"Stolen" article on Flipping Houses

So I stole this article from an email I received. With all the TV shows on Flipping, you'd think it was SO easy! In all honesty, I still have clients who are flipping but this trend has come and gone (Caveat--the 'simple' picks have come and gone by now; what's left are rough properties and many are in rough areas). In essence, the tone of the article (in my opinion) is 'be careful'. The pros are doing it still and having mixed success. Do you want to risk your entire nest egg as a 'newbie'? Perhaps not... Read on!

SEE BELOW FOR HEADINGS/TEXT OF EMAIL RECEIVED...

What's the Deal with Flipped Homes?
Americans love their home improvement and design shows. With entire channels dedicated to DIY, home decor and design, and everything related to U.S. real estate, we love the possibilities that lie within the real estate market in America. One popular aspect of many shows and publications is home or house flipping. We hear a lot about flipping homes, but what does that really mean? Is it feasible for everyone? Are there risks? Should you buy a flipped home, and what questions should you ask if your property search lands on a potentially flipped property?


What is Flipping?
Flipping is a predominately U.S. term used to describe purchasing a property with the intent of quickly reselling it for profit. Most of the time, properties that are purchased with the intent to flip are those that are distressed, abandoned, or otherwise in need of repairs that make the property less desirable to other potential buyers. Flipping has become increasingly popular throughout the U.S. in the last decade, and many people have become successful real estate flippers with the vast and varied real estate markets throughout the United States.


Can Anyone Flip a Property?
Many programs on television make house flipping look easily attainable to anyone and everyone. The fact remains that flipping a property is risky business that requires a large amount of work, experience, funding (preferably cash), excellent credit and a good understanding and almost intuitive knowledge of the real estate market. If you're interested in flipping properties, the best way to get started is by talking to someone who has experience and has had success in flipping real estate. There are many things to know about flipping real estate that should be addressed before the idea is even entertained.


What are the Risks of Flipping a Home?
There are risks with any kind of real estate investment, but inexperienced flippers can make a number of mistakes. There are a number of costs that come with flipping a property, and new flippers can make the mistake of not having enough money to cover the entire project – from the acquisition of the property, to the renovations, taxes, utilities and more. Another risk of flipping properties is time, or lack of time. Finding the right property can take months, and once you own the property there is a time commitment to renovations, commuting, inspections, and ultimately the marketing and selling of the property.

Other risks that new flippers run into are not having enough knowledge about the real estate market and failing to purchase the right property for a flip; a lack of skills when it comes to working on the property and putting in the sweat equity (hard work) required to get it up to market standards; and ultimately lacking patience when it comes to the entire project as a whole.


Should I Buy a Flipped Home?
Often, flipped homes have mostly cosmetic changes done in order to attract buyers and ultimately get the property sold. You might fall in love with fresh paint and brand new appliances, and generally speaking, most flipped homes attract many buyers because they have a smaller initial to-do list than other properties on the market. If you're looking at a property that could be a flip, be sure to ask these questions: What is the home's sale history? If the home recently sold for much less than its current asking price, it's possible it is a flip. Does the outside of the home match what's inside? If the exterior of the home is older, and the interior looks brand new, it's very possible someone is trying to flip the property. Information is your best friend when it comes to a flipped home, so getting the most information up front will help guide you toward pursuing the property or not.

If you believe you're looking at a flipped home, consider asking the seller what changes have been made to the property, and check to see if any permits were issued for the work. Also, some buyers might be blinded by all the new interior cosmetic updates that they forget about the bones and foundation of the home. Regardless of whether a home is old or new, always hire an experienced and licensed inspector to check over the home to make sure you're getting the most for your money when it comes to buying a property.

When to shop for a cheaper closing...

This article some great points but a few things to point out--title insurance rates are set by the title insurance company here in GA; we use Old Republic Title as they offer solid service/reliability and great common-sense underwriting (and fair fees too!). For the record, most title companies in GA do not offer re-issue rates so ignore that part of the story.

One other comment that needs to be 'tweaked' is about closing on the last day of the month. YES you'd save the most in interest if you close the last day of the month or close to it (call me and I will explain). BUT how much is your time worth? Or better yet-how much is your STRESS level worth? I can guarantee that MOST closing issues are due to rushed deals such as on month-end or for FRIDAY closings. If it were me (after 20 years doing closings) I'd prefer to close the week of the 25th or so on a Wednesday. Why Wednesday? People think they have to close on Friday so they can move the next day. If there is a problem with your closing (perhaps your wire didn't come in time) then you won't fund. If you have no money, you're not getting keys! Back when I closed for a National builder, if you don't have money, you don't get keys (actually the best policy). Did they care about that $150/hour moving company idling in the cul-de-sac? NO. If you close on Wednesday, you STILL move on Friday and you also have 2 bonus days to 'fix' problems like missing wires, walk-through issues, etc.

