What You Need To Know For A Seamless Home Sale

There are a host of possible reasons why you might decide to sell your home. Some of them might even force a quick sale. Fortunately, this doesn’t have to affect how successful the process will be. If you properly handle a few critical details, you’ll be ready to smile all the way to the bank. This post will help you identify some areas of importance when it comes to selling your home.

Before placing your home on the market, you will probably consider some key renovations to make it more appealing and increase its value. While this is generally a smart tactic, the following post describes some projects you may want to avoid:

6 Presale Home Improvements Sellers Wish They’d Never Made

Every seller wants their home to stand out from the crowd, and that often means beefing it up with shiny new improvements before putting it on the market. But sometimes owners go overboard, and the repairs become more costly and time-consuming than they’re worth.

To help you learn from others’ mistakes, we gathered real-life stories of home sellers who woefully regret the presale renovations they took on.

Regret No. 1: Going too trendy

Beware of falling for decor fads when it comes time to pretty up your home.

“I had a seller whose home’s original lighting fixtures were pretty standard brushed nickel and oil-rubbed bronze, circa the 2000s,” says Monica Weddle, a real estate professional in Raleigh, NC. “They were nothing offensive, just boring.” Read more at Realtor…

A little moderation in anything you do will be worth more in the long run. Ensure that the investment you make to spruce up your home will actually pay off in a greater purchase price.

Another thing to be aware of is the crucial role of an attorney in your homeselling process. The following post takes a closer look at this:

Do You Need a Real Estate Attorney to Sell Your Home?

You’re selling your home, not going to court. What’s all this buzz about hiring a real estate attorney on top of your amazing agent, who seems to have it all figured out? Sounds like an expensive cut to your bottom line!

The reality is having an attorney in your corner, especially at closing, protects you from documentation issues, titling errors and costly lawsuits.

Most states don’t require that sellers obtain legal representation—but even so, in certain cases, it would be reckless not to lawyer up.

If you’re on the fence about getting a real estate attorney, take the advice of top real estate agents and attorneys in the business who together know how to tie up a deal’s every loose end. Read more at Home Light…

Consult an expert before you make any decision. You will benefit from their invaluable assistance, especially if this is your first home sale. At the very least, you’ll be playing it safe with a very valuable asset, and that’s always a smart move.

State laws are particularly important in a homeselling transaction. For instance, some states, including South Carolina, actually require the presence of an attorney during the closing process, as the following post describes:

States that require a real estate attorney

Many states have laws mandating the involvement of a real estate attorney, often requiring their presence at closing. These include Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia. Keep in mind that these rules can vary by region within states, too. Read more at Realtor…

If you’re in North Carolina or South Carolina and need expert real estate guidance to help you with your home sale, Meek Law Firm South is here for you. Attorney Jonathan Meek is committed to serving you with excellence and ensuring that you have a trouble-free experience.

Call us today on (704) 800-5901 or fill out the contact form on our website and we’ll get in touch with you.

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How A Title Search Can Make Or Break Your Real Estate Deal

Business transactions typically involve many critical, but easily overlooked details that determine the success or failure of the entire process. When it comes to buying or selling real estate, this is definitely the case. If you’re involved in a property transaction from either standpoint, you must ensure that the transaction is done the right way.

The title search is one of the key elements that needs to be expertly handled. The following post takes a closer look:

The Title Search Process: The Unsung Hero of Your Transaction

The title search process is one of the most important parts of obtaining title insurance for homeowners. It is also one of the parts of buying a home which real estate agents, home buyers, loan officers and mortgage brokers often know the least about. The more you understand it, the easier the closing process is, and the more appreciation everyone in the transaction has for how it protects them, their buyers, sellers, and assets.

Whether you need a lender’s title insurance policy, owners’ policy, or both, or you just want to make sure a property has clear title before starting the sales and purchase process, it all begins with a search of the public records. Read more at End Point Closing…

A title search is the key to many insurance policies related to the property and should, therefore, be done thoroughly.

