Is it Worth It to Pay for Title Insurance ?

I believe title insurance is just another way to get your money and provide no real service. I have seen properties change hands with a different legal then the Seller was Selling.
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Title Reports cover a Legal Description supposedly and not an address, property type or certain acreage.
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I have seen the Title Report / Title Insurance Miss huge debt / liens on a property. I had to bring it to their attention, Shocking But True.
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And some Realtors PUSH for you to buy an additional title insurance for the time of escrow, apparently some Title Companies are too lazy or don't include in their HUGE fees to check for debt more then once, so they check in the begining, and hope for the best. If you want them to check before the Actual closing then you have to pay more. Kind of makes a good case for a quick closing.
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If this is NOT true then why sell an additional Title Insurance for the time of escrow in case there is other debt. Seriously I had a Seller that was buying in Washington, the Listing Realtor was in Idaho but the property was in Washington, she, the Realtor tried to make the buyer pay for additional Title Insurance to cover the escrow period.
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Talk about Scams. And why was the Realtor even involved in pushing MORE Title Insurance on to the Real Estate Consumer.

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It is Impossible to Be an Honest Realtor

Where is the Glitch ? Who is the Problem ? Why are Consumers Not Protected from Realtors ? Why are Realtors NOT encouraged to Obey the Law ? Why are No Realtors Held to Ethics or to Standard of Practice.

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There will Be Many More Messages to the National Association of Realtors asking them Why They DO NOT enforce Ethics or accountability or even encourage it.

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Why NAR does Not even Care to make sure that their members are obeying the laws, following the Code of Ethics and Doing Right By the Consumer.

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Why Does the NAR encourage E and O insurance to Be Mandatory when it Protects the Realtor and in No Way Protects the Real Estate Consumer.

Why Do Realtors Not have to Actually Prove things like "Lake Access" when they advertise a property has access and the buyer is left to fight for what was promised to them in the Buy Sell?

and Oh... So much More...

Why?

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Accountability in Real Estate ? What an Interesting Idea ! Realtors are not Held Accountable for the Damage they Do to the Real Estate Consumer.

There is NO accountability in Real Estate.

The Realtor can Say and Do as they please, especially Broker Owners, Good Ol' Boys, Broker Owner who 'Own the Town' persay and Claim that they control who goes in and out of town. Folks talk of stricter penalties, of more education.

There is no real way in the Current System of the Real Estate Industry to hold the Realtor accountable for their lies. This in turn gives the honest Realtor a bad reputation, I am NOT talking about just Real Estate Agents, I am talking about member of the National Association of Realtors.

The Membership in this Club is what protects the bad Realtor, protects the lying, and the unethical Realtors and in this Keeps the GOOD Realtors down or causes them to switch careers.

Watch your Back, I am telling you the HONEST truth, you are NOT protected as a Real Estate Consumer if and when you Use a Realtor, a member of the National Association of Realtors.

What if there are 2 Easements into the Property ?

Easement Tidbits
Crystal L. Cox
Real Estate Whistleblower

So the Realtor drives you in on one Road, and after the Closing you find out that the "Easement Paper" work that you were given was actually on a different road, and was not even filed at the court house. At this point you will have to right like heck to get what you thought you had. If it has already happened, get as much proof as you can, the buy-sell agreement, all paperwork and disclosures, any advertising about the property, mls sheets and emails and go talk with a real estate attorney.

Tips on Interviewing a Real Estate Attorney

Remember they work for you, if they treat you like the criminal instead of the victim, move on. You deserve to be respected, make the right choice the first time. Talk with other clients if you can, have a couple conversations to see how the dialog will be. Remember this attorney could be a part of your life for months to years. It does not hurt, in my opinion to take a few weeks, just take some time, because if you find out after you choose, pay a retainer or agree to a share of the settlement or judgement it is too late to go back. And if you go on an hourly rate then fire them for treating you bad, lying to you or not doing what you thought they would for you, then you will look unstable, you will be made to look fickle when really it is the real estate attorney that was the problem. So push the communication boundaries, before you sign the contract, odds are if they are short with you, make you feel bad, talk down to you, lie to you or treat you like the criminal then this can come up before you sign if you engage in enough conversation to get a feel for what they are after, their integrity and respect level and how they feel about your case.

