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WHEN do you get keys???

12/20/2015

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Upcoming Free (& non-promotional) Home Buyer Classes: 

Saturday January 9th , from 9am-12pm (ish)
       Marshall Community Center, conference room
       1009 E. McLoughlin Blvd, Vancouver WA (kitty corner from Clark College)

Thursday night, January 14th , from 5pm-8pm (ish)
       Marshall Community Center, conference room
       1009 E. McLoughlin Blvd, Vancouver WA (kitty corner from Clark College)

Saturday, January 23rd, from 11am-2pm (ish)
        Vancouver YMCA, conference room
        11324 NE 51st Circle, Vancouver WA (corner of SR500 & Gher Road/112th Ave)

If these class dates and/or times don't work for you, please let us know.  We understand that you have lives, and families, and work.  We will work something out that works better with your schedule.  Just let us know....                                                                                  
....we also have home seller classes available too...link on left on website
                  
Remember...with reservation...we will throw in lunch, or dinner!  :-D
~~~~~~~~~
                                                                    

Hi!  Happy Sunday afternoon, and Merry Christmas!!  :-)

 Thank you everyone who came to the 2015 Winter Client Appreciation Event yesterday for Star Wars: The force awakens. That was a BLAST, and the movie was fantastic!!   Seriously, if haven't seen the new Star Wars yet, and you liked the originals....GO SEE IT!  We love hosting the client appreciation events. I think next spring we are going to try something different though... we are thinking about having 2 smaller events. This would be offering everyone a choice of a movie event....a family movie (G rated Pixar/Disney), or a 'date night' movie...(PG/PG 13 maybe Batman vs Superman). Whereas Star Wars we had seating for 400, and FILLED it (wow!), these two movies next spring would be about 150 in each theater so a bit smaller venues.  Thoughts?  We do these for you, so I would be interested in your feedback.  :-)
grin emoticon
That being said.... I received a text that the led light inside the little lightsabers got too hot on one of them. The little light sabers were purchased from Oriental Trading, Co, and we don't want to take any chances, so please take out the batteries (they're brand new duracells). Use the batteries for your christmas presents this week,and please THROW the little lightsabers AWAY. I have only had the one text, but as always, better safe than sorry....


Ok....on to this weeks home adventure topic....WHEN do you get keys?


 As I say in the home buyer classes, real estate in Washington state is NOT like HGTV.  You do not get to sit around a table with the sellers to sign documents, and then immediately get keys.  Washington tends to be more conservative when dealing with the transfer of property.  In October of this year we also had new rules (TRID) implemented which changes it up a bit more.


Once the appraisal has been completed (remember, you won't be at the appraisal and neither, most likely, will your agent as we are not 'supposed' to have contact with the appraiser), the appraiser will turn her/his appraisal of the property you are buying into your lender.  Your lender will send you a copy of the appraisal.  Assuming the appraisal comes in at purchase value (or more), and the appraiser calls out no other repairs, your lender will send your completed file to the underwriters.  The underwriters will look over your file and most likely, come back requesting more, or updated, information.  You, the buyer, will provide that information to your lender (even if you have already given it to your lender 2 or 3 times before...it's crazy, we know), and your lender will send that information to the underwriters for review.  You are in final underwriting. At this point the underwriters 'should' come back with (hopefully, if you did what you were supposed to, and your lender did what they were supposed to) an approval.  At this point, your file should go to the closing department for docs...you're almost there...kind of.  Docs take around 24 hours as you go in a que where everything has to be looked over...again.  The new law states that you, the buyer, must receive a copy of your loan information to review for 2 days before you can sign so you will get an email.  You must open this email AND acknowledge receipt by actually going through the email and responding accordingly.  IF you DON'T do this, then you can't sign to close on your home.  The new law means YOU MUST do this.  Once the 2 day waiting period has passed (remember you opened the email and acknowledged receipt by following instructions), you can sign at the title company.  The title company will call you for an appointment to sign WHEN THEY GET THE DOCS.  The title company won't set up an appointment until they get the docs from your lenders closing department.  The title company will also let you know how much money (if any) to bring to signing.  This money will need to be in the form of a cashiers check made out to the title company, and don't forget your state ID or license, and one other form of ID.  


   At the title company you are signing for acceptance of the loan, and the property.  Once you have signed, you will receive a copy of everything you have signed....and be sent on your way.  YOU ARE NOT DONE YET.....do NOT go buy anything for your home yet.  JUST DON'T DO IT!   The sellers will sign separately, releasing interest in the home.  