Finally, DO check into the firm where you're 'told' to close. Are they customer-service driven like us? If not, why are you closing there??? Give us a call today and schedule YOUR closing with US!

Want to shorten the length of your mortgage? Avoid Bi-Weekly payment plans!

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)

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!

Common Title Issues

When we sit down to close a transaction, hopefully it’s a very smooth and simple event. What ‘should’ happen is the review of a LOT of documents, tons of signing, initialing and some witty banter around the closing table. The concept of ‘all the attorney did was shove papers at me and said sign here’ is actually somewhat how a closing should be—however, hopefully all parties walk out of my closing with some semblance of understanding what just happened and what they signed! What you may not know is how much that actually happens behind the scenes prior to closing. One major thing that I have to do is clean titles. Let’s talk about common issues (and some NOT so common ones!).

Open Loan Deeds. Open loan deeds are the bane of closing attorneys’ existence! The role of the closing attorney is to convey clear title to the buyer and insure that the lender is in the proper ‘position’ as it relates to liens. If a loan was previously closed out but not cancelled in the public records, we have to ‘get rid of it’ and get in cancelled, released or obtain clearance from our title company that we can move forward. This topic will be covered in a follow-up newsletter, but suffice it to say that this issue creates a lot of confusion with clients! As an example, you know, the bank knows, and even I know that a loan was closed out in the bank’s system—but regardless of that fact, if it’s open in the public records, it is not ‘closed’ for title purposes and we must clean it up prior to closing.

Tax Liens. Ah, death and taxes… If you don’t pay your property taxes the county gets fussy. They will file tax liens on your property and can even SELL the property in a tax sale. We have to get proper written payoffs and pay any liens to clear the title. Usually this is a simple situation; it’s a bit more work if the taxes have been sold to a collector. If you have Federal or State income tax liens, we MUST get a payoff from the proper Federal or State agency. Tax liens (both property and income) don’t ‘go away’ and have to be cleared.

HOA or Condo liens. What if you have a Homeowner’s Association and you owe them money? We have to get payoffs from that HOA. If it’s professionally managed, that can be a simple call or email. If you have to call Fred the treasurer, as long as someone can find out how to reach Fred (and if he calls back) then we can obtain a payoff or release. That can be troublesome at times.

Contractor’s liens. So you added on a bathroom and you didn’t pay the contractor. Guess what? They can slap a lien on your house! The good news for most owners is that the lien process is VERY detailed and if they screw it up, the lien is not valid. So pay your contractors on time and you shouldn’t have to worry! If not, then we’ll have to get a written payoff as well.

Divorce or other legal proceedings. These can be liens against property so we have to research to see confirm the status of any lawsuit. As long as something is ‘open’ we have to more or less ask ‘permission’ to close (ditto for Probate and Bankruptcy situations).

These are just a few items that we deal with on a daily basis, though it seems like new 'stuff' shows up every day! Even after 20 years, I am surprised to learn something new more often than you'd think. Someday I'll tell you about the gentleman refinancing who didn't own his condo... (it's a long story ; )

Mortgage Changes for 2014

I received the following info from a realtor friend's email newsletter; thought I'd share... Happy 2014! Bo

Mortgage Changes to Know in 2014


The New Year is almost here, and with it comes a bevy of legal and regulatory changes, especially for the mortgage industry. To help potential homebuyers understand how the changes will affect their mortgage processes, Don Frommeyer, CRMS, President of NAMB (The Association of Mortgage Professionals), outlines some of the regulations set to start in January 2014.

“Since 2009, the housing market has been working to create standards and regulations that minimize the risk of another mortgage industry fiasco,” says Frommeyer. “The ability-to-repay mandate is a perfect example of this and it exemplifies how mortgage professionals are taking extra caution with every customer.”

Upcoming mortgage industry changes include:

- Ability-to-Repay Mandate: The CFPB designed this regulation to set a gold-standard for lending to ensure each and every borrower is a qualified borrower. Lenders will follow a set of guidelines to establish a consumer’s income, assets and obligations before deeming them eligible. The CFPB rules establish a standard for what the government considers a “qualified mortgage.”