So, what exactly is a title search? The following post explains it in detail so that you are not guessing anymore:

What is a Title Search

A title search is an examination of public records to determine and confirm a property’s legal ownership, and find out what claims are on the property.

A title search is usually performed by a title company or an attorney, often on behalf of a prospective buyer who may be interested in making an offer on the property. The process may also be initiated by a lender or other entity that wants to verify ownership of the property and determine what claims or judgments against the property may exist before approving a loan or other credit that uses that property as collateral. Read more at Investopedia…

Basically, a title search process can be initiated by different entities but in all cases, it must be done using public records.

Once a title search has been done on a property, you can then get title insurance, an important document that protects you from numerous possible problems, as described here:

Title insurance is a policy that protects those rights against possible future claims. This insurance protects against various potential issues, such as forged deeds, instruments executed under an expired power of attorney, deeds by minors, defunct corporations, mistakes in indexing or recording legal documents, and prior liens that have not been released.

When a title company does their search, they are verifying that none of these items exist. If they happen to come up later, title insurance can offer protection against the losses incurred. Read more at Chad The Leader…

In essence, a title search not only gives you the green light to pursue a property purchase, but it also helps you to protect your property from future issues. That’s why you need to work with a competent attorney to get this thoroughly done.

Meek Law Firm South is the law firm to consult if you need your title search done flawlessly. Attorney Jonathan Meek is licensed to represent clients in both North and South Carolina real estate closings. You can reach him at (704) 800-5901 or use the contact form on our company website.

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How Much Do You Know About The Home Closing Procedure?

If you are completely new to home buying/selling transactions, the term “home closing” may not be familiar. However, as you may have already guessed, it is an important step in the process of either buying or selling a home. This post will help you to discover what you don’t know about the procedure as you start your home buying/selling journey.

It’s important to have the right definition of any procedure. This is especially so when it has legal implications, as we shall see later. The following post lays a helpful foundation for understanding the term ‘home closing’:

What exactly is a home closing?

Let’s start at the beginning. This is a big deal when it comes to the process of buying a home, and one you may be unfamiliar with.

In simple terms, home closing is the last chapter of this long home buying process.

This is where you sign off on the deal and transfer the last of the funds. At the end of closing, the deed will be recorded, and the home will be yours.

The closing is handled by a neutral third party closing agent. This may be a title company or a real estate attorney (more on this below).

At closing, significant events include… Read more at Money Under 30…

Basically, the home closing procedure involves signing the deal, which is legally binding on the two parties. It’s a pretty serious transaction.

Most home buyers often desire to have the entire process completed within a reasonable amount of time. However, there are several unplanned things that could happen during the closing process that may delay your plans. The following post explains some of them in detail:

Top 10 Reasons Why A Real Estate Closing Is Delayed

Whether you’re currently buying or selling a home or you’re planning on buying or selling a home in the future, it’s important that you understand that there can be delays in a real estate closing.  A real estate contract and the terms and conditions that are set forth in a contract do carry significant importance, however, they are not always concrete.

A very common real estate myth that both buyers and sellers often believe is that the closing date in a real estate purchase contract is actually when the closing will occur. Read more at Rochester Real Estate Blog…

Delays in home closing should not get you worked up. However, it is advisable to work with a person who is knowledgeable on real estate matters.

Real estate lawyers are of great help throughout the home buying/selling process. The following post explains why these professionals are indispensable:

Why You Need a Lawyer When You Buy or Sell a House

Buying a home will probably be the largest and most significant purchase you will make in your life. It also involves the law of real property, which is unique and raises special issues of practice, and problems not present in other transactions. A real estate lawyer is trained to deal with these problems and has the most experience to deal with them.

Buying a Home

In the typical home purchase, the seller enters into a brokerage contract with a real estate agent, usually in writing. When the broker finds a potential buyer, negotiations are conducted through the broker, who most often acts as an intermediary. Read more at FindLaw…

Work with a competent real estate attorney who will ensure that you have the peace of mind that you need as you make your home transaction.

