Real Estate

Quit Claim Deed Explained

A quit claim deed is named for the action that an owner of a property takes when transferring that property to someone else. The owner “quits” his or her rights to that property and any claim on it. This is not a property sale or an inheritance, although it can seem like one. Instead, it is a legal transaction that calls for one party to grant property to another party. Once the action is complete, the person who received the property can do anything he or she desires with it. A quit claim deed often occurs within families, or between people with close personal relationships.

There is no title covenant included in a quit claim deed. This means that the person receiving the rights to and benefits of the property is not entitled to any kind of guarantee or warranty to the condition of the property. When you are the beneficiary or the grantee of a quit claim deed, you are receiving the property in whatever condition the grantor left it in. Essentially, you are getting it “as is.” The grantee also receives the goods free and clear, and no interest can accrue on it. If you wanted to give your son a piece of land in a quit claim deed, for example, you could not ask for it back in 10 years with interest, as if you had been lending him the property.

One of the most common quit claim deed occurrences is a divorce. When a husband and wife divorce, the marital assets need to be divided and one of those marital assets is the home. If the divorcing parties and their attorneys decide that one spouse will keep the house and the other spouse will relinquish all rights to in, a quit claim deed is provided to the spouse who is keep the home. This does not require the spouse keeping the home to buy it from the other party. It is transferred as part of the divorce agreement.

Quit claim deeds are also popular when people want to give property to their family members. It is easier to transfer the rights of ownership to the people you care about this way. You do not have to go through a trust or any other legal proceedings. Simply file a quit claim deed with the court, and the property has a new owner. You can also satisfy a tax liability with a quit claim deed. These tax deed sales sometimes occur at public auctions, where a property owner will put forth a quit claim deed in order to cover his or her outstanding tax debts on the property.

Unlike a property sale, a quit claim deed transfers rights from one person to another person or party. The party receiving the property accepts it as is, and does not get any warranties or guarantees with it. The most common quit claim deeds occur between family members and in cases of divorce or tax sales.

This post was written for Growing Money by Stephen K Hachey. Stephen is a licensed Tampa real estate lawyer specializing in loan modifications, short sales, foreclosure and much more. He is also the owner of his own practice, the Law Offices of Stephen Hachey, PA. This article is for general informational purposes only and does not establish an attorney-client relationship. Please contact a licensed attorney in your state of residence. For more information on our services, please visit our website at www.floridarealestatelawyer.org/.

 

DIY vs. Professional Property Management

As some of you may know, I have a rental property and even though everyone thinks DIY may help save money, but it actually can cost a lot. I put in a lot of time, doing everything from advertising to showing and maintaining the property. These tasks can be very time consuming and sometimes end up costing me time away from work. The commute for me is far, because my rental property is more than 2 hours away from my home. Eventually, I got tired of dealing with bad tenants and hired a property manager. I only deal with him and he deals with the tenants. He takes a cut from me every month, but it’s worth the money, because it saves me time and frees me to do other things.

All Property Management has an infographic that explains DIY vs. Professional Property Management for landlords

APM Infographic - DIY v Professional Management JPEG

AllPropertyManagement.com

4 Tips for Saving Money in a Renter’s World

Today’s economic atmosphere encourages renting rather than owning. Very few people are able to make the leap into home ownership at this time. While in many ways it is a great time to buy, there just aren’t many of us that can make that financial commitment. This means that the housing market is flooded with people wishing to rent. With a flooded renters market, renting prices are going up and landlords are becoming competitive about what applicants they accept. This can be extremely frustrating and difficult for a first time renter or someone who is not used to as competitive of an environment in the renting realm. Follow these tips to save money during your renting experience to help make it the most cost effective and stress free situation possible.

1. Property Damage Costs
One of the biggest struggles with a rental property is the security deposit and worry about damages. Because you do not own the property, any damages that you create while you live there will come out of a security deposit that you put down upfront. When you first get your new rental be sure to go through every inch of the place looking for existing damages. Take note of what damages there are that you have not created and show them to your landlord. This will ensure that you are not charged for any damages that already existed when you moved in. Also, it can be a very good idea to invest in renters insurance. While this will cost some money, the coverage can save you from some potentially disastrous situations. If a theft occurs or there is some sort of natural disaster, renters insurance can be a lifesaver.

2. Get a Roommate
While this certainly isn’t an option for everyone, finding a roommate can be one of the best ways to save money when you’re renting a place. Rather than taking on the cost of renting full on, try splitting it up with a roommate that you can live with happily. By finding a roommate you can usually find a rental property that has more space and better amenities for the same or less cost than renting solo. Sure, renting with another person comes with its own set of difficulties, but if you are able to find someone trustworthy and compatible, it can be a great way to cut down your rental costs.

