I am wondering why a final walk-through was not scheduled for me before my closing date. Isn’t that part of the normal home buying process?

Do I have any legal recourse because I was never offered an option to have a final walk-through by my REALTOR®?

-Heather

Since I am not an attorney and neither are 99 percent of all Realtors, take what I am about to say as one piece of information but not the legal advice you really should get before moving forward.

1. In any buyer agency agreement I am aware of, there is usually some text about what is going to transpire if you make an offer on a property. That should include a sample of an Offer To Purchase agreement. In that agreement, there is typically text about your rights as the buyer to do a final inspection prior to closing. So to say that you were not informed by your Realtor about having a final walk-through inspection prior to closing defies what I would expect every buyer agency agreement to include in some manner.

2. During any Offer To Purchase process, you as the buyer would have to be given an opportunity to inspect the property to see if anything needed repair. You could do this yourself, or you could hire a professional inspector to do it. Regardless of how it’s done, you would have the right to request that repairs be done. You would have submitted this request in writing to the seller via their listing agent and they would have so many days to respond. Also, you would have had a certain number of days from the date you made the offer to come up with a repair request. If you did not exercize that right, then the seller cannot be held liable if you did not do an inspection or ask for repairs by the deadline Offers To Purchase would indicate.

3. Assuming you have turned in a Repair Request, the sellers have responded and you are all in agreement with the repairs to be done, they should have been done prior to closing and you should have done a final walk-through.

Perhaps you made an offer on a property that was being sold AS IS. This means you took it the way you found it, and in that case, no final walk through would be required or necessary unless you had a suspicion that the condition of the property had drastically changed from the time you made the offer to the day of closing. In that case, a final walk-through would seem appropriate.

As I said in the first paragraph, the best advice I can give you is to contact an attorney. This  assumes that you have already spoken to the Broker In Charge of the real estate firm where your Realtor works to see if you can work out an agreement to your satisfaction.

Seek the advice of an attorney if you feel you need to take further action, but only if you have talked to the Broker In Charge and feel that you did not receive the right answers.

Tim McBrayer is a licensed Realtor in the Triangle specializing in North Raleigh, North Carolina Real Estate. He is an Eco Broker and serves on the Green Builders of the Triangle education committee.

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Why is there an entry on the REALTOR® forms specifying which title company to use for title insurance?

-Don

Title Insurance is something that every property needs unless a buyer is paying cash. In the past, different parties to a sale might suggest and/or handle getting the title insurance for the new buyer: closing attorney, mortgage company, etc. Some real estate companies have relationships with certain title insurance companies and they quite often recommend one company over another. Sometimes the title insurance company might pay a “finders fee” to the real estate company, and if that is the case, the Realtor who is suggesting that a particular company be used should state up front what any compensation might be.

In the case of my company, we happen to have an ownership interest in a title company and we state that up front to any buyers making an offer. By going through our company, assuming the buyer agrees, we can research the existing title policy and do what’s called a “Reissue” of the policy. When this happens the buyer can save hundreds of dollars. I had one client save over $800 and that was on new construction.

I don’t think there is anything fishy about this way of dealing with the title insurance as long as the Realtor a buyer is dealing with explains up front why a particular company is being recommended and lets the buyer know if any compensation is being given to the real estate company of the Realtor. As long as those two things are done, where applicable, the buyer can make an informed decision.

And it may simply come down to the Realtor having a track record with a particular title insurance company and knowing that that company will do a good job for the buyers. As Realtors we recommend people all the time. Our clients always have the right to choose whomever they wish, but they turn to us because these are issues and companies we deal with every day, and quite honestly, if we are the professionals, we want to build relationships with high quality companies because we always want our clients to get the best service possible.

Tim McBrayer is a licensed Realtor in the Triangle specializing in North Raleigh, North Carolina Real Estate. He is an Eco Broker and serves on the Green Builders of the Triangle education committee.

