Closer's Corner
Closer's Corner
Property Taxes: What Should an Agent be Concerned About?
THE BASICS
Taxation of real property in Texas is controlled by provisions found in the Texas Constitution and the Texas Tax Code. Because taxes are based on the assessed value of the property, property taxes are commonly referred to as “ad valorem” taxes.
How Industry Professionals Can Avoid and Respond to Wire Fraud
Wire fraud has become rampant in our industry. The FBI received 351,937 Business Email Compromise Complaints (BEC) in 2018 or over 900 complaints per day, most of them involving some type of wire fraud. The Internet Crime Center (IC3) was formed in May of 2000 and has received a total of 4.4 million complaints since being formed. In the US, BEC scams accounted for 1.3 billion dollars in losses.
Closings Involving Trusts
TRUSTS IN GENERAL:
What are they?
Trusts in themselves are not legal entities which can own, manage or sell property. A trust operates through one or more trustees, who usually are individuals but may be corporations. It is these trustees who hold legal title to the property for the benefit of the beneficiaries of the trust.
Surveys: What is Important for a Realtor to Know?
What is a survey?
A real property survey is a report that indicates the location of improvements relative to the boundaries of a property. A real property survey report generally contains an illustration of the physical features of the property and a written report detailing the surveyor’s opinions and concerns.
What are some reasons why we have to have a survey?
Title Policy Coverage: What Is It And What Is It Not?
WHAT IS A TITLE POLICY?
T19.1 ENDORSEMENT
An endorsement is something that changes the terms of the coverage in the title policy to the buyer or lender’s benefit. It is an attachment to the policy that generally offers more coverage from what is included in the basic policy.
One of the endorsements that adds extra and important coverage for the buyer is the T19.1 endorsement.
What does the T19.1 do and what should an agent tell their client about the coverage?
HOMESTEAD RULES
I. WHY DOES IT MATTER IF A PROPERTY IS HOMESTEAD IN A REAL ESTATE TRANSACTION?
PRIVATE TRANSFER FEE: A NEGATIVE SURPRISE FOR CLOSING
PRIVATE TRANSFER FEE: WHAT IS IT?
A private transfer fee is a fee that must be paid each time a property is sold. In general there can be two types of transfer fees assessed. The most common fee is the transfer fee that the homeowner’s association management company charges to handle the transfer from the seller to the buyer. That is not the fee type discussed below.
RIGHT OF FIRST REFUSAL: A NEGATIVE SURPRISE FOR CLOSING!
RIGHT OF FIRST REFUSAL: WHAT IS IT?
A right of first refusal (ROFR) is a contract that gives one party (we’ll call them the “ROFR holder”) the right to be the first allowed to purchase a specific property if it is offered for sale before that property can be sold to anyone else. There can be different styles of ROFR but the most important thing to note is that a seller may not sell their property on the open market without addressing the ROFR.
Frequently Asked Realtor Questions
This month we wanted to focus on answering more questions that we are frequently asked. Below are a few of the most popular ones we’ve received recently.
WHAT IS THE EFFECTIVE DATE AND WHAT DATE SHOULD I PUT FOR THE EFFECTIVE DATE ON MY CONTRACT?
In a TREC contract the effective date is determined by the final date of acceptance by all parties. This date, when all parties have come to agreement and signed the contract, is when the contract becomes binding between the parties. To have final acceptance we must have four items:
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