Home Listing Surprises

Don’t wait until you are listing your home for sale to go through all the dark areas of your home.  Take 2 weekends a year to tackle these types of projects:

• clean out the garage
• clean and organize your closets
• empty out under the sinks and the pantry
• inspect far corners of the basement
• any other areas of your home and grounds that do not get regular attention and things tend to gather.

It is too easy for problems to fester in places that do not have routine activity and inspection, especially areas that have turned into an accumulation.  Now some people, I’m sure, routinely clean and organize all recesses of their home, but most of us let them go longer than we should.  Something starts to smell, drips turn into messes, messes into major problems with rotten wood and mold.  Insects and rodents can multiply unabated.  Termites can be happily munching on subfloors for years if unnoticed.  Water tends to be the worst offender with plumbing, roof and basement leaks.  Unless it’s gushing, it can be a silent menace that causes much heartache at selling time.  Lets face it – we get busy and things pile up.  Poke around and look for dampness, odors, staining, sawdust or small mud tunnels (termites), anything unusual.  Then take corrective action or call in a professional, don’t just cover it up – it will get worse.

Staying on top of every aspect of your home pays off in the long run as it costs less, eases your mind that you have a clean and maintained home, and is more useable while you are living there.  Every time a person cleans out a neglected area, they will think “I should have done this a long time ago!”  Especially if they take the opportunity to update and organize it better.  It leads to a happier and healthier lifestyle.

So go ahead and put this on the calendar for your next open weekend, or create an opening if you must.  It truly makes you feel better about your home and yourself.

Worst Home Closing add-on Fee

Closing costs on home sales have been steadily rising the last 10 months mainly due to the impact of regulatory changes required in the lending and title industries in October 2015, stemming from the 2008 financial debacle.  The improved economy makes it easier for most consumers to swallow the increases, especially if they are tied to inflation, but some really get on my client’s nerves.

Many real estate-related companies today charge a closing fee for this or that – lenders, title companies, even Realtors.  A certain charge must exist to run the business.  The closing fee causing the most alarm these days is from property managers and condo associations typically charged to the seller.  It started with a small fee of $50 or so that rankled a few folks but was not a big deal.  Today, it is common to see hundreds of dollars being added to the closing of a home transaction in order to provide certain documents and/or confirm the seller is current on HOA (Home Owners Association) fees.  By law, sellers of most condominiums must provide a packet of information for the buyer’s review.  These packets can reach over 100 pages, plus the research time necessary to have accurate payment information, current budgets, and any planned special assessments.  These documents also show capital reserves, how many units are rented, and other critical details.  Thus paying a reasonable fee is acceptable.

However, that fee has jumped to over $150, plus “rush” charges if you don’t want to wait 2 weeks.  Who wants to wait two weeks as the buyer has termination rights until they receive this packet plus 5 more days for review?  To add insult, the charge doubles for two sets of documents if you are in a Village under a Master Association, commonly known by a monthly fee to the village for regular maintenance and an annual fee for administration and oversight.  In the last 3 years, I have seen some condo buildings charge move in and move out fees to both buyers and sellers of $100 of more, besides any additional deposits they may require and in addition to the document fees.  Some have also begun charging condo and single family buyers a $50 fee for processing, ostensibly just for setting up their account.  The worst one was this month, a client selling a single family home – no condo package here – was forced to pay $358 to a company that the subdivision association outsourced to simply confirm they were current on their payment and no special assessments were pending.  This verification should take someone 20 minutes.  Unfortunately, you will only be aware of this charge after you go under contract, or worse, 3 days before closing.

What to do?  I have yet to see a client successfully reduce the charge.  These companies have the authority thru the association trustees who contract with them to provide this service.  If you do not want to pay an excessive fee at closing for this, or simply want to know what it will be, contact your HOA trustee who can either tell you the amount, or direct you to the service that charges it.  The trustees indirectly control this fee by hiring the service, so don’t let them tell you otherwise.