3. Negotiate Rent and Terms
While this can be a bit more difficult in today’s competitive renting market, there is still room for negotiation at times. Try to talk the price of the monthly rent down with owner. If they don’t go for that, you could offer them three months up front, but at a lower rate (if you have the means to do so). With interest rates so low at banks today, paying a larger portion of your year’s rent upfront can be a good ploy for cheaper rent year round. You can also try negotiating the security deposit with your landlord. Give them reason to trust that you will take good physical care of their property by getting renters insurance or providing a solid reference from a previous landlord. Good tenants are extremely important to landlords and can be a great reason to lower prices on rent or other costs.

4. Don’t Be the Handyman
Part of what makes renting easier than owning your own property is not having to take care of all the handy work yourself. You do not own the property, so you should not have to maintain much of the around the house things. Of course, if light bulbs are out, sinks are stopped up, and other small things happen around the house, you should fix them. But, for big things, you should not have to pay for those repairs. It is your landlord’s obligation to maintain the property and make any improvements or repairs to your space. By taking on these types of projects yourself, you lose money of your own and you improve a property that you can reap the benefits from. Your landlord should be the one to pay for a plumber or an air conditioner repairman. Don’t take on costs that you don’t have to.

About Author:
This is a guest post from Jacelyn Thomas. Jacelyn writes about identity theft for IdentityTheft.net. She can be reached at: jacelyn.thomas @ gmail.com.

Growth of Real Estate Sector: Forging Ahead

Real Estate Sector has gained much popularity in the recent times and it is expected to grow at a pace of 30 percent annually. Moreover, the raising sector has greatly influenced the growth of four metropolitan cities of India ensuring to provide real estate opportunities to all investors and buyers. At present, there has been a huge demand for the properties in chennai that includes both commercial and residential. Also, chennai is one of the enticing cities of India capable to do outsourcing business to a great extent.

Importance of Real Estate Agents

The Central & State Government has been making continuous change in the infrastructure of the city and they are planning to acquire new infrastructure. With the arrival of IT companies such as Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Wipro, the real estate sector in Chennai is expected to get great returns to the investors. In order to help out in selecting the Chennai properties, people should get help from any of the real estate agents available in the market. Getting a dream home with budget constraints is not an easy task as it involves more research of the properties.

Popular Areas in Chennai

Usually, these real estate agents will show many apartments, flats, upcoming constructions to the people and you can select according to your requirement. The price budget of the Chennai properties will mainly depend on the area or the location. Some of the popular areas include Mahabalipuram, Medavakkam, Anna Nagar, Besant Nagar and much more. If you buy apartments in Chennai, then it
is sure that you will become a rich person in the near future.

More People Invest in Chennai Properties

Subsequently, modern constructions, emerging condominiums, skycrapers have started to alter the shape of the real estate Chennai. Also, the apartments in Chennai holds a wide range of features such as swimming pools, parks, gym, reserved car parking and much more. Even the foreign developers are showing valuable interest in the Chennai real estate properties and they have placed
successful partnership with them.

Support Offered by Banks

Now, the banks have started to offer loans at easy installments, flexible payments and buying homes are just an easy process. If you are still confused, then you can check over the apartments in online and that is possible with the help of real estate agents. As software professionals earn handsome salaries, they mainly prefer to stay in luxurious lifestyles and enjoy all time. According to few reports, it is noted that the people feel more comfortable to pay the loan installments for their own apartments rather than the monthly rent.

It is sure that the ITES and BPO industries are the main reasons for this boom in the real estate market in Chennai. This development has led to the construction of many shopping malls, hotels, schools, colleges and much more. Therefore, people should take a wise decision to buy a property in Chennai and experience the real value within a quick period of time.

Finding Properties For Sale Or Rent Is Easy

In general, the real estate sector in India is prepared to take a big leap in the coming years after a slow stabilization. Also, the property markets have started to show an inclination towards a constant economic growth. Moreover, recession period has taught a valuable lesson to the strategies of the real estate and it is sure that all developers, investors, buyers are ready to face a kind of challenges in
the future. Subsequently, development of real estate sector has showed positive signs in both residential and commercial properties.

Details of the Prospects of Real Estate Sector

According to few reports, it is estimated that there will be shortage of houses amounting to 26, 53 million by the end of 2013 ensuring to offer large amount of investment opportunities. At present, real estate is one of the great businesses that enable the people to get more income than ever before. People buy houses or apartments for an investment and after sometime they sell it for a high price rate. It is sure that you will be benefited in this real estate business and there are many effective ways to sell your property.

