Real Estate

My partner and i have moved to another state and are staying with family, my partner is working and we have 2 children small children. My partner has a very high paying job and we have a good rental history but we seem to be finding it hard to find a place! Does anyone know what real estate agents check exactly? And maybe why we might be finding it hard to find a place?
We have never been evicted

Some just run a credit check but some do criminal background. Get your free copy and find out what your credit history says. You may have late payments or just not enough history. They could want you to have more income if you have a lot of debt.

Just curious on how many hours and actual work is required for a new realtor to be successful.

I hear it may be 12-15 hour days and you may not sell a house for months….

Can a realtor do this as a side job part time?

Or would that take away from being a good quality realtor.

Also, what costs would a realtor incur if any when listing a house? Is there any potential loss other than time when listing a house if the seller walks away?

Thanks

You pay your MLS fees quarterly, you do not pay per listing.

You would pay for any newspaper adds, printing flyers, your sign, your lock box, etc.

It would be almost impossible to work part time. You need to be available 9-5 to deal with banks, escrow, title company, inspectors, appraisers, etc ect. You need to be available 5-7 week days, 9-7 weekends to show property, as most buyers look after work and on weekends.

You may not sell your first year, you need to count on that and have enough money to live and pay all of your fees. You may have to pay a desk fee to your broker as well.

I don’t want my cat in the house while realtors are going in and out of my house for the next 2 months. I need to find someone willing to keep the cat during the day while I’m out at work. Any suggestions?

If you’re in the states than try Craigs list. You might look in the yellow pages for a kennel which would keep your cat temporarily as well.

Need feedback from anyone who has purchased property in Turkey or who has purchased property anywhere in the world through Macanthony Realty as having doubts about both. Thanks.

Personally I would say that Turkey is way too politically unstable. Stick to holidays. A second holiday home is a big investment and you have to get it right. Also, in many seaside locations you get alot of fraudsters, and be very wary of buying off plan.

Need 2 bedroom home to rent or buy.What about daily living expenses like or less than us
how about apartment all need to be near the ocean

Prices can vary a lot, you need to establish what your budget is for renting or buying, they vary from $300- $2000 a month to rent , to buy you can say between US $50,000- 2 million.

Lic.Gregory Kearney Lawson.

I am an Agent. My Listings are advertised. Thanks. It says see this Agents Home page and directs one to another Agents Home page and it should be my home page.

Get ontop of the job right now. Call the guy up and you guys need to meet becasue he’s using ur page.

I met with David Hortz at Powerhouse Realty on January 13, 2009. I explained that my landlord’s home was being foreclosed and I had to move out of my current residence before February 1, 2009. He advised me that I could move into the home on January 28, 2009. I asked him about the MUSTY smell in the home, he told me this was due to poor upkeep from the former residents. He also said that everything would be taken care of because he was going to get the home and the carpet cleaned. He approved me instantly and I paid 600.00 towards the security deposit on January 13, 2009.
On January 26, 2009, I called Dave to confirm our lease signing for January 28th. He told me it was scheduled for the 29th. I advised him that he had said the 28th and I had utilities scheduled for the 28th. He said he couldn’t do it. So, I agreed to January 29, 2009. On this day, I met him at his office, signed the rental lease and gave him an additional 1900.00 in money orders. He then asked me to sign a mold disclosure, releasing the owner of any liability if there was mold in the home. I refused, asking him if there was mold or had there being anything that would have lead to mold. He told me not that he was aware of. I told him I needed to check the home before I signed the document. He said okay. Before I left, he gave me another copy of the mold disclosure. When I entered the home, it was not clean. There was human and pet hair on the kitchen countertops, the inside of the kitchen and bathroom cabinets were dirty, balls of pet hair on the floor, pet stains on the carpet, ceiling fan and dining room light fixture were saturated with dirt and the Musty smell was still there.
I called Dave and advised him of this, his response was, "I’m giving you 3 free days; let’s not complain about a little dirt." I explained to him that it was more than just “a little dirt” and the smell was awful. At this point, the smell in combination with the mold disclosure made me wonder if there was a mold problem in the home. I asked him for two things: To have a professional Environmentalist come in to test and confirm that there was no mold and to have the home cleaned. I also reminded him of our agreement for me to move in early and that I had to be out of my current residence BEFORE February 1st. He refused to have the home tested for mold. He did have the cleaning company call me, only to tell me that they could not clean the home until February 2nd. I called Dave continuously, he refused to answer or return my calls. So, I left him a voicemail advising him that he had breached the rental agreement and the home was not ready for me to move into, as we had agreed. I also asked for a refund of my 2500.00, so I could find a home to move into. Dave finally called me back at 4:48 PM, his words were, “I will not be in the office tomorrow, but you can stop by and pick up your money orders and I will terminate the lease. You are the type of person who is never satisfied, I gave you 3 free days, you are ungrateful! You are worried about mold, but the same musty smell the house has now is the smell it had when you looked at it. But, I will refund 100% of your money; you need to turn over the keys and do NOT move anything into the house!" I complied with this demand.
When I showed up at his office the morning of January 30th, I spoke with the owner of the company, Shari Wong Culotta. She told me that she was not Dave’s boss and he did not work for her, he was independent and worked for himself, therefore she could not give me my money back. I am quite confused by this. I gave Dave a total of 5 money orders, totaling 2500.00, all written out to Powerhouse Realty. But, I am told that he does not work for the owner of Powerhouse Realty. However, if you check their website, he is listed under staff as Powerhouse Realty’s Designated Property Manger/Broker.
I called Dave on his cell phone 23 times; he did not answer or return my phone calls. In the meantime, I have 24 hours to find a place to live, Dave has 2500.00 of my money, is supposedly "out of town", not answering my phone calls and his company, who I wrote the checks out to, will not return my money. This is unethical.

