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Category Archives: real estate

Who needs Title Insurance?

Thursday, 10 September 2009 23:48
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1st third of 16th century
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There are two basic types of Title Insurance…

  • Lender’s Title Insurance
  • Owner’s Title Insurance

Lender’s Title Insurance

If you are buying a home with a loan, you will probably be required to buy Title Insurance for you lender.  What the Title Insurance will do is protect them from damage if there is a claim (or cloud) on the title to the property.

Let’s say that there is a will discovered that means that someone in the past sold the property but didn’t have the right to sell it… it could nullify the ownership of the current “owner”.

The Lender’s Title Insurance would pay off the lender for their loss… or, more likely, pay off the claim to buy out the interest of the new claimant.

Owner’s Title Insurance

You lender isn’t going to require that you buy Owner’s Title Insurance.  They don’t care…  It protects YOU from loss in the above situation.  Basically, it protects YOUR equity.

Honestly, Owner’s Title Insurance can be a profit center for the closing attorneys.  They make money selling the policies… although most won’t press anyone to buy it.  For most buyers, it is an optional expense that is worthwhile…

Case Study…

Here is a situation that I am seeing right now…  A seller (not my client) has a property that is under contract.  They purchased it last year out of foreclosure.  During the standard title search a lien was missed.  Now there is a lien on the property that doesn’t belong to the seller.  There is no lender involved.  Basically, they can’t sell it until this is resolved.  They have hired a lawyer to deal with it.

Keep in mind that these situations are quite rare… but they can be financially devastating.  Imagine living in a home for a while and building up some solid equity.  And then, out of the blue, losing the home and the equity.  Rare… but devastating.

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Over-Updated, Under-Updated…

Saturday, 05 September 2009 23:35
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I visited a home recently that had an interesting mix of over and under updated features.

Overall, the home was quite beautiful.  The finishes were well done and attractive.  Honestly, it showed better than the photos… and that is a good thing, the photos weren’t bad.

The yard was amazing.  The only issue I could find is that it would require too much care for MY lifestyle, but it was wonderful to walk around the paths and see the ponds, gardens and various areas.

But then there was the kitchen…  1990 called and they want their kitchen back…  It didn’t live up to the rest of the house.

What to do?

If you are selling your home, and you want to maximize the price and minimize the time on market, the Kitchen is the MOST important room to use to WOW your buyer.  The next most important room is the Master Bath.  Of course, the rest of the house can’t fail to live up to those rooms, but those are the stars…

Solid surface counters, black or stainless steel appliances, neat, clean and organized cabinets.  Those are the keys to the kitchen.

The Master Bath is a little trickier… But, to start, make sure that it is clean, no wall paper and devoid of builder grade fixtures…  Chrome is usually bad…

This home was both over and under updated…

The kitchen was a throwback… it killed the deal.  The rest of the house almost brought it back… and the buyers were almost ready to hire the seller to do the landscaping for the home they eventually buy.  As with the yard, which was tweaked to the hilt, the house was “fully developed”.  And as such, it lacked storage space and unfinished areas.

There will be a buyer for it…  And they will be getting a great deal if the house suits them.

If you are selling your house, put yourself in the shoes of the buyer…  We’ll be talking about this more over the next few weeks…

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Mold, not just for bread and cheese anymore…

Friday, 04 September 2009 12:07
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Moldy nectarines that were in a refrigerator. ...
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Ok, mold has NEVER just been for bread and cheese.  and while it can be useful stuff… when it is penicillin… the rest of the time, it is NOT something we want in our bodies.

So, Mold and Real Estate?

I’m seeing it more and more.  Actually, it started a few years ago, but as more foreclosures come on the market, mold gets to be a bigger issue.

In some homes it is a minor issue… a little musty smell that can be handled with a couple of filter changes in the HVAC and a good cleaning.  There are even some homes that don’t seem to have any mold smells present.

But in other homes it is a MAJOR problem.  We aren’t talking about a little smell, we are talking about unhealthy levels of toxins… and in some cases, they could cause serious respiratory distress, or worse.  In those cases, if the price is good enough, and the home is otherwise desirable, a mold remediation company could be brought in to kill the mold and bring the property back into a healthy state.

How can we know?

Get an inspection.  Of course, I ALWAYS recommend getting an inspection from an ASHI Certified Inspector for any home… even brand new.  But there are actually specialist Mold Inspection companies.  If you suspect that there could be mold in the property, getting it inspected is cheap insurance.  Mold remediation can be simple, or VERY involved and expensive.  Knowing during the Due Diligence Period is much better than unexpectedly finding out that your good deal is going to suck $50,000 out of your pocket before you can move in.

Some favorite mold hangouts…

  • Crawlspaces and basements
  • Under sinks in kitchens and bathrooms
  • Attics
  • The back of closets
  • Anywhere there isn’t airflow

Be aware.  Do a little research… even trolling Google, Yahoo or Bing for a few minutes can yield a lot of good knowledge.  of course, getting professional advice isn’t a bad idea either.  And remember, almost every property is going to have SOME mold.  But, if the humidity and moisture levels are in line with what they should be, there is good airflow and the space is kept clean, the mold can’t get a solid foothold and take over the house.

