For years, creative defaulting homeowners and their attorneys have thrown up a phalanx of new and old defenses to slow down the foreclosure process. The best defense has always been to live in a “judicial foreclosure” state where the court system must be invoked by the lender in order to take back a property for…
Some might think me crazy, being a person whose livelihood depends largely on commerce in real estate. But it has to be acknowledged! There is an opportunity cost to being a homeowner. I have been a homeowner since I got out of school and found a seller crazy enough to owner finance my first home…
Long gone are the venerable days when you hired an attorney for $1,000 and he actually visited the courthouse to search title to the property you were buying. The closing industry has become so competitive that most settlement fees are 1/3rd to 1/2 what they were 50 years ago! Attorneys had a monopoly in Virginia…
Ever since the knee jerk reaction to the crash of Oh Eight, self-employed borrowers have often been intimidated away from the mortgage application process. Despite self-employed (the “gig economy”) vocations growing as a market segment, Fear and trepidation have caused a significant 10 year drop off of self-employed applications for home loans. Dodd-Frank, the 900…
It’s not often that we reprint in whole another blogger’s post. But Attorney Elizabeth Kayser is a part of our loose affiliation of attorneys who collaborate to make us all better at doing battle with stubborn lenders. This post from Elizabeth, though written based on her experience and law practice which spans several states in…
Yes and No! Dying does relieve you personally from having to ever pay another penny for your Timeshare or another maintenance fee. However, your heirs may not appreciate the fact that your estate remains liable for these sorts of contractual obligations and it may affect the legacy that you leave to the next generation. It…
While our beloved Commonwealth of Virginia prides itself on keeping up with the Joneses in all matters of E-Commerce, we have taken more of a “wait and see” attitude toward the most electronic of closing technologies. Naturally, big states with fewer Notary Publics per square mile would need to take the lead on electronic notarizations. …
My closing attorney never required wires from me in the past, why does he require a wire now? Why can’t I give him a cashier’s check? Don’t take it personally. The wire is becoming the soul source of funding because it is the fastest way to deposit money that is available in the shortest time. …
Among the more common “creative financing” alternatives in Virginia are the “Contract for Deed”, or “Land Contract”, and the “Land Trust”. Creative financing often becomes necessary when you have a Seller very motivated to Sell, but who who has very little equity and does not want to do a Short Sale or rent the house…
This year’s (11-8-16!!) ballot has the potential to be a little more complex than usual. In my city there is a referendum on Light Rail, a question on exempting widows of First Responders killed in the line of duty from real estate taxes, and a constitutional amendment on keeping Virginia a “Right to Work”…
