House hunting — the highs and lows and Hoozahs (an update)

1. Yes. The seller is the person in the public records. She still lives in the home. She was actually there when I went to see the house. It was a little awkward.

2. Selling agent doesn't know her other than in a business way. Just trying to sell her house. Don't know what bank is involved.

3. Deposit is not down yet. Deposit will go into an escrow account and frankly I don't know who would manage that but the wording in the contract is so that it doesn't matter. I only lose it if I do something stupid like back out for no reason after a solid inspection.

4. No settlement company. Just a bank. She is just trying to get the bank to accept the offer.

5. Dual agent wrote the contract. There is an appraisal contingency. I am fairly confident it will appraise for more than my offer. It was assessed in 2010 for way more than my offer... so if the appraisal comes back lower than my offer I would be floored. (That is a hurdle I have to clear though)

6. Don't know how much as owed. But the bank would stand to pay $400 a month or so for every month it is left vacant for a foreclosure process.

7. That short sale could be more complicated. There could be second mortgages or a lien. Of course, a short sale isn't short... but I'm not really in a rush. I can be patient, I'm just curious as to things others have encountered. And yes... drawn out short sales seems to be a common thread.

Thanks for your input and help everyone.

 

Make sure you have a settlement attorney and purchase title insurance.

 

Do I really need title insurance if I don't own the land? It's a condo so I would just own what's inside the four walls.

 

If it is a condo and not a coop, yes you need title insurance. Insurance will cover any potential issues with the title of the property. Anything involving short sales, foreclosures or deed in lieu can create issues. There could be unrecorded judgments on the property for condo fees, water bills, electric bills or even property taxes. While it makes sense that a search would uncover any issues, you can never tell if there is a lag in recording.

When I bought my home, three weeks after closing I got a letter indicating the HOA fees where past due for 18 months even though I had a statement from the HOA saying it was $83 per month and was up to date.

My title insurance covered the fees and went after the seller.

This is the biggest purchase of your life. Purchase the insurance and never sweat any deed issues.

 

i was in on a short sale that took about a year to close. the offer chosen over mine was closer to the bank's asking price, but even after it was accepted in -- if i remember april 2008 -- the property wasn't sold to those bidders until april 2009, and actually fell apart because the lenders (despite agreeing to all terms which THEY dictated, and negotiating between themselves successfully) forgot to sign something by the original closing date of thanksgiving 2008 and so they ENTIRE file had to be re-submitted.

and good look with you trying to talk to the bank. the bank will hardly talk to your agent, let alone you.

and yes, you need title insurance, as mentioned above.

 

I just read online that title insurance is required in the US. So I guess you guys are right. I need title insurance.

 

Your lender will require "lenders title insurance" which protect the lender. You will need to purchase Lenders as well as Owners which will protect you.

 

When you're talking about things like lender's title insurance and owner's title insurance, how much does this stuff usually cost? $50? $100? Few hundred? And how long does it last, just until the transaction is through? Or do you keep paying it like you would homeowner's insurance?

Not that I'm in the game, I've just never heard of this stuff before.

 

A good real estate agent should be able to walk you through most of the process.

But it is hard to tell a good agent without knowing a few things.

One problem we had was our agent and the mortgage guy didn't comunicate very well and we had some last minute paperwork glitches.

For one example, when it came to making the down payment, they wouldn't take a check. No one had told us that the down had to be a certified check or cashier's check or a wire transfer. Typically not a huge issue but the down was coming from a hometown bank two-plus hours away and they wouldn't do a first-time wire transfer without someone being there. Can't get a cashier's check either over the phone. So it was hop in the car and drive, get a piece of paper and drive back.

Since she had bought before, and used a personal check for the down, neither of us had bothered asking about something like that. So ask every question you can think of, no matter how small.

 

not much -- couple hundred bucks if i remember right. you pay once and it's in force while you own the property. in my case, it turned up an ownership defect in the parking spot that goes with my condo, and cost the seller maybe a hundred bucks to fix.

 

So, I signed my purchase agreement 12 days ago. Just got an e-mail today from my real estate agent that included a HUD Settlement from. I have no idea what the fuck this is at it relates to a short sale. The bank has also just scheduled an appraisal - or actually a BPO.

Can someone tell me what the hell is going on? I was told it was going to take 30 days or more to get to this point. It's taken 12.

 

I could kill my real estate agent right now. The seller owes $7,500 back to private mortgage insurance company for some reason and can't afford to pay it. This isn't the sellers fault. I knew going in she was broke. Had no idea this could even be an issue. I'm not paying the $7,500. Looks like I probably have to walk away from this one. Since there was nothing about me paying off her PMI, I will get my earnest money back. I'll still lose $250 on the inspection that I could have waited on.