When you bought your first property, did you get a lawyer to make sure the deed was legitimate? And to make sure there were no leins? I am not privvy to that kind of stuff. Not sure if a lawyer is necessary. Also, not sure if this would turn off the seller.
The bank I got my mortgage through sent me to a title and abstract company that handled all of that before they'd finalize the loan. I was under the impression that was normal, and if the seller gets pissy about it I'd have to wonder why.
I was just going to pay in cash. I wasn't going to get a mortgage or anything. Not sure how that works, but I'd probably need some sort of an "official" with me to make sure it's a legitimate deed and there's no liens. Might need a notary too?
Title companies are A LOT less than a lawyer and also a lot faster at getting it done. After 10 years with the new wife and it not looking like I can make her go away, I decided to add her name to the property deeds just to simplify things if I should fall over dead one day. Had the local title company write up the new deed at $80 per deed and had them do the title searches just to make sure no one has slipped liens in on anything over the last decade that was $160 per deed. Because it is not uncommon for a lien to get attached to a property and the owner know nothing about it. Personally now days I do all of the real estate closings at the Title Company where there are witnesses and of the money and deeds changing hands. Not much cost for a nice blanket of security and no liens that can come forward and haunt you later. Pure cash deals on real estate carry a lot of hidden risk. Cough if you do a Cash deal do a official closing at a title company and officially pay via certified check what you and the seller agree to. Then pay the real price in dead presidents or trade items right after the official witnessed and notarized closing. IE a parcel cost $25,000 and the seller does not want to pay capital gains on a piece he bought for $3,000 he bought 40 years ago, so you pay officially $$7500 in the official closing and $17,500 cash privately after the official closing. Takes a degree of trust on the sellers part that you will follow through after the official closing. Having a strong reputation and showing the cash is in hand prior to the official closing goes a long way to giving the seller confidence. There was a time I would hand cash and the deed would be handed to me and we would just go to the County Clerk and transfer the deed and seal the deal with a handshake........... those times are long gone.
I used a lawyer, it was required by the mortgage company for one, but secondly, someone has to file the sale with the county and town and I figured that it would make sure that everything was all official so there wouldn't be a chance the prior owner would have any claims against me (not that I thought they would, but the piece of mind was nice) I didn't have to do the deed/lein check to have the lawyer do the closing for me, but I did anyway, for me it was money well spent for knowing that everything was done proper and the homestead is mine all mine!!! -JW
Personally I would never use a real estate agent, occasionally I will use a land broker. On cash deals with no mortgages private sales are easy and cut out the commissions and leave a lot more errrr options for finalizing the deal out of the Governments watchful eye.
LOL my last land purchase I traded cattle, hogs and a tractor as well as some cash via certified check for a piece adjacent to me. No need for anyone but myself and the seller to know about the livestock and tractor part of the deal. The cash part was the official side of it and what is on file at the County Clerks office.
Simply use a title company or a small time local attorney IF you want title insurance.....which is cheap and a good idea in case cousin Bubba comes out of the woodwork 10 years into your homestead build and claims he never got his portion of uncle Bubba'a will. Every commercial (bank) mortgage will require title insurance, but for future note....it ONLY covers the bank to the amount of their loan on the property. You should get your own to cover you.....your down payment, and future improvement value. You don't HAVE to use anyone, assuming you can write up a deed (and they are pretty simple) of transfer (Called a Warranty Deed in my State). Current owner signs the deed, you hand them the money or whatever ya'll agreed on. You can also do your own title search by going to the county deed office where the property is located and go back thru the history of the property. I did mine when we bought this place, and traced it back to an original 30,000 acre land grant by the King of England in the late 1700's !
Our Warranty Deeds in Tennessee usually say something like "For ten dollars cash in hand and other good and valuable considerations......blah..blah...blah... but then the deed office puts a fill-in-blank stamp on it that says "The actual cash value of this transfer is:__________" and you're supposed to fill it in with the correct amount. How many do, who knows... You go thru a bank or attorney and it likely has the real amount. Gives the tax assessor a handy way to raise the property tax. But I've done deals like you said.....and I've put whatever I want in the blank. Capital gains taxes are often mostly a inflation tax. Since I didn't inflate the currency, I don't feel responsible for paying a tax on it.
Not really. The RE agent lives on a cut from the sale. But the good ones know the ropes, who to call, who to arrange thisnthat with, including the inspectors and title search companys in the area. The good ones also know who can be trusted. I've used a lawyer's services for all closings to be sure the local rules and regulations are not going to smack me later, and the county clerk is aware of the transfer. Cash and carry OR someone, something carrying a mortgage is immaterial. Title insurance is, to my mind, an absolute requirement, and someone who knows how to read the fine print will be more than helpful.
Depending on the land, size, location of buildings, etc., it is often good to have a survey. Crazy some of the weird stuff that sometimes is discovered. Examples I have read about: Actual property line ran through the middle of a neighbor’s garage. Over time the neighbor got pissed enough with garage owner he took a chainsaw and cut the half off that was on his property. Actual property line was part way on a neighbor’s driveway. New owner was an ass and rather than find an equatable neighborly solution tried to put up a block wall fence down the guy’s driveway. Back lot property line actually ran through the pool. Rural landlocked property that didn’t actually have a legal easement to access it. Road to property was trespassing and not legal. I had a co-worker 30 years ago and the property defined on the deed for a house he bought was actually the lot of the neighboring house. He had a good survey that discovered it. Little more research and come to find the whole street was off one lot. Lots of very embarrassed realtors, lawyers, surveyors when it was finally all figured discovered. The salvation of the mess was the last lot on the street still belonged to the developer and it was vacant. The question none could answer was how did you all complete multiple sales on over a dozen and a half lots and never discover this? Good luck. AT
No, you pay a real estate agent to show you half a dozen properties that are 40k more than you listed as your max price, none of which are in the location you specified. Then they show you the ones in your price range, half of which are victims of unskilled "flippers" who've seen too many episodes of Fixer Upper, the other half of which need a total reno but have "great bones" which as far as I can tell means the termites haven't completely eaten through the studs. THEN, when you are about to part ways, they finally take you to the house you wanted to see in the first place. They don't handle title searches tho.
I guess I've been lucky. Two were excellent and helpful start to finish. Two neutral, were there and did a good bit of what we hired them for. The others, well, one of them would have made a very poor used car salesman. The personal morals and ethics of Whitey Bulger were higher than that lout.
You will pretty much have to use a title company. But you should pick a few good lawyers and put them on retainer. Me and my wife have all the best lawyers on retainer in the area. So if we have a legal dispute with a poor we will grind them into dust or if it's anyone else their lawyer may have to recuse them selves. So it at least evens the playing field. Prepping isn't only about food, water and guns.
Also understand that Water Rights, and sub-surface Mineral Rights, are also part of the Deed on Real Property... and tied to such Deeds... If it isn’t spelled ot in the Deed, it isn’t part of your holdings... In Alaska, No Property that has gone thru State Ownership, has sub-Surface Mineral Rights, OR Water Rights as part of the Deed, when it is conveyed from the State to any person or municipality... All such Water Rights on such conveyed Property are granted by the State Water Division of Department of Natural Resources, after the Deed is secured, and then attached to the Deed after a Water Right is granted... The same is true for Tidelands Rights, as well.. TideLands can NOT be transferred to any non-Public Entity by State Statute, but Leases may be granted, upon application and payment of fees required...All Private holdings of sub-Surface Mineral Rights, Water Rights, and TideLands Rights, in Alaska, must have been acquired prior to Statehood, and directly from the Federal Government, or from Federal Grants or Sales by the Federal Government, direcly...