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We recently bought a 1970s home that did not include overhead lighting in any of the bedrooms (there is one small/ugly fixture beside each door). Instead of putting a fixture in the middle of each room, we are considering using light tubes as a more eco-friendly option. How will this impact our appraisal and resale value in the future? We’re not planning to sell anytime soon, but this is a pretty permanent change since it will involve a hole in the roof. What is your professional opinion?

-Gina

A bedroom is a personal space, and as such, I think a light tube is too impersonal and utilitarian. Plus, you don’t see light tubes in many places besides utility rooms, bonus rooms near the roof line, garages where there is no bonus room over the garage, etc. They are usually in places where you aren’t spending a lot of time.

Also, light tubes don’t give you the control you have with a regular light. You either have little or no light because it’s night time, or it’s a cloudy day, or you may have a lot of light streaming in that you can’t easily control. Perhaps there are controls I haven’t personally seen, so I can’t say with absolute authority that you can’t control the light coming into a room from a light tube – but I have not seen such controls before.

You can go to any number of places like Home Depot and Lowes Home Improvement and find many track and other kinds of decorative light fixtures for your bedrooms. I bet that for what you will save in cost versus the cost of a light tube, you should more than offset the extra electrical costs for a number of years by going with something more stylish, less obtrusive and more controllable.

Again, the location determines the need and the need, to a large extent, should determine your ultimate choice. I just don’t feel a light tube belongs in a bedroom. In a basement (assuming you have easy access to your roof) then yes.

In the end, I personally think adding light tubes to your bedrooms will hurt the value of your home because people are not going appreciate their appearance versus your other standard lighting options.

Tim McBrayer is a licensed Realtor in the Triangle specializing in North Raleigh, North Carolina Real Estate. He is an Eco Broker and serves on the Green Builders of the Triangle education committee.

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The beach neighborhood I am looking to buy in has been getting multiple offers on all the properties, despite this economy. What is the best way to make sure my offer is accepted?

Unfortunately, you can’t make sure. If it is a home you just have to have and you are blessed with more money than sense, then you could offer an amount way higher than the asking price. Since you don’t know for sure if anyone else is offering that much, you stand a great risk of paying more for the house than you should.

A good buyer’s agent will do the research to find out the history of homes located near the one you want to buy. Getting a good idea of what other homes have recently gone for will indicate whether what the seller is asking for is in line, and if what you plan to offer is so out in left field that it’s just emotion and not the facts that are controlling what you are going to offer. Doing so is fine as long as you realize that once you pay that higher price, there is no guarantee that you’ll ever see it again when you try to sell that new home. Other buyers may not be so eager to over pay.

If you plan to stay in the home for the next 20 years, then you certainly have a better chance of getting your money back no matter what you paid for it compared to buying it in 2009 and trying to sell it in 2012. And then, there is the insurability of the property. Hurricanes do tend to put a dent in what insurance companies are willing to insure. But they sure don’t put a dent in insurance rates.

Tim McBrayer is a licensed Realtor in the Triangle specializing in North Raleigh, North Carolina Real Estate. He is an Eco Broker and serves on the Green Builders of the Triangle education committee.

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With the economy the way it has been in the past year, banks are less likely to give loans than they were previously, although the market is better now for buyers. Will buyers with less than perfect credit have opportunities to refinance their debt and be considered eligible for a home loan for first-time buyers?

The last thing we want to do is to allow people to buy a home just because it sounds good on the  news. The reason we are in the mess is in large part because our Congress decided it didn’t matter what someone’s credit was, as long as they were breathing, they should and could own a home. We see where that got us.

As a country and as individuals, we need to take responsibility for our actions. That means, we need to be as certain as possible that we can afford a home before we buy it. We can’t blame everyone else when we should never have applied for a home loan in the first place. So while I agree that banks have gone too far in the other direction, we have to use common sense and not approve people just because it’s the nice, politically correct thing to do.

