Roberta Williams

Tax Liens and Foreclosures, a little knowledge is dangerously confusing

Roberta Williams — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 15:21:00 GMT

Let me preface this by saying, I have not bought a lien yet or a foreclosure, I have gone through the motions (after making peace with myself that it can be done ethically, a topic worth a separate post). I have talked to people at city hall who have, to instuctors, but I find the whole process daunting.

After taking several courses on tax liens (Illiinois is a lien state), I came away with the knowledge that successfully purchasing a tax lien (meaning the owner did not heed further notifications to pay)-any outstanding mortgage the owner has, is forgiven by the bank, and not assumed by the owner who purchased the property with the tax lien. A lot of people don't know this, and refuse to believe it. Tax liens take precedence over mortgages.

The problem I found is researching liens that are not forgiven, like environmental liens-and also assuring that the property you plan to purchase really exists-only by actually going to city hall to look up records and driving to the property and seeing it can you be sure, that part is easy. Tedious, but important.

Now here is my burning question, why take the risk to buy a foreclosed property? When you go to a foreclosure auction, you do not know if the tax lien was purchased unless you hve researched the property before hand. So if you buy a foreclosed property and thereby agree to pay the bank-you have just made the bank happy, but will not own the property if the tax lien was purchased (got this from a foreclosure class that takes you to auctions and shows you how to research at city hall).

So, my concluson is tax liens is a cleaner way to purchase property. However, the research involved in finding a property is huge-I would only buy over-the-counter after researching-not at a tax sale auction since Chicago has a bid-down procedure.

I know states vary-but I also know that many of you have more real life experience here, not from classes. My husband teases that I need a PhD before I try something... Interested in your feedback!

Just Got a Call

Roberta Williams — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 20:36:00 GMT

Hi Everyone,

I just got a call from Real Estate Client Referral (recr.com)-it sounds too good to be true-they have a client they just spoke to who (they capture clients from a seaarch engine then call to screen to see if they are working with a realtor) who wants to sell their 3bed/3bath home and buy another one in one of my Point2Agent Neighborhoods. They do not want a referral fee just a flat $99 to give me the client info. If it falls through, they will keep my $99 and look for more clients. I normally say no thank you to this type of call-but I wanted to know if anyone else has worked with them??

What are the magic words to get sellers to invest in staging?

Roberta Williams — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 14:15:00 GMT

Hi Everyone,

I am a Realtor who also stages, in Chicago. I would love to hear what your stories are.

I am frustrated that most Realtors agree that staging works, and sellers even agree, in principal, so why the hesitation? As a Realtor-I explain that staging costs less than your first price reduction; I understand that out-of-pocket money to pay for staging is more tangible than money lost in a price reduction (similar to cash out of your wallet vs using credit), do you think that is it? Also, I think a lot of sellers are resisting market prices now-so it is a tall order to ask to lower their price expectations and to invest in staging, maybe that is it.

Yet I know that if they want to sell and get the best price in the shortest amount of time, staging almost invariably works. I staged a vacant property last month and a contract was written from the very first showing. The seller had invested $2000 in rental furniture for 3 month contract-everyone was delighted, initially, then the seller wanted a refund due to the fact that a contract came so quickly(!). Overall, though, this was a success. This seller was relocating and needed to sell in 1 month. It was the lowest priced, best looking condo in the building.

My experience has been, after staging, the seller is happier with a faster sale, you are happy with a faster, and possibly higher commission, and the buyer is happy to really see the property potential and their new home. Please share your experiences. There must be a way to make a light bulb turn on, so there is more ease in the decision to stage. I have heard that certain areas Realtors automatically include staging in marketing plans. To quote Dr. Phil, "how's that working for you?"

Mentally-preparing-homes-for-sale-always,

Bobbi

Realtors who Stage...

Roberta Williams — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 12:06:00 GMT

Hi,

I am one of them, and I don't do it casually. When I discovered staging I incorporated to add it as a service to my clients. In fact, I think I am a stager who has a job as a Realtor. I wanted to know how many of you have found that staging made a difference in market time? My personal experience is when the buyer has a positive emotional reaction and can see the room potentially as their own, more Realtors bring buyers and buyers are quicker to buy. I make the time to stage, because the transformation is positive and so worth the effort. Statistics are growing to support this.

I was fortunate enough to have a room I staged on the recent cover of the July Realtor magazine. In fact, you can see me and my husband staging in the video clip online at realtor.org. What I really want to know is are there other Realtors out there who believe that real estate is essentially a "quality of life" business? What we broker is that huge concept of "home" and nothing captures that better than the impact of staging. My sense is there are a lot of Realtors who are beginning to see this, but the majority are in the transaction trenches without the time to think about it. What do you think?

Any advice on attorney woes?

Roberta Williams — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 13:17:00 GMT

When I took this listing it was for a $174,000 condo in my building (why is it that the lower-priced properties seem to have so many issues? at least that has been my experience) the sellers tried to lower my commission by 2 points, but I stood my ground. Perhaps I should have taken that as an indication of what would come. I staged the unit for them, it was painted, new carpeting. We received a contract in less than 60 days. The offer was for $169,000 with 100% financing and $1,000 earnest money with a closing almost 60 days out. I mentioned to the seller that $1,000 down was not a lot for such a long wait for closing. That's when the problems began. They took it to their attorney straight away. The seller's wife told me the attorney "was like a son to her". This attorney suggested a contingency contract in which I would continue to show the property but if another offer comes through the buyer would have to come up with $4,000;spoke to me for the first time for less than 5 minutes and yelled he was not going to explain it to me, with an expletive, and hung up. I was stunned. I told the sellers about the exchange and from that point on the attorney did not communicate with me. He killed the deal eventually by crossing out the buyer's request for condo docs. The the sellers shifted into overly emotional blame-finding. I decided to not renew with them and told them 1 week before my expiration I did all I could, suggested another realtor, they were not happy. So guess what? In that week we got another contract. The closing date has been delayed twice. My communication has been with the sellers by e-mail, who are not going to closing. I e-mailed the settlement sheet to the attorney and the realtor. The realtor for the seller said she would be happy to pick up my check for me if I cannot attend closing and we can make arrangments for the buyer to get the keys. What do you think ? Should I go and deal with this attorney? I have other closings that may conflict-so this may be a non-issue.