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Thank you for taking the time to visit my web site. Over the
13 years
that I have been in the Real Estate industry, actively selling property and
meeting a tremendous amount of wonderful people, I have had some truly great
experiences.
I will be using this page to tell you some of those experiences, in the hope
that you will find some of the information useful in your Real Estate
transactions someday.
I put together my own little hand book for home buyers
a many years ago, before it became popular to write
books on how to buy your first home. I still give it to all of my clients
today. I
put this book together after I had finished showing property to a client one afternoon and
received the following message from the buyer later that day. "Ray tell the seller of that second
home you showed us that we want to buy his home for a hundred and fifty thousand
dollars". I called them back and said great, when do you want to get
together so we can write up the contract. My client said "I don't want to
write anything up, just call him and tell him what I will pay and we'll open
escrow".
I realized then that the Real Estate business is something that the
typical buyer only comes in contact with once, twice, and possibly three times in their
lifetime. The home buying process is very foreign to everyone, especially
the first time homebuyer. However, it is not limited to the first time
home buyer! I have worked with many clients that have bought homes in the
past, and yet when I have sold them a home or sold their home for them, I hear
the same thing. When I bought my other home no one took the time to
explain these things to me the way you have.
In our business it is important to continue to learn, not only from
institutions, but from every source of knowledge that is available to
us. One such source is the Sunday Real Estate section of The Los Angeles
Times. There is an article published each week, which is written by Robert
Bruss, who is the author of the California Real Estate law book. This book
is used as a text book in the community colleges in California. He
responds to actual letters from readers that have questions regarding Real
Estate. You will find his column very interesting and informative. I
do not always agree with everything he has to say, but he will publish rebuttals
to his suggestions.
TIP # 1
I'll leave you with one little suggestion. If you are purchasing a
home, always try to schedule your final walkthrough of the property as close to the
close of escrow as possible. The final walkthrough is not a contingency of
sale, however, if you find a problem you still have the ability to call escrow
and tell them you do not want to fund your loan or record until the seller has
remedied the situation.
Example: I sold a beautiful home to a couple that had an interior with
many pretty decorator touches. the sellers were moving back east as part
of a relocation package. The sellers in this instance actually deed the
property over to their relocation company and the buyer actually completes the
purchase with the relocation company in escrow.
When we initially saw the home and wrote the purchase contract their were no
exclusions, such as window treatments or ceiling fans. window treatments
are listed in the contract as a fixture, however I always hand write that all
window treatments and valances are to be included in the purchase.
When I write up my purchase contracts I always stipulate that my final
walkthrough will be the day before close of escrow. I called the listing
agent of the property to schedule our final walkthrough and to get a key for the
property because the seller was moving out of state the day before and the home
would already be vacant.
When I met the buyers at the house that day the home was vacant and to our
surprise the sellers had taken all of the valences in the home and only left
mini blinds for the buyers. I explained to my buyers that they had one
recourse at that time and that was to call escrow company and tell them not to
record the transaction. The seller, in this instance the relocation
company, does not receive the funds for the sale until it is recorded. I
then called the listing agent on the property and told her what the seller had
done. She was as surprised as we were and told me that she had discussed
the valances with the seller personally. She then called the relocation
company and told them we had a problem. The relocation company gave my
buyers a credit for five hundred dollars to buy new valances.
The California Real Estate purchase contract is pre written with a
walkthrough scheduled five days prior to close of escrow. If my clients had done their
walkthrough then they would not have received their valences or a credit from the
relocation company. The fact is that after the property has recorded, your
most likely course of action to remedy this type of problem is small claims
court.
Thank you, I hope that you found this very important tip helpful.
If you would like to receive a copy of my homebuyers handbook, or if I can
help answer any of your Real Estate questions, please feel free to send your
questions to me below.
