1.      The Grantor has not transferred ownership in this property to any person other than the Grantee.
   2.  That the property is, at the time of conveyance, free from liens or encumbrances incurred by the Grantor.

A Quit Claim Deed transfers only any present title, right or interest that the Grantor may have. There are no warranties regarding liens or encumbrances and no representation of either past or future ownership. This is one of the reasons that a Spousal Quit Claim Deed is used to relinquish any potential interest of the spouse when a purchase is made.
An REO transaction is another example of when a Quit Claim Deed may be used. The REO Owner may or may not be aware of the preforeclosure history of the property. REO owners who have no such knowledge may be unwilling to give a new buyer the implied warranties provided by a Grant Deed. Without those implied warranties, the buyer accepts the risks that may have been covered by those implied warranties. Title insurance can help to play a vital role in protecting the buyer’s ownership interests and reduce those risks in certain circumstances

First, it is relevant to ask, “What is confidential information?” In California, you won’t find this defined or spelled out in the civil code. Although there may be specific laws, both state and federal, that contain restrictions on giving out someone’s social security number or medical records, there are no general statutes dealing with the subject. At best, one can look for precedent-setting cases and try to make inferences.

Suppose you tell me that you and your wife have filed for divorce, and you don’t want anyone to know about it. In one sense, it would seem too late for that; the toothpaste is already out of the tube. The court filing is a matter of public record; how can the information be confidential? In reality, though, we know that while the public record is accessible; it doesn’t mean that many people have knowledge of what’s in it.

For the most part, information is confidential, or to be treated as confidential, if the client says it is. When a seller tells his agent that he recently lost his job, that doesn’t mean that no one knows of the fact. The people at the former workplace know. Rather, if he wants the information to be confidential, it means that he doesn’t want it to go beyond the people who already know, or who might come to know by virtue of their particular role. At least he doesn’t want people to learn of it through his agent; he (the seller) can still tell anyone he wants. But the agent can’t.

Agents have both a legal and an ethical duty to promote their clients’ interests. Presumably, releasing information that the client wants kept confidential would be contrary to this duty. Most commonly, this has to do with a concern that possession of the information might give someone else a bargaining advantage; but there could be other reasons as well.

How long does the duty to maintain confidentiality last? Normally, agency obligations end when the agency is either terminated or its purpose is accomplished. If I represent a seller, my agency obligations end when escrow closes. (Although it may be good business practice, and common courtesy, to continue to serve those interests for some period of time.) However, for REALTORS® — those who are members of the national, state, and local Realtor® associations — that obligation extends somewhat longer. Standard of Practice 1-9 of the Realtor® Code says in part that the obligation to preserve confidential information provided by their clients “… continues after termination of agency relationships or any non-agency relationships recognized by law.”

There is an important exception to the general principles we have discussed that is spelled out in the Realtor® Code of Ethics. “Information concerning latent material defects is not considered confidential information under the Code of Ethics.”

In general, information is to be treated as confidential if the principal says so. But there are limits. The principal can’t make an agent be party to a cover-up just by insisting that something is confidential. For example, a seller might say, “In a heavy rain, the backyard floods and sometimes leaks into the family room; but I don’t want anyone to know. Keep this information confidential.” No.

REALTORS®have an obligation to honor a principal’s confidences. But they have other obligations too. Sometimes those will override the duty to maintain confidentiality.

Bob Hunt is a director of the California Association of Realtors^®. He is the author of Real Estate the Ethical Way. His email address is scbhunt@aol.com.

Source: Realty Times

As a seller, you should be asking buyers and their brokers for feedback after private viewings.

Pay close attention and see if there are any common positives or negatives in their responses, so if a current theme is “It’s a bit expensive,” then you’ll know it’s time to start a price drop.

How long has it been?

The thing that can cost you the most money is having your home stagnate on the market. So unlike dating, you shouldn’t wait for the perfect suitor to come along. Perfect is a high bar.

Houses set at the right price will start getting offers “within the first few weeks,” Malow says.

Are comparable houses selling left and right, but you haven’t received an offer? If so, you may want to do more than just lower the price-you might want to delist it for a short while.