Main Tips for Selling your Property

As a seller, you have to be eager to earn money as well you should follow few steps all times. The best way to sell your property is by the way of advertising your home in any of the communication media such as newspapers, magazines and so on. Also, people can get instant response if you place your ads in any of the online websites. Generally, many people will post their property ads in online and hence it is essential to effectively market your house.

Take a Front View Picture of your House

When people search in internet for an ideal home, they would first check over the photos of the house and contact details. Taking a colorful photograph of your house would definitely attract more buyers you purchase them immediately. Make sure that you take the best angle of your home while taking photographs and just focus only on house as it will highlight the full beauty.

Create Virtual Tours

If the buyers are interested to look your house, then fix a date with them for a virtual tour. Usually, these types of tours help them to see all the rooms and also enable to calculate the distance. It is imperative to know that this method is one of the best ways to promote your home for sale as well attracts more potential buyers.

Conclusion

Apart from this, putting your house for sale in MLS would definitely help you to sell your house easily. Thus, the above tips will be useful to people who are planning to sell their house in the near future. Remember, to list your house in a number of websites as it gives 100% assurance to your valuable property. Investing in real estate would always fetch great returns and so make a wise
decision now itself.

Tips To Win At Property Auctions

Property auctions can be a great way to get a steal on your dream property, but the atmosphere is very competitive and cut throat. Before you get involved, you need to do your research and attend as many auctions as you can before jumping in. Here’s how…

Buying Auction Properties

Buying property at auction is a great way to get a steal on a property that you love. It’s also a very competitive environment where everyone wants to be a winner and he who bids highest wins. It’s an easy way to get your hopes up, only to see them destroyed. Before you get too involved in a property auction, do your research and follow the bit of advice imparted below to get what you expect out of an auction.

Do Your Research

It’s already been mentioned, but it really is that important. If you’ve never been to a single property auction before, do a lot of research. Make sure you know what you’re getting yourself into before you go in and have all your hopes crushed when you’re outbid on what looks like your dream home. Read books, check out websites and go to absolutely every auction that you can before you jump in head first and start bidding. The competitive environment isn’t for everyone, and it would be nice to know that before you put everything you have into auctions.

Watch For Under-quoted Properties

Agents routinely list their auction homes at about 20% below their actual value. They do it in order to get people to the actual auction, but this trap ends up with people spending money on inspections for houses they can’t possibly afford. Basically, if you can’t afford to spend 20% more than the price you see listed, walk away from the auction.

Be Ready For Competition

Auctions are always competitive, and everyone is there to win. Don’t get your hopes too far up, or you might see them crushed very quickly. You’ll often see bidding frenzies happen when someone’s too emotionally invested in a home, or when their ego won’t let them be beaten.

Don’t Forget The Horror Stories

There could be very serious problems with auction homes. They’re at auction because they didn’t sell for whatever reason, so you never know what you may run into when you finally do win the auction. It’s best to be prepared for anything.

Research!

Do your research on the area you’re looking into buying into. Check out the value and prices of homes that have recently sold, and pull up the information on comparable properties in the area. This can help you avoid overbidding. It’s not worth winning an auction if you’re just going to start out in debt with no chance of profit.

If time is a problem, or you’d like to have your research and figures double checked, consider hiring an experienced valuer. This costs a few hundred dollars on average, but could be well worth it by saving your thousands of dollars off your purchase price. Once you’ve figured out the value of the home, you can determine the point in the bidding where you will walk away from the bidding and look into something new.

If, for any reason, you doubt that you’re disciplined enough to do this, by all means have someone with no emotional attachment to the home to do it for you. It will prevent you from overbidding on the home and wasting a large sum of money.

Also, you need to be sure that you have all of your inspections done and the money already lined up when you buy at auction. There is no cooling off and any agreement to buy at auction is unconditional – once you’ve won the bid, there is no turning back. You can get a steal at auction, but you can also very quickly find out you’ve been taken. By following these tips, you’ll minimise your chances of losing money at property auctions.

This article was written by William from homeloanfinder.com.au. Visit HomeLoanFinder for a range of articles and guides on mortgages, property investment and home loan interest rates.

Rental Property Report for March 2010

This post is an update on my rental property in Philadelphia. In this section, I talk about my landlord experience – the good, the bad, and the ugly. All my posts that are related to the rental property can be found in the Rental Property section, including the bad tenant saga series).