Ouch.. sounds like a scam

I am soo sorry to hear this. I hope you find him soon and get your money back. I will call legal though and report it before the 1st.

Good Luck

Mother put in childrens names. She died 2005 house was in childrens names in 1989. Should it be done as a sale of realestate or would it be considered an inheritance? The house was sold for 30,000.00 less than the appraised value.
Was sold for 100,000.00 leaving approx 30,000.00 to each child. I do taxes for people who cannot afford to have their taxes done by the bigger companies. I have only about 50 that I take care of each year. I have never run across this situation before. I need your help!!!!

If the house was already in the children’s names, then there was no inheritance. Therefore it would be considered a sale of real estate. I believe the basis of the house would have been the basis on the date of the transfer, not the appraised value. Don’t forget to add the cost of any improvements to the original basis.

For more information go to the IRS website and download Publication 523 – Selling Your Home. If that doesn’t help, call the IRS directly.

I am new at investing so i need some help to get started. and to make sure if its worth jumping in right now since it has been dying down.

I wouldn’t pay too much attention to NATIONAL media reports on real estate which report a cooling off period recently. Look at your area. Are area businesses doing well? Are they hiring and investing or are they laying off? That will tell you if people are likely to be moving into the area, and therefore, potentially buying a home.

However, when it comes to pre-foreclosure homes, it’s more complex. You really want to focus on the home and specific area where it is located. If you are in an areas where business is doing poor, more pre-foreclosure homes will be available but not many perspective buyers. If business is doing good, well, less pre-foreclosure homes, more competition, but quicker turn-around times.

You have to think this through on a local level, not a national one, especially when it comes to pre-foreclosures. I WOULD NOT buy a pre-foreclosure home in an area where prices have already been driven to record highs. Honestly, I would focus, generally, in less populated areas that did not benefit from past real estate valuation growth. Internet commerce and home/office technologies make these areas ripe for future valuation growth and plenty of pre-foreclosure opportunities exist for investors.

I’m negotiating the sale price on a house I’d like to buy. All the listings and info sheets provided by the listing agency for the house quoted the annual taxes. My own investigation confirmed that the amount quoted is after several discounts or credits (retirement, veteran, star, and the like).

I would likely pay 40 – 45% more than listed amount.

What responsibility does a realtor have to be upfront about this difference?

Thanks!

Check with your county tax appraisal office. They will give you the factual numbers BEFORE exemptions, and can give you numbers with the exemptions. They are the bottom-line authority on the actual tax rates and accessments.

I’m including a link below that you may look at. It is for the county I live in.
The left side column’s first choice is "Property Records" click on it.
Then you see two columns:
Real Property and Business Personal Property
Under "Real Property" choose (see my example at the end of this answer) "Address"

You will come up different Real Propertys (homes, mostly)
The left column has "account number’ which you can click on.
Now, you will see the Owner’s Name, mailing address & property address.
Toggle on down and it will state these taxing entities:
Plano City and it’s 2007 tax rate
Collin County and it’s 2007 tax rate
Collin County Com College and it’s tax rate
Plano City’s Independent School District’s tax rate
Those are the percentages that are applied against the Appraised Value.

Now, you will notice that you are given 2 (TWO) values of the home…
The Total Market Value (at the top)
and
Appraised (at the bottom), along with the TYPE of exemptions that the owner uses.

You need to take those 4 taxing entities rates, add them up and multiple against the Appraised Value. Taxes are applied on the APPRAISED dollars.

Now, if the home already has an exemption clause to it, then the number will be adjusted to INCLUDE the exemption, so you’d have to try and find out how much the exemption % or dollar amount is so that you don’t include it in your tax rate (unless you’re going to use the same exemption/s).

I kind of "officially" learned by answering this for you WHICH amount that the taxing entities applied the tax rate to. Now I know because a database I use for tracking homes states the taxes on properties for sale. So, I found one that was a foreclosure, therefore, no exemptions and was able to verify the taxes I was given were dollars BEFORE exemptions.

So, do check and see if the amount of tax you are being quoted is NOT pulling in exemptions that the current owner had applied to that property during the tax year you are accessing.

I hope my answer was clear enough for you to understand!

101008 11:23

PS, I’ll go ahead and give you the address of the foreclosed home for your reference, since this was public property for sale and you are using a link to a government public database.

Address: 2808 CHARTER OAK DRIVE, Plano, TX 75074

Key in just "2808" and "Charter" and it will pull up ok. You should come up with the Total taxing entities rate is 2.073884, and the taxes on this property is $2578 (with rounding, of course).

Formula: Appraised value of home is $124,326 for 2007.
$124326 x 2.073884 (City, College, school, county) = $2578.377