   Once you, and the sellers have signed, all the documents go back to the underwriters for review. The underwriters can, at this time, pull credit, check jobs, ect, and they will look over the file again.  Once they have approved your file, and the closing documents, the underwriters/loaning company will approve funding.  At this time your lender may call you to congratulate you, but yeah....you guessed it, you STILL aren't done....yet.  Once your loan has funded, the title company now has the ok to send your file to the county for recording.  Recording happens at the county courthouse (monday through friday) around 11am & 4pm.  If your funding happened before 1pm, you could record between 3pm-5pm that same day....but if it happened after....it could be the next day either in the late morning, or afternoon.  Once the county records the property into YOUR name...this is closing.  The title company will contact your agent to let us know it has recorded, and we will call you to set up a time to get you KEYS!  This is closing....the property is now recorded, with the county, in your name, as the new homeowner.  NOW you can go shopping!  :-D


From signing to getting keys is about 1 or 2 business days.  Sometimes it can take longer, but that is because there is something else going on there....work to confirm repaired?  Or wanting to close on a certain day?  Once you sign though, those docs are only good for a short window of time...usually only a couple of days.  If you don't record in that period of time...all bets are off...and you go back to getting NEW docs.  No one likes that...  


  There is so much happening behind the scenes that you are usually not aware of.  There are 28 people involved in the purchase/sale of a home...some like you like your lender, and your agent...and some are gremlins who live under the banks...  *cough* underwriters *cough*  The key to remember is that we all work FOR you.  Questions?  Please contact me anytime...  :-)
  

        Information is power, and I hope that I am able to help you.  Good luck, and as always...May the odds be ever in your favor out there....  AND If you are looking for a real estate agent, I would love to be able to help you.                                                                       

 
    As always....this is just a quick overview.... please remember that your agent, and your lender work for YOU.  You drive the bus...we are merely GPS to help you get to your goals.  Like the classes, this weekly blog email is to help you with your home adventure.  The goal is to be informative and non-promotional.  :-)  We are, however, hoping you will call and want us to help with your adventure.  

If you have any questions about this, or something you have heard...or if you would like me to help you with your home adventure, please call, email,  text, or facebook me anytime.  I am, as always, happy to help!
 
Thank you again for your business and your referrals!!  ...and thank you for referring these classes to your friends, family, and co-workers. 
 
 .   ..disclaimer...if you have already purchased a home, or would no longer like to receive these emails, please let me know and I will be happy to remove you from any further mailings... 
 
 
Upcoming Topics:  Septic vs Sewer & What is 'escrow'?  

Last Week:   Homebuyer FAQ's...  Starting point or refresher                    
Have a great day, and I will talk to you soon,   
;-D   
Tracie DeMars   
Real Estate broker    
Re/Max - Van Mall   
360/ 903-3504 cell   
360/ 882-3600 fax   
www.traciedemars.com   
traciedemars@aol.com   
    
“Interested in free and non promotional home buyer classes?  Go to www.traciedemars.com  for local upcoming classes, or facebook: Tracie DeMars Real Estate for my home buyer education blog.  Classes are now available for home owners thinking about selling their home.  Links are on the left."


"Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me... Anything can happen, child. Anything can be."    
   - Shel Silverstein, American poet, cartoonist and composer, (1930 - 1999).

​

0 Comments

Homebuyer FAQ's ...  good starting point or refresher

12/2/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Upcoming Free (& non-promotional) Home Buyer Classes: 

Saturday, December 5th , from 9am-12pm (ish) 
       Marshall Community Center, conference room 
       1009 E. McLoughlin Blvd, Vancouver WA (kitty corner from Clark College)

Monday night, December 14th , from 5pm-8pm (ish) 
       Marshall Community Center, conference room 
       1009 E. McLoughlin Blvd, Vancouver WA (kitty corner from Clark College)


Saturday December 19th , from 9am-12pm (ish)
       Vancouver YMCA
       11324 NE 51st Circle, Vancouver WA (SR 500 & 112th/Gher Road)


**please remember that in November & December we do limited classes because of the holidays.  If these class dates and/or times don't work for you, please let us know.  We understand that you have lives, and families, and work.  We will work something out that works better with your schedule.  Just let us know....                                                                                  
....we also have home seller classes available too...link on left on website
                  

Remember...with reservation...we will throw in lunch, or dinner!  :-D
~~~~~~~~~
                                                                    

   I know...I have to keep reminding you about our WINTER CLIENT APPRECIATION event will be held on Saturday, December 19, 2015, for the Opening Weekend of STAR WARS: The force awakens.  The event will be held from 2:30pm-5:30pm, with seating to start at 2:45pm.  
Because this is expected to be a pretty big event, Chris Berg (Pinnacle Mortgage 503-320-0295,cberg@pcmloan.com), & I are also renting out the top living room portion for 21+....and yes, there will be tickets this time that we will have available for pick up at the Pinnacle Mortgage office with Chris.  We are taking reservations now, so please...if you plan on attending let us know how many tickets you need.  The 21+ area is now full, and we only have a few left for the general seating area.  We look forward to seeing you there!!  :-D



Happy whatever day of the week it is.....


