THE BEST LAS VEGAS PROPERTIES
How To Prevent Escrow Disasters |
There are probably thousands of reasons why real estate
transactions fail, and describing them all would take forever to explain. Let’s
focus on only the most common reasons, drawn from years of experience and
hundreds of transactions. Hopefully with this information you can understand
why things go wrong, and be able to successfully escape the traps.
Why are real estate transactions
so complicated?
Why is there no consistency from one experience to the next? Why are so many
people involved? These are good questions that address the root of many
problems. The main reason is that each
transaction has a different group of people involved. Imagine you're the coach
of a baseball team, and for each game, a whole new set of players shows up on
the field! That's a good picture of how the real estate industry works.
Behind it is
the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), a well-meaning federal
statute enacted in 1975. The intention was to separate all aspects of a real
estate transaction (agency, lending, title, etc.) so that the consumer would
have more choice, and there would be more competition in the marketplace a good
idea, but the result is that each player is now disconnected from the others.
Each player involved is a separate company, with its own way of doing business.
The agent is like the symphony conductor trying to make music by bringing all
these different instruments together.
But there are
no standards. No one who can say, "This is how we do business here"
and enforce that method across all the participants in the transaction.
Customers today are demanding more convenience, more of a
"one-stop-shopping" for the various services needed to complete a
real estate transaction. But for now, our hands are tied by RESPA.
Solution: The
government is currently examining outdated RESPA laws. In the meantime, if your
agent has other vendors that he knows, trusts, and works well with, you should
seriously consider using those people. Many times I've seen people pick an
escrow company because they can save $50, and end up regretting that decision.
That amount is peanuts compared to the extra expense and sheer aggravation of a
delayed closing due to poor service.
The
most important decision you will make is which real estate agent will represent
you.
As
mentioned earlier, the agent is like the musical conductor, making sure all the
people involved play their parts. The real estate agent is the person with whom
you have to rely on to provide you the information regarding how all the other
parts really work together to have a successful real estate transaction. I want
to earn your business and my greatest compliment is a referral by my clients.
The Major Players That Your Agent Has To Coordinate |
·
Seller's
Agent
·
Buyer's Agent
·
Seller(s)
·
Buyer(s)
·
REO
Banks/Foreclosures
·
FHA, VA and
HUD government departments
·
Loan Broker
·
Real Estate
Appraiser
·
Termite
Inspector
·
Home
Inspector
·
Roof Inspector
·
Other
Specialty Inspectors such as chimney/Engineering/Foundation/ Geological
·
City, State
and Federal Departments (i.e., zoning, permits and real estate law issues)
·
Title Officer
·
Escrow
Officer
·
Insurance
Agents
·
Tax
Accountant or CPA
·
Family, friends,
relatives, co-workers and people with whom you talk
Since it's
not very hard to get a real estate license, we frequently see people "jump
in" when the market is good. They think all they have to do is put a buyer
and seller together and then the escrow company handles the rest! That's like
saying all the coach has to do is get the baseball players onto the field and
everything happens automatically from then on. That's where the real work
begins!
I've also
seen more "professionals" such as mortgage brokers or insurance
agents telling consumers that they also have a real estate license so they can
"help" you buy or sell a house. Many agents "try" the
business for a while, bungle a few transactions for people they know, and then
quit. This gives all agents a bad reputation!
Your
past transactions are no guide to your next one.
Buyer(s) and/or Seller(s) should take the time to educate themselves regarding
the entire process. Usually, one or both of the principals in the transaction
don't understand certain parts of the process. Then, when the agent says that
something should be done a certain way, the principal (buyer/seller) says,
"that's not the way I heard it should be done" or "when I sold
my house 20 years ago, I didn't have to let the buyer inspect the property this
way" or "I shouldn't have to do this or pay for this". The laws
and real estate customary practices ARE CHANGING CONSTANTLY.
