Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with estate

can i pass the deed?

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:08:34 -0800

i come from a very large family and some years back we purchased a home for our elderly mother. i being the youngest was stuck with the home in my name, but recently was offered a job in another country. i need to get out of this deal with my family and soon before i leave the country. is there any way i can hand over the deed to the next in line in my family without the hassle of selling to he or she? i am running out of time and need to do this quickly.

Please recommend a great Real Estate/Probate Attorney in San Antonio, Tx

Anonymous — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 09:37:47 -0800

[San Antonio Probate/Real Estate Attorney filter] Can anyone from the Hive recommend a good probate/real estate attorney in San Antonio or surrounding areas. Requirements are that this lawyer be a real go-getter and not afraid to stand up against other attorneys on our behalf. I don't want a good ol' boy that's going to become chummy with the other attorneys representing the others in this case as has happened recently with our present attorney. I want someone that's smart, ethical, and a bit of a scrapper.

Fuck death

Bageena — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:58:49 -0800

Both of my wife's parents died. Her dad first in January, now her mom in September. My wife is the oldest child. No will was left. What do we do? I tried this question before but I put way too much information on it and I had to get it removed. I thought we'd figured out what steps to take, but we're back at square one. There's several properties, several vehicles, life insurance policies, monies in bank accounts, bonds, et cetera. My questions are;
1. Is there any way to do this without a lawyer?
2. If not, is there cheap or free legal counsel I can find online or where we live, in Arizona?
3. What should we be expecting in the way of hurdles? Probate, taxes, things like that.

I don't know. I'm hyper-depressed. I really didn't want to handle all of this shit and with all the family in-fighting, I wish the state would take it all. However, my wife has a vested interest I guess, so here I am. Please help Mefi.

(I'm in AZ)
(If your an attorney who can help me, please, by all means, drop me an e-mail)

Auction? What Auction?

shew — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:00:58 -0800

A house across the street from mine is going up for auction. Help me find out the details. I live in Jefferson County, Colorado. The buzz in the neighborhood is that the house across the street is going up for auction tomorrow (that's what the current owner said in his neighborly goodbyes today). I'd like to find the details (I've never participated in an auction before).

Is she on the hook for delaying the closing?

WyoWhy — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:45:10 -0800

Our daughter was set to close on her first house tomorrow and to move in to her new home this weekend. Today at 4 PM, her real estate agent called. The seller (the bank, the house is a foreclosure) will not sell and/or FHA won't finance because some flashing around the roof has started leaking and perhaps has damaged some drywall in the house.

Our daughter is too upset now to even discuss it. All she's saying is that she will have to hire the workers, arrange for the real estate agent to let them into the house, and pay to fix the roof and the drywall before she can close.

She also is certain that she is obligated to pay $100 per day until she can get that done, get the house inspected and reappraised, and close. Because it's raining cats and dogs around here, she can't get the roof repaired for a few days---not to mention the drywall. And then she'll have to keep paying $100 per day until a new closing can be scheduled. Yikes!

Her house-to-be is in Virginia (Alexandria), and I haven't read the contracts she's signed with FHA and the owner. She is insisting that she's on the hook for everything, all the repairs, and $100 per day no matter what and she's completely freaked out. She's crying too much right now to be of much use informationwise.

Does her interpretation of this situation sound right to anyone? It sounds weird to me that she could be fined for delaying the closing, but I really don't know much about this kind of thing or how standard contracts read.

Any advice?

Will a condo be built in front of me?

nyc_consultant — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:13:53 -0800

If I buy a condo in Seattle with a great view, will that view be blocked by new condo construction in the near future? There is a condo for sale that I am interested in which has a great view. Currently there are 2 small commercial buildings in front of the condo, which do not obstruct the view.

I'm going to be devastated if I buy this place, and then either one gets torn down and someone builds a shiny new building which will block my view.

How can I figure out if this is likely, possible, or planned?

[Side note: I asked a question 6 months ago on how to convince my wife to move to Seattle. Thanks folks, she agreed to the move, and now she loves it!]

How to invest $30k for 3 months?

trbrts — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 07:09:12 -0800

What are some good low risk ways to invest $30k for about a 3 month period? So, our house is under contract, but, so far we've been unable to find a house that's meeting our requirements. At this point I feel that we aren't going to see anything good until after the holidays. So, we're probably going to switch over to looking for a rental. Rather than just sticking the money in the savings account, I'm open to taking some of it and seeing if we can get some kind of return, but, I don't know anything about investing. So, what are some ways I can invest around $30k for around a 3 month time frame that will see some kind of return. Obviously I can't get too crazy with this money and I understand that 3 months is a pretty short timeframe. Would there be any tax implications in doing this? Thanks in advance.

How best to buy two places?

Dee Xtrovert — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 01:41:09 -0800

I'd like to buy a place in America. I'd also like to buy a place in Hungary. I've got enough for a 20% down payment on both. I've also been told that I would qualify for a loan for a place (in America) equal to what the cost of the *two* places would, in actuality, be. I would have no problem affording both - I live on about 25% of my net income and have not a penny of debt, even if the mortgages would be equal to the upper end of what I might qualify for - so I'm not worried about that. But does the fact that I'd be buying *two* places, in two different countries, affect the situation? To put it another way:

Obviously, I'd have two separate mortgages. If I bought one place (for much less than what I would have qualified for), would I have a hard time qualifying for the second, even if the amount of that second loan were smaller than the difference between the amount I originally qualified for and the amount of the mortgage of the first place?

