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What Buyers Should Do After Moving into a Home
Within the last week or so, I’ve been thinking about what buyers should do after moving into a home. It’s an assignment for The Balance. As my team members yesterday afternoon focused on our Elizabeth Weintraub Team Sunday open houses, I used that time to write an article for The Balance. Many of you might not know that I write for The Balance. That company had been About.com in 2006, which was owned by the New York Times, when I started working for that website on the side. Before that it was the Mining Company.
I know, you’re probably wondering how do I routinely sell $30 million a year and still find time to work a second job? Organization and passion is my response to that.
We were early pioneers. Since then, and especially from being a source others copied, meant that website has today morphed into many different things, with its 1,000 or so experts now split into vertical channels. All the SEO experts agree it better reflects what we are about. My position as the Home Buying Expert also entails other writing duties for the company. However, lately I’ve been toying with the idea of not writing for them anymore. I’m not compensated enough, not like I was initially. It’s a huge commitment to set aside huge chunks of my life to write. But then I love to write about real estate, and the topics they suggest are usually near and dear to my heart.
The latest article I wrote on Sunday is First Things to Do After Moving into a Home. You may enjoy it because I have unique perspectives, at least for a short time before somebody else plagiarizes my stuff. One of the things about that piece that really struck home for me was how people rarely change the locks after moving into a home. This is one of the first things after moving into a home that needs attention. I heard from a buyer’s agent last week whose buyers allegedly had personal items removed from the home. This resulted in a big problem after closing, presumably by a relative with a key.
You don’t know how many keys are out there. Petsitters. Housekeepers. Children’s friends. The neighbors, and let’s not forget the keys hidden in the yard just in case you get locked out.
It is very inexpensive to hire a locksmith. Just make an appointment with a locksmith the day prior to closing. The locksmith will meet you at the house. Your agent will remove the key from the lockbox and use that to enter the premises. Then, the locksmith, right there on the spot can change all the locks in the house to be used with one key. A different key. It takes about 20 minutes.
So while you’re walking through the house with your agent, marveling at all the space and discussing where you will place your furniture or the colors you will paint the walls, you could have brand new keys to secure the home in under half an hour. For about $100 or so. Prices will vary.
If you do nothing else when moving into a home, at least do this one important thing first and change the locks. Ask your Sacramento Realtor for a referral to a locksmith.
How a Title and Escrow Background Saved the Day as a Sacramento Realtor
Having a title and escrow background as a Sacramento Realtor is often very helpful for my clients. That acquired knowledge tends to come in handy at the most opportune times. It’s not just the experience; it’s having worked in those industries before technology was available. Provides for a much deeper understanding in some ways. Even today, I could go to the courthouse and search title on property all the way back to the U.S. patent without touching a computer. I can draw legal metes and bounds descriptions. Not to mention explain debits and credits on a closing statement. The basics never go away.
Before I became a crazy successful real estate broker, I worked in title insurance in the early ’70s at First American Title in Denver and Boulder. Later, when I moved to Newport Beach in 1976, I went into escrow at Stewart Title, eventually earning the status of Certified Escrow Officer. Having a title and escrow background catapulted my career in real estate. As a Sacramento Realtor today, I still draw on those experiences.
Here is an example. A few days ago, I received a preliminary title report. I always review my prelims to make sure there are no surprises. Sometimes I find a peculiar item I did not expect. If I see a Statement of Information required from one of the parties, for example, and the surnames are uncommon, uh-oh, that’s a big red flag for a file. I look at the easements, compare them to the plat map, among other items in the prelim. It’s even more important for buyer’s agents to review prelims, but few probably do.
The prelim I received on Monday just about gave me a heart attack. At first, I noticed the vesting was not fully explained. It showed an individual and a trust being in title. Well, I happen to know a few things about trusts since I work with a lot of Successor Trustees as sellers. For example, one can’t use a power of attorney in a trust. Another is you cannot hold title as joint tenants between an individual and a trust.
I contacted the escrow officer to try to determine if there was a problem. She said yes, the parties held title as tenants in common. That’s certainly what it looked like to me, now that she mentioned it. Due to that oddity, one of the parties, a deceased person, hopefully did not die intestate, but the estate would need to be probated. And we are in escrow. Under a deadline to quickly close. Including the funding of a down payment assistance program from Guild Mortgage that goes away on June 15. Probate can take quite a few months to get through court. Oh, Mamma Mia!
