No mortgage contingency clause in that contract?

For your next commercial real estate transaction, house purchase, mortgage refinance, reverse mortgage, or home equity loan, contact us. We can help. Located in Fairfield, NJ, we are the title insurance agent that does it all for you.

Buying a home requires a well conceived and written agreement between the parties. The contract will contain terms of the purchase as it relates to price, home inspections, and the all important mortgage contingency clause.  With respect to the latter, if the buyer cannot obtain a mortgage, the deal is off.

But a bustling seller's market has brought a new wrinkle to real estate land - the no mortgage contingency offer.  The New York Times reports,

In a housing market starved for inventory, buyers are stepping over one another to bid on desirable properties. But a high bid may not be enough — sellers are also seeking offers without mortgage contingencies.

But the combination of a competitive market and a difficult lending climate has made sellers in New York less amenable to such conditions. They want noncontingent or all-cash offers.

Why would a buyer agree to this?  Well, the obvious answer is that she wants the home and has a high level of confidence that a mortgage on her terms will be obtained.

There is, from our viewpoint, a serious downside to the no-contingency contract.  What if the house doesn't appraise for the contract price?  In our title agency we have had more than our fair share of transactions canceled because the home is appraised for less than the contract price.  In that situation, the buyer receives back the deposit, and is out only a few hundred dollars for home inspections and similar costs. 

Obviously, in a transaction without a contingency, the confident buyer now has a problem.  A normal loan to value ratio of 80-90 % is not  going to work.  So the buyer has to be able to put down more cash towards the purchase of the home.

Read the full article here.

For your next title order or

if you have questions about what you see here, contact

Stephen M. Flatow, Esq.

Vested Land Services LLC

165 Passaic Avenue, Suite 101

Fairfield, NJ 07004

Tel 973-808-6130 - Fax 973-227-0645

E-mail sflatow AT vested.com

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Mortgage loans for the retired

Another issue comes to the forefront when it comes to getting a mortgage loan, that is the particular problems faced by borrowers who are retired.

Retirees trying to obtain a mortgage may find that a pristine credit history and healthy retirement accounts are not enough. Lenders are also looking for a consistent monthly income in line with their usual debt-to-income standards.

There are a couple of horror stories in this article from the NY Times.  Read it here.

For your next commercial real estate transaction, house purchase, mortgage refinance, reverse mortgage, or home equity loan, contact us. We can help. We are the title insurance agent that does it all for you.  We cover all of New Jersey

For your next title order or

if you have questions about what you see here, contact

Stephen M. Flatow, Esq.

Vested Land Services LLC

165 Passaic Avenue, Suite 101

Fairfield, NJ 07004

Tel 973-808-6130 - Fax 973-227-0645

E-mail sflatow AT vested.com

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NORC in NYC neighborhood, Naturally Occurring Retirement Community in the news

NORC?  Did you ever hear that word before?  Well, get used to it.  A Naturally Occurring Retirement Community is what you get when the old folks stay in their home instead of heading to Florida or other retirement states.

NORCs require support from social service agencies and the local community.

This article from the NY Times discusses a NORC in the Fort Hamilton neighborhood of Brooklyn.

For your next commercial real estate transaction, house purchase, mortgage refinance, reverse mortgage, or home equity loan, contact us. We can help. We are the title insurance agent that does it all for you.

For your next title order or

if you have questions about what you see here, contact

Stephen M. Flatow, Esq.

Vested Land Services LLC

165 Passaic Avenue, Suite 101

Fairfield, NJ 07004

Tel 973-808-6130 - Fax 973-227-0645

E-mail sflatow AT vested.com

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Financing a vacation home, banks will make it harder to get that mortgage

The NY Times reports on Financing a Vacation Home.  The quick conclusion -

Buying a vacation home these days requires plenty of cash on hand.

Mortgage down payment requirements are considerably stiffer than for primary residences, and lenders are scrutinizing income more closely, which can make financing especially difficult for the self-employed.

And we just don't mean looking at the amount of money you have.  There are many other factors to consider.  To find out what they are, read the full article.

For your next commercial real estate transaction, house purchase, mortgage refinance, reverse mortgage, or home equity loan, contact us. We can help. We are the title insurance agent that does it all for you.

For your next title order or

if you have questions about what you see here, contact

Stephen M. Flatow, Esq.

Vested Land Services LLC

165 Passaic Avenue, Suite 101

Fairfield, NJ 07004

Tel 973-808-6130 - Fax 973-227-0645

E-mail sflatow AT vested.com

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Condo and Coop - what's the difference between them

Cooperatives and Condominiums, Coop or Condo, they go by several names, is a legal form of property ownership with big differences between them.  Here's an informative article from Realty Times that you can fnd here.  Abstracts follow.

The general public often confuses condominiums with cooperatives. In reality, as far as living standards go, there are few differences. However, from a legal - and financing - point of view, there are major differences.

There are many definitions of cooperatives, but the one I like best is that a cooperative is a multi-unit apartment building, in which each resident has an interest in the entire building, and a lease (or contract or share of stock) enabling the owner to occupy a particular apartment unit within the building.

If you own a condominium, you actually own your entire apartment, as well as a percentage of the common areas (called the "common elements"). A cooperative owner -often called a shareholder -- does not own the unit. In fact, you could call such owner a "tenant".

Perhaps the most important distinction between a condominium and a cooperative is that most cooperative associations require that a prospective purchaser be approved by a membership committee comprised of current cooperative owners.

Remember that each state has different regulatory laws for coops and condos.  Before purchasing either, we recommend that you consult an attorney with real estate experience.

For your next commercial real estate transaction, house purchase, mortgage refinance, reverse mortgage, or home equity loan, contact us. We can help. We are the title insurance agent that does it all for you.
 

For your next title order or

if you have questions about what you see here, contact

Stephen M. Flatow, Esq.

Vested Land Services LLC

165 Passaic Avenue, Suite 101

Fairfield, NJ 07004

Tel 973-808-6130 - Fax 973-227-0645

E-mail sflatow AT vested.com

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