Anyone have any experience with such a thing?

complex real estate cost benefit analysis needed

anonymous_account — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:51:46 -0800

Complex cost/benefit real estate question. We put our small, far suburban, now-overpriced house on the market two weeks ago. (Bought in '05.)

Because my wife has gotten a job, our income has doubled since buying our house, and we are saving $5k per month. However, her commute is lengthy, and we would like to move closer to the city, to lessen her commute, because now we can afford to, we know the target area better now, and we have friends in the city. Also, she may work more if we are closer, resulting in a higher income.

However, looking around at the other houses for sale in our area, I kind of doubt that our house will sell at the price which the realtor set for it, because there are nicer, bigger houses in better areas available for less or the same money. However, those are mostly foreclosures or short sales, which our realtor says takes a lot of time to buy, so maybe they are not that attractive to folks who are not real estate professionals.

We have $60k of our money in the bank and no debt except for our mortgage. We have $60k of my brother-in-law's money in the bank as seasoned assets, which he would like for us to use to buy the house. He is going to send $20k more soon. Later we could either pay him back, or he could continue to own part of our house (which I know is another big can of worms).

So what we will be faced with soon is: do we lower the price of our house (i.e., lose money on the house) in order to sell it? Although our house's price is depressed, the price of the house that we want to buy is also depressed. And I feel that we might be able to "save" more money on the purchase than we will lose on the sale...because the price of our house is only about 67% of the price of the type of house that we want to buy. We are not upside-down on the house --- our mortgage is 68% of the current asking price of our house.

How much is reasonable (if anything) to pay to a lender for a mortgage application fee?

mockjovial — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:32:18 -0800

How much is reasonable (if anything) to pay to a lender for a mortgage application fee? The fiancé' and I have finally found the perfect house…a condo actually. The contract was accepted by the seller yesterday, and we are super excited! I went into the process benefitting from many of the great posts on the green that came before me. One of the things I did was get preapproved for financing of a 30 year fixed rate mortgage. Now that the contract has been accepted, the mortgage company wants to meet to complete the actual application. I was surprised when the representative told me that there is a $350 application fee. In your opinion / experience, is this outrageous? Should I find a different company? I’m not sure if it matters that I have excellent credit and can qualify for the most favorable interest rate offered. I am in Chicagoland. I am of course hoping to close by 11/30 for the tax credit, so time is of the essence to secure financing. Thanks in advance!

Real Estate development in a nutshell

drea — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 20:38:47 -0800

I think I really, really want to get into developing real estate. Can anyone give me an overview description of what the work / process is is like? The thing is, I have no educational/professional background in real estate per se.

I want to start small and I know it will be a long while before I see my big hairy audacious goal realized. So what I want to know exactly is:

What books, articles do I read on basic strategies for real estate business development? Where do I get ideas for a business plan? What knowledge is within my reach for me to study? Where do I start looking?

Social housing (which is a big reason for my wanting to go into this), from the little that I know, is usually done by nonprofits and the government. Is providing that a commercially viable option? Can private companies survive while providing low-cost and public housing / has it been done?

What am I expected to reasonably accomplish every five years up to the twenty - year mark?

I know I have to start small, but where exactly does developing real estate start, and how does it grow, exactly? Where does my funding come from apart from loans?

So far, what I can see about the idea is to buy lots, develop houses, and then sell or rent them, use the profit to develop more houses, and so on until I gain momentum and a large portfolio. But it seems to me that it's like living hand-to-mouth, and given the recent financial crisis it doesn't seem like a good idea to just borrow a ton of money from the banks from the get-go.

I hope my questions makes sense. The idea fires me up and I want to start but I hope my lack of experience and knowledge doesn't cause me to stagnate/give up. I'm also really really young, but I'm looking at this as a way to give me a headstart in the business. Eventually, I hope the answers will give me what I need to start pursuing this goal. The answers might not be as in-depth as I'd like but I figure the hive mind can give me various points of view to assess.

Thank you very much.

Buying a house on a busy road

mooza — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 01:37:40 -0800

I have been trying to buy a house in the inner-west in Sydney, Australia for several months. Contrary to what's going on in the rest of the world, Oz houses are effing crazy high and have jumped between $20-$100k (esp in my area) in the past year. I have found a good house for a price I can do - but it's on a fairly busy road. Would you want to go to there? The suburb the house is in is great. The house itself is in excellent condition. It is just on an arterial road, which sounds bad, but the section the house is in is just like a big street, plenty of other houses surround it. It gets busy at certain times of the day, but you can park on the street and it seems fine...I think. The noise seems OK, but what about air-quality? I am a little concerned that my love for this house is partly due to my despair over long term house-hunting. If this particular house was one block away, it would easily fetch $100k over what it's likely to go for.

Do you own a house on a busy road? What's it like? Is living on a such road not a big deal, or is it a deal-breaker?

Is my house seller trying to jerk me around?

bkhahn — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 17:53:35 -0800

Is my house seller trying to jerk me around? Specific liability legalese inside. I (the buyer) have an accepted offer on a house, and we've moved the closing date up 2 days in order to get a better interest rate. We're scheduled to close on a wednesday. We're renting the house back to the sellers until that friday at 5pm. We're in Wisconsin, so we're using the standard addendum O to handle the rent back agreement. The sellers want to add the following language.

"Occupant shall only be responsible for liability claims resulting directly from occupant's direct actions or negligence. All other