When I relayed that information to the seller, he almost had a heart attack, too. See, the Realist showed the seller’s mother’s trust as in title. Nothing about his father. Except for a grant deed in the early 1970s, holding title as joint tenants. Sometimes, Realist data is wrong. In fact, sometimes escrow officers are wrong. Then I paused. Wait a minute, I don’t see any other deeds recorded. I read through the prelim again. Yes, there was an action call for an affidavit of death of joint tenant in the Exceptions. Aha! It suddenly made sense to me. All the pieces fell into place. The escrow officer was mistaken.
Escrow was closed by that hour, but my title and escrow background helped me as a Sacramento Realtor to put two and two together. I called the seller and assured him we were OK. Did not want him to end up sleepless that night thinking the entire escrow would blow up and he’d have to spend thousands to go through probate. What I figured out had happened was the two parties indeed held title as joint tenants. Then the husband died, prior to the date of the trust. They just never produced the death certificate nor recorded an affidavit of death of joint tenant. Which is OK because it can be done by the Successor Trustee at closing.
The surviving spouse later created a living trust and put the house into it, making her son the Successor Trustee. Recovering from his pounding heart, the seller asked if I was certain. Well, I can’t give legal advice, but my gut said 99.9% this is what happened. Sure enough, we confirmed it with the escrow officer after the seller brought in his trust documents yesterday morning, and all is right with the escrow. Huge relief for my seller.
Free Money, Yes, Free Down Payment Assistance from Guild Mortgage
In the land of no such thing as a free lunch, you can actually get free money through a 1% down payment assistance program from Guild Mortgage. OK, the catch is you have to buy a home and get a loan through Guild Mortgage. But even so, it is still free money if you’re a home buyer. You don’t have to be a first-time home buyer. The trick, if there is such a thing, is to buy in an area where there are no income restrictions. Especially if you make too much money for most other down payment assistance programs.
Many of my listings do not qualify without income restrictions but I have a couple of listings that do qualify for the 1% down payment assistance programs. Our preferred mortgage lender, Dan Tharp, at Guild Mortgage, checks my new listings to see if they qualify. When they do, I include a line in the confidential agent remarks to let other agents know about this great program. It is in conjunction with Fannie Mae.
But agents don’t know what it means. Sometimes I receive offers in which the buyer’s agents ask the seller to give a 2% credit to the buyer. I have to explain, no, it is the lender, not the seller. Why is this so difficult to understand? Probably because we’re used to no free lunch. We wonder what’s going on.
There is no catch, though. No downside. Buyers do not have to pay back the money. It is not a loan. It is a gift. Instead of putting down 3% to get a conventional loan, buyers can put down 1% and Guild Mortgage, alongside Fannie Mae, will give buyers the other 2% absolutely free. Or you can use the 2% as a credit toward closing costs. Buyers need a fairly decent FICO score, at least 680 minimum, but that’s about it. Oh, there is a quick online class to take. Easy peasy qualifying.
Click here to fill out a loan application at Guild Mortgage. What kind of home can you buy with the Guild 1% downpayment assistance program? How about a mid-century, 3 bedroom, 3 bath with hardwood floors and more than 2,100 square feet at $349K? The address is 10829 Glenhaven Way in Rancho Cordova, CA. Call Dan Tharp at 916.257.1470 for more information.
Why We Need Humans to Navigate the World of Real Estate
If you ask some companies like Bluenuts or whatever why we need humans to navigate the world of real estate, the management at Bluenuts will tell you we don’t. That’s because they find warm bodies, somehow get them through the real estate exam, and then try to compartmentalize real estate like they were shoving a Model T out on the assembly line. But when these new agents catch on, I imagine they go elsewhere to sell real estate, where the money is better. I’ve never met a veteran Bluenuts agent but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist.
Lately, I’ve been thinking about why we need humans to navigate the world of real estate. There are a handful of new companies hitting town that offer less and charge less, which causes concern among some agents that they will be replaced by robots. I can’t say that I’ve heard anybody express how much they love dealing with automation over human interaction. Have you?
Not even Fox Mulder. We watched an X-Files episode, Season 11, Episode 7, about artificial intelligence and automation, mostly about what can and does go wrong. It really hit home. You can’t trust technology to always work correctly. This is why people are uneasy about driverless cars. We still need and, dare I say, crave, the human touch.
For example, the other day I had a couple hours I could get away from my computer, so I decided to do a bit of targeted spring shopping at Nordstrom. I texted my personal shopper to say, yes, I know it’s fast notice, but I would arrive at the store in 15 minutes. She wasn’t even working that day. Yet, you know what she did? She jumped in her car and met me there. On her day off! With her assistance, I bought what I needed and left. I could not have accomplished that without her help. I don’t have all day to shop or even all afternoon.
