Help buying a short sale (closing, title insurance, percentage)

[jsimms3]

One more thing, shop around for a realtor first. Not all realtors are the same. It's best if you can get along with the realtor and share a mutual trust. Personalities, reputations, and experience come into play. Look online for realtor review sites. (I don't know any and I'm not involved in residential RE)

[JIMMY WACK]

When you tell a realtor your a out of town, no financing needed, need to buy within a month customer, tell them the one development you want to buy in and the one listing your interested in, it would seem like your pretty serious, don't you think?????

[jsimms3]

Time for you to make the call on these things. Sounds like you've narrowed it down quite a bit. What if you don't end up getting this one house that you want? Are you willing to put an offer in high enough to secure it? Maybe you've freaked the realtor out. Who knows? You have a lot of good advice from here, it's time for you to learn a little bit about the buying process through your own experience (with a realtor of course).

[EricBoyd]

Originally Posted by JIMMY WACK

When you tell a realtor your a out of town, no financing needed, need to buy within a month customer, tell them the one development you want to buy in and the one listing your interested in, it would seem like your pretty serious, don't you think?????

Yeah, if someone told me that, and it was even remotely verifiable, I'd likely give 'em a couple of hours of a day, or at least pass 'em to one of my referral agents.

[stevep]

The only contradiction is that if you need to buy within a month..... you shouldn't be looking at short sales.

[EricBoyd]

Very true statement.

[JBtwinz]

If you want some interesting reading and a little insight on the current real estate niche your looking at, check the below link out. If you want to take the path of short sales, foreclousures and the rest of the distressed properties, prepare yourself to find someone in the biz you feel good about and have a lot of patience (short sales take time with no assurances). Guidelines and laws are changing rapidly (homeowners are fighting back to regain their homes), do yourself a favor and purchase Owners Title Insurance, it's not a cure all but it is cheap insurance for you and might come in handy. Good luck in Jacksonville, with nearly 20,000 foreclousures here, I am sure you will eventually find your dream home. JB

Click on the link: Good reading and one hell of an insight on what is going on and the battle being waged by homeowners!

Mortgage Forum - LoanSafe.org

[jsimms3]

"Buy owners' Title Insurance."

I don't know a lender that will provide financing without title insurance, both a policy for the lender and a policy for the borrower. If there are banks out there who are silly enough to not require this, please let me know who they are so I can place a bet on when they will fail or make some fatal mistake.

What I will say is in today's weird market, especially in these new communities and with first time homeowners, etc, there is often some sort of fraud or the actual ownership of the loan to the property has been packaged and bundled and is hard to track down (a bank may not necessarily hold the note to the property and so there could be issues with the title). There are some title companies that will even hesitate to insure properties in Florida due to the whole robo-signing foreclosure issue and the craziness of the RE market here.

Just get a realtor, as we've all been saying. The realtor will make sure everything goes as smoothly as it can for whatever transaction you enter into (title's not the only thing you should concern yourself about).

[JBtwinz]

I don't know your knowledge of real estate, but the title insurance you pay for at closing (mandatory, unless it is a cash purchase) is to protect the Bank, not the purchaser of the home and there is no current requirement for the purchaser to buy Owners Title Insurance. The percentage of people who buy Owners Title Insurance for their soon to be home is very low. This is why sometimes a forum is not the most practical place to request insight on very important financial decisions. I learned over the years when trying to help friends and family, it's sometimes better to just let things be and let them learn if they do not heed my advice.

But hey, having over 25 years in the regulatory and compliance field of banking obviously comes in a distant second to your knowledge jsimms3

It's a dirty little secret know one wants to admit, up to two years before the housing crash the FED was recomending sweeping precautionary insight to what was coming (to the banks). The profit stood in the way of common sense.

[jsimms3]

Sorry I just skimmed your initial post and I didn't see "owner's" title insurance. I thought you just meant title insurance in general, which is why I then brought up lender's versus homeowner's. I know lender's is required, but I don't personally know anyone who doesn't also puchase homeowner's, which gives you a bulk discount as well. Hadn't had breakfast yet