No matter your age, race, religion or any other description you care to use, if you can’t demonstrate a strong ability to afford your mortgage and the other expenses associated with home ownership, if you don’t have a history of paying your bills on time and of not getting into too much debt versus your annual income, then you should not be buying a house. The American Dream may have and may still be home ownership, but that doesn’t mean it’s an American right. Earn what you have rather than being given what you have. You’ll be better for it and so will the economy.

Tim McBrayer is a licensed Realtor in the Triangle specializing in North Raleigh, North Carolina Real Estate. He is an Eco Broker and serves on the Green Builders of the Triangle education committee.

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If a home backs up to a water tower and the city-owned property which the water tower is on, will that hurt the owner when trying to resell it in the long run? The tower is about 20 feet from the back property line.

The first thing I would look at is the history of the home next to the water tower. Has it sold, in the past, at a price that is comparable to other properties nearby that are not next to the water tower?

In all likelihood, the proximity to the water tower has hurt the value of the home to some extent. Also, you want to determine how large the lot is. If the house sits at the front of the lot, the lot is several hundred feet deep, and there are a lot of trees between the house and the end of the property, then the water tower may not be easily seen.

So, I think it comes down to what a homeowner would see from the house when looking towards the water tower. Some people don’t want to be looking at the water tower when they look out their windows. If the water tower is so close to the house that it overshadows it, then you are going to turn away some potential buyers. Some people, also, don’t want to live that close to government property because you can never predict what a government will do with the property they own.

Without knowing more details about the location of the house itself relative to the water tower, as well as the topography of the lot and surrounding area, it’s difficult to give you a definitive answer. But, the rule of thumb is that anytime there is something near a house that isn’t near another house, it stands to reason that the structure(s) could negatively affect the value of the house next door/nearby.

Of course, because of the proximity to the water tower, the homeowner will probably have excellent water pressure, and if water pressure is an issue for other homes nearby, the proximity might actually be a plus.  

 
Tim McBrayer is a licensed Realtor in the Triangle specializing in North Raleigh, North Carolina Real Estate. He is an Eco Broker and serves on the Green Builders of the Triangle education committee.

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 We have a couple coming for a third showing. They came to the open house when they saw we lowered the price on the MLS. They came with their REALTOR® for a second showing, who later requested disclosures, and now they’re coming for a third showing. Any advice on what this means?

-Tania

First of all, it means that these buyers are interested in your home. Perhaps it was priced too high and only when you lowered the price did they have enough interest to come by your open house. The fact that they brought their Realtor and requested a disclosure document says that they now have more than a passing interest. The fact that they are coming for a third showing probably means that they are narrowing down their list of potential properties and your home has made the short list.

I would make sure your agent stays in close contact with them and make sure you answer any questions they have very promptly. You might want to have your agent do a CMA that shows how your home stacks up to any competition that may exist in the area. It would also be a good time to contact anyone else that has shown any interest at all just to let them know a couple are coming back for their third visit. You’re not implying that an offer has been made, but sometimes we don’t know that we really want something until someone else seems to want it too. It will at least remind these other interested parties that your home might be a future home for more buyers than just them.

Communicate, communicate. Get your house looking as fresh, neat, clutter-free as possible for that third visit.

Good Luck!

Tim McBrayer is a licensed Realtor in the Triangle specializing in North Raleigh, North Carolina Real Estate. He is an Eco Broker and serves on the Green Builders of the Triangle education committee.

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My husband filed for bankruptcy in an effort to save our house from foreclosure when our house was owned by Countrywide. When BAC took over, they no longer wanted to agree to the terms Countrywide had made and basically forced us out of the bankruptcy. FHA and BAC have denied all workout efforts with us and are now selling our home on the court house steps. I am not on the loa,n but am on the deed.

My question is, we need to move into another house quickly as we have two infant children, so what is the best option for us? He will have the bankruptcy and foreclosure on his credit and I have bad credit and currently do not have a job, but will be applying for one soon. I was thinking of a lease purchase in my name, but was told that it probably wouldn’t be an option. What else is there? I might be able to have a co-signer, but it might be a long shot. An apartment is not an option. We want another house.