“Once you’ve been on the market for five weeks or so, you’re chasing the market,” says Mike King, an agent with the Partners Trust Realty in Brentwood, CA.

If you haven’t seen any action in a while, it might be time to take your house off the market, do some touch-ups, and relist.

King says he sold a house that had languished for six months on the market by removing the listing, having the sellers pull up the shag carpet-something their original seller’s agent didn’t make them do-and staging the place much better. It was relisted and sold within a couple of weeks at asking price.

‘It’s almost impossible to underprice’ a home

Here’s something you should consider when debating the great price chop: The market will probably decide it for you anyway.

“It’s almost impossible to underprice, because the market will bring it back up,” King says.

Think of it like eBay. You list an item for $1, but you know it’s worth somewhere in the $250 range. Eventually people start bidding, and some people might want that item so much they end up paying $275 for it. It’s actually a better move to slightly underprice your home than it is to overprice it, because you’ll have more offers to work with-and you can work the competition into a frenzy.

“It’s called leveraging power,” King says. “If I’m a [motivated] buyer and I know there’s only three offers, I’m going be less aggressive than if you had 10 offers.”

The golden rule: Know thy market

Above all else, you need to consider your market. There’s no universal timeline that will tell you when to reduce your price. But Malow says to consider these three key points:

• How are comparable properties faring in the market? Are they selling quickly or lingering on the market? If they’ve closed, what was their closing price?
• What is the average time a home stays on the market in your neighborhood? If you haven’t reached that point, don’t reduce it just yet. Likewise, if you’re well past your hood’s “sell-by date,” it’s time to start cutting prices and maybe even delisting your home.
• How many homes had a price reduction in your neighborhood, and how long did it take for the price cut? Did it help them sell? Again, what was the sale price?

In other words, do your homework and work with the market-don’t fight it.

Source: Realtor.com

1. Home Inspection

After you’ve submitted an offer on a home and the seller has accepted, make sure the place you’re planning to buy isn’t a lemon. Hire a certified home inspector to examine the property from top to bottom before you go to closing. If you uncover hidden structural, mechanical or other issues, you can negotiate the repair terms with the seller before you finalize the deal. Otherwise, you will be solely responsible for any problems and the cost of fixing them.

Depending on your location, you can typically expect to pay between $200 and $600 for a home inspection — an upfront, out-of-pocket cost that’s nonrefundable if a deal falls through. While an inspection isn’t mandatory, it’s a precautionary measure that all home buyers should take. “When you weigh the potential tens of thousands of dollars an unknown problem could cost later down the line, it’s money well spent,” says Anthony Saunders, a Lorton, Va.-based Realtor with Exit Realty Associates.

2. Appraisal Fee

Your mortgage lender wants to be sure the home it’s about to loan you many thousands of dollars to buy is worth every penny. That is why you need a home appraisal before finalizing a mortgage loan agreement. The lender will hire an independent certified appraiser to assess the property value of the home for sale. This includes documenting the various features that make a home valuable, such as a deck, as well as researching the prices of comparable homes sold recently in neighboring areas.

Appraisal fees can vary by state and the size of the home, but on average they run $250 to $600, Saunders says. This is an upfront fee charged directly to the borrower by the lender.

3. Escrow Account

Some lenders require that an escrow account be set up in conjunction with a mortgage loan agreement. The money that goes into the account is used by the lender to pay certain ongoing property-related expenses on the homeowner’s behalf, such as homeowner’s

premiums, private mortgage insurance (PMI) premiums and property

You might be required to make an initial deposit into the escrow account at the closing table. From then on, in addition to a mortgage payment, the homeowner will pay a little extra to the lender each month — typically one-twelfth of the estimated annual bill for taxes and insurance, according to Nolo.com. Essentially, escrow accounts help protect the lender by ensuring that these critical homeownership expenses are paid in full and on time, Aubrey says.

