San Diego Real Estate Blog Gary Kent Team

“I recently had a realtor tell me that running my credit multiple times for the purposes of obtaining a home loan/mortgage would not take points off my credit score. Is this true? Is this different than having my credit run several times for, say, an auto loan?”

***ANSWER:
That Realtor was correct. To get you the most accurate answer, I emailed my trusted lender and here’s what he sent me:

Looking for a mortgage or an auto loan may cause multiple lenders to request your credit report, even though you’re only looking for one loan. To compensate for this, the score ignores all mortgage and auto inquiries made in the 30 days prior to scoring. So if you find a loan within 30 days, the inquiries won’t affect your score while you’re rate shopping.

In addition, the score looks on your credit report for auto or mortgage inquiries older than 30 days. If it finds some, it counts all those inquiries that fall in a typical shopping period as just one inquiry when determining your score. For FICO® scores calculated from older versions of the scoring formula, this shopping period is any 14 day span.

For FICO® scores calculated from the newest versions of the scoring formula, this shopping period is any 45 day span. Each lender chooses which version of the FICO® scoring formula it wants the credit reporting agency to use to calculate your FICO® score.

Hope that helps…

Buying or Selling A San Diego Investment Property

“I’m thinking of remodeling our kitchen. We plan to sell when our kids graduate high school in a couple of years and I’m curious how much the remodel will add to the value.”

***ANSWER:
I’m asked this a lot.

The answer: it depends.

It depends on:

1. How much your kitchen (or bath or ???) needs it
2. How nice of a job you do
3. To some extent, if the quality is commensurate with your neighborhood

So I can tell you that the average kitchen remodel will bring you about 85% of what you put into it, but that’s not really a number that you can automatically apply to your home.

Strategies To Sell Your San Diego Home

“Do you usually get the oven and refrigerator included when you buy a home?”

***ANSWER:
Unless otherwise agreed in the contract, all built-in appliances are automatically included. Be careful about stoves that look built-in but are actually slide in. Tell your agent to list them in your offer.

Freestanding appliances like refrigerators, washers, and dryers are often included, but not always.

And here’s some advice could save you an unpleasant surprise:

Any personal property you want included MUST be listed in your offer, even if they’re mentioned in the marketing or disclosures or someone tells you the items are included. If they’re not in the contract, there’s a good chance you won’t get them!

Search Homes For Sale in the San Diego MLS

“Not only do I not like paying mortgage insurance, it isn’t even tax deductible. Can you still get zero down loans without paying mortgage insurance?”

***ANSWER:
They’re hard to come by. But my lender has something unique they call “tax advantaged mortgage insurance” or TAMI for short.

Instead of charging you mortgage insurance, which is rarely tax deductible, they charge you a slightly higher rate. The interest is generally tax-deductible, while mortgage insurance isn’t.

It’s a pretty good loan program. If you’re interested, call me at (858)457-KENT and I’ll put you in touch with my lender.

buy a home or investment property in San Diego

“Does pest control clearance cover just termites, or does it also cover rats and ants, etc.?”

***ANSWER:
The term “pest control clearance” is a misnomer, as it implies all kinds of bugs, rodents, and other pests will be eradicated.

In reality, a pest control clearance covers “wood-destroying pests and organisms”, which are mainly termites, dryrot, and fungus.

Learn Secrets Most People Will Never Know About Buying A Home In San Diego