Holy cow what happened Gail?

Jana

I'm sure you are well intentioned, Gail, but I think you're going to get some push-back from RElib readers on most of these directions.  I see quite a bit of room in most of them for gray areas.  

Example:  #5 regarding occupation/possession of the property after escrow.  Unless a particular contract was previously agreed to by all parties which allowed the Seller to remain on/in the property until 3 or more days after close.  

Perhaps if just needs further descriptives of the situation you are trying to warn us about.   But, what you have stated would not allow the Seller in OREGON to stay in possession beyond the agreed to possession date and time.   Not for 1 hour or 1 day, let alone 3.

Or, perhaps I AM missing the point, which is totally possible!   It's hot here in Oregon today that old Sun might be interfering with my common sense!

Cool, Gail.  Not trying to be a thorn in your side.  Just thought maybe all your suggestions might be kind of, "To increase your enjoyment at closing you might think about these items and make sure that you are comfortable with each situation in general...", rather than, "NEVER DO THESE".

Nice post, Gail.  

Here in Michigan most occupancy rates start on the day of closing, I normally keep 1 and 1/2 times the agreed upon rate and days in escrow lately I have been having a problem with broom cleaned condition so I am keeping a $350 clean out deposit also for my buyers.

I have worried about highlighting parts of the PA with my initial here sign here stamps, I am working on that.

In Michigan a married man can not buy real estate without his wifes acknowledgement, married women can do it all day long.

Contingency deadlines we allways want extended if we need to, in our market we do not want buyers able to walk free and clear.

Real estate's local and of course the instructions will vary state to state, locale to locale.

However, Gail's message was not lost on me . . . it's simple:

PAY ATTENTION. :)

CANDICE!

Thanks for being there for those of us with adult Attention Deficit Disorder! LOL

WARNING: If they won't present ID --- stop!

I appreciate the other warnings up above, but so many times we take it for granted that we know we are dealing with, when we really don't!

I once had a man introduce himself as "Howard" but when he wanted me to write up the contract, he said to write it up under the name of "Jackie Robinson."   I said, "Isn't that a dead baseball player?"   He said, "I can find 5 other agents to write it up that way."   I replied, "Well, fine go get one of them, but I won't until I see some ID."

Of course he didn't have it.  And long story short, he was charging a finder's fee (illegal commission), writing up deals in a bogus name, and flipping them into a Rent To Own Deal, and take off with all the money.  Total fraud.  We (my BIC and I at the time) reported him to the SEC and FBI....

Get this he was an ex-Panthers football player, who was actually physically threatening other agents on these deals.

Now I know to ID everyone.   Lot's of weird stuff going on out there!

LOL Tim, stick wit me I'll keep you focused!

Lori, that is just scary and very worth mentioning . . . whenever they do the high pressure "other agents will" that means another agent SHOULD (or no agent should, as the case may be) . . .

WARNING!:  If the preliminary title report shows that the husband (or  wife) has a Death Certificate filed in any public records, you probably have need for concern!

Don't scoff at me!   This happened to me last year!   A nice lady called me from far off Las Vegas, saying she and her hubby wanted to buy a home here in Portland, Oregon.  I never spoke with the husband. I hooked the wife up with a lender here and we were off and running.  They had funds in the bank (CDs) and got thru the loan pre-approval process.

The wife found a property online, I visited it, and sent them lots of photos and a video-CD of the house.  And they made a "sight-unseen" offer which was accepted.   They hired an inspector, etc., and we were moving to close quickly.

But the prelim title report showed that the husband had died 6 months prior to her contacting me...  Funds were in limbo and a fight was ensuing in probate over distribution to heirs...

Bye-bye, deal!

Oh Lordy! There are so many risk reduction techniques we all need to use. If not risk reduction, time and grief reduction.

I sent Shelly a 'thought' to do a post on that very thing . . . perhaps Phil or Gail should! Someone should!  :)

Gail, if you want to hear more, I strongly suggest taking the ABR course. You'll get the fear of God put in you . . . changes the way you do business.  

Who would have ever thought to compare the handwriting of the signatures on a contract?  My clients were buying from a Father / Daughter ownership of an investment property.  The day before closing, the title company contacts me to notify me that the Father never signed the contract (or the listing) and is just finding out that the house is for sale and under contract, and that the daughter had signed his name for him.  (They were in the middle of a dispute over $$ at the time.) After reviewing the details with the title company, and a 3 day delay, he decided to go forward with the sale - and waited in the lobby for his cut of the proceeds.  And... his daughter was the listing agent!!  At least my clients had a happy ending (getting the property).

Hopefully bumping this back to the top, because I think in the last few months, more and more fraud is happening.   Agents should be forewarned again about some of these scams.

The big deal here in Charlotte now is non-disclosed bonuses.  Beazer homes paid millions to Realty Place (located primarily in the malls) to bring them buyers, and no one disclosed it.  Both are out of business now.  

Been tons of mortgage fraud discovered all over the board too.   And many a good agent is being taken down by these deals where they don't follow their gut or do their homework.  Sometimes the money is just not worth it folks!

many of the things mentioned here don't apply to us in Illinois ... we don't have escrows and what's more important, the paperwork is done by attorneys (other than writing up the offer, getting the contracts signed and taking listing contracts). But there's still a plenty of room to screw up.