Title Business

Title Business

Title Tip: How Does a Seller Lease Back Work?

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How to make a buyer’s agent cringe: Ask for a 60 day seller lease back. While lease backs hold appeal for many sellers, it’s enough to make Realtors shudder at the thought of the problems that can accompany them.

A Sellers Temporary Lease allows the seller to continue living in the home after closing for a short time – anywhere from one to 90 days. It is designed to allow for delayed possession of the property by the buyer.

This temporary lease is used when a seller needs additional time after closing to relinquish the property. This may be for any number of reasons. The seller may be waiting for school to finish or need more time to move their possessions. Or they may just want to ensure the transaction actually closes and their funds are in the bank before moving out.

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Title Business

Title Tip: What’s The Difference Between a Condo And a Townhome?

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Many folks think condos and townhomes are like po-tay-toe and po-tah-toe. They’re pretty much the same. When actually, they’re more like potato and tomato.

Just because the property sits on the ground and looks like an attached house, doesn’t make it a townhouse. And a condominium doesn’t always look like an apartment. There are condos that look like townhomes and vice versa. The appearance or physical description is not a true verification of the type of property. 

Townhouses and condominiums have subtle but distinct differences. The defining characteristic of a property type lies in the ownership, rather than the design. What you own, what you are responsible for maintaining, and what spaces you must share differentiates condos from townhomes.

Both types of properties are attached to another residence and are part of a larger property with shared or community spaces. They both have homeowners associations with dues assessed to owners. While there is a legal definition for each, allow me to add the stipulation that these characteristics are “typical and usual.” There are always a few communities that like to create their own unique ownership rules, restrictions, and covenants.

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Title Business

Title Tip: What Happens When You Rescind an Offer to Purchase?

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Shopping for a home is a bit like dating. Buyers, like daters, are looking for that perfect match. But just because you fall in love doesn’t mean they’ll love you back. Getting down the aisle to happily ever after can take some effort. And you may have to kiss a few frogs in search of the ideal mate.

So what happens when you need to jilt that potential lover – or seller — before your first real encounter? It’s not the love connection you thought it could be and you’ve changed your mind?

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Title Business

Title Tip: Texas Title Insurance Rates Are Dropping

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Lower rates are coming to a title company near you! That’s big news in the real estate title business. Title insurance, like the housing market, doesn’t follow the laws of gravity. What goes up doesn’t always come down.

“This is a historic time for Texas title insurance,” Paul McNutt Vice President and General Counsel of Title Resources told a group of escrow officers last week. “Rates are going down effective for all policies after September 1. Overall, the rates are decreasing 4.9 percent.”

As a state-regulated industry, all title companies in Texas must charge the same for real estate title insurance. Every few years, the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) reviews statistical data from title insurance agents and underwriters to see if a rate increase or decrease is warranted.

This rate reduction is due to several factors including the rise in real estate values, profits made over the last 5 to 10 years and increased efficiency. “It is in the best interest for every consumer to be charged reasonable rates,” McNutt explained. “This is a regulated environment with periodic review. The profits were good and therefore the rates should be decreased. This is in keeping with the regulatory terms.”

That explanation may help reduce the sting of what amounts to a pay cut to title agents.

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Title Business

Title Tip: An Introduction to Seller Concessions

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Step right up. Get your hot dogs, peanuts. Oh, wait. Wrong kind of concessions. Get your mind out of the amusement park and back to real estate.

Real estate concessions aren’t offered up in a cone or on a stick. These kinds of concessions are allowances offered by a seller to a buyer of a property. Occasionally a seller will offer an incentive to potential buyers in the MLS listing. Maybe they will include the washer and dryer or patio furniture with the sale. More often though, the buyer will request and negotiate a seller concession in the contract. They may want the piano or pool table. But usually, the buyer negotiates for some of their closing costs to be paid by the seller.

In the standard TREC residential contract, non-financial seller concessions such as furnishings or appliances are addressed by attaching a Non-Realty Items Addendum to the contract. This should always spell out exactly what is being transferred with the sale.

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Title Business

Title Tip: Say Cheese! You Bought a House!

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It’s closing day. Say cheese! All those photos of smiling faces on closing day offer proof that most folks are delighted to be closing on a home. Either they’re getting the keys to their new property or they’re getting a check for the sale.

Before the popularity of social media, most people mailed out moving announcements to let friends know they’d bought a home. Today, social media now plays a dominate role in announcing a move.

In this age of selfies and sharing, many homebuyers, sellers, and agents like to announce this kind of cheerful news with a closing photo. Just check out the social media posts on popular sites to find friends and families celebrating big events in their lives. Buying or selling a home is one of those big events.

“It’s a major milestone in your life,” says Kimberly Rote of Allie Beth Allman & Associates. She rates buying a home up there with getting married or having a baby.

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Title Business

Title Tip: Texas Homesteads And Judgment Liens

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It’s Homestead, Sweet Homestead in the State of Texas. Our Texas constitution can help prevent Texans from becoming homeless if they are in a financial bind. Texas homestead protection laws guard your homestead against foreclosure by judgment creditors such as credit card holders, bill collectors, or winning parties in lawsuits.

This special protection from creditors only extends to the homestead. There are a lot of legal definitions of a Texas homestead, but basically, it is a primary residence owned and lived in by a family or single adult. You can only have one homestead entitled to be exempt from seizure by claims of creditors. If the property is not a homestead, the creditor has the right to go after that property to satisfy a lien.

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Title Business

Title Tip: What Do You Do When a Seller Changes Their Mind?

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Imagine finding the perfect home. After weeks, maybe months, of searching, it’s just what you’ve been seeking. You get it under contract and have it inspected. After jumping through all the hoops for the mortgage, hiring movers, packing, and more, you’re ready to close. Then the seller decides they don’t want to sell it to you after all.

Wait, you say. They can’t do that. You would be right.

But what if they do it anyway? What options does a homebuyer have when a seller changes their mind? 

For the seller who changes their mind, there are consequences. For the would-be buyer, there are a couple of options.

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