Buying a house - Page 5

Boehm Collector · ‎03-09-2010

@riley1 wrote:
Besides a real estate lawyer, get a good house inspector who will thoroughly go through the house and give a list of what needs fixing, etc.

@riley1 while home inspections are not mandatory, I make sure all my clients have them performed. They would be foolish not to. Years ago I had clients who were purchasing a home with a septic tank. Back then it wasn't overly expensive to have the inspections done. But they cried poverty and didn't listen to me. Well, shortly after we closed they had a major problem with the septic tank. If they had done the inspection it would have been discovered and either the seller would have had to fix it or they could have cancelled the purchase. Well, they save a few hundred dollars in the beginning of the process ..... but it ended up costing them $10,000.00 to fix it!!! So having inspections done is a must.

gloriajean · ‎03-10-2010

When and if we buy a house, we will have X-All Energy like we had before. When anything went wrong, like the AC, dishwasher, and other things, it paid it all. We paid $28.00 a month extra to our electric bill to have this and it sure paid off. Is is spelled Exall Energy? I forget.

patbz · ‎03-10-2010

@ahoymate : I'm not a mobile home dweller but there are many lovely parks in my resort area and risks are low (only heavy snow but there are provisions for that). I live in mountains of Northern Arizona.

gloriajean · ‎03-10-2010

If and when we buy a house, we most definatley will have a good inspector. That would be foolish not to. But we still would get Excel Energy. When we had our last house, our AC smoked, called Excel Energy, got fixed free, Dishowasher needed a new heater or something, called Excel Energy and that got fixed free. We payed $28.00 for this on our bill and it sure paid off.

We haven't looked at a house yet, but have a realtor. Praying we make the right decision. We do not like renting anymore, and in September it goes up to almost $1200 a month. I just turned 80 and my husband is 81, and we are both in good health, and would love to garden again and have a bird feeder, so we are looking for something we can afford with a deck.

riley1 · ‎03-10-2010

@Boehm Collector - Yes, I remember septic systems all too well. We took good care of ours and didn't have any problems but I heard many a horror story.

Boehm Collector · ‎03-09-2010

@Cats3000 wrote:
I have a piece of advice: Make sure you have an attorney representing you in the purchase and closing on the house. Do not rely on real estate agents or title clerks; they are not lawyers. Do not rely on the seller's attorney; that individual does not represent you and won't have your legal interests to advance. We would never make a real estate purchase or sale without an attorney representing us, and only us.

Many years ago, we purchased a house from a seller who had multiple financial problems. Our attorney made sure that none of the seller's financial problems affected us. Several months later we received an electric bill that was for service before we owned the house. We turned the bill over to our attorney and she took care of it.

@Cats3000 .. I am a Real Estate Attorney in New Jersey. Here the Realtors have only the following duties:

(1) Show the homes;

(2) Draft the preliminary contract;

(3) Schedule the home inspection and give the inspector access to the property.

(4) Obtain the Certificate of Occupancy and Smoke Detector Certificate.

(5) Scheduling and giving the buyers access to the property for the final walk through.

That is it!! Unfortunately, many Realtors either do not do their job .. or they become involved in things that are none of their business, They have no right having the parties sign anything other than the preliminary contract. They have no right giving the parties legal advise. Sadly, they often do things without consulting the attorney .... which usually leads to problems the attorneys are left to fix. They often misinform the client. When the attorneys explain the facts of life to the client we are the "bad guys" because the Realtors told them what they want to hear .. not reality. Then they hound the attorneys with just one question: "When are we closing??"

novamc1 · ‎07-02-2015

@Boehm Collector

State laws vary and so do the roles of real estate agents and real estate lawyers in any transaction..

As someone who served several decades under Virginia law as a Realtor sales agent, associate broker and eventually a sole proprietor broker, I find your description of an agent's duties to a client in New Jersey to be very interesting.

It must be a whole lot easier to practice real estate in your state. There's no such thing as a "preliminary contract" in Virgina.......instead it involves first of all, NEGOTIATION BETWEEN BUYER AND SELLER over details, such as repairs. Attorneys always stayed as as far away from negotiating real estate contracts as they possibly could, leaving that messy stuff to the agents involved.

I am aware, however, that real estate practices in some states merely involve reaching a preliminary agreement to buy and sell.

The applicable law (at least in Virgina) dictates that a buyer-agent is a fiduciary of the buyer and a seller-agent is a fiduciary of the seller. I've been behind them signing much more than just a preliminary agreement to buy or sell.

Do you disclose who the eventual attorney represents, which is usually the title company and lender if any, right?

No real estate licensee can legally step into the unlicensed practice of law--and clients sometimes either opt or are advised by the agent to get their own legal representation--but the Realtor's duties do require much more than what you describe ...not to mention that an agent typically has a LOT more hours of work to do for and with a client than the simple-sounding things you listed, which were.....

(1) Show the homes;

(2) Draft the preliminary contract;

(3) Schedule the home inspection and give the inspector access to the property.