About the Same Easement Issue Before You Buy:

Have the Realtor and or Seller show you the easement, have them show you an easement agreement in writing that has been recorded, hire a surveyor to tell you where this easement really is, have it flagged (this could even be a contingency that you ask of the seller).

Make the Title Company give you a copy of the "Legal Easement" that is recorded and have them sign that they gave it to you and in reference to what property.

The Easement to your property may not show up on your title insurance, in my state it does not. Here it is on the property that the easement crosses, so make sure the title company digs it up, if this matches what the Realtor gave you then get your surveyor. This is Time and Money Well Spent and is very important.

Find out what you can and prove this legal access, way before your closing, check the legal description, talk to the owner whose land it crosses and turn over every rock you can Before your Closing. You want to make sure that the road you drove on is really the road you will have legal access on. You want to make sure that the land owner is not adverse to you being there, better to know now, before it is a future - stressful drama.

Believe me if this is not all proven absolutely and Not just the Realtors word, the Seller or Title agents word and not just because the "buy sell" says so, this could cause you a huge amount of stress for years, put you in a huge - never ending neighbor fued and cause your real estate value to plummet. If you get a loan, your lender may not know, the appraiser may not know. I have seen these situations folks, find out more.

Knowledge is Power.

how often does your realtor call you - Today's Search Real Estate Question

This was today’s questions searched on my blogs.

Here’s the thing, either you have a good working relationship with your Realtor or you do not. I recommend that you sell as a FSBO using the power of the internet, but if you must use a Realtor, remember your selling Is not their priority, the priority is to sell something, and quite often your property comes in handy as bait.

I tried to stay in contact with my Sellers at least once a week, email is a good way, that way your Realtor can stay in touch when they have a moment. They should let you know about leads and keep you involved, but keep in mind this may not even be true. I have seen Realtors show their listings to their Secretaries just before it expires to be sure and keep the listing.

Use your Intuition, put what you expect from your Realtor in your Listing Contract. Remember that those “Standard “Realtor” Forms” are to protect the Realtor and are not designed to protect you, the real estate consumer.

So you can write in and initial ANY changes that you want to make, you are a “party to the contract”. You can also exclude ANY Realtor or buyer on that contract and put in a Clause that if for ANY reason you are not satisfied with your Realtor, the Way your Real Estate for Sale Is being marketed or for any reason that you may cancel this contract at any time. Don’t let the Realtor say that you will owe a marketing fee if you Cancel your Listing.

The Realtor uses your listing as bait to sell something and even if you don’t’ sell, cancel or just move on they still have a pool of potential buyers that they got from your Real Estate Listing. Don’t let them make you pay to market their business.

Are you Still Paying 8% for your Realtor to list your Land? Realtors are Scaming you, Realtors Lie.

This is a VERY big scam. There is less liability and less work to do when listing land, and yet the Realtors convince the Seller that land is worth more commission to the Realtor. I fought this my first year in real estate, I offered 5% but my fellow Realtors convinced my Sellers and potential Sellers that I was not offering the same service or as good for those rates, when in fact I was offering more then “the same service”. And one of the Realtors went door to door telling folks how me offer "cheaper rates" was because I was not as good or offering less of a service. Yes Unethical and in the Realtor Ethics and Standards of Practice, but these games and attempts at boycotting Realtors who give you a break, as a real estate consumer, these things happened ALL the time and they still do.

Don’t let Realtors convince you that land is worth a higher commission, this is a scam.

Your Real Estate Transaction

a Real Estate Transaction involves More then One Contract. For Example, the Buy - Sell Agreement, the Listing Contract, the Buyers Contract,

If you are a Party to the Contract, it is said that YOU have a Right to make changes to the contract.. initial the changes and have all parties initial them as well.