In the last
10 to 12 years, real estate practices and laws have changed from "let the
buyer beware" to "buyer consumer protection". More and more, the
sellers have to disclose more and become responsible for more. When you hire a
real estate agent, you must learn to trust that the agent knows what
he is doing and that the agent will act in your best interests. If
you don't understand the reasons why things are being done, you must either
have the agent explain the process to you or take the time to learn about it
yourself. Ideally, this should be done before you "dig in your heels"
and say something like, "I'm not doing this or that".
Buyer
has liens against him (known or unknown).
These are "skeletons in the closet" that come out when someone
decides to buy a house. Did you know that when a father doesn't pay his child
support, a "Revenue and Recovery" lien is recorded against him? Then
when that person goes to buy real estate, out of the closet it jumps! The buyer
may not have known about it, or may not have known it would affect his
purchase. Other liens include IRS liens, judgments for non-payment of rent, and
many more!
Every buyer
should have a search run on himself for recorded liens. This is done by filling
out a "Statement of Information" or SI. Most agents will ask you to
do this at the last minute, almost as an afterthought, and then the transaction
blows up in everyone's faces. Why not do it up front and avoid a lot of hassle
and pain? If you're serious about buying a home, ask your agent to run your SI
as soon as you start looking. If you're a seller, get that SI from your
potential buyer as early as possible in the transaction.
Buyer cannot get financing.
There are a multitude of sins that can show themselves when the buyer asks a
bank for HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of dollars. People take this lightly sometimes,
but let me ask you a question... what kind of documentation would YOU require
of someone before you gave them that kind of money? A lender requires a credit
report, proof of down payment, and proof of income sufficient to pay the
mortgage. All of this information needs to be verified before a lender will
loan the money.
Some
of the things that can go wrong:
·
Black marks
(derogatoriness) on the credit report, real or mistaken.
·
Relatives
were going to give the down payment, and changed their minds.
·
Buyer's
income can't be proven, is "under the table".
·
Buyer has
money, but can't prove where it came from (not "seasoned").
There's
no reason that these problems have to surface while in escrow. A buyer should
be "pre-approved"
for his loan BEFORE shopping for a home, not "PRE-QUALIFIED" This means that all that's left to do is an
appraisal on the house before the lender will loan the money. If you are a
seller, you should insist on "pre-approval" from a buyer before you
take your home off the market for any length of time.
Keep
in mind that "pre-qualified" is not the same as
"pre-approved". "Pre-qualified" means that the buyer spent
a few minutes on the phone with a lender who asked a few questions. Based on
the answers, the lender pronounces the buyer "pre-qualified" and
issues a certificate. Smart sellers are now aware that such certificates are
WORTHLESS because none of the information has been verified.
There's
just no reason for a buyer NOT to get pre-approved. In the best case, this can
be done in ONE HOUR! Show a W-2, a current pay stub, a bank account where the
down payment is, and run a credit report. Done! Some pre-approvals take longer,
but in any case it's better to wait a bit before finding a home you love than
to lose it because of financing problems in escrow.
The buyer screws up financing
after being approved.
Things can change during the escrow period, usually not for the better, which
is why we always shoot for the shortest escrow possible. Some things can't be
prevented, for example, the buyer loses his job. No amount of professionalism
on my part can do anything about that... the transaction is dead.
On the other
hand, sometimes mistakes are made out of ignorance, for example, the buyer
figures he has his home loan approved, so he runs out and buys a new car! The
lender never told him that would screw up his "debt to income" ratio
and now he can't get the loan. My point here is that things can go wrong even
with "pre-approved" buyers. Education can help avoid mistakes made
out of ignorance, but sometimes things happen that are outside of anyone's
control.
The buyer demands too many
repairs.
