Category Archives: Real Estate
Garage Sale Negotiations
My homeowner’s association holds a community garage sale twice a year, in March and in October. Each garage sale, I focus on practicing some sales skill and then record an episode of The Crushing Debt Podcast based on that practiced skill. I decided to create this blog post based on some of those podcast… Read More »
The Crushing Debt Podcast, Episode 132: Coming Off of The Freddie Mac Exclusionary List
One of the things that I’ve talked about often on The Crushing Debt Podcast is the Freddie Mac exclusionary list. I’ve also written blogs and made videos about the topic. Interestingly the way that this started was when I was preparing for a seminar for Realtors® on how they could avoid liability in certain… Read More »
What title issues do I need to worry about when buying a house?
What due diligence should you do when buying a residential property? What does the title insurance commitment mean and when should it be a concern to you? That is the point of this blog post. To some, using an attorney for a closing is a necessity. Some people live in states where attorneys are… Read More »
What is FIRPTA and when is it Applicable?
While we shy away from tax issues, they do intersect real estate law from time to time. One such intersection is FIRPTA – the Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act of 1980. When does FIRPTA apply to a transaction? What is the responsibility of the Seller? The Buyer? The Realtor(s)? The Title Company? … Read More »
My Siblings Want to Buy My Share of the Family Home
This week’s blog comes from a question from another podcast listener: My father recently passed and left me and my two siblings each a 1/3 share of his house. His house has no mortgage on it and my siblings want to sell the house. Before the sale, they want to buy my 1/3 of… Read More »
Should I form an LLC or Corporation?
I’ve seen a recent trend amongst consultations of people who invest in real estate that they own in their name alone and this can be very dangerous from a liability perspective. To help these clients, I typically discuss at least 5 forms of owning a real estate investment business. There are a few more… Read More »
I’m Buying Investment Property! What do I do next?
The most common question I get from Real Estate Investors is “when do I need to hire you?” Typically, you hire me at the beginning to make sure everything runs smoothly, or you hire me after everything has hit the fan! To make sure things go smoothly, I’ve thought of some due diligence items… Read More »
Do I Have to Pay My Mortgage After a Divorce?
Recently, I spoke at Become A Better Agent, a seminar hosted by Insured Title Agency and Synergy Title Partners in Tampa Bay. One topic of my presentation was the identity of the proper party to sign and sell real estate, especially in a situation where the parties are divorced. Many times, the party that… Read More »
Freddie Mac Fraud Prevention and the Exclusionary List
I do have to give Freddie Mac (Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation) credit for implementing programs to prevent fraud on consumers and to prevent Freddie Mac from purchasing non-investment quality loans. In my experience, however, the Exclusionary List casts such a wide net that it often traps those who may have innocently created a… Read More »
Reforeclosure Helps Remove Omitted Junior Liens
Recently, we helped a client who bought real estate at a foreclosure sale but realized that the plaintiff’s attorneys forgot to include a junior lien in the foreclosure lawsuit. Luckily, there is a process in Florida to eliminate that junior lien, even after the foreclosure lawsuit is complete and the property is sold at… Read More »