In March, I had to fix a small water damage in the ceiling on the second floor of the house. The heavy snowfall during the winter caused a part of the roof to leak and the water ruined the interior part of the ceiling in the child’s bedroom.

I called up my usual contractor to check up on an estimate for repair. He quoted $150 on the phone, but after he looked at the damage in person, he said that the price would be $500. My real estate property manager had recommended another guy, and his price was $200. Since I am on a tight budget, I hired the cheaper guy.

Last month, the roof repair cost $350 and this month the ceiling repair cost $200, for a total of $550. Repair costs add up quick.

Monthly Income and Expenses for March 2010 [PDF link]

 

 

Do you have a bad tenant or a bad landlord? Share your landlord/tenant stories with us.

Rental Property Report for February 2010

This post is an update on my rental property in Philadelphia. In this section, I talk about my landlord experience – the good, the bad, and the ugly. All my posts that are related to the rental property can be found in the Rental Property section, including the bad tenant saga series).

Roof Repair

My real estate property manager, Earl called and reported that there was a small leak on the roof of my house. He said that Philadelphia had tons of snow and the amount of snow caused a lot of roofs to leak. He told me that the problem should be addressed as soon as possible before more rain or snow comes.

I told him to get some quotes for different roofers. He called me back and said that he check with several roofers. He recommended a roofer that lives a few doors down by him. He said that he had hired him and he did a great job on his roof.

As for the price, he claimed he checked with several roofers and they charged $500 – 600, but the roofer he recommended charged $450. He said that he negotiated the price with him and brought it down to $350. Another $350 out of my pockets. So I gave him the green signal to go with the roofer he recommended.

Water Bills

The water bills are in my name. Usually I would pay the water bills first and then send copies of the bill to the tenant. The tenant had not been proactively paying the water bills. They sent me a few checks and the amounts are different from the amounts due on the bills. I had no idea where they would come up with the numbers.

I create a spreadsheet that detailed the water bill charges and the amounts that they had paid. The total water bill charges came out to $589.69 and the total amount I had received from them was $283.00. The difference was $306.69. I sent them a copy of the spreadsheet and copies of all the water bills.

Billing Date    Water Bill Charges
7/15/2009    71.99
8/18/2009    75.32
9/16/2009    80.09
10/16/2009    80.09
11/17/2009    75.32
12/15/2009    70.55
1/15/2010    70.55
2/16/2010    65.78
Total     $589.69

Date    Tenant Paid Amount
10/16/2009    102.00
10/16/2009    40.00
12/17/2009    81.00
2/1/2010    60.00
Total     $283.00

NET     $(306.69)

Overcharge from Property Manager

My property manager, Earl charges a percentage of the rent for his services. He would usually deduct the amount from the rent check and send me another check, less his fees. The monthly rent is $900 and the property management fee is 6%, which comes out to $54.

For this month, my tenant had also made an check of $60 for water payment. So the total amount paid to me was $960. Earl had taken a 6% cut of the entire amount of $960, instead of only the rent amount of $900. In other words, he had charged a fee on the water bill, which he should not have done. He had charged a total of $57.60, an overcharge of $3.60. Granted the overcharge was small, but I was not happy with the sneaky tactics.

I called and told him that I had noticed an extra charge on his services for the same rent amount. And I said that we had agreed that the property management fee is a percentage of the rent check, excluding the water payments. He said yes. When I told him that he had overcharged me on the fees, he said that he was human and he would make mistakes too. He asked if it was only a few dollars. I said yes and then I said that I would let it go.

Monthly Income and Expenses for February 2010


Do you have a bad tenant or a bad landlord. Share your landlord/tenant stories with us.

Rental Property Report for January 2010

This post is an update on my rental property in Philadelphia. In this section, I talk about my landlord experience – the good, the bad, and the ugly. All my posts that are related to the rental property can be found in the Rental Property section, including the bad tenant saga series).

In January, I did not receive any calls from my property manager, Earl. This is usually a good sign. The rent check came in the beginning of the month and the rest of the month was quiet. I wish for more of these months.

Rental Property Report for January 2010

Rental Property Update for Year 2009

In the beginning of year 2009, the bad tenants drama that started in year 2008 continued in 2009. My bad tenants had not been paying for rent and were not willing to leave the house. Worse, they had wreaked havoc in the house and in my landlord experience.

Fortunately, after many struggles, I got rid of the bad tenants by the end of March. The house was in a terrible condition. The carpets were ruined, the walls had holes in them, the windows were smashed, and the doors were dented. And that was only half the story. (more…)