Some of my standard closing table banter is chatting about paying down your mortgage WITHOUT using a bi-weekly payment plan. Why not? Well, as the article suggests, you typically are charged for that 'service' and at the end of the day you won't save as much interest over the life of the loan. In simple terms, most bi-weekly offers I've ever seen typically quote 5.5 to 6.5 years interest savings. If you paid ONE extra payment per year***, you'd save greater than SEVEN years worth of interest. Why choose a bi-weekly payment plan at all?
Click HERE for the article!
***As an example, if your principal and interest payment is $1200 per year, you would pay one extra payment towards principal per year OR pay an extra $100 monthly (principal/interest payment, divided by 12)
Showing posts with label Atlanta. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Atlanta. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Thursday, August 14, 2014
Does Closed = Cancelled?
In my last newsletter I referenced common title problems (Click HERE to read). One common title problem is definitely Open Loan Deeds, as noted. As a consumer, however, a "closed" account doesn't always mean the same thing as "cancelled" to a dirt lawyer. As an example, if you take out one purchase loan, the lender is in first lien position. If you have a second mortgage or Home Equity Line Of Credit (HELOC) taken out/recorded after that 1st mortgage, that loan is in second lien position. Quite often banks don’t cancel out the old loans once they get paid off (first OR second), but open/leftover HELOCs seem to be the more common problem.
For example, let’s say you closed a HELOC with a local bank for $25,000. You later increased the loan to $50K for some home repairs. Then it’s time for college so you raised it again to $75K. Finally, daughter is getting married so let’s just go for an even $100K (total line of credit, hopefully NOT the wedding bill!). Add all that up—even though the bank properly shows you only have an open line for $100K within their system, the public records will show (total) liens in the amount of $250,000 on their face IF they didn’t cancel each loan on the public records! SO we would need to contact the bank and work on obtaining releases or cancellations for EACH open loan (because every one of those HELOCs were secured by a Security Deed on the public records). Not every bank is this slack; I could name names but I’ll behave. At the end of the day, unless the bank has failed or been sold off, this can be somewhat simple. Sometimes (IF you have an owner’s title policy!) the Title Underwriter allows us to ‘insure over’ an open loan deed if it does not seem that they would have a valid claim against the title but that won’t work for HELOCs due to their revolving status so be vigilant!
Another HELOC example is that of the ‘free’ equity line offered at closing, back when houses actually had equity ("hey, you’ve just taken out a mortgage with us, do you want a small equity line as well, just in case?"). That’s great; so now you have a mortgage that you pay monthly, and you never draw any funds out of that equity line and it just sits there. When you go to sell your home, the attorney’s office asks for all your open loan info. Don’t fret; you’re not the only one who forgot about that 2nd loan—even if the balance is zero, all we need is a written payoff from the lender and they typically require a few dollars as junk fees to cancel out the loan on the public records. However, sometimes people want to keep that line open—if you’re selling the house, too bad. As it’s secured by the house, it has to be cancelled in the public records or you cannot transfer clear title to the new owner. At the end of the day, it's our job to make sure your title is clean so that there are no future title issues. We appreciate your business!
For example, let’s say you closed a HELOC with a local bank for $25,000. You later increased the loan to $50K for some home repairs. Then it’s time for college so you raised it again to $75K. Finally, daughter is getting married so let’s just go for an even $100K (total line of credit, hopefully NOT the wedding bill!). Add all that up—even though the bank properly shows you only have an open line for $100K within their system, the public records will show (total) liens in the amount of $250,000 on their face IF they didn’t cancel each loan on the public records! SO we would need to contact the bank and work on obtaining releases or cancellations for EACH open loan (because every one of those HELOCs were secured by a Security Deed on the public records). Not every bank is this slack; I could name names but I’ll behave. At the end of the day, unless the bank has failed or been sold off, this can be somewhat simple. Sometimes (IF you have an owner’s title policy!) the Title Underwriter allows us to ‘insure over’ an open loan deed if it does not seem that they would have a valid claim against the title but that won’t work for HELOCs due to their revolving status so be vigilant!