Meek Law Firm South is the place to go if you’re in North Carolina or South Carolina and need an excellent real estate attorney. Jonathan Meek will ensure that your home closing procedure is handled the right way. Call us today at (704) 800-5901 to get started or complete the contact form on our website to get in touch with us.

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What To Expect As You Prepare To Sell Your Home

Feeling jittery about selling your home? Don’t worry, it’s completely normal to be anxious. In fact, if it’s your first time, the feeling could be heightened. Letting go of what is probably your most valuable personal asset can easily trigger a sense of insecurity. If the transaction isn’t properly handled, you may end up with negative feelings about the whole home-selling process. That’s what this post is intended to help you with, by letting you know exactly what to expect.

The first thing to understand is that selling a house is a process that occurs in several stages. Having a mental picture of the entire journey is helpful as you get underway.

The following post discusses the home-selling process:

The Guide to Selling Your Home

As a homeowner getting ready to sell your property, it can be tough to separate your emotional attachment to the house you made memories in from the need to help potential buyers picture themselves making the space their own.

Even if you’ve already gotten over the emotional hump of selling your home, the pressure to price the house correctly and attract the right buyers can be its own obstacle. You may find yourself taking a note from past generations and burying a statue of St. Joseph in the yard or scouring online listings at all hours to see how competing homes on the market are priced. Read more at Real Estate U.S. News…

Learning how to detach yourself from your home emotionally is a huge step, especially if you are a very sentimental person. It will certainly help to set the ball rolling.

Selling is obviously bound to bring you a fortune if it is done well. However, few people remember that many expenses are incurred during the home selling process. The following post explains them in detail:

Selling Your Home May Be Pricier Than You Expect

It’s a seller’s market, for sure, with tight housing markets across the country and home values that have risen 7.6% in the last year alone, according to Zillow. But if you’re thinking of cashing in your chips and recouping some of the value you’ve gained in your homestead by selling it, you should know that selling a house can cost more than $18,000.

In fact, the average homeowner spends $18,342 to sell their home, according to Zillow and Thumbtack’s 2018 Hidden Costs of Selling analysis. Read more at Forbes…

$18,000 is a significant amount of money. It’s definitely something to keep in mind when thinking about the final price or when negotiating with potential buyers.

Further, any financial venture is accompanied by risks and home-selling is no different. The following post describes some of the potential pitfalls along the way:

Selling Your House? Avoid These Mistakes

Selling your home—especially if you’ve never done it before—can be surprisingly time-consuming and emotionally challenging. Strangers will come into your home and poke around in your closets and cabinets. They will criticize a place that has probably become more than just four walls and a roof to you, and then, to top it all off, they will offer you less money than you think your home is worth.

With no experience and a complex, emotional transaction on your hands, it’s easy for first-time home sellers to make lots of mistakes, but with a little know-how, you can avoid many of these pitfalls altogether. Read on to find out how you can get the highest possible price for your home within a reasonable timeframe—without losing your mind.  Read more at Investopedia…

Whatever happens, you need to ensure that you don’t make any mistakes with your home sale because the legal consequences can be immense. The solution is to have an experienced real estate attorney walk you through every step of the process.

Homebuyers and sellers alike in North Carolina and South Carolina will do well to contact Meek Law Firm South about their real estate transactions. Call us at (704) 800-5901 for expert guidance in title work, deed preparations, and real estate closings. You can also get in touch with us by completing the contact form on our website. We look forward to hearing from you.

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The Role Of Home Inspections In Real Estate Transactions

Are you planning to become a residential property owner? Or, do you have some residential property that you want to sell? If you are contemplating either of these transactions in any part of the U.S., one of the crucial steps in the process is the home inspection.

In fact, it can often be the deal maker or breaker, which let’s you know just how important it is. Without a home inspection, whether you’re buying or selling you can find yourself mired in difficulties, especially if any type of legal action is involved.

