Don't Pay For Termite Repairs on a Menlo Park Home In Escrow

As many of my blog followers know I sell a lot of Menlo Park homes in trust and probate. The owners were often very old, as are the homes, and frequently in need of repair. While it is often a good idea to keep repairs at a minimum in order to decrease the liability to the estate, sometimes it is necessary in order to allow buyers to be able buy and move into a home safely, or in order to increase the value exponentially.

I am currently sellling a Menlo Park home that needed some major bathroom repairs since it was unclear an adult could stand on the bathroom floor without falling through to the crawl space. No amount of staging was going to fix that problem. The second bathroom in this Menlo Park home was not much better.

The seller of this Menlo Park home decided to redo both bathrooms and Preferred Termite company was generous enough to allow the $15,000 payment through escrow. 

The house went on the market generating plenty of interest and multiple offers. The seller of this Menlo Park home chose a nice couple who were pre-approved for a loan and felt comfortable enough with the reports and repairs done by the seller that they waived the property condition contingency, knowing that there was still more work to be done on the termite report. They could use the new bathrooms and felt the rest of the termite work and replacing the roof could happen over time.

Unfortunately their lender did not agree. There was no problem with the appraisal or underwriting. However, one day before we were due to close the funder looked at the seller's HUD1 (final closing statement) and saw that there was a $15,000 payment going to Preferred Termite. They said that all work called for on the termite report, including providing more access to the crawl space by making a new opening, had to be done before funding the loan.

Lesson learned. Fortunately neither the seller of the Menlo Park home or the buyer were trying to meet a deadline so the buyer switched lenders, the Menlo Park home seller will pay the termite company out of escrow so it is not on the closing statement and we will close in 2-3 weeks.

So remember, when selling a Menlo Park home do not put payments for inspections or termite repairs in escrow or the buyer's lender may ask to see them and muck up the sale. 

If you have any questions about selling a home in Menlo Park please fell free to contact me.

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty Palo Alto

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

Cal BRE 01191194

650-619-9285

Menlo Park Personal Representative: Have Your Probate Home Inspected

If you are a Personal Representative for a Menlo Park Probate Sale I am sure you are overwhelmed with all of your responsibilities. It is not an easy job! You may be charged with selling a home or condo in Menlo Park in Probate. If so, this a a great time to be doing that. However, even in a strong seller's market, you have to do whatever you can to get the best offer for the Menlo Park Ca Probate estate.

One of the most important things you can do right now is to get the Menlo Park probate home fully inspected before you put it on the market. It may seem as if you are spending money on inspections that could be spent by the potential buyer. After all, the buyer of the Menlo Park Probate home you are selling has to buy it "As -Is" so the estate will not be making any repairs anyway.

This is a common mistake that many Personal Representatives of Menlo Park Probate homes who are not from this area make. While it is true that the estate will not be making any repairs, it is also true that most buyers in this area are very familiar with how most Menlo Park sellers market their homes. The inspections are done ahead of time and most of the offers will be non contingent on an evaluation of the property condition. They are comfortable with the condition, and once their offer is accepted you have a done deal. If you do not do the inspections before putting the Menlo Park Probate home on the market, you could very easily end up with a buyer who wants to renegotiate the price or a sale that falls through. This can be very problematic if there are expenses involved in holding the home before it sells. These could include mortgages, taxes, insurance, lawn care, etc. If the estate is cash poor and house rich, which many Menlo Park Probate homes are, it can be very complicated to find the money in a delay.

How To Clean Out A Menlo Park Home Before A Probate Sale

There is nothing I enjoy more than helping a family sell a Menlo Park home left to heirs through probate. I know, it doesn’t take much to make me happy, but I am who I am. Over the years I have developed a system to sell Menlo Park homes in probate and it works really well!

 1. Look at a home and see if there are valuables that are worth selling in the Menlo Park home in probate. Many homes are left with enormous amounts of personal property, sometimes with value and sometimes not. For example crappy cars have value, but beautiful over stuffed furniture does not.

2. If there is something of value to sell I usually recommend calling an auction house to come and take over the job of selling the personal property they believe will sell. I like DGW, but there are others. They sell the property at auction, deduct their percentage and fees, and send a check to the heirs.

3. The next step is to separate the recyclable items and find places to recycle. There are people who take metal, The Ecunemical Hunger Project will take clothes, and the City of Menlo Park will come to take paint.

4. Next are items that can be donated. Organizations like Goodwill and Saint Vincent De Paul will take some furniture.

5. After everything that can be sold, donated, or recycled is gone then call the haulers. I like Junk King. Since it costs money to haul away trash I only do it after all other ways of disposing of unwanted property have been exhausted.

6. Once the home is free of personal property and debris, the process of making it look as good as possible for sale can begin.

So, if you have a home in Menlo Park to be sold through Probate and it is filled with stuff, it may seem overwhelming. Many people who lived through the depression maintained the habit of never throwing anything out. If you are the personal representative for the estate of a home in Probate in Menlo Park you may feel overwhelmed. But if you use a system (or hire me and let me organize the sale of your Menlo Park home in Probate ), it becomes a much less daunting task.

If you have any questions about Selling a Menlo Park home in Probate please feel free to contact me.

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

650-619-9285

D.R.E. 01191194