Tag Archive | "Legal"
The Clock Is Ticking -Check Your Watch,Your Customers Are By Anne L. Weintraub, Esquire Anne Weintraub P.A. In the age of “technology mania”, time matters more than ever. Your clients now expect to hear from you yesterday and you must be prepared. If you do not respond to phone calls or emails immediately, there is a good chance your prospect will move on to another Realtor. It happens to me from time-to-time. A potential client will call-I will be out to lunch-and by the time I get back-sometimes even one hour later-they have already located another attorney. And, there is […]
Leave Emotions For The Movies – They Have No Place In A Home Closing By Anne L. Weintraub, Esquire Anne Weintraub P.A. Since the beginning of time, a man believed his home was his castle. Not much has changed in 2013-almost every Seller believes his home is his castle and almost ever Buyer questions whether that castle is even good enough to purchase. The Buyer may want to know everything about the Seller’s background. The Seller may want to know where the Buyer is from and what the Buyer does for a living. The Seller’s wife may dislike the Buyer’s […]
Was It Something I Said? By Anne L. Weintraub, Esquire Anne Weintraub P.A. Let’s face it: deals die. We all go into the purchase and sale contract of a home with a goal of closing, not just to push paper and let it fall apart. Some deals rightfully die because they should. The cause may be property damage, undisclosed problems, death, divorce, bad inspections, a poor title that cannot be corrected, survey issues that are too expensive to correct, the discovery of an Indian burial ground or eagle’s nest, or simply, the closing date has come and gone and someone […]
Have H.A.F.A.? By Anne L. Weintraub, Esquire Anne Weintraub P.A. It was billed as an exciting new government program to assist homeowners who did not qualify for loan modifications under the Obama administration’s HAMP program. Under the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives Program, or HAFA, a borrower could qualify for a short sale by submitting a HAFA application to their lender to receive a pre-approved listing price within 10 days. With the pre-approved price, the borrower would receive total forgiveness of the note on the first mortgage AND the second mortgage, with an additional $3,000 in relocation expenses as an incentive. […]
1031 Exchange Qualified Properties By Jeff Riddell Over the last several articles, we have covered real estate investing for various age groups, from youngest to oldest. One thing is common to all of the age groups: There will come a time when every real estate investor decides to dispose of his investment. If you don’t like to pay capital gains tax (or recapture of depreciation, if applicable), we should touch on the subject of 1031 exchange. The sleeping giant has in fact started to awaken. After my company, U.S. 1031 Exchange Services, Inc., facilitated over 500 exchanges in 2005, business […]
Seniors And Real Estate Investing By Jeff Riddell Last article, we discussed real estate investing for those folks in the 50-65 age range. Next is the 65-80 group—with due respect because I am one of them, I’ll call them seniors. If you are in this age bracket, it goes without saying that you should have started your real estate investing career earlier. At this age you will not be able to use the power of leverage and compounding to create wealth from real estate to the same extent as those who started young, but you should still have some real […]
Real Estate Investing For Baby Boomers By Jeff Riddell Last article, we discussed middle age real estate investing. Next is the 50-65 bracket—I’ll call them the baby boomers. In my opinion, this is the time to become more conservative in your real estate investing; and more diversified in your real estate holdings regardless of whether you are a beginner or long term investor. If you started your real estate investing career earlier while you were in the 20-35 bracket—or even in the 35-50 bracket—by now you have probably accumulated a pretty nice portfolio of real estate holdings such as houses, […]
Cristy Carrington Lewis Named Lead Account Manager For Short Sale Division. Michael Saunders & Company announces the formation of Short Sale Division. Rejoining Michael Saunders & Company as the new division’s Lead Account Manager is Cristy Carrington Lewis.
Middle Age Real Estate Investing By Jeff Riddell Last article we discussed real estate investing by young folks. But what if you are older and your time horizon shorter? Let’s discuss the 35 to 50 age bracket next—I’ll call it middle age. Although many people are well into real estate investing by the time they are in this age bracket, let’s assume you are just getting started. If you’re 40, you likely have at least 25 years before retirement; probably more because I believe the days of retiring by 65 are numbered. The entry strategy for this age bracket depends […]
Why Does The Buyer Need A Survey? By Steven R. Greenberg Surveys are involved in almost every real estate transaction, except for transactions involving the sale of a condominium. The Contract for sale of real estate will give the Buyer a limited period of time to both obtain the survey and to put the Seller on written notice of any survey defects. A survey map depicts the shape and size of the lot and all improvements located on the lot. It should also show all setbacks, easements, and other matters observed by the surveyor. Of course, the survey map will […]
Real Estate Investing For All Ages By Jeff Riddell In the next few articles, we’ll talk about the approach of different age groups to real estate investing. Let’s start with the 20-35 age group; let’s call them beginning wealth builders or BWBs. Unless they won the lottery or inherited a lot of money, BWBs are usually capital challenged. Most people in this age bracket are finding it difficult enough to make a down payment on a home, let alone enough to make an investment real estate down payment. But for those who have the discipline to swing it, this is […]
An Overview of the Withholding Requirements for “Foreign Persons” By Steven R. Greenberg Effective January 1, 1985, Congress enacted FIRPTA (Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act). The purpose of FIRPTA is to minimize the ability of foreigners (individuals and entities) from taking the proceeds from the sale of U.S. property without paying tax on the profits. Section 1445 of the Internal Revenue Code (“IRC”) requires that the buyer of U.S. real property collect and pay over to the Internal Revenue Service 10% of the purchase price within twenty days after the closing, unless: 1. The seller is a U.S. […]
Finally Some Relief For Tenants On Their Foreclosed Rental Property By Steven R. Greenberg On May 20, 2009, President Obama signed into law the “Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009″ (the “Act”), which includes the “Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act.” The Act provides new protections for “bonafide” tenants of residential property being foreclosed by a lender holding a federally-related mortgage loan. The Act is intended to provide protection for tenants of properties of which a lender has foreclosed who find themselves evicted overnight from their homes at the completion of that foreclosure, often losing advanced rental payments and […]
What’s So Bad About Short Sale Flips? By Anne L. Weintraub, Esquire Anne Weintraub P.A. REALTORS®, buyers and sellers are being approached by vendors on a daily basis to participate in short sale flips. Short sale flips occur when a third-party individual or business negotiates with the seller’s lender to take a short payoff. The lender relies on the vendor’s package from the seller which includes an offer from a buyer-who may actually exist or not-when it grants the short sale approval. The buyer allegedly closes on the property, the lender gets paid off, and then the buyer sells […]
Entity Ownership Of Real Estate By Jeff Riddell Last article we talked about how individuals can own real estate. Now let’s turn our attention to ownership in an entity. Let’s look at a few. We’ll start with corporations. You probably know that corporations—other than some federal corporations like banks—are formed under state law. Although corporations are great for businesses, corporate ownership of real estate is generally not favored regardless of whether the corporation has elected to be taxed as an “S Corporation” or a “C Corporation.” Double taxation—both corporate and shareholder level—can be one problem (at least in a C […]
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Thursday, July 11, 2013
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