I got a call this morning from a woman with an emergency.... 

She sold her house on contract 2 years ago and is now facing foreclosure.. (and a city fine for her grass being too tall.)

I'll call her "Elma."

Elma got a contract from her "buyer" but did not get a downpayment.  She didn't even get a schedule of payments..... (I suppose the contract may have touched on the address of the property but not much else.)

 

The "buyer" was supposed to make payments directly to Elma's bank.

OhForHeavensSakeCouldThereBeAnyIdeaWorseThanThis????

To make a (fairly long) story short:

The bank is now foreclosing on Elma because they have not recieved a payment in a loooong time.

Elma has lost the contract with her buyer.. and her buyer is REFUSING to produce her own copy of the "contract."

Several issues here..

If you have a "special" property that you are having trouble appraising or getting qualified buyers for.. you MIGHT consider a Land Contract.. or selling On Contract (same thing.)  It's not my first option for you.. it has it's dangers.

 

But here's what to do if you go that route:  Consult either a Realtor or an attorney.

 

The buyer should put down a hefty downpayment that you (the seller) will keep regardless if they (the buyer) default on payments.

There should be a designated amount of time for the buyer to pay off the entire balance.. 1 year, 2 years, something you both agree on.  That is -- the buyer will obtain a mortgage at the end of that time and pay the seller the balance due.

A schedule of payments should be established and this should include an agreed upon interest rate.

There are still many more nuiances to be determined in a Land Contract or Contract Sale.. it's definately more than Elma telling her buyer "Send your payments to my bank."  Even if the buyer actually followed through.. that would be "illegal." 

You are not allowed to assume another person's mortgage unless they have a mortgage that specifically allows for that.. and chances are.. they don't.

 

I had another couple once call me ..They had received an eviction letter from our office at Coldwell Banker that handles repos.  They couldn't understand what was going on because they had a piece of paper that a friend of theirs had handed them and that paper clearly stated that they now owned this house.  Infact, they had renters in there!

Questions you might ask yourself if someone ever hands you a note like that:

Do you have a mortgage on the property?

Is the mortgage current?

Who is to pay the taxes?

Who is to pay the insurance?

How do I go about putting the house in my name?


And last but not least... Why are you handing me this note?

Earlier today a friend asked "Are you full time now or have you always been and I didn't realize it?"

I would really like to give myself a confidence booster by saying "I must make this look easy!"  ....But we all know it ain't easy.

Last night I tucked my sweet youngest baby into bed.  We said our prayers, we kissed each other good night, and then put her newly lost tooth under her pillow.  We read a little bit and she and her sis fell asleep.

After that I tied up my own loose ends.  Tried to organize the days emails, caught up on some stuff I needed to talk to Matt about.. and answered some late night client calls.  The evening went fast, I was still working after midnight.

Finally I called it quits and the next thing I know my alarm's going off.

I hear the baby get up; I can tell she's turned on her light, and then I hear "The tooth fairy didn't come."

Aw Heck!

Not a good way for a momma to start her day... Nor a toothless 5 yr old!

I told her it was one of TWO things.. Either the tooth fairy didn't realize she was getting up so early these days ...or the cat ate the tooth fairy.



I always tell myself to watch out for the details in my business.  ....Make sure the buyer/seller get EXACTLY what I've told them they would.  I can tell you without hesitation that I bend over backwards to make sure that happens.

Dang.. if only the tooth fairy took such pains with HER job!

BTW, I answered my friend's question by saying "I have tried to do it all full time and at the same time.. that isn't possible is it? Fortunately Matt and I can tag team.. but momma's got to be the main one. It's a full day. THAT's what I should call it! Not full time but rather FULL DAY!"

Summer days... make me feel fine!

Hello dear friend!  It's been a while.. Feels like I've been away from you all summer.

I hope the season treated you well ...with more sunny days than stinkin' ones!

(There were a few nice excursions for us Hill's...) 

And then...

It was BACK TO WORK for me!  :)

Loans have been in the low 3's (percent) all summer. 

I've been showing houses like CRAZY.. GOOD Crazy!

That's the best thing in the world for a realtor. 

Of course we need our fancy gadgets, our mortgage calculator apps, and our photo gizmos.. but NOTHING will do us more good than...

knowledge of the market.

You won't regret listing with a busy realtor.  You may have to schedule your appointment a few days ahead.. but you will appreciate the knowledge that realtor provides you.

Thank you to my summer clients...