- Decrease in FHA Loan Limit: The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) announced that beginning January 1, 2014, mortgages will be limited to $625,000, down from $729,750. Homebuyers looking to obtain a larger loan will have to apply for a jumbo loan, which will most likely come with a higher down payment. “For many areas of the country this change won’t be a huge issue as average home prices fall below the established limit. However, borrowers in metropolitan areas with higher average housing prices may face challenges when applying for mortgages as the 20 percent down payment associated with jumbo loans will be an enormous increase from a traditional loan’s 3.5 percent down payment,” notes Frommeyer.

- Caps on Loan Origination Fees: January 10, 2014 brings a rule for the Qualified Mortgage that points and fees on mortgages cannot exceed 3%.

- Tighter Regulations for Self-Employed: As the rules to create a QM (qualified-mortgage) take effect, people without a W-2 will face difficulty when they apply for loans. It’s more of a task for individuals to prove their debt-to-income ratio without the proper documentation, even if they have a high net-worth and perfect credit. The income is calculated bringing into play the customer write offs to reduce taxable income.

For more information, visit www.namb.org

Deed is DONE!

The last time I wrote about deeds I discussed the different forms of deeds, such as Quit-Claim Deeds, Security Deeds and Warranty Deeds. To read “Doing the Deed” click HERE. This time I’m going to discuss several issues relating to deeds.

If you own a property by yourself, it’s solely in your name. That’s a simple concept; not much to understand about that. If you own a piece of property with someone else, the specific language in that deed is very important. Let’s say a property was conveyed to Sonny and Cher (note to anyone under 40: Google them). Yep, no question about it--Sonny and Cher own their property; that’s simple enough. BUT, like all my political rants about unintended consequences, if it’s just spelled out that Sonny and Cher are the owners (with no other special language) there could be issues lurking down the road. If you’re curious, that type of deed would be called “Tenants in Common”. Put that thought on hold and let’s try another scenario.

I won’t bore you with statutes and history but years ago the Georgia legislature created another deed concept called “Joint Tenants with Right of Survivorship”. That meant that if Sonny and Cher took title as Joint Tenants, they more or less owned the entire property together—however, if either one of them passed away, the title to the entire tract would pass to the other immediately as an operation of law.

The distinction for these two deed formats is specific to the language. As noted, the Joint Tenants deed passes title immediately upon the death of one of the Joint Tenants. Contrast that with Tenants in Common—picture a big line drawn through the property. With Tenants in Common each “Tenant” owns their “half”. So if Sonny died, Cher still owns her half but now Sonny’s estate owns the other half. This may or may not be a big deal—if Sonny has a will giving everything to Cher, then she gets the entire property just like the Joint Tenants deed. The difference? With the Joint Tenants deed, Cher would have received the property ‘automatically’ upon Sonny’s death. With the Tenants in Common, Cher has to Probate the Will through the Court system or Administer the estate if there was no will. Either process involving the court will cost money and time—something that Cher may not have depending on her situation. If she received the property through the Joint Tenancy deed, she can do what she needs immediately, no waiting!
Take a look at the deed to your own house. TYPICALLY attorneys will default to creating a Joint Tenants With Rights of Survivorship for closing OR they will give you the option. If that’s your intent, great, the JTWROS deed is a useful tool. Take a look at your parents’ deed—was it an older deed that just has both of their names (Tenants in Common) OR was it just in ONE of their names? Again, through the court system, a surviving spouse will ‘eventually’ be able to receive the property BUT why put up barriers that involve time and expense?

What if you own a vacation house with another family? If by mistake the lawyers used a JTWROS deed, then if Family Dad 1 dies then Family Dad 2 would own the complete property. Most likely that won’t be an issue (e.g. will Family Dad 2 effectively kick out the heirs of Family Dad 1? He could!) but we attorneys hear all sorts of horror stories (and even within families—it’s weird how money can induce craziness into families).

What about a ‘blended’ family? Take the Brady Bunch. If Mr. Brady wanted only HIS sons to receive his interest in his property, then Tenants in Common may be the way to go for him. That way Mrs. Brady would get her share and the sons would get theirs. However, there could be a LOT of issues that could come up so you really need to think things through and PLAN with both the deed and a well-crafted Will.