(4) Obtain the Certificate of Occupancy and Smoke Detector Certificate.

(5) Scheduling and giving the buyers access to the property for the final walk through.

That is it!! Unfortunately, many Realtors either do not do their job .. or they become involved in things that are none of their business, They have no right having the parties sign anything other than the preliminary contract.

Boehm Collector · ‎03-09-2010

@novamc1 wrote:
@Boehm Collector

As someone who served several decades under Virginia law as a Realtor sales agent, associate broker and eventually a sole proprietor broker, I find your description of an agent's duties to a client in New Jersey to be very interesting.

It must be a whole lot easier to practice real estate in your state. There's no such thing as a "preliminary contract" in Virgina.......instead it involves first of all, NEGOTIATION BETWEEN BUYER AND SELLER and firm signatures on everything to seal the deal.

I am aware, however, that real estate practices in some states merely involve reaching a preliminary agreement to buy and sell and then turning everything over to one or more attorneys.

But in Virginia, we plowed through a boatload of signed disclosures, adenda which require obtaining signatures (a whole series of which are created as the transaction progresses)..........and so on from there.

The applicable law (at least in Virgina) dictates that a buyer-agent is a fiduciary of the buyer and a seller-agent is a fiduciary of the seller.

This doesn't enable any real estate licensee to step into the unlicensed practice of law, but the duties do require much more than the duties as you describe them....not to mention that an agent typically has a LOT more hours of work to do for and with a client than the simple-sounding things you listed, which were.....

(1) Show the homes;
(2) Draft the preliminary contract;
(3) Schedule the home inspection and give the inspector access to the property.
(4) Obtain the Certificate of Occupancy and Smoke Detector Certificate.
(5) Scheduling and giving the buyers access to the property for the final walk through.

That is it!! Unfortunately, many Realtors either do not do their job .. or they become involved in things that are none of their business, They have no right having the parties sign anything other than the preliminary contract.

@novamc1 .. all states are different. Yes, even in NJ the buyer-agent is a fiduciary of the buyer and a seller-agent is a fiduciary of the seller... unless the Realtor is a dual agent. The Realtor here in NJ draws up the initial contract.... which every attorney has to modify through amendments/riders. Some things in the Realtors contracts are mind boggling ... many just to protect the Realtors commission even in the event the matter does not close. Of course the attorneys remove all those provisions. Easier?? Not when we have to correct all the mistakes the Realtors make and often do the Realtors job (for example, right now I am dealing with two matters where the Realtor has done nothing about obtaining the CCO and the Smoke Detector Certificate for a client who lives in PA but is selling property in NJ. The Realtor did nothing so I had to step in because it was difficult for the seller to keep coming to NJ to do the Realtor's job) .... which just increases the attorneys work load. This increases the attorney fees because we are forced to spend more time on a matter in order to do the Realtor's job or fix the Realtors' mistakes.... while the Realtor's commission does not decrease for doing nothing. Definitely not fair to the client. Yet, believe it or not, people complain about the attorney fees .... which are a mere fraction of the thousands of dollars the Realtors are getting but don't say a word about the commissions they are paying. Extremely frustrating.

novamc1 · ‎07-02-2015

@Boehm Collector

Now I see the real difference between New Jersey and Virginia.

Realtors in Northern Virginia use a standard Board of Realtors contract and disclosures that call for all sorts of inspections, disclosures and I don't even remember what all else. No lender would approve a loan without septic , termite, home inspections. I've seen few lawyers tamper with few clauses in those standard contracts. It is lawyer-approved in the first place.

I had two home inspections on the new home that we recently bought outside of Atlanta. So home inspections are mandatory as far as I'm concerned, anytime and anyplace.

I recall one couple of buyer-clients who were buying a home owned by a lawyer. The seller thought he knew it all and assured me he would take care of the termite inspection and resulting repairs to fix termite damage that were his responsibility as seller.

Settlement day came, my client couple (both also lawyers themselves) from New England were in town ready to close and move in, and I was out scrambling to get the seller's inspections done. Mr. Lawyer-Seller didn't hold up his part of the agreement.

Then there's the buyer I had (an attorney) who wrote an earnest money deposit check that bounced, because he "forgot" to move the money from one account to another.

So, forgive me if I don't sit back and smile when Realtors are criticized by lawyers. (My sister is a real estate attorney and we don't always get along--LOL!!.)

Like you, I've seen and worked on transactions with some pretty bad real estate agents, too, and I've had to do their work for them.

We can agree that bad apples grow on all types of trees.......everywhere....and not unnecessarily tear down each other's field of work.

Boehm Collector · ‎03-09-2010

@novamc1 .. unfortunately, these days I can count on one hand the number of Realtors in New Jersey who do their jobs properly. BTW, the Realtors contracts used in NJ is a standardized pre-printed form tnat must be used statewide. And most Realtors cannot even fill in the blanks properly, Sorry if I am venting.... but the Realtors are just making real estate matter more difficult and time consuming than necessary, It is extremely frustrating.