Another HELOC example is that of the ‘free’ equity line offered at closing, back when houses actually had equity ("hey, you’ve just taken out a mortgage with us, do you want a small equity line as well, just in case?"). That’s great; so now you have a mortgage that you pay monthly, and you never draw any funds out of that equity line and it just sits there. When you go to sell your home, the attorney’s office asks for all your open loan info. Don’t fret; you’re not the only one who forgot about that 2nd loan—even if the balance is zero, all we need is a written payoff from the lender and they typically require a few dollars as junk fees to cancel out the loan on the public records. However, sometimes people want to keep that line open—if you’re selling the house, too bad. As it’s secured by the house, it has to be cancelled in the public records or you cannot transfer clear title to the new owner. At the end of the day, it's our job to make sure your title is clean so that there are no future title issues. We appreciate your business!
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
New Year, New Law
Here's my latest newsletter item; some of it is a 2nd look at a prior post on SB 346 but it's worth reading again!
It's 2011 and I wanted to make sure you were aware of a new law that took affect on January 1--there is a "new and improved" law relating to appealing the valuation of your property. I took a 39 page Georgia state Senate bill and tried my best to summarize it, ending up with a 3 page summary. Instead of putting all that info in this newsletter, it can be found using THIS LINK. Suffice it to say that if you haven't yet received your 2011 valuation from the county, you can still use the PT-50R form found HERE to get the process started, but as so much has changed it would be a good idea to take some time to read my summary. Click here to read a recent AJC article about using that form and gives some background about the property tax return process.
One other reminder--you do need to file your homestead exemption if you purchased your home in 2010 or if you did something to change the title of your property in 2010. For example, if you added (or removed) your spouse/ partner/ other, you may have jeopardized your homestead exemption--even if you didn't need to re-file, it doesn't hurt to do so as you'd hate to see your taxes go UP, right? Note--if you merely refinanced and signed only a Security Deed, there is no change in the title to your property and no change to the exemption is needed.
While I'm on the topic of exemptions, click on THIS link to find out all of your county's available exemptions--you may qualify for more than you realized!
It's 2011 and I wanted to make sure you were aware of a new law that took affect on January 1--there is a "new and improved" law relating to appealing the valuation of your property. I took a 39 page Georgia state Senate bill and tried my best to summarize it, ending up with a 3 page summary. Instead of putting all that info in this newsletter, it can be found using THIS LINK. Suffice it to say that if you haven't yet received your 2011 valuation from the county, you can still use the PT-50R form found HERE to get the process started, but as so much has changed it would be a good idea to take some time to read my summary. Click here to read a recent AJC article about using that form and gives some background about the property tax return process.
One other reminder--you do need to file your homestead exemption if you purchased your home in 2010 or if you did something to change the title of your property in 2010. For example, if you added (or removed) your spouse/ partner/ other, you may have jeopardized your homestead exemption--even if you didn't need to re-file, it doesn't hurt to do so as you'd hate to see your taxes go UP, right? Note--if you merely refinanced and signed only a Security Deed, there is no change in the title to your property and no change to the exemption is needed.
While I'm on the topic of exemptions, click on THIS link to find out all of your county's available exemptions--you may qualify for more than you realized!
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
We're # 6!
I'm surprised we were only in the top-10 once! We all know Atlanta traffic is always a mess; this article makes it "official"! So be careful out there as you travel; avoid 285 and you should be fine ; ) I sure wish the Northern Arc was not so politicized in the past! We could really use a 'relief' road between I-85 and I-75 on the Northside of ATL but that fell apart years ago... Oh well...
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Atlanta Closing Attorney
It's funny how people 'find' you on the web. Obviously you can do a Google search for "Bo Wagner", though you will not only find me, but a tap dancer and marimba player from the band "Starbuck" (remember the song "Moonlight, Feels Right"?). Choosing the search term "Harris Wagner Law Group" will point you right to our website (or my original 'fun' site at www.boknowsclosings.com that I created prior to having an official site). You might even try searching for "real estate attorney" and other terms that the web dudes put together for SEO (Search engine optimization) and find us. Regardless, I hope you CAN find us as a) we spent some money putting up www.harriswagnerlaw.com and b) we want to be YOUR firm of choice.
To continue with buzz words, what's our USP? Our "unique selling proposition" is actually no different than many other firms out there. We all offer 'service' and promise to take care of your customers. Likewise there are firms out there that are both cheaper or more expensive to work with. Ditto for some firms that may have a disco (my word, means a really 'trick' or 'cool') system for ordering titles or emails that keep you in the loop each time a document is received. All that is great, but our USP is really tied up in 5 things:
Bo, Susie, Jeff, and Will (Ellen too!)