Another example, over the weekend, my husband and I went to Lowe’s to buy a new grill. Since we have a grill in Hawaii, I now find the charcoal vs gas grill debate has carried over to Land Park, and we need a gas grill at our house here. I also needed a planter hanger doohickey since one of the hangers supporting our basket of four elephant foot plants broke. We searched the entire store and I finally found a bag of four metal hangers sitting alone on a shelf of planters. It didn’t match anything and had no skewer.
My husband insisted Lowes would not sell that to us because it had no skew number. But he underestimates the power of dealing with humans. I approached the cash register, handed the bag to the clerk, explained I really need that plant hanger, including the fact I was aware there is no skew. I offered something he could not refuse. Said he can charge me whatever he liked. I need to buy it.
He just gave the hangers to me. No charge. Free. The power of dealing with humans.
The same thing applies to the principles behind why we need humans to navigate the world of real estate. No matter how savvy a seller or buyer believes they are, they do not have 40 years of experience in real estate in sales like I do. My knowledge helps clients to avoid costly mistakes, streamlines the escrow process, assists with pricing, and whatever happens, they know I will be there for them with a solution. Perhaps several solutions. Robots can’t give you that.
Do I like pumping my own gas? Do you?
Further, if automated checkout lines worked so well, why do employers hire clerks to stand there and watch?
Enjoy humans while you can. Because businesses will continue to try to get rid of them. But I firmly believe you’ll always want to rely on a knowledgable human to assist you with buying and selling Sacramento real estate.
5 Professional Tips for Selling Fixer Homes in Sacramento
As a veteran Sacramento Realtor, I’ve sold real estate for decades without encountering the peculiar subset specialty of selling fixer homes in Sacramento. But the market crash and all of the short sales / foreclosures from 2005 to 2011 took care of that situation without any deliberate effort on my part. I just fell into the pool of selling fixer homes in Sacramento. At one point, I recall managing on average 75 escrows at one time, mostly all short sales. That was an insane period of time in my career, and let’s just say I didn’t get a lot of sleep. So glad those days are over.
However, I came out of those experiences having learned a lot about selling fixer homes in Sacramento. My entire focus then, as it remains today, is on my sellers and doing what is best for them. Most sellers tell me they want to maximize their profit potential. I don’t hear very many sellers in Sacramento today offering to give away their homes or sell them for less than market. Every once in a blue moon a seller will admit she can’t deal with the situation and will take any offer that gets her out of home ownership, but that is an uncommon occurrence.
If you’re a seller hoping to dispose of a fixer home in Sacramento or a Realtor who has never sold a fixer home, here are a few of the things you can expect to encounter. All sorts of people crawl out of the woodwork to buy a fixer home; some are real slime-balls. But make no mistake, while selling fixer homes in Sacramento is a hot commodity, it’s not a walk in the park. Not in heels, anyway.
- First, realize every buyer has an agenda. That agenda is to buy the property as cheaply as humanely possible. Some purchase offers will likely be offensive. Don’t take any of it personally. Just focus on what you want to do and what is best for your situation. If your agent pushes you to accept a lowball offer, question that listing agent’s motives. Is it commission based or client focused?
- Not every buyer will be honest with you. Buyers might swear they are experienced flippers and they know how to compute construction costs. Then, suddenly, in the middle fo escrow, that ability will vanish. They will claim they know nothing and had little idea of what they’re getting into, despite their professional status. Except, whatever the perceived defect, it will be very expensive to fix. They often will expect the seller to renegotiate halfway through the transaction. Don’t take it personally nor be victimized. If buyers refuse to abide by the contract you may have a right to cancel the transaction.
- All buyers of fixers in Sacramento are not equal. Some buyers will claim their overhead and material costs are too high. Therefore, the argument is they want you to lower the price. It is not your fault they do not have access to inexpensive labor nor wholesale materials. Sellers are not required to foot the buyer’s construction costs.
- Owner occupants will generally pay more than investors. There is no reason to limit your marketing solely to flippers or investors. Owner occupants who don’t mind a little sweat equity might be your perfect target audience. Many first-time home buyers would love to spend less and buy a home that needs work. Some will even do the work themselves, which tends to lower their rehab estimates.
- There is always another buyer. Always. Especially in our spring Sacramento real estate market. This is a seller’s market, limited inventory and high buyer demand. I have never come to the end of ready, willing and able buyers wanting to purchase a home and build equity. The downside to selling fixer homes in Sacramento is yes, sometimes we need to sell that home several times while only getting paid once. But that’s why we are professional listing specialists, guided by an ethical compass, and not out to make a fast buck off the backs of our clients.
