Don't Pay For Termite Repairs On A Palo Alto Home In Escrow

As many of my blog followers know I sell a lot of Palo Alto 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 Palo Alto 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 Palo Alto 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 Palo Alto 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 Palo Alto home or the buyer were trying to meet a deadline so the buyer switched lenders, the Palo Alto 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 Palo Alto 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 Palo Alto 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

Personal Representatives: Have Your Palo Alto Probate Sales Inspected

If you are a Personal Representative for a Palo Alto 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 Palo Alto 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 Palo Alto Ca Probate estate.

One of the most important things you can do right now is to get the Palo Alto 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 Palo Alto 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 Palo Alto 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 Palo Alto 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 Palo Alto 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 Palo Alto Probate homes are, it can be very complicated to find the money in a delay.

The competition for Palo Alto homes and condos for sale is fierce. Buyers are willing to pay a lot of money and give you wonderful offers for your Palo Alto Probate sale, but they want to know what they are getting. If you have your Palo Alto Probate home fully inspected before it goes on the market, price it appropriately, and market it widely, you will have the best chance of getting the best offers for the estate, and therefore doing the best job you can as the Personal Representative.

If you have any questions about selling a Palo Alto home or condo in Probate please feel free to contact me.

Marcy Moyer
Keller Williams Realty
www.marcymoyer.com
marcy@marcymoyer.com
DRE 01191194
650-619-9285

How To Clean Out A Palo Alto Home Before a Probate Sale

There is nothing I enjoy more than helping a family sell a Palo Alto 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 Palo Alto 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 Palo Alto 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 Palo Alto 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 Palo Alto 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 Palo Alto, you may feel overwhelmed. But if you use a system (or hire me and let me organize the sale of your Palo Alto home in Probate ), it becomes a much less daunting task.

If you have any questions about Selling a Palo Alto 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

What To Do About a Cash Poor But Rich House Palo Alto Estate

Home prices in Palo Alto have skyrocketed over the last 30-40 years.  There are many homeowners who bought in Palo Alto in the 50's and 60's for $15,000-$35,000, paid off their mortgages, and stay in their homes until they die.  In the 50's and 60's if you worked for the city you were required to live here, and many teachers, police officers, firefighters, and other city employees bought modest homes, often in south Palo Alto. Sometimes these homeowners have very little to leave their heirs other than a home worth a million dollars or more. 

If you inherit one of these homes you may be faced with the prospect of inheriting a large sum of money, but do not have the ready cash on hand to pay for the expenses needed to settle the estate.  There may be bills to pay for utilities, lawyers, gardeners, haulers, appraisers, and fix up costs.  There may even be a mortgage that is needed to be paid. If this happens you may be able to borrow money from a local bank until the estate is settled.  You may have to have a listing agreement in place before you can get the loan but this can vary with the bank in question.

Fortunately, the market in Palo Alto and surrounding areas is very strong, so a home that is properly priced and marketed in the Silicon Valley and Peninsula should sell quickly and not use up a lot of interest that would otherwise go to the heirs.

If you have any questions about selling a home in Probate or Trust please feel free to contact me. If I can not answer your question I will find the appropriate professional who can.

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

650-619-9285

D.R.E.  01191194

Marcy Moyer Keller Williams Realty Palo Alto, Ca. Specialist in Trust and Probate Sales

 

Do You Care About Your Children?

I am not a lawyer or an accountant so please do not construe this as legal or tax advice. However, friends do not let friends leave their estates to probates, so let’s just say I am your friend.

Trust Sale in Palo Alto

As a realtor who specializes in Probate and Trust sales, it does not matter to me whether the estate is being probated, or passed down through a trust.  But it does matter to the heirs, especially now that the estate tax will kick in after a million dollars starting in January, unless Congress  and the administration change it. How likely is that?  They can not even agree to have dinner together so changing the estate tax exemption any time soon is unlikely.

So as of Jan. 1, 2011 when you die your heirs can get the first one million dollars of your estate tax free, but anything above that will be taxed at 55%.  So let’s say you have a home that is worth 1.2 million and a mortgage of $700,000. The estate will be valued at 1.2 million not $500,000 which is the equity. If you have your estate in trust you can set things up to help reduce the taxes owed. Even if you do not have a mortgage on your home, if you have a home in Palo Alto you are very likely to have an estate worth over a million dollars because of the value of your home.  You will probably benefit by talking to an estate lawyer to help structure things to get the most tax free money for your heirs.  I can give you names of some excellent estate attorneys if you need a referral.

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

650-619-9285

D.R.E. 01191194