  At this point I think I have lost the days of the week....ever have that happen to you?  My husband had to go out of town for work for a couple of days this week, and that always throws me off.  Also,there is the fact that I will be out of town next week.  You can still get a hold of me with any questions you have by email, text, phone, or facebook (since I will just be standing in line), but I won't physically be in town next week.  If you see a home you love, and want to see (and it can't wait for me to get back), just let me know and I will set that up for you to see it.  I have a couple of agents/friends who we take care of each other while the other wants to get away so I got you covered if a home comes up that you need to/want to see while I am gone.  When you're self-employed it's harder to get away, but there are times when you need to do so.  :-) 


   So, this week I had a clients father send me some questions.  They are excellent questions, and ones that come up quite frequently, and while we cover them in the classes, it is also a good refresher, and/or starting point as well.  Please do not hesitate to call or text me with any questions.  I am, as always, here to help!!

(1)  Is it mandatory to include insurance and real estate tax in the monthly mortgage payment? If not, what are the agent's recommendations?
       It used to be quite common for people going with a conventional loan to not include homeowners (aka hazard) insurance & property taxes as part of their payment, however, since the crash most lenders I know do insist on having those payments held in escrow as part of the mortgage payment.  I find it's easier to just make one payment and let it all get paid out of the escrow account.

(2) How deeply should we need to be involved with a bank before we make an offer?  
      With the craziness of our current market, which is very firmly a sellers market, you need to be pre-approved with a lender before you even contact a realtor and start looking at homes.  If you see a home you would like to make an offer on, as your realtor, I have to contact your lender and have them send me over an updated pre-approval letter to submit to the sellers agent with your offer.  Without a pre-approval letter from an accredited institution, in a multiple offer situation, the sellers won't even consider your offer.  We advise people to stay away from out of area, or online, lenders as there is no one to actually connect to and be in physical contact with. 

(3)  If we make an offer, what are the customary contingencies (i.e. ways out)? One is a satisfactory home inspection by a 3rd party, for example. Another may be finding a loan that meets certain conditions. Any others?  
      The standard contingencies as part of making an offer are: the inspection contingency,the financing contingency (we do have to disclose the type of loan being used, the downpayment,and any requested closing costs paid by the seller), the utilities form (to give the title company the authority to pay those utilities that follow the home), the homeowners insurance contingency, the optional clause form which also has some boxes we check off for information/protection/disclosure to both parties, and of course, the promissory note which says that the buyer will provide the title company the earnest money check within 3 days from mutual acceptance.


(4)  What is the customary amount for the Earnest Money Deposit and when is it due? Who holds the money pending home inspection and the other contingencies in the offer?  
    Earnest Money in the price range you are looking at is typically $1000-$1500, however, the seller can request more to be held.  Around the $250,000, an earnest money of $1500 is usually acceptable.  The earnest money, based on the promissory note is due within 3 days of mutual acceptance, is made out to the title company (a neutral 3rd party), and is deposited/held by them. 

        There are 4 legal reasons to back out of a purchase/sale agreeement:

1:  homeowners insurance.  The home needs to be able to be insured by an insurance company.
2:  home inspection. The standard home inspection is about $350-$375, and takes about 2-3 hours. The home inspection can be done for cheaper, but this isn't where you want to go the coupon route.  I am happy to provide 2-3 names of inspectors.  I also have a weekly email blog where, on one of them, I went over home inspections, questions to ask,and what the buyer should expect.  I always try to let buyers know that what we are looking for as part of the home inspection is anything that could affect the health or safety of the home or occupants, or anything that could require a contractor.  Both the buyer and the buyers agent will be at the inspection.  Any requested repairs by the buyers are negotiable to the seller.  The seller can agree to all repairs, no repairs, or a few items, but not the rest.  The buyer then has the right to respond by agreeing, backing out (and getting their earnest money back), or offering another solution.  If both parties can not agree the deal dies, and the earnest money goes back to the buyer.  The fee paid to the inspector though is non-refundable as the buyer is paying the inspector for their time.
3.  appraisal.  Here's where it gets a bit sticky... the inspector is hired by the buyer for their information. The bank doesn't care what the inspector says, and won't see the inspection report. The appraisal is paid for by the buyer still, but hired by the bank.  We won't see, or talk to the appraiser.  The appraiser is looking for value for the bank. The problem is that no two appraisers are the same.  You never know if we'll get Captain America or Hitler....for example, in May of this year I had a client buying a detached home by the mall with 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, a one car garage, and a small fenced yard with AC. Very cute, clean, and move in ready for $212,000. This was a no brainer and no one was worried....until the first appraisal came in at $190,000!  This was crazy as I had just sold a townhome not too far away that appraised for more than that. The seller does not have to come down in price, and this seller wouldn't either.  This particular client was buying with a conventional loan, and only because of that, he was able to switch to a FHA loan, and we were able to order a new appraisal. The new appraisal came in 10 days later at $210,000, with good comps.  Two different appraisals and 10 days apart....  My client, the buyer, and the seller, were able to negotiate the $2,000 difference by the seller coming down the $2000, but paying $1000 less in closing costs for my buyer.  The appraisal is a lot like 2 different churches....they're both supposed to be going off the same book (or rules for the appraiser), but it's how each interpret that book, or rules.  No two are the same.  The bank will only loan the buyer either the appraised amount, or the purchase amount....whichever is less.  If the home is appraised for more than purchase price, the seller won't know. If the home appraises for less, the appraisal will have to go to the seller to show that the home didn't appraise. The seller then has the right to agree, or negotiate to the lesser amount, or back out. The fee paid to the appraiser by the buyer is non-refundable.  
If the appraiser calls out any repairs, those repairs are now 'lender required' which means if they don't get done, the buyer can't buy the home. The appraiser does receive a copy of the purchase/sale agreement.  
4.  financing. If the buyer loses his/her financing within 30 days that is a legitimate reason to back out and get their earnest money back.

There is a LOT more to it than this, of course, I would advise coming to one of the free home buyer education classes I teach.  I have 3 coming up in December, and classes booked through next year already. :-)   Those classes can be found on my website. 

        Information is power, and I hope that I am able to help you.  Good luck, and as always...May the odds be ever in your favor out there....  AND If you are looking for a real estate agent, I would love to be able to help you.                                                                       

 
    As always....this is just a quick overview.... please remember that your agent, and your lender work for YOU.  You drive the bus...we are merely GPS to help you get to your goals.  Like the classes, this weekly blog email is to help you with your home adventure.  The goal is to be informative and non-promotional.  :-)  We are, however, hoping you will call and want us to help with your adventure.  

If you have any questions about this, or something you have heard...or if you would like me to help you with your home adventure, please call, email,  text, or facebook me anytime.  I am, as always, happy to help!
 
Thank you again for your business and your referrals!!  ...and thank you for referring these classes to your friends, family, and co-workers. 
 
 .   ..disclaimer...if you have already purchased a home, or would no longer like to receive these emails, please let me know and I will be happy to remove you from any further mailings... 
 
 
Upcoming Topics:  Septic vs Sewer,   What is 'escrow'?  &  "When do I get KEYS?"

Last Week:   Winter Market, Interest Rates, & Best Time to Buy?                           
Have a great day, and I will talk to you soon,   
;-D   
Tracie DeMars   
Real Estate broker    
Re/Max - Van Mall   
360/ 903-3504 cell   
360/ 882-3600 fax   
www.traciedemars.com   
traciedemars@aol.com   
    
“Interested in free and non promotional home buyer classes?  Go to www.traciedemars.com  for local upcoming classes, or facebook: Tracie DeMars Real Estate for my home buyer education blog.  Classes are now available for home owners thinking about selling their home.  Links are on the left."


"Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me... Anything can happen, child. Anything can be."    
   - Shel Silverstein, American poet, cartoonist and composer, (1930 - 1999).


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    Tracie DeMars
    real estate broker with Re/Max

    I have been in real estate for about 16 years now, and I have seen the market up, down, and now going up again.  I teach the Clark County Free Community Classes for Home Buyers & Home Sellers to help buyers learn about the loan, and home buying process; and sellers to learn about the paperwork and process of selling a home.  We are volunteers, and have no affiliations so we are able to tell it like it is...with no sugarcoating.  The pros, the cons, we tell it all in a fun, engaging, direct manner that encourages class attendee interaction and involvement.  Classes are free and non-promotional and held at community locations.  Walk -ins are welcome and all are invited.  
    ​Whether you're buying or selling a home, Education should always be your first step! 
    **we now offer Home SELLER classes too, by reservation.  It is a sellers market out there, and the classes are designed to go over all the paperwork, the 'right' questions to ask, how to make sure your agent is really working for you, what a CMA (comparable market analysis) is, and what is considered a comparable home....and going over the settlement statement.  What are the fees?  What are you going to net???

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