-Melissa

I am sorry to hear of your situation, but what we wish for and reality don’t always agree, and in the end, reality will win over wishes. In other words, you find yourself in a situation where your husband has filed bankruptcy and you have poor credit and no job. The only options I see are for you to get someone to co-sign, move in with family until you can turn things around financially, or rent.

Personally, I seriously doubt someone is going to go on the hook for a home mortgage with your current financial situation. Whatever actions you took or did not take that got you into this bad situation may force you to go into another bad situation (renting or living with family), but at least you will have a roof over your heads. What’s wrong with an apartment while you work to improve your financial situation?

One of the mistakes made over the last few years was to sell houses to people that could not afford them. You did not say why your house went into foreclosure, but was it because you were in over your head and should never have applied for a home mortgage in the first place? Did you have an ARM that suddenly shot your monthly housing expenses much higher than you could ever hope to earn the money to pay them? Whatever your reasons, I’m sure getting into this mess was not your plan. But we have to deal with the facts as they are.

You’ve got three options as I see it and none are what I would call great at this point. Even if you were to get someone to co-sign, that’s going to put a strain on that person as well as you and obviously it will put a big strain on your relationship – whatever it may be right now. If you move in with family, assuming you have family you can move in with, that’s also likely to put a strain on everyone. But at least they are family. They love you and will want to help you until you are able to help yourself. That would be my option because it should give you the best chance for saving money so that when you purchase your next home, you’ll have the credit score, the down payment and the financial ability to meet your financial obligations into the future as a home owner. The third choice is what you say you won’t do but it could be your only option if you have no co-signee and no family to move in with.

In life we often have to do things we don’t want to do. Plenty of families live in apartments. It may not be your plan, but your plan hasn’t worked up to now, so maybe it’s time to have people help you find a better plan. If renting until you can improve your credit and save some money for your next home is really your only option, what choice do you have?

What you have to do is keep a positive attitude. We can’t change the past. We can only change the present and hopefully the future. So don’t dwell on what could have been or should have been. Look straight ahead, take a deep breath, look at yourself in the mirror and say “I will get through this with my head held high and my faith in myself and my husband will get me through today and tomorrow.”

One final piece of advice. Talk to a qualified CPA, a mortgage broker in your community and also look for attorneys that work with social services. Ask them to explain your options from their particular perspective. Then review their advice and formulate a plan. They may think of something that I haven’t thought of. I can’t give you accounting or legal advice and wouldn’t try to. Also look on the Internet. There is a huge amount of information that is easily accessed and is free. If you don’t have a computer with Internet access then find your nearest public library and use their computers.

Tim McBrayer is a licensed REALTOR® in the Triangle specializing in North Raleigh, North Carolina Real Estate. He is an Eco Broker and serves on the Green Builders of the Triangle education committee.

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We currently have our home listed for sale. Is it reasonable to expect our listing agent to actually market the home? He placed a sign out front. The house is listed on appropriate web pages. There was a broker’s open house two months ago which the listing agent did not attend, nor did his wife whose name is on the sign. Understanding that it is a buyer’s market and that our home is in the upper end of the local market, is the situation actually so hopeless that it is worth no effort?

Since I am not privy to what you and your agent discussed and what specifically he promised to do, all I can do is tell you what I would do for my clients, regardless of the market, the price of their home or whether it’s a buyer’s or seller’s market.

All of my sellers receive the following from me:

• I take the maximum allowed photos to be used on my local MLS website and then take even more for all other websites that I use to market my listings. What your agent may consider appropriate websites is not what I may consider appropriate. I propagate my listings to over 40 websites where potential home buyers may be looking.
• Every listing I have is a Featured Listing at REALTOR.com®.
• I also offer clients the option of having a video tour, a visual tour (slide show with music) and I do interactive floor plans.
• I do an open house every other weekend for the first 90 days and then more as needed – each listing is different
• I do a regular Marketing Activity Report which details what I am doing to market the listing, review of showings, a general overview of the market and suggestions for the upcoming weeks to improve chances of success.
• I do custom DVDs, flyers, etc. so that the potential buyer has something to take away from the house that will promote all of its best features.
• I use text messaging and FM broadcasts at the curb to make sure the potential buyer driving by the listing can get information even if the flyer box is empty.