Most
contracts have a seller warranty/maintenance clause. In most cases, there are
some things that the seller is obligated to fix, for example, leaking roofs or
broken windows. But the buyer should realize that there is no perfect house,
not even a new house, or a house you build yourself. I've had new homes, and
I've built homes myself. As a general contractor I have developed and
constructed multi million dollar commercial properties,
tract homes and commercial shopping/retail centers. They all have one thing in
common and I can guarantee you this is true. All clients, whether it’s a
$200,000 home or a multi million-dollar project go in
and change things.
How much the
buyer can demand in repairs is going to be different for each transaction. It
depends on whether you're in a seller's or a buyer's market, and the motivation
and financial situation of each buyer and seller. Buyers and sellers should
keep an eye on the big picture and try not to focus on the details. It's
ridiculous to lose a half million-dollar investment over an oven knob, but it
happens. Sometimes a small thing is "the straw that broke the camel's
back" and infuriates the seller to the point that logic flies out the
window and emotions take over. Why risk it? The buyer needs to be sure he
understands what the contract says, what's part of the seller warranty clause,
and what is not.
At the same
time, the seller should be aware that at the very least he would have to fix
the items included in the seller warranty/maintenance clause. Mentally, a
seller should set aside several thousand dollars to repair problems or defects
discovered during escrow. A much better way to control these expenses is for
the seller to have all the property inspections completed BEFORE the property
is placed on the market. That takes the guesswork out of it.
Buyers listen to others and not
their agent.
Buyers
will always have some "well meaning" friend, relative or associate
who will create doubt in the buyers' minds. Sometimes they will
"buckle" under the pressure and try to back out of a transaction.
Such "advice" is usually wrong, and does not take into account the
current realities of the marketplace.
Another
source of misleading information is the newspaper. Real estate articles in the
newspaper are used as "filler" to make up for lack of advertising.
I've seen articles geared to a buyer's market appear when we're in the middle
of a seller's market! I think somebody at the paper reaches into a drawer
marked "real estate articles" and just prints any old one. Believing
what you read in the paper can be hazardous to your financial health!
The seller has no equity.
A transaction can fail if the seller cannot financially hold up their end of
the bargain. If equity is tight, and the agent didn't calculate the seller's
expenses accurately, the seller can be short on closing costs or money for
necessary repairs. This situation could
have been avoided if the seller had done his homework before putting the house
on the market, such as termite, physical, hazards inspections, and a title
search. Oddly enough, most agents don't recommend these inspections ahead of
time. They're thrilled to get the listing, so why do anything to jeopardize it?
So they do nothing and just hope everything will work out later.
The seller's job transfer didn't
go through.
This is one of those "out of the blue" events that you can't guard
against. Most people have heard of transactions failing because the BUYER lost
his job, but the same kinds of tragedies can happen to the SELLER. Other
examples are death, bankruptcies or other lawsuits ("liz
pendens") tying up the property so that it
cannot be sold.
The other agent does not do their
job.
The other real estate agent in the transaction might be a part-time agent,
out-of-town agent or a "full-time" agent who does very little
business and they ACT LIKE THEY KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING, WHEN THEY DON'T KNOW!
Generally, I'm forced to "stroke these agents egos" so that they don't
mess up the transaction and protect my client’s rights at the same time. It is
a difficult balance to maintain because there are usually tough points in the
transaction where I have to try to figure out the best way to keep the
transaction together accounting for the fact that the agent is either ignorant
or incompetent.
Usually, this
problem is compounded by the fact that everyone is becoming emotionally
frustrated. The best advice I can give when this occurs is to remember the
primary objective is to move on with your life and get this transaction closed.
Therefore, keep calm and just understand that we can't change an incompetent
agent. Let's just be flexible and deal with the problems as they come up.
If the other
agent in the transaction is either lazy or disorganized, this means that I will
have to pick up the slack. I will have to force the process to become as
organized as possible without letting the other agent know that I'm
compensating for his or her lack of professionalism or laziness. No one likes
to be told that he is disorganized or lazy.
I may have to "dance around" these fragile egos so that the
transaction can keep moving forward with as few problems as possible. But don't
worry, again I have to stress that I have YOUR best interests represented
first.