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Deals in Bankrupt Subdivisions?

Thursday, 03 September 2009 09:50
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LAS VEGAS - MARCH 21: Prospective buyers look...
Image by Getty Images via Daylife

I recently took some buyers out looking at houses in an area with a lot of bankrupt subdivisions.  The houses were, in many cases, quite attractive and priced very competitively.

But there are a lot of considerations that buyers need to weigh before buying a home in a subdivision where the developer has gone out of business…

We’ll start with the dangers…

  • The amenities may not be complete… and they may NEVER be complete.  If you are buying a property because of the pool or tennis facilities, and those items aren’t there, they might never be built.
  • There is NO telling what might be built on the currently vacant lots… The bank that gets control of the lots wants to SELL them.  And they likely aren’t going to quiz the buyer as to their plans for the neighborhood.  Your 5,000 square foot home could get a 2,500 square foot neighbor.
  • Warranties may just fly out of the window… Defunct builders won’t be around to honor warranties, and the bank that sells the property isn’t going to warrant the builders work.  Also, since the builder may have had financial pressures while the were building the homes, the quality might be challenged.
  • Important items like HOAs and CCRs might not have been assembled… This can be remediated by the residents… maybe.  The residents can form a Home Owners Association (HOA) and put together Community Covenants and Restrictions (CCR), but depending on the local laws, might require 100% of current residents to enact.
  • The community might have a stigma… from having been bankrupt.  This could affect future resale value… especially if the community isn’t built out completely.

But there can be a reward…

  • Price… That is the real draw.  One might be able to buy in a community and type of house that could otherwise be unattainable.
  • Opportunity for appreciation… If the neighborhood turns the corner and gets built out appropriately, the reward could be higher than average price appreciation.  Buying under-priced property and then selling at market is a good business decision.

Do the math!

While searching for a home, make sure that the home meets your needs… and the neighborhood meets your needs… AS IT IS.  Also, don’t forget to weigh the risks.  What if smaller homes are built in the neighborhood?  What if there are no amenities?  What if the guy next door is able to build a tar-paper shed in the back yard?

For some buyers, these properties represent a GREAT value.  For others, they represent a big risk.  By honestly examining lifestyle and options, one can determine if a home in a bankrupt subdivision is a good value for them.

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Strange People… muttering… muttering…

Tuesday, 01 September 2009 23:56
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Have you ever hung out around the County Courthouse on the first Tuesday of the month?

Outside the Hall County CourthouseThe County Courts CAN make for some great people watching on any day of the month (ok, any weekday…), but the first Tuesday on the month here in Georgia is a little more special.  There are deals to be had…  property deals.

OK, maybe there are deals to be had.  Honestly, there wasn’t much action on the foreclosure auction front… but I’m getting ahead of myself.

The the tax record on the County’s website said that the sale would take place at 8:30am…

First up were the tax sales. They started a moment after 10:00am.  There were six parcels to be auctioned off.  Five of them sold… and might have been good deals.  The final property was unable to attract a bid, and there were a few chuckles from the assembled thirty or so people.  None started above $1500 (except the last one) and the final bids ranged from just under $10,000 to just under $30,000…  I wasn’t there for those properties and hadn’t done any background, so I don’t know if they were good deals or not…

A few minutes later, some attorneys started showing up for the foreclosure auctions.  The banks involved had predetermined their minimum pricing.

Each lawyer would stake out his spot and begin “the chant.”  It consisted of the legalese that they were required to read before accepting bids.  They were quietly “speed-talking” the required verbiage in their own space… bidders wanding near to try to figure out which property they were representing.  They would each briefly mention the address of the property and the tax ID… before anyone knew what they were doing there.

It was largely the same crew of bidders, even though there was no actual bidding…

  • Mr. Bored This guy would mention his bid as if it was bothersome.  As he was outbid, he would slightly top the new bid… trying to sound like he would rather be anywhere but here…
  • Miss Aggressive She actually punched the air with several of her bids.  It was funny as she outbid Mr. Bored… the juxtaposition between her excitement and his “duty to respond”…
  • Mr. Business He effectively combined boredom and excitement…  It was obviously a duty for him to bid, he seemed to not care about the outcome.  At the same time, he was quick to react…
  • Mrs. Pre-occupied Perhaps she couldn’t be bothered to bid.  She would bid… but it just seemed that she was annoyed that the auctioneer expected her to stop her other conversations to pay attention…

In the end, I’m sure I missed some of the sales.  There were anywhere from 2-7 lawyers chanting at any given time.  But the one thing I did notice… nothing was sold.  One of the properties that I was familiar with was going for something between two and a half and three times what it would fetch on the open market…

Deals DO come up at auction.  But, you have to know the properties and what you are willing to spend to get them… BEFORE you get there.  And you have to know the players… who will be auctioning off the property.

from Gwinnett Garage Guy

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