One final issue to discuss is Divorce. So Sonny and Cher hit a rough patch and decide to go their own way. In the divorce decree (the ‘road map’ to the divorce, more or less a contract telling what must happen) it says Sonny will deed the house to Cher, so he does. Now Cher owns the house, right? Here’s the classic “What if” situation—what if Sonny and Cher had a loan? Well, Cher may own the house, but BOTH Sonny and Cher are tied together through the loan. Actually, look at it this way—Sonny and Cher’s CREDIT is tied together through the loan. If Sonny wants to buy his own place, he may not be able to do so until Cher pays off that loan or refinances that loan ‘solo’ (e.g. Sonny is no longer on a loan tied to the old house). Again, a simple concept, but I get calls or emails all the time relating to this. More “what if’s” for you—now let’s say Cher stops paying the mortgage; obviously her credit is trashed and she may lose the house. BUT guess whose credit is also trashed? Sonny’s, because he is still on the loan! He may never know this until he is turned down for a Home Depot credit card or something much more important like his own loan or even a job!

On a similar note, what if Cher got the house and the divorce decree actually states clearly that Cher must refinance or sell the house to get Sonny’s interest released? That is a great idea and ANY divorce attorney should make sure that is in the decree (with time limits!). BUT (there’s always a but, right??)—what if the house is ‘upside down’ and cannot be sold or refinanced? These are serious concerns with no easy answer. I just want to point out some of these issues so that you can properly plan for the future should this event happen to you.

The moral of the story? You should get thee to the file cabinet, safety deposit box or simply contact your closing attorney and find out how you hold title to your property (and again, ask your parents, grandparents or kids, etc.). At a minimum it’s best to have both spouses on title and ‘in general’ it’s best to have a Joint Tenant With Rights of Survivorship Deed. As noted, everyone’s situation is different (I didn’t even touch on tax liabilities, which I’m not really qualified to do!) so start by looking at your deed and then consult your estate planning attorney, CPA and real estate attorney to do what’s right for you!
As always, if you find some generic deed online, you’ll probably get what you pay for (meanwhile, your home is merely your most important asset but what’s $50, eh?). Likewise, I saw a will creator program at my local warehouse club for $45. All I can say is this—you may be dead, but do you want to burden your family with a ‘what if’ that comes to life due to some wacky software glitch? Let me know how I can help, either a quick review of your deed and/or revision as well as helping to craft a simple will for you that’s in line with your current situation. I’d love to help serve you! Thanks as always for reading, take care! Bo

Owner's Title insurance; why or why not?

I'm always surprised when someone chooses to waive their optional owner's title. This typically happens with a buyer from out of state (who is not well-versed in title issues found in Georgia) or with someone who thinks that they are covered by the Lender's title policy. I guess the easiest way to ponder that is to look at the name... "Lender's" versus "Owner's". Who is actually protected???

So the recent cash buyer 'saved' around $900 on their new purchase but what if someone makes a claim against the $240,000 equity in their new home? Considering the price differential, I'd say the choice is clear!

Still not convinced? Check out these links for some light reading! Be safe out there!

PROTECT YOUR INVESTMENT

WHY OWNERS TITLE

A quick refresher on how to title your property

This LINK should take you to a question asked online. It was answered by another real estate attorney and I added my thoughts as well. Between the two, this should give you some points to ponder re: how to title your home.

Have a great weekend! Bo

"Doing the deed"

In real estate, you hear the word ‘deed’ a lot but sometimes it’s not clear what is being referenced. A deed conveys or transfers property from one to another, be it an entity or an individual—that is consistent for all deeds. The key is what this deed actually SAYS. Sometimes the title of the deed is clear (like “Warranty Deed” at the top of the instrument), but that could be meaningless if the internal wording is incorrect or less than an absolute warranty of title. Let’s explain…

The ‘best’ deed is a Warranty Deed. If I transfer a property to you with that, I am warranting that I own it and can freely transfer it to you. I also give you a ‘warranty’ that I will help defend that clear title (thank goodness for Owner’s Title policies!). The ‘worst’ deed is a “Quit-Claim” deed (no it is NOT a quick-claim or quick deed!). The Quitclaim deed transfers ‘whatever I own’ to you. If I am the full owner of the property, great! That means you own whatever I ‘gave’ you. What if I don’t own it? Well, if I EVER take ownership of that property down the road, then that deed more or less finally kicks in (as an example, I can deed you the Golden Gate Bridge, but you didn’t get anything because I don’t currently own that beautiful piece of living history. BUT if I ever do (somehow) own it, guess what? At that point it’s yours!)

