tips?” ***ANSWER: I understand where you’re coming from. Most of my clients need every penny then

“My wife and I live in her parent’s guest house and have never owned a home. We’re finally ready to buy, but since the market is slower now, we’re thinking of waiting for it to improve before we buy. Do you think that’s a good idea?” ***ANSWER: When the market is hot, many people put

“We’ve been looking at homes in North County and sometimes we see an extra fee called Mello Roos for a few hundred bucks a month. I wouldn’t want to buy a property with an extra fee. What is that?” ***ANSWER: In California’s “taxpayer revolt” of 1978, voters passed Proposition 13 that: 1) limited property taxes