I could go on and on with the things I do to insure that my listings have the best chance for a quick sale at the best price possible. It’s not always easy and sometimes it takes way longer than a seller would like for it to. But without all of the things that I and other Realtors do to promote our listings, we would be in a bad position due to this being a buyer’s market. With so much competition and the pressure to do a deal below the asking price, I want to make sure I’ve positioned/marketed my listings in such a way that they will be seen by as many potential buyers as possible and that they will compare very well against their competition.

It sounds like you need a new agent. Look at the websites of ones you might consider. See what tools they use to market their listings. How well do they communicate with their clients? That’s key.

Tim McBrayer is a licensed Realtor in the Triangle specializing in North Raleigh, North Carolina Real Estate. He is an Eco Broker and serves on the Green Builders of the Triangle education committee.

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I’d like to have my house sold in about two years time. What should I do to prepare? When should I list my house for sale? -Marcy

In today’s tough real estate marketplace, it’s difficult to predict what will be happening next quarter, much less two years from now. So a lot of the factors that will determine when your house sells simply are unknown at this point. What will interest rates be at? What amount of inventory in your price range will you be competing against? What is the shape of the general economy and the economy where you live? The first thing you should do is some research on what homes have been selling for in and around your home over the last 6 to 12 months. That will give you a starting point for trying to estimate if there should be a good opportunity for you to sell your home at a price that you would be willing to accept. There are different services available that can help you determine what the playing field is like before you take your first step onto the turf, so to speak. Obviously you want to get the most for your house that you can and that means you can no longer just look at your house as a home, but it’s also a product for sale just like a car or a piece of furniture. Even more so because you are asking people to consider spending more on your home than anything else they would spend time thinking about. So you want to deodorize, neutralize and de-clutter as much as you can. You can find DVDs, TV programs and websites that can give you specific examples of what to do, but I recommend that you seriously consider hiring an American Staging Professional to help you “professionally stage” every room of your home so that you present your home to potential buyers in the best possible light. Having a home staged is going to increase your chance of selling it in a reasonable amount of time and at a higher price than you would otherwise. You also have to ask yourself if your home needs major improvements to bring it up to par with homes your home will be competing against when it goes on the market. Kitchens and master baths are the two areas that usually need updating the most and they are also the areas that will give you the best return on your investment. But your house could need new paint both inside and out. You could need a new roof, or maybe some major landscaping. Look around where you live and ask yourself if your home stacks up well against other homes that are for sale today and your neighbors’ homes that could also be for sale two years from now. If not, then you have some work to do. As far as when to list your house is concerned, that depends on your price range, the condition of the market where you live and nationally, and the strength of your motivation to sell. If you do your research and find that where you want to price your house is at the upper range of the homes you would be competing against, then you have to either have patience while the market catches up with your price or you better have some unique features that a buyer can use to justify a price higher than what can be found elsewhere in the market. The best thing you can probably do is find a good REALTOR® who will be able to go over these important steps face-to-face and can help you lay out a plan. Assuming the market improves and your goal remains to have your house sold in two years, and depending on your price range and the sales activity around where you live, you could be putting your home on the market 30 days before your two-year target or as much as a year before. Some houses take a lot longer to sell, on average, because of a variety of factors. But it’s these factors that a good Realtor can help you wade through to make a good decision.

Tim McBrayer is a licensed Realtor in the Triangle specializing in North Raleigh, North Carolina Real Estate. He is an Eco Broker and serves on the Green Builders of the Triangle education committee.

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