Interested in buying a foreclosed property? A Bank takes title to the property through a “Deed Under Power”, meaning they used their power of sale embedded in the Security Deed to ‘take back’ the property when the owner defaults. (A Security Deed transfers an ownership interest to the Bank in order to Secure their interest in the property—an analogy is a car title where you and the Bank own the secured item together). Now that the Bank owns the property, they will sell it to you using a “Limited Warranty Deed” (sometimes called a “Special Warranty Deed”). There is specific language in that deed noting that they warrant and guaranty the title to the property ONLY through their time of ownership ‘forward’ in time (in other words, “we only promise to defend any claims that showed up AFTER we obtained this property).

Next time I will talk about “issues” with deeds. When I am cleaning up titles, I find a lot of unintended consequences (incorrect names, incorrect descriptions, incorrect format, etc.). One thing I will say is that you are risking a lot when you use a deed you found on the internet or some cheap office-supply form. Isn’t the ownership of your home worth the $50-150 an attorney would charge to prepare that instrument? You will hopefully decide YES once you see the next newsletter…!

As a side note, I have received various “official” notices in the mail with a very strong call to action. This call to action virtually screams that I MUST contact them and get a copy of my property deed TODAY (oh, and send them $55-85 for this important service). Here’s the deal—if you have signed any deed of conveyance, the attorney who handled this should have mailed you the original. Can’t find it? No problem! Go to your county Clerk of Superior Court (property records division) and get a copy… for FIFTY CENTS. Yep, those ‘official’ notices are a scam—legal, but still an absolute scam. Be safe out there!

Why buy owner's title insurance?

Simply stated, you need to protect yourself! Yes, this is self-serving for a real estate attorney to talk about as we earn a portion of the title fee, but read what Clark Howard has to say about the issue for third-party validation! Ditto for local real estate guru John Adams (though that article is a bit older--the need remains the same, however!)

As a real estate attorney, we have to clean up messy titles daily. From simple issues like typos, to 'medium' issues like open loan deeds; to the RIDICULOUS (such as the gentleman who owned NOTHING... give me a call and I'll explain that one). In all these cases, Owner's title is your friend and can be your protector! It's a ONE TIME purchase--every time you get a loan, your lender requires the protection--isn't that a clue that YOU should have it too?

Real Estate Lawyers versus Witness Only closings

I couldn't write an article on this subject as clearly as this one, as it references a court case in Massachusetts. I applaud their efforts and I am hopeful that efforts to stop the same activities in Georgia will be successful in the future. Yes, I know this sounds incredibly 'protectionist' of me--it is. Yes, I want to ensure that as a closing attorney I have a job.

BUT in all honesty these witness-only firms are not held to the same standards as I am. I try to leave a title cleaner than I found it--I either fix a title issue (open loan deed, etc.) or have detailed notes to share with a future lawyer who finds an issue with my file. In essence, I care about the actual practice of law (and I truly feel that the closing process is a 'start to finish' proposal--not just sitting at the table with a blue pen and my notary stamp). For that matter, who is going to fix the title issue caused by some out of state company? When you go to sell your house you may find that your last closing created a huge error that will be costly to fix! I find issues all the time--even one refinance uncovered a situation where the gentleman actually owned NOTHING (a long story, but after a month or so I was able to fix the problem).

Final thought--witness-only closings (or closings handled by out of state companies, with or without a lawyer involved) are not always the cheapest option. Costs in Georgia are very competitive (at least in the ATL area). It may seem like a good deal to have a 'one-stop' shopping experience but after 15 years I have seen that you either 'get what you pay for' or you can also get screwed. Choose wisely--choose to close with a fully licensed real estate law practitioner.

Which recession is over?

I love watching Frank Garay and Brian Stevens "Think Big, Work Small". THIS POSTING is great--when is your PERSONAL recession over? All I can say is that several things formed a perfect storm in my own life, most centered around my old house sitting for almost an entire year and not selling. It is currently rented so we're in 'better' shape, but issues stemming from the carrying costs have left their mark on our finances. Starting our own company (translation: no paycheck for several months) was 'fun' as well, though things are more stable to date. With that being said, we still need to get rid of a lot of debt. SO, am I out of my recession? Not yet. What is it going to take? Unlike our government, I have done the obvious stuff--cut back on spending, try to pay off debt, but that can only do so much when you start out in the red. I know that it is up to me to secure our future. Yes, I depend on God and I am truly blessed. I have to step it up, however, and see what I can do to secure more business. How can I help YOU today? How can I help you get out of YOUR recession as well?

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!