Are Foreclosures Also Short Sales?
Wednesday, 24 October 2012
Question: “Hi Gary. I’m a new real estate investor. I see all your foreclosures. Are they also short sales?” Answer: First, a quick explanation: There are 3 stages of foreclosure during which a home may be sold: BEFORE a foreclosure sale, when the homeowner is in foreclosure. AT the foreclosure sale, when the home is
- Published in Q&A - Home Investing Questions, Short Sale
No Comments
Should You Sell Your San Diego Home ‘FSBO’?
Tuesday, 23 October 2012
Question: “We need to net the most money from selling our current home to buy our next home. So we want to sell our home FSBO [for sale by owner] to save on the broker fee. What do you think?” Answer: I understand your concern about netting the most money from a sale. Given that
- Published in Q&A - Home Selling Questions
Beware of Home Valuation Sites
Monday, 22 October 2012
Question: “I saw a house listed for 1.2 million, but Zillow shows it’s only worth 781K. Do you think they’d accept an offer in that range?” Answer: You must be new to my Q&A! Otherwise you’d have heard my rants about how grossly inaccurate ALL the home pricing websites are. It’s not uncommon for them
- Published in FAQs, Q&A - Home Selling Questions
Why You Pay More Interest Than Principal on Your Mortgage
Wednesday, 17 October 2012
Question: “Hi Gary, Thank you for your email. Question: Why do we pay more towards our interest than principal in our monthly mortgage payments for the first several years? Shouldn’t your payments spread evenly between interest and principal so that you can pay down your principal quicker?” Answer: Thanks for the question. A banker may
- Published in Q&A - Home Financing Questions
Should You Sell Your San Diego Home Furnished?
Tuesday, 16 October 2012
Question: “We’re moving to the east coast. We’re not taking most of our furniture due to shipping costs and because we’re moving into a much smaller home. Do you advise people to sell their homes furnished or empty all the furniture?” Answer: Like many things, it depends. The main factor is how nice your furniture
- Published in Q&A - Home Selling Questions, Real Estate Tips
1031 Exchanges & Short Sales Don’t Mix
Wednesday, 10 October 2012
Question: “I just sold an investment property and want to 1031 exchange into a short sale. What short sales do you have?” Answer: Danger…1031 exchanges and short sales don’t mix! As you may know, when you do a 1031 exchange, you have certain time limits to find and close on the property you’re buying. Specifically,
- Published in Real Estate Investment, Short Sale
Value Range Pricing Tip for Your San Diego Home
Monday, 08 October 2012
Question: “Hi Gary. We’d like to list our home with you for $679,500 to $724,900 using the value range approach. How does that sound?” Answer: Value range can be a very effective pricing strategy, so that’s fine. However, when I do value range, I try to use round numbers to make the price easier to
- Published in Q&A - Home Selling Questions, Real Estate Tips
What’s a Reasonable Return for Your Investment Property?
Wednesday, 03 October 2012
Question: “I’ve been looking for an investment property for several months to buy and hold. I’m open to a house, condo, duplex, triplex, or fourplex. Just nothing with 5 or more apartments due to financing. I’m trying to get at least a 10% return and…” Answer: Hold on…10%? If you’re banking on a straight 10%+
- Published in Q&A - Home Investing Questions