Buy with the numbers. Close with a negotiator.
Your first home or your fifth. A single-family house, a duplex, a fourplex, or a home with an ADU. Every property you consider gets the same treatment before you write an offer: what it is worth against real San Diego County comps, what it will cost you every month, and what it could earn if it has a second unit. Then the part that decides what you actually pay. I trained in negotiation at UC San Diego with experts who have worked on international talks, and I put that preparation to work for you at the offer, at the inspection, and on every repair the seller should be paying for. You get the right house, at the right price, in working order.
What most agents won't dofor a buyer, and that I will.
Buying a home is the biggest check you will ever write. The person next to you should know this market cold and negotiate like it is their own money.
San Diego County, block by block.
I was born here, and my family has bought, built, and sold here for three generations. I know which streets sell over asking and which ones sit, what an ADU really costs to permit in the city versus the county, and where the next rezone is coming. That is the difference between a comp and a judgment call, and you get the judgment call.
Negotiated from the offer to the last repair.
At UC San Diego I trained in negotiation alongside experts who have worked on international talks, running exercises modeled on real cross-border conflicts. A listing agent is a smaller problem. That preparation shows up in three places: the offer, where price and terms get set; the inspection, where every finding becomes leverage; and the repair request, where you get a home in working order or a credit that pays to make it one. You do not close on a house with problems you did not price.
A plan for what comes next.
After closing you keep the model. What the home is worth, what you owe, when a refinance makes sense, and when the equity is ready for the next move, whether that is a bigger home or a first duplex. You do not just close. You know where you stand every year after.
Buying a house? Look at the duplex next door. It might be the smarter first home.
Same down payment. Same neighborhood. A 2-to-4-unit property does something a single-family home cannot. It is not for everyone. For the buyers it fits, it changes the math for the rest of their lives.
Tenants pay your mortgage.
On a typical San Diego fourplex, the rent from the three units you don't live in often covers most of the mortgage, taxes, insurance, and reserves. Your effective housing cost ends up below renting the same unit.
Equity builds 4× faster.
A single-family buyer pays down their loan with one source: their own income. A multifamily buyer has three or four sources paying down the loan. Same down payment. Substantially more equity built over five years.
Cash flow, not a money pit.
A single-family home costs you money every month: mortgage, taxes, insurance, repairs, and no offsetting income. A well-priced multifamily produces cash flow once stabilized. That difference compounds for decades.
You exit on income, not on comps.
A house sells on what other houses nearby sold for. A multifamily property sells on its NOI capitalized at the local cap rate. The income you build directly drives what you can sell for, independent of your neighbors.
A real proforma, line by line.
Below is exactly the analysis described above, applied to a typical North Park 4-unit. The numbers are illustrative — on your actual deal, every input would be your specific rents, your specific financing, your specific market.
4-Unit Multifamilybuilt 1978 · 5,800 sf lot
From "I'm thinking about it" to "I own this."
Six steps, in the same order every time. Strategy at the start. Keys at the end.
Strategy call and lender pre-approval.
Your goals, timeline, cash, credit. Then a multifamily-savvy lender to map your loan products and pre-approval — what you actually qualify for, owner-occupied vs. investor financing, FHA vs. conventional. Most people skip this step and look at properties they can't actually buy. We don't.
A targeted San Diego County search.
Duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes that match your purchasing power and the submarkets that fit your strategy. On-market and off-market. Including small properties with unrealized development upside under SB 9 / ADU law — value most agents miss.
The numbers on every home worth a second look.
The full underwrite — gross rent through NOI through cash flow through cap rate, cash-on-cash, DSCR, and break-even. Plus a sensitivity table on vacancy, rent growth, and rate shocks. Delivered as a clean one-page summary you can actually read.
Offer strategy and negotiation.
Price, contingencies, due diligence period, financing terms, leaseback if you need it. Coordination with the listing agent, escrow, your lender, the inspector, the appraiser. The proforma we built becomes the basis for what we'll pay — not what the seller is asking.
Inspection, repairs, and credits. Nothing closes broken.
Rent roll audit (tenant by tenant). Lease review (rent, term, deposits, special clauses). Trailing 12 months of seller financials. Property inspection. Permits and code compliance. Every assumption gets verified — or updated. We make decisions on updated numbers, not listing numbers.
Close, with a plan for what comes next.
After close, the proforma becomes your tracking baseline. Year 1 actuals vs. Year 1 model. Where you're outperforming, where you're underperforming, when to refinance, when to start thinking about the next one. You're not a homeowner who happens to have tenants. You're an investor with a plan.
Ready to see the numbers?
Send me a property you're considering — or just your goals — and I'll come back with a real proforma. No pressure. No obligation.
One call.Then a number.
No fees until you close. No pressure. The numbers tell us if there is a deal. The call tells us if we are a fit.