Seller discovers title problems.
There are so many things that "pop up" during the preliminary title
search that create a "cloud" on the title. Many times things show up
such as mechanics liens, unrecorded easements, faulty trust documents, and
judgments that can prevent the property from being transferred. Even if you
didn't have a problem when you purchased the property, I've seen problems
surface because of new technology that was not available in previous years.
The only way
to solve these issues is to open up escrow when the home is put on the market
and obtain a preliminary title report. The seller must also fill out a
"Statement of Information" (SI) to check for recorded judgments
against them. Then, do all the things necessary to be able to clear these
things up before a buyer makes an offer.
If a seller
does obtain a preliminary title report and the buyer does not use the title
company that the seller used to obtain the preliminary title report, the seller
may be required to pay a $300 to $350 cancellation fee. Most of the time the
buyers will accommodate the seller by using the same title company. Therefore,
it makes sense to start doing all the preliminary title work as soon as the
house is put on the market.
Buyer is unable to get fire
insurance.
Insurance companies are taking steps to limit their exposure in any one area.
This means that when they've sold a certain amount of fire policies in any
geographical area, they stop writing them. There's nothing wrong or risky about
the area, just that they don't want to have too many policies in one place.
Years ago, we would get the fire insurance a couple of days before closing
escrow, no big deal. Nowadays the buyer should start looking for insurance as
soon as he opens escrow. It may take a bit of shopping to find an acceptable
price for fire insurance.
Termite report is unacceptable to
buyer or seller.
A termite report is really a "Wood Destroying Pests & Organisms
Report" and includes wood damage by termites and a fungus called dry rot.
In order for the buyer to get a home loan, the house must be free of termites
and dry rot. Here's what usually happens - the seller has found a buyer and has
negotiated an acceptable bottom line figure. Then he opens escrow and must do a
termite inspection. The bid comes in and he has a fit! It's way more than
expected, and his bottom line is out the window!
Then the
seller decides to get a second opinion, because that bid can't possibly be
right. The second termite inspector finds things the first one missed, and the
bid is even higher! The seller is worse off than before, and if there's no
money left to do the repairs, the whole transaction could unravel. The seller
should do a termite inspection as soon as he decides to sell, and BEFORE an offer
comes in. This avoids unwanted surprises after negotiating a price, because all
the expenses are known.
In fact, he
should have the work done that's recommended in the inspection. If it's done
before the house sells, the seller can possibly save some money. For example,
I've seen the case where the house had a wood deck down the whole side of the
house that was completely rotten. The seller was able to replace it with gravel
and stepping-stones for minimal cost, before putting the house on the market. Had
a buyer seen the wood deck, he would have bought the house expecting the wood
deck. When the termite report came in, the seller would have had to replace the
entire deck with new wood at considerable expense.
Another
benefit of having the work done before selling is that the place will look
better. When I'm working with buyers, especially first time buyers, I have to
explain to them that the rotten wood they see will be replaced before they move
in. But how many other agents didn't explain this? How many possible buyers
didn't make an offer on the house because they thought, "I don't want to
buy a house with rotten wood and do all that work"? If you're a seller,
you're going to have to do the termite repairs anyway, so why not do it sooner
rather than later? You'll avoid surprises, and probably see more dollars in
your pocket.
The home inspection company is too
picky
Or the seller refuses to make reasonable repairs. After escrow has been opened,
the buyer will hire someone to do a "physical inspection" to check
out the house. Think about that for a minute... it's like negotiating a price
for a used car, and THEN having it checked out by an auto mechanic. What do you
think will happen after it's checked out? You're right - it's back to the
negotiating table, because there are things wrong with the car that you didn't
know when you decided on a price. That's doing it backwards you say? But this
is normal in real estate transactions.