WE are the USP and WE make this a 'family' affair. Every person working in a real estate firm gets paid for their efforts (well, maybe not last year : ) but do they have true ownership in the firm? Sure, the partners or owners actually have ownership, but how important is that title order or contract on the fax to them? Is it a paycheck or a person? Obviously we aren't in this as a charity; I do need to pay my own mortgage. However, I know that each person walking in the door is hugely important to us. YOU bring your friends/clients/co-workers/referrals to us; not only is it our JOB to take care of them, we are lucky enough that you are entrusting them to us! I've shared the tears of a widow selling her old home that's become too much for her to handle; I've laughed at the excitement of a first-time homebuyer overwhelmed at the stack of paperwork. From time to time we've even dealt with situations where the buyers and sellers aren't getting along. We've stayed late on a Friday to make sure that a transaction is closed so the movers can do their job for the 'homeless' buyers moving from out of state.
WHY? We LOVE our job! We LOVE the people! This is our job, this is our LIFE. Each time we sit at the closing table, the world revolves around the people sitting at that table--not me. Other closings may be blowing up or we may have issues behind the scenes but that closing table is a 'refuge' and we will take care of everyone there. Sometimes I feel 'evangelical' as this process can take the form of a ministry for me. In my life I am far from perfect--but at that closing table, I know that I have to take care of the people surrounding me. We are all home owners here, we have our own stories and problems we face. We all have had good experiences with firms and bad--that's why we opened our OWN firm. We understand how this process works and the way it feels when something does or doesn't work. The last thing I'll say is this: WE CARE. Give us a shot and you'll see that passion at work. Real Estate is what we do. It's ALL we do. Come see us soon!
To continue with buzz words, what's our USP? Our "unique selling proposition" is actually no different than many other firms out there. We all offer 'service' and promise to take care of your customers. Likewise there are firms out there that are both cheaper or more expensive to work with. Ditto for some firms that may have a disco (my word, means a really 'trick' or 'cool') system for ordering titles or emails that keep you in the loop each time a document is received. All that is great, but our USP is really tied up in 5 things:
Bo, Susie, Jeff, and Will (Ellen too!)
WE are the USP and WE make this a 'family' affair. Every person working in a real estate firm gets paid for their efforts (well, maybe not last year : ) but do they have true ownership in the firm? Sure, the partners or owners actually have ownership, but how important is that title order or contract on the fax to them? Is it a paycheck or a person? Obviously we aren't in this as a charity; I do need to pay my own mortgage. However, I know that each person walking in the door is hugely important to us. YOU bring your friends/clients/co-workers/referrals to us; not only is it our JOB to take care of them, we are lucky enough that you are entrusting them to us! I've shared the tears of a widow selling her old home that's become too much for her to handle; I've laughed at the excitement of a first-time homebuyer overwhelmed at the stack of paperwork. From time to time we've even dealt with situations where the buyers and sellers aren't getting along. We've stayed late on a Friday to make sure that a transaction is closed so the movers can do their job for the 'homeless' buyers moving from out of state.
WHY? We LOVE our job! We LOVE the people! This is our job, this is our LIFE. Each time we sit at the closing table, the world revolves around the people sitting at that table--not me. Other closings may be blowing up or we may have issues behind the scenes but that closing table is a 'refuge' and we will take care of everyone there. Sometimes I feel 'evangelical' as this process can take the form of a ministry for me. In my life I am far from perfect--but at that closing table, I know that I have to take care of the people surrounding me. We are all home owners here, we have our own stories and problems we face. We all have had good experiences with firms and bad--that's why we opened our OWN firm. We understand how this process works and the way it feels when something does or doesn't work. The last thing I'll say is this: WE CARE. Give us a shot and you'll see that passion at work. Real Estate is what we do. It's ALL we do. Come see us soon!
Friday, April 16, 2010
Autographs here!
It's always nice to see your name in print--well, let me edit that... It's always nice to see your name in print for a POSITIVE story! Read THIS ARTICLE from the AJC and hear a bit of positive news about Real Estate. Plus, it's great to have a comment from our own Jeff Harris included! Cheers! Bo
Monday, March 29, 2010
Bet on ATL!
I love positive articles about ATL! Here's one from John Adams noting that we shouldn't count Atlanta out yet. I share his optimism!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
