Miami Condo Short Sale Contract Tip #9
Short sales of Miami condos and homes are often a great way for a buyer to get an excellent deal on a property and a seller to get out from under an upside down mortgage with hopefully less damage to credit and his or her pocketbook. This is the ninth and last of as many blog entries, in no particular order, each with a tip for the buyer or seller or both, to help make sure the deal goes smoothly while giving protection to one or both parties.
Miami Condo Short Sale Tip #9:
Short Sale Approved–Now What? FOLLOW THE LENDER’S INSTRUCTIONS! Immediately inform the buyer so they can prepare to close, or finalize the financing on the property. If the approval came in with a net payoff amount to the lender which is different than that on the proposed settlement statement, the difference will have to be accounted for. Typically, the lender will have cut the broker fees to a total of 5%, and trimmed off some of the listed closing fees. This is normal as in the short sale contract offer the price is low and the listed costs high, and everybody should already be prepared for this, including the buyer who should be ready to pay some additional funds to finalize the transaction. The title and closing agent must anticipate the closing time lines, and prorate the closing items accordingly, because once the approval is in hand, it is impractical to update it to add, for instance, an additional 25 days of property taxes and condo maintenance. In the cases where an update is sought, two weeks or more may be lost, or some party to the transaction, such as a Realtor or closing agent, may be expected to cover the costs to make the deal close. Sellers, Buyers, Realtors, and closing agents: anticipate all delays and costs or be prepared to pay them!
Also, once everybody is in agreement, there are often very strict time periods and rules to obtain the FINAL approval and go-ahead to close and forward the funds to the lender. If the closing agent and parties do not abide by these rules, a lender may cancel the transaction or otherwise hold it up for several days or more, which can cause problems for the short sale buyer’s loan and other time sensitive plans. The parties, Realtors, and closing agent MUST follow the requirements or be prepared to be responsible for the results, which in some cases may be a foreclosure and a lawsuit against somebody.
http://www.southptc.com/short-sale-miami-florida-attorney.html
http://www.southptc.com/florida-title-company.html
Filed under Miami Beach Short Sales, Miami Title Insurance by 
Miami Condo Short Sale Contract Tip #7
Short sales of Miami condos and homes are often a great way for a buyer to get an excellent deal on a property and a seller to get out from under an upside down mortgage with hopefully less damage to credit and his or her pocketbook. This is the seventh of several blog entries, in no particular order, each with a tip for the buyer or seller or both, to help make sure the deal goes smoothly while giving protection to one or both parties.
Miami Condo Short Sale Tip #7:
Short Sale Trust or Trustee Deed Sales. In any market there are resourceful individuals thinking up ways to profit from the current situation. One method in todays short sale market is for the owner to transfer the distressed property to a “short sale resale company” via a deed into a trust. The short sale resale company then will supposedly obtain a buyer for the property and between here and there make a profit from the transfer. There are various ways this situation plays out, but the bottom line is once an owner transfers the property, it is then owned by the trust or other entity, not the owner. The mortgage still exists however, and cannot be removed without satisfaction from the lender. Before signing on to such an agreement, the owner should be absolutely familiar with all the terms, and likely meet with his or her attorney and CPA before agreeing to such an arrangement. Additionally, such arrangement can violate the foreclosure rescue laws now in place, if not be outright fraudulent.
If the property is valuable enough for the short sale resale company to purchase it, it should be valuable enough for a quality Realtor to sell it through a normal short sale.
http://www.southptc.com/short-sale-miami-florida-attorney.html
http://www.southptc.com/florida-title-company.html
Filed under Miami Beach Short Sales, Miami Title Insurance by
Miami Condo Short Sale Contract Tip #6
Short sales of Miami condos and homes are often a great way for a buyer to get an excellent deal on a property and a seller to get out from under an upside down mortgage with hopefully less damage to credit and his or her pocketbook. This is the sixth of several blog entries, in no particular order, each with a tip for the buyer or seller or both, to help make sure the deal goes smoothly while giving protection to one or both parties.
Miami Condo Short Sale Tip #6:
Contract deposit amounts and placement. Like any real estate contract, a short sale contract will at some point require deposits. Buyers should always place their deposit funds with their real estate attorney or title company, not with the Realty agents or with the seller. It is standard to place a $1,000.00 deposit down at the time of submitting the contract offer, with the balance of typcially 5% coinciding with the last day of the inspection period, usually 10 days after receipt of the seller’s lender’s approval of the short sale. It is suggested that a contract with higher deposits placed in the beginning may be more likely to be accepted by the seller, but unless the seller has stated such, it is likely not necessary, and may possibly place the deposit funds in jeopardy if a problem of some sort arrises with the transaction.
http://www.southptc.com/short-sale-miami-florida-attorney.html
http://www.southptc.com/florida-title-company.html
Filed under Miami Beach Short Sales, Miami Title Insurance by
The National Association of Realtors has been fighting for several years to keep federally regulated banks out of the real estate brokerage and management business. They succeeded with the 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act signed by President Barak Obama. The legislation will keep banks from gaining an anti-competitive advantage in the industry, wherein they already actively work to bundle mortgage, escrow, closing and title insurance services for their clients, effectively encouraging consumers from using third party companies.
Miami Condo Real Estate Agent
http://www.southptc.com/miami-beach-real-estate.html
http://www.southptc.com/florida-title-insurance-rate.html
Filed under Miami Real Estate News, Miami Title Insurance by
Top Five Reasons Why Buyers Need Real Estate Title Insurance
1.The buyer’s lender requires it to protect their interests in the property.