In this blog post we will do our best to enlighten you on this important subject. Let’s start here with this informative article:

What Buyers and Sellers Need to Understand About Home Inspections

Home inspections are a vital part of the real estate transaction process, so it makes sense to learn as much as you can about them.

The more you know about what they entail, and more importantly, how they affect you as a buyer or seller, the more confident you will be moving forward with your transaction.

Here is the ultimate guide on home inspections for both buyers and sellers. Read on to learn all you need to know about home inspections! Read more at Bill Gassett…

One of the key elements of the process to take into account is the home inspector you choose for the job. Ensure that you get a qualified one to guarantee valid reports.

Another important inspection to be taken into consideration is the pest inspection. The following post gives more detail about this procedure:

Why a Pest Inspection Before Closing Offers the Peace of Mind Your Buyers Need

We all love to open up our home to guests. But if they have six legs, antennae, and wings, or beady eyes and like to burrow into the walls, you need to give these visitors a swift kick in the tail (buh-bye now!) before your house can sell.

Problem is… signs of an infestation or conditions that make you vulnerable to pests, such as wood rot and moisture, aren’t identifiable with an untrained eye. That’s why buyers and lenders oftentimes request a pest inspection before closing—you’re not in the clear simply because you don’t see bugs or mice crawling around. Read more at Home Light…

As a homeowner intending to sell any property, if your potential buyer insists on a pest inspection, don’t take it personally. It is better to be safe than sorry.

You may be wondering what happens when you discover that your inspection has revealed some problems. The following post explains what could be done in such a situation:

What to Do When Your House ‘Fails’ Inspection

It’s the question you can expect from friends and family as you navigate the due diligence process of purchasing a home, especially because it’s hard not to share when you’ve had an offer accepted on the house you hope to call home: “Did the house pass inspection?”

If only it were so simple.

Home inspections aren’t like car emissions tests, where the vehicle will either pass or fail, at which point the owner will have to put in work. If you’re looking at a home inspection this way, all houses will fail because there’s always something that needs work in a building. Read more at US News…

It’s not the end of your journey if the test results do not meet the minimum requirements. However, this needs to be handled in the right way, especially from a legal perspective.

Each state has different legal requirements when it comes to real estate transactions. If you are in Charlotte, NC and need legal advice pertaining to your real estate transactions, Meek Law South is here for you. Get in touch with us at (704) 800-5901 or complete the contact form on our website and we will get in touch with you. We look forward to hearing from you.

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Three Great Real Estate Investment Tips For Beginners

Buying investment real estate can be an intimidating endeavor, especially for beginners. Traditionally, it was something undertaken only by the rich. Today, however, more and more middle-class investors are getting into real estate and it’s not hard to see why. Real estate can be very rewarding financially, often thriving even in a slow economic cycle.

Below are three smart tips to help you get started in real estate:

1. Start Modestly

The first and most important aspect to remember when investing is preserving money.  “Market growth is slowing down,” explains Schoffler. “When you’ve worked hard to save money you can finally invest, you need to be careful to not just invest it anywhere. I recommend starting out by investing with a more conservative approach because I’ve done it the other way and lost.”

“If you adopt the investment concept of compounding — the process of increasing your return based on reinvested earnings — you might be surprised what you could earn over time. But you need to be comfortable playing the long, rather than short game. Make sure your investments will perform well in both an up and down economy.” Read more at Entrepreneur…

While big investments yield big returns, it is always wise to start out small if you are a novice in real estate. Rather than start out big and experience slow market growth, it is better to save your money and invest small amounts first. Once the market starts to grow then you can invest more money. Real estate, much like stock market investments, is a long-term process that compounds over time.