I Believe that ALL contracts between ALL parties and ALL related Documents SHOULD have to be turned over to the title company at the time of closing, to have a 3rd party to the sale keep records of EVERYTHING.. including Home Inspections and Contracts between all parties, believe me not seeing the listing contract in full by the Buyer brings up all kinds of issues. And when you Sue, the documents will change and/or disappear and the real estate attorney really is cluelesss as to what should be in the contract. And they REALLY do trust that the Realtor turns over all related documents during "discovery" in a lawsuit and it is just not true.

Many Title Companies Will Protect the Realtor over the Consumer, however it is one more step to quality control over unscrupulous agents.

Title Companies are NOT to be trusted in full, but it is a way of better protecting the consumer by somebody other than the office that in the future becomes the accused, having the only set of "evidence" and even if the Realtor office has the copy of a previous home inspection, for example that they failed to disclose to you.. they don't have to have this copy so they just say that they Do Not...

Find Out What Really Goes On behind the Doors of Your Real Estate Transaction.. Protect Yourself... with Knowledge... www.SavvyBroker.com

Consumer Advice - the Real Estate Transaction

Other interesting things about the Real Estate Business---------

Avoid stupid real estate agents from the beginning......................
Example, a house-selling friend of mine - out of state - got an offer presented by her agent, initiated by a buyer's agent. They made a counter offer which was accepted. Two days later the listing agent brought them a "changed offer" from the prospective buyer. Of course that was unacceptable, but the stupid or crooked agent brought it, nevertheless. So it went back and forth a number of times. Finally, the deal was stopped/settled once and for all. In the meantime the deadline for the home inspection contingency had passed and none of either agents "got it". An outside party got involved behind the scene and the latest offer from the buyer was counteroffered with the demand to be signed and done with by ..... (given only 5 hours) or the deal is in default (referring back to the original). This agent cost that seller quite a bit of money. They should have sued both agents for negligence - as a minimum.

Other ways of buying or selling a home:

Don't be shy when you see a home you think you might like .........If you see a particular home, especially new home (which you can tour on your own or with the workers there), call the listing agent directly and inquire if you can purchase the home through them and they will only charge their 1/2 of the commission (and forfeit the selling agent's commission - as there is/was no selling agent other than the "interested buyer calling the listing agent". Worked for someone I know, perfectly, and the agent was more helpful than in other cases. Deal went through!

Someone told me about a house they owned on the East Coast 35 years ago. They had to move out of state because of a new job. The RE agent didn't bring anyone by.

They went ahead and found a buyer on their own. They told the agent, they had to rent the home, because they can't afford to keep it and move. They cancelled the contract.

Someone else told me about their experience in California many moons ago.

The house had to be sold. The wife had to go out of state for awhile and the husband didn't have much time and wasn't into paper work. They sold the house and stipulated in the real estate contract, that the price of the house was not important.

The important thing was to clear so much money after the sale of the home and after the deduction of all the selling / closing costs. They didn't care how much the RE agent made. The agent agreed and after the home sold and was ready to close she came crying to the husband and said, her broker isn't making as much money.... The husband said .... a contract is a contract and that's how this sale went. SOLD!

You decide when your house is being shown. Many people are not in the mood to have their house clean at all times. They need a day advance notice. Others do want to sell their home and have it clean all the time.

INSIST that your agent list the house to be shown with 1 or 2 hours notice and put that also on the "for sale" sign at the street - rather than "by appointment", put by "1 hr appointment".

Many a times people want to see homes that they see "when they drive by" and these people don't live in the area. They are not in the mood to wait and many a times a house could have sold, had it been available for showing.

One would think that agent would 'welcome these "show now" sellers'. No, on the contrary, they don't! In fact,in many cases listing agents want/demand to be called before another agent shows the home - that is plainly stupid. A seller wants his house SHOWN. An extra show is better than a no-show.

Also RE agents are not very honest when it comes to honor their commitment. Someone, got referred by a broker to another broker's agent for personal reasons. This new agent promised to pay a bird dog commission of " so many percent" to the referring broker. House sold! Payment was never made.