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Rudy Flores · (619) 392-6714 · Real Estate Strategist, Realtor® · CalDRE #02257808 · Responsible Broker CalDRE #01481919
Not affiliated with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or any government agency. Your contact information will be shared with our preferred lender, Point Mortgage Corporation (NMLS #231073), so they can reach you about VA loan programs and any other loans, grants or assistance you may qualify for.
Enter the report date on your orders and choose a plan for your San Diego home. The countdown works back to your first step, with dates for listing, escrow, movers and a backup plan, plus a calendar file.
Orders put a firm date on your move, and a firm date is something you can plan around. Enter the report date, choose what you want to do with the home, and the countdown lays out every step from today to the day you report.
The countdown runs in your browser and remembers your entries on this device only; nothing is sent unless you use the form below it. Every date is an estimate: your orders, your purchase contract and your escrow officer set the real ones.
Still weighing a sale against renting it out? Four quick questions in the Home Strategy Quiz, and Rudy sends you a personal plan.
Take the Home Strategy QuizSend your dates and Rudy will look them over and follow up with a plan for your home, no pressure.
Talk to a lender. Rates, loan programs and approvals come from lenders, not from websites or real estate agents. Talk to your own mortgage broker, or use our preferred lender, Point Mortgage Corporation (NMLS #231073), at (619) 475-4095. You are always free to choose any lender you like, and you can verify any lender’s license at nmlsconsumeraccess.org.
Everything starts at the report date on your orders and steps back from there:
With the starting numbers, your first step comes 116 days before the report date, about 3.8 months. The other dates in the table are planning choices, not rules: the buyer's walkthrough 5 days before closing, a backup property manager 14 days before the offer date, and property manager interviews 60 days before you leave. Holidays are not counted.
When it fits: your dates leave room for prep, about 53 days of marketing at the metro average, and a full escrow.
Tradeoffs: showings overlap with packing, and the closing has to land before the movers, which is what the cushion protects.
When it fits: you would like the sale finished early but need the house until the movers come. The buyer has to agree to it.
Tradeoffs: an earlier closing means an earlier start. Per the San Diego Association of Realtors, a stay of 29 days or less is handled with the Seller in Possession addendum from C.A.R., while 30 days or more calls for a Residential Lease After Sale.
When it fits: the dates are short, or you would rather show the home empty; an empty house is often simpler to clean, stage and photograph.
Tradeoffs: the payment and other costs continue until closing, and the countdown estimates how many months that is.
When it fits: the rent covers your costs, or you may be stationed in San Diego again.
Tradeoffs: property manager fees, landlord duties and tax timing to think through, and your VA entitlement stays tied up while you keep the loan.
Leaving before the sale closes is common with orders, and keys, showings, repairs and signing can all run from your next station. The step-by-step guide and checklist are on Selling From a Distance.
VA.gov describes three routes to getting entitlement back: sell the home and pay off the loan, have a qualified Veteran buyer assume the loan and substitute their entitlement, or, one time only, pay the loan in full while keeping the home. Requests go in online, through a lender, or on VA Form 26-1880, and the servicer and the VA decide on any assumption.
IRS Publication 523 (2025) covers the 2-out-of-5-year ownership and use test for the home-sale exclusion. Members of the uniformed services serving on qualified official extended duty can suspend the 5-year period for up to 10 years. A tax professional can say how that applies to you, and for a first look there is the Home Sale Tax Exclusion Estimator.
Work back from the report date. With the starting numbers (7 days of travel and leave, a 5-day closing cushion, 30 days of escrow, 53 days to an accepted offer and 21 days of prep), the first step comes 116 days before you report, about 3.8 months. The 53 days is Zillow's average days to pending for the San Diego metro in the week ending October 24, 2026; put in your own numbers to see your dates.
Short timelines are common with orders. You can shorten the prep list, consider an as-is sale, sell after you move, or rent the home out. Switch the plan in the countdown to see each one's dates, and use Compare My Selling Options to put the numbers side by side.
Yes. The home can stay on the market and close while you are at your new station. Disclosures, HOA documents and inspection reports can be reviewed from anywhere, and the escrow officer explains how you will sign. Ask Rudy how inspectors and appraisers would get in while you are gone.
Military legal assistance offices prepare powers of attorney for service members at no cost, according to Military OneSource. The MilitaryINSTALLATIONS directory lists the legal office for each installation; at Naval Base San Diego that is Region Legal Service Office Southwest, which also runs an office at North Island. Rudy is not a lawyer, so legal questions go to that office.
Estimates for planning, not legal, tax or lending advice. Not affiliated with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense, any military branch or any government agency. Your orders, your contract and your escrow officer set the real dates. Rudy Flores is a real estate agent, not a lawyer, tax professional or lender.
Sources, checked October 30, 2026: Zillow Research, mean days to pending, San Diego metro, weekly (smoothed) (week ending October 24, 2026); VA.gov, Eligibility for VA home loan programs (restoring entitlement) (updated September 22, 2026); VA.gov, About VA Form 26-1880 (updated May 27, 2026); VA.gov, VA home loan limits (updated August 12, 2025); San Diego Association of Realtors, Navigating Post-Closing Occupancy: RLAS vs. SIP (August 27, 2025); IRS Publication 523 (2025), Selling Your Home (2025 edition); Military OneSource, PCS and military moves; Military OneSource, Power of attorney basics (April 17, 2026); MilitaryINSTALLATIONS, Naval Base San Diego legal assistance; California Civil Rights Department, Housing; California Secretary of State, Notary Public Handbook (January 2025).