2. Do Not Purchase Investment Real Estate in Your Name

You will almost NEVER purchase a real estate investment in your own name. Instead, for risk management reasons, consider holding real estate investments through special types of legal entities such as limited liability companies or limited partnerships (you should consult with a qualified attorney for his or her opinion as to which ownership method is best for you and your circumstances). That way, if the real estate investment goes bust or someone slips and falls, resulting in a lawsuit, you can protect your personal assets because the worst that can happen in some circumstances is you lose the money you’ve invested. Read more at The Balance…

One of the benefits of having a real estate lawyer is getting the right advice on issues like these. If you are buying a personal home, it almost always has to be in your name, especially if you’re getting a mortgage to finance it.

3. Set Goals

Earl Nightingale, an author and successful insurance broker, best known for The Strangest Secret, put it best when he asked the question, “Where do you see yourself based on the actuarial statistics for 100 men at age 65?” At the time (1950s), the statistics were that one was very wealthy, four were very well-off, five were still working, 54 men were dependent on others, and 36 were deceased. What he noticed was not so much that 36 of the men were deceased, but that there was a common trait in the top 5%—they all set goals! Read more at Bigger Pockets…

Real estate investment, much like anything else, requires a plan and goals to be set when you are starting out in order to succeed. This plan will map out the process of investment.

If you need more advice on real estate investment and beginner tips, get in touch with us at (704) 800-5901. At Meek Law Firm South, we deliver personal and professional legal advice for all your real estate investment endeavors.

 

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Buying Property – The Importance Of Real Estate Deed Preparation

One of the final steps when buying property is deed preparation. If you have arrived at this step, then you have already done most of the heavy lifting, especially if you have not yet sought the services of a lawyer. If there was ever a time to get one, however, it would be at this final stage. That’s because this is where the property ownership changes hands.

Read on to learn what deed preparation is all about and why you need a lawyer to get you safely on the other side of your purchase or sale.

Deed definition

A property deed is a written and signed legal instrument that is used to transfer ownership of real property from the old owner (the grantor) to the new owner (the grantee). Historically, real property was transferred through a ceremonial act known as “livery of seisin.” In this act, the person transferring the land handed a twig or clod of turf from the land to the person taking delivery of the land. A verbal or written statement often accompanied the gesture, though it was the livery of seisin that legally transferred the title to the property. Today, title to real property is conveyed by a paper deed. Read more at Investopedia…

A real estate deed is a document that shows who the rightful owner of a property is. When you buy a property from another party, they have to legally hand over the property. This is largely what the deed preparation stage entails.

All real estate deeds must be in writing. The deed must contain a formal legal description of the property, which contains a granting clause and evidence of consideration. The granting clause includes wording that demonstrates the seller’s intent to transfer the title to the buyer. The consideration is the amount of the purchase price or some other value given by the buyer.

The real estate deed must be signed by the seller and notarized. Also, some states require one or more individuals to sign the deed as witnesses. The buyer is not required to sign the deed. The seller’s attorney is responsible for delivering the deed to the buyer, and the buyer must accept the deed. Read more at SF Gate…

Detail of the Deed

Both the seller and the buyer need attorneys at this stage. They will help to make sure all the details in the deed are as both parties agreed. Typically a deed should describe the property in question and the seller’s intention to transfer ownership to the buyer.

Review the deed to ensure you have included the required legal elements: the grantor and grantee’s name and address, the property’s physical address and legal description, the sale amount and any liens or encumbrances. The signature blocks for the grantor, grantee and witnesses along with the notary information should be included at the end of the deed. Read more at The Nest…

Role of the Attorney

The work of the attorney is to review the document. He or she will look for details such as the physical address, sale amount and any liens. In some cases, buyers later find out they have been assigned the wrong properties when such details are not analyzed carefully.

For your own protection, you don’t want to complete a real estate purchase without an attorney. This is particularly important for deed preparation. Meek Law Firm South is among the leading real estate lawyers in Charlotte and North Carolina. Give us a call at (704) 800-5901 to discuss your needs, or complete the contact form on our website and we’ll get in touch with you. We look forward to hearing from you.

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