Anyway, the
buyer hires someone to do a physical inspection. I've seen the wrong inspector
destroy a transaction by scaring the buyer out of their wits. A first time
buyer is making a big step and is already nervous, we don't need an overzealous
inspector terrifying him. Of course the inspector must call it as he sees it,
and I would never advocate anything less than full disclosure of all facts.
Never should anything be hidden from the buyer.
But no house
is perfect, and the building codes 10 years ago are a lot different than today.
When you buy a house, it must be in good condition FOR IT'S AGE. The smoke
detectors, GFIs, spaces between railings, etc., must be to code AT THE TIME THE
HOUSE WAS BUILT. It is unreasonable to expect a 10-year-old home to be like a
new one. If serious problems are discovered, these are definitely a cause for
concern. Transactions have failed over normal wear cycles in the appliances,
just because things were communicated poorly.
The home
seller must also be prepared mentally for there to be some repairs, and to not
unreasonably refuse to fix anything. I know that the seller thinks nothing is
wrong with his "castle", but most people don't use everything in
their homes. Some people never use the dishwasher, and then we discover that
all the rubber is rotten from lack of use. Or many people with two ovens only
use one of them, and then find out the other doesn't work. This can happen to
you, so be prepared to do some repairs!
The best way
for a seller not to be surprised by these repairs is to do the inspection
himself, before selling the house. That's being proactive rather than reactive.
When the report is done up front, the seller can benefit in the following ways:
·
Price the
property based on "actual knowledge" of the true condition of the house.
You are less likely to be surprised by the fact that the furnace is cracked,
the fireplace box needs to be re-built, or an electrical box has been
improperly wired.
·
Get repairs
done more economically because you have the option to downgrade the materials
used from the most expensive grade to an acceptable standard grade of
materials. Also, you will have time to get competitive bids on the work, and
not be "under the gun" and have to hire the contractors who can get
the work done quickly even though they cost more.
·
Obtain cost
estimates of the major items indicated in the report that the seller will not
be able to or is unwilling to repair. Buyers usually have no idea what things
cost, and will inflate the expenses in their minds. Having a written estimate
of the work goes a long way in bringing the numbers back down to earth.
·
Strengthen
your negotiating position by providing the reports to the buyer before the
buyer writes the offer. Therefore, a buyer is less likely to ask you to repair
any items if you indicate that you are pricing the property based on estimated
repairs that are indicated in the inspection reports.
·
From a legal
standpoint, protect yourself when selling your home because you are disclosing
everything that you know about the property. With your own real estate transfer
disclosure plus the other inspection reports, you are less likely to be found
liable for hiding facts which could material effect the desirability or value
of the property from a buyer's standpoint.
·
So why would
a seller NOT do the inspection before selling? Easy - because they don't want
to spend the money. But for a few hundred dollars, you can save thousands and
protect yourself and family at the same time.
The appraisal takes too long or
comes in too low.
This
happens more often in a seller's market where prices are going up. If you think
about it, each house sells for more than the one before it... and yet the ones
before it are the houses that appraisers use to determine value. They are
looking at what happened in the past to decide today's value, and that's the
problem. Most appraisers know this, and "build in" appreciation when
deciding on a current value. But how much appreciation is a judgment call, and
sometimes an appraiser will estimate on the low side.
When the
appraisal comes in low, the seller can reduce the price, the buyer can put a
larger down payment, or both parties can split the difference. If there's
plenty of time, perhaps the buyer can try a different lender and get a
different appraiser. Another problem surfaces in a hot market when appraisers
are swamped with business. The problem is that it takes forever to get an
appraisal! What used to take a day now takes a week. So where it used to take 3
days to get an appraiser out to the property, now it takes three weeks. This
could be a serious problem if escrow needs to close at a certain time, for
example to keep a locked-in interest rate on a loan. The only solution here is
to order the appraisal IMMEDIATELY after opening escrow. I've seen lenders wait
two weeks before ordering the appraisal because "the buyer didn't send in
the check." Make sure this gets taken care of right away or expensive
delays could result.
Buyer rejects the association
documents.