First-time buyers might be taken aback when a lender mentions putting money into an escrow account. “Many younger buyers don’t fully understand what it is,” Aubrey says. Escrow accounts are mandatory for buyers who have a down payment of less than 20% and other types of loans, including an FHA loan. If you don’t have an escrow account with your mortgage, you are responsible for paying your insurance premiums and property taxes on your own. Typically, homeowner’s insurance premiums can be paid monthly or in a lump sum annually; property taxes usually come due once or twice a year, depending on where you live.

4. Closing Costs

While having enough money saved up for a down payment is great, it’s not the only cash you’ll need to seal the deal on a home purchase. You also need an additional 2% to 5% of the home purchase price to cover so-called closing costs, which can include everything from a loan origination fee and attorney fees to prepaid homeowners association fees and taxes.

For example, the average sale price for a new home in May was $337,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. A 20% down payment on that sale price amounts to $67,400. On top of that $67,400 down payment, though, you would need between $6,740 and $16,850 to cover closing costs.

5. Home Maintenance and Repair

Certain costs can creep up on you once you have the keys to your new home in hand. Unlike renting, in which a landlord foots the bill for maintenance, as a homeowner you’re on the hook for any upkeep and repair costs.

For example, you may want to change the locks if you buy an existing home. In Washington, D.C., it costs $181 per lock to have a general contractor install a mid-grade entry door lockset, according to Homewyse.com, a Web site that estimates home-improvement costs by location. Or you might want a fresh coat of paint on your new home. Getting a professional to paint an average-size single-family home (2,598 square feet, according to the U.S. Census Bureau) will cost nearly $6,300, including labor and materials, in the nation’s capital. If you buy a home with a yard, you also need to factor in the cost of maintaining it yourself (including the purchase of a lawn mower and other lawn-care equipment) or paying a landscaper. In Dallas, for example, the cost of hiring a pro to maintain a 1,000-square-foot lawn, including labor and materials, starts at $66 for two hours of service, according to Homewyse.com. Plus, further down the road of homeownership, you will need to replace kitchen appliances, water heaters, furnaces and more.

Ready to Buy?

Now that you’re aware of some of the bigger costs associated with home buying, you may find that choosing a house priced comfortably lower than your maximum loan approval amount is the best route, Saunders notes. This strategy can help ensure that you have enough cash to cover any extras, if needed. Remember to ask your lender and real estate agent lots of questions throughout the entire buying process — especially regarding costs. You don’t want to get blindsided right before closing with unexpected expenses.

1. Your data call into question the old advice to buy “the worst house in the neighborhood.”

When we decided to write the book, Spencer and I spent a day listing 50 or 60 questions we wanted to tackle. This was one of the first ones on the list, because everybody’s heard this. The common thinking was that you would buy the worst house and, over time, it would become a more typical home in the neighborhood. If it was in the bottom 10 percent when you bought it, somehow, 10 years later it would be closer to the average.

What we found is this does not happen at all. If you buy the worst house in the neighborhood, when you go to sell it, it will still be the worst house in the neighborhood. We also found that generally it’s the worst house for a reason.

1. It’s smaller, or less well kept?

Or there’s something inferior about the location, which suggests there may be limits in your ability to change its ranking within the neighborhood.

If you want to be in the neighborhood and you can’t afford to buy a median house, buying the least expensive home is not a bad idea. Just don’t expect it to become something other than the least expensive home. Generally, our advice was to buy the best home you can afford, but not the house that’s the worst in the neighborhood.

1. A lot of people think that to get the best school districts, you have to buy in the most expensive neighborhoods. But you say that you can use data and information in ways that weren’t available before to find more affordable areas that have great schools.

There’s a wide variation of home prices within the same school boundaries. You can probably find homes you can afford within a good school boundary.

1. You have a chapter on how to pick the next hot location in cities; does it apply to suburban areas, as well?

We talked about things like the halo effect, where, rather than buy in the premium location, buy in the adjacent area. Instead of buying where the cool folks are, wait for the cool folks to come to you. You definitely see that pattern occur even in the suburbs; it’s not just an urban phenomenon.

1. We all know that it’s important for sellers to use really good photos in their listings because buyers start home shopping on the Internet, but you also have a chapter on the words you should and should not use in listings. Why is it so bad to say the house is nice, or in a nice neighborhood? Or that it’s unique?