2.The seller may be selling the property in a fraudulent manner.
3.The seller may have obtained the property in a fraudulent manner.
4.A prior seller may have acted in bad faith or committed mortgage fraud.
5.The seller or a prior seller may have a personal judgment recorded against them which may attach to the property.
Explanation: Real estate title insurance, unlike most insurance, insures the property going backward from a point in time rather than forward. This means that when a buyer purchases a piece of Florida real estate or a Florida condo, the title insurance insures or otherwise guarantees that the buyer is covered if a defect in the property title is discovered. Property defect examples may include the following:
The seller has fraudulently sold the property to another recent buyer.
A prior seller has fraudulently sold the property to more than one buyer.
The seller purchased the property while committing mortgage fraud.
The boundaries may be incorrect and part of the property may actually be owned by an adjacent neighboring property owner.
There may be an easement which decreases the value of the property.
Structures on the property may encroach onto valid easements or an adjacent property.
There may be an older unrecorded deed transferring the property which is now recorded.
The seller or prior seller may have outstanding personal judgments which could attach to the property.
A prior owner may have unknowingly sold the property without satisfying family members’ homestead rights
Contact Christian N. Folland, Esq., a Florida Bar Certified real estate attorney and Lic. real estate broker at 786.276.9900 or cfolland@southptc.com for all your confidential real estate legal, Realty and title needs. Folland & Associates, LC is a full service real estate law firm in Miami Beach, FL 33139. South Pointe Title Company and Real Estate Miami,Inc. are owned and operated by Christian N. Folland, Esq.
http://www.southptc.com/florida-real-estate-contract.html
http://www.southptc.com/florida-title-insurance-rate.html
Filed under Miami Title Insurance, Real Estate Law Tips by
Real Estate Transaction Power of Attorney Tips
A power of attorney (“POA”) is a legal document which allows an individual to authorize a second individual to act on his or her behalf in order to carry out his or her will. This often occurs when the purchaser or seller of a property is not available to execute the necessary purchase and sale documents, or loan documents, and a spouse or other trusted individual is given the authority to execute the documents for the absent party. A Florida Real Estate Power of Attorney used to transfer or encumber real estate title has particular requirements. The following are five tips to remember when using a Power of Attorney for a Florida real estate transaction:
1. A Florida Real Estate Power of Attorney must include the term(s) “to sell and convey” or “to purchase and acquire” or “to execute any and all mortgage or other documents encumbering the property” or other language specifically directing authority to transfer or encumber real estate. although a POA without these terms may also be valid, correct terminology will usually eliminate title insurance underwriter closing delays.
2. A Florida Real Estate Power of Attorney must be clearly executed by the party granting authority, and must include two witnesses.
3. A Florida Real Estate Power of Attorney must be properly notarized. The Notary Public can also be one of the witnesses.
4. A Florida Real Estate Power of Attorney must include the address or legal description of the specific subject property.
5. A Florida Real Estate Power of Attorney must be in recordable form if it will be used to execute a recordable document because it must be recorded along with the other closing documents.
Contact Christian N. Folland, Esq., a Florida Bar Certified real estate attorney at 786.276.9900 or cfolland@southptc.com for all your Miami Florida real estate law and Miami Florida title insurance needs.
Folland & Associates, LC, a full service real estate law firm in Miami Beach, FL 33139, and South Pointe Title Company, are owned and operated by Christian N. Folland, Esq.
http://www.southptc.com/real-estate-closing-attorney-miami.html
http://www.southptc.com/florida-real-estate-contract.html
Filed under Miami Title Insurance, Real Estate Law Tips by
Attorneys Title Insurance Fund, a popular Florida Title Insurance Underwriter recently warned its agents about inappropriate estoppel letters from lenders on short sales. These sellers’ lenders have been including language in the short sale approval estoppel letters that would allegedly void the sale subsequent to the closing upon the discovery of certain acts or information. All real estate closing agents, buyers, sellers, and real estate agents should carefully review the short sale estoppel information. Below is the notice:
FUND ALERT: Short Sale Estoppel Letters
TO: ALL FUND MEMBER AGENTS
FROM: Underwriting Department
RE: Short Sale Estoppel Letters
Fund Agents are reporting receiving lender estoppel letters with onerous conditions on them. These letters are most often issued in the context of short sales. The objectionable conditions read along these lines:
If the property was acquired by any means of fraud, the lender reserves the right to pursue any and all actions available to it to offset its losses. If it is determined that Sellers and/or Buyers participated in any way to the fraud, this short sale will be void and the Note and Security instrument will remain in full force and effect.
Fund Agents are NOT authorized to close any transaction in reliance on this or any similarly worded estoppel letters. The new purchaser and lender cannot be insured where a prior lien holder retains the right to “renege” on its release.
The objectionable language in these estoppel letters must be deleted before they can be relied on to insure the purchaser and lender in the current transaction.
http://www.southptc.com/florida-title-insurance-rate.html
http://www.southptc.com/short-sale-miami-florida-attorney.html
Filed under Miami Beach Short Sales, Miami Title Insurance by
The Florida Courts clarified in a recent opinion, Reamco Development v. 499 Corp, that Florida title insurance agents’ opinions as to contract time periods are merely opinions, and not to be considered legal advice or otherwise binding. The buyer and seller, as well as their respective real estate agents and attorneys are responsible to determine and set out the time lines per the contract, not the closing title insurance company and its employees.
http://www.southptc.com/florida-title-insurance-rate.html
Filed under Miami Title Insurance by