Many properties are part of a homeowner's association, or maybe more than one
association. The buyer of the property will need to be given a copy of the
association documents and approve them. The documents include:
·
Covenants,
Codes, & Restrictions ("CC&Rs") - the rules and regulations
homeowners must abide by
·
Minutes -
what was talked about at the most recent association meetings
·
Financials -
the association budget, money set aside for future repairs
("reserves"), etc.
Since the
buyer can kill the transaction by disapproving the association documents, it
makes sense to get them into his hands as soon as possible, doesn't it? It's
the seller's job to give the MOST RECENT documents to the buyer. This means
that the seller cannot simply dig them out of the attic and give the buyer the
documents from when he bought the house. He has to buy a new set from the
association. Now the association, depending on its size, may or may not get to
this as quickly as we would like. We've seen associations take 3 or 4 weeks to
get the documents out. That means that at the last minute, the escrow can fail
if the buyer is spooked by the association documents.
Sellers
should get the latest documents from their association BEFORE opening escrow.
The documents can be handed to the buyer as soon a purchase agreement is reached,
eliminating that contingency. Why don't sellers do this? Because it costs money
to pay for the documents. If the seller didn't get the documents ahead of time,
the buyer should make sure they're ordered immediately after opening escrow.
Escrow officer doesn't follow
through.
We've already talked about some of the documents that are critical to a
transaction, such as the SIs, the CC&Rs, title report, termite report,
association documents, etc. The escrow officer is responsible for making sure
these are taken care of, but sometimes it doesn't get done in a timely manner.
For example, the SI might be sent in for a judgment check, but the escrow
officer "assumes" that since nobody said anything, it must be OK.
These kinds of assumptions can really come back to haunt you.
Everything
must be followed up on to see that it gets done, and every disclosure,
approval, report, and document must be in our file before the escrow can close.
So the bottom line is that your agent is the one who is ultimately responsible
for everything, and if the escrow officer is slow, incompetent, or too busy,
your agent must pick up the slack so that your interests are protected. There
have been situations where escrow said the title company didn't do what they
were supposed to, and the title company blamed the escrow company. No one wants
to accept the blame when something goes wrong because people want to save face
and not be held liable for their mistakes. So we'll never really know what
happened there. But we have learned over the years not to depend on anyone, but
to check everything ourselves.
The potential
for mistakes is greater when escrow companies are very busy, such as in a hot
market. There's no time to handle everything, and no time to train people to
help. What happens then is that "crises" are handled first, and your
file ends up on the bottom. After all, you're not closing for a couple of weeks
yet, right? But since you've read this far, you understand that handling things
ahead of time is exactly how you prevent a crisis later. So by putting things
off to the last minute, you're almost GUARANTEED to have a crisis of your very
own. It's your agent's job to stay on top of all the players in the transaction
and to make sure your important transaction doesn't end up at the bottom of
someone's pile.
Lender does the old "bait and
switch".
There are many ways things can go wrong with the loan. Interest rates can go
up, the mortgage insurance premium (PMI) can be more than the buyer expected,
or the loan program can disappear. The fact is, unless the buyer
"locks" his loan rate, anything can happen. Why don't buyers lock in
their rates? Again, because it usually costs money to do it. And there are some
unscrupulous lenders out there who will tell you one thing when you first meet
and then change it at the last minute, knowing that you're too far along to
change lenders. By the way, since interest rates will change from the time you
talk to a lender until the time you actually close, how in the world can you
pick a lender based on rates? You should choose a lender based on whether you
trust him and believe he has your best interests in mind.
Lender is not a mortgage banker.
What's the difference between a mortgage banker and a mortgage broker? A
mortgage broker takes your application, and then brings it to the wholesale
department of any lender he chooses. In this way, you don't have to make
applications at several lending institutions. You just apply once, and then
your lender takes it to whatever bank has the best deal at the time. A mortgage
banker lends his or her own money. You fill out the application, the loan
officer walks down the hall to the underwriter, and you can actually have loan
approval in about an hour!