“Nice” is a filler word, but the signal you’re sending is that you don’t have much else to say about the house. Buyers aren’t stupid. They’re reading that and saying, “Wow, if all you have to say is that it’s nice, that’s not much.”

A lot of sellers seem to like the word “unique,” but “unique” is sending the message that only you like the property, more than likely. The home is not broadly appealing. “Unique” homes sold for 36 percent less than you would expect otherwise.

Words that were really helpful were words that describe things that offer real differentiating value in your home. So “stainless steel,” “granite,” if you have a view or beautiful landscaping — any of those descriptive things were really powerful.

We also found that people should be verbose. We saw increases in home values for up to about 250 words [in a listing description]. The more you write, up to that limit, the better it is for the value of your house. You’re just giving more and more information to buyers, which is helpful. Try to write as much as you can.

1. You found that sellers do better pricing close to the market value, rather than trying for a higher price, and I’ve heard that from agents and other analysts. But it seems like sellers always want to test the market.

Our data show that if you overprice your home, often you end up having to chase the price down, because the longer it stays on the market, the more people think there’s something wrong with it.

We found that homes that were priced pretty correctly sold for about 2 percent more than you would expect.

1. On the topic of pricing, how accurate are Zillow’s home price estimates, or Zestimates? I’m sure you’ve heard the complaints from real estate agents who say that sellers come to them and say, “Zillow says my house is worth this much,” when they think the Zestimate is off.

Currently, our national accuracy rate is [within] about 8 percent [of the final sale price of the home]. It’s something we’re constantly improving. We’re about twice as accurate today as when we launched in 2006.

We think of the Zestimate as being a starting point for a conversation about value. You should also talk to real estate professionals, either agents or appraisers, who know your market in more detail and know the actual home.

1. There have been a lot of well-intentioned efforts to extend homeownership to poor families, because we know that for many households, homeownership is a major source of wealth. But your research shows that helping poor people buy homes in not-great neighborhoods actually may hurt them more than help them.

We looked at the return on housing for less affluent versus more affluent homeowners. What we found was that from a public policy perspective, we have to be careful because the returns are not equal. You see higher returns to real estate investments, and less volatility, in more affluent neighborhoods.

That puts you on a horns of a dilemma. How you resolve that is unclear. It’s also equally clear that homeownership can be a good mechanism for long-term wealth accumulation across a generation.

We think that people need to understand the differences in returns and volatility in less affluent and more affluent areas, before they blindly suggest that we ought to crowd everyone into homeownership. Homeownership is right in some circumstances and not right in others, and seeing it as a universal panacea can lead people to bad decisions.

1. Zillow recently reported that 15 percent of homeowners still owe more on the mortgages than the properties are worth. What does this mean for the housing market’s recovery?

Negative equity is a lasting and pernicious dynamic in the housing market. It basically locks a lot of people out of the market, and means that the number of people who are able to trade their homes with one another is lower, which leads to less inventory and more volatile home prices.

You mentioned the negative-equity number of 15 percent. Probably the more relevant number to look at is what we call the effective negative equity rate, which is the number of people who are either in negative equity or have less than 20 percent equity. That number is 33 percent nationally. That means one in three homeowners are not going to trade their homes, either because they have negative equity or because if they sell, they won’t have enough proceeds from the sale to afford the down payment in another home.

1. Finally, when you looked at the data for the book, was there anything that really surprised you?

The one that was actually pretty shocking was the Starbucks chapter and the [positive] impact of coffeehouses on home price appreciation nearby. I was surprised at the magnitude of the difference [in home value]. Some of it relates to walkability. To be close to a coffeehouse implies you’re in a walkable community.

But there’s cause and effect going on there. Starbucks is not throwing darts at a map when they pick locations. They are picking locations that are already on the move. And the arrival of brands like a Starbucks or Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods is putting a stamp of approval on a neighborhood that results in a lot of development that would not have happened otherwise.

The one item needed to sell a home for top dollaR

<March 20, 2015  By Jeff Gould