The advantage
of using a mortgage banker is control. Everything is done in house, so the loan
officer can "pull strings" or do whatever it takes to get your loan
through. If there's a problem with your loan, he walks down the hall and talks
to the underwriter and straightens it out. In contrast, the mortgage broker who
takes your loan to a bank is out of control. The bank puts those loans at the
bottom of the pile. The loan officer can do nothing but wait. I've seen this
happen more times that I care to remember. It's no fun at all waiting for weeks
past when you thought you were going to move into your new home because the
bank hasn't gotten to your file yet! All you can do is wait while the bank
takes care of all their "in-house" loans first.
When the
market is busy, like it is now, this can be a critical issue. Having your
closing delayed can cost you much more than you thought you were going to save.
And what about the "bait and switch"? If the bank pulls this trick,
the loan officer is powerless to do anything - he's not part of that organization,
and can't go to the boss and plead your case. You're out of control, and that's
a terrible situation to be in.
Paperwork is not handled in a
timely manner.
There
can be delays and hang-ups by any of the parties in the transaction. Usually
we're dealing with a low-paid person who can care less that your transaction is
critical. For example, the termite inspector does his inspection quickly, but
then drops it off on this clerical person's desk to type it up and mail it out.
And there it sits. Then she goes on vacation, and we're still waiting. Much of
our job is following up with these people to make sure things get done when
they're supposed to. We can't assume anything, because we're talking about
hundreds of thousands of your dollars here. So we keep calling until we get
what we need. Sometimes people have even gotten angry with us for insisting
that they do their jobs. "I'll get around to it" isn't good enough.
That's how things get screwed up.
Even the
buyer and seller can be slow on returning their paperwork. They'll get a
package from escrow and drop it on the dining room table. "I'll get around
to it,” they think to themselves. If it weren’t important, then escrow wouldn't
have sent it to you! Many times critical issues and deadlines are passed because
the paperwork is sitting on the table. Contrary to popular opinion, escrow is
not opened when two parties come to an agreement. Escrow is officially opened
when escrow has signed instructions from both parties. The seller needs to know
that the buyer's deposit money is not held in escrow until there is an escrow
to hold it in! So they go for weeks into a transaction without sending in the
escrow instructions, not knowing that there isn't a dime of the buyer's deposit
holding the transaction together. The buyer can walk away at any time, for no
reason at all, and escrow can't do a thing about it.
In a real
estate transaction, "time is of the essence". This means that all
paperwork, reports, and disclosures need to be done as soon as possible.
Nothing good can happen by waiting. As time goes on, people become more and
more committed to the move. The pain is much less if the transaction falls
apart sooner rather than later. So we put a lot of effort into getting things
done sooner.
I would like
to be the agent for you, your family, your friends and associates and empower
you to understand the types of strategies you and they can use in your next
real estate transaction. If you know of someone who is either thinking about
selling or buying a home, please let me know and I'll respectfully EARN their
business, not give them a song and dance about how fast I will sell their home
or what a great deal I will get them on a new home. I am a professional that
deals with facts, honesty and integrity and I would be honored at the
opportunity to represent your best interests.
I hope that
you see the value of the knowledge and services that I can provide. My primary
goals for you right now are to let you know that you must PROTECT YOURSELF,
YOUR FAMILY, YOUR FRIENDS and YOUR ASSOCIATES. EVERY real estate transaction
and situation is unique, and requires customized advice and representation
which I can't give you on a website. Real Estate selling and purchasing is most
likely the biggest financial transaction that you'll make in your life, so
doesn't it make sense to get the best representation?
Marc Gohres Phone
(702) 768-8598 Fax
(800) 948-0601 |
Click here to return to The Best Las Vegas Real Estate!
Comments? Email
Marc Gohres
© 2020 Marc Gohres
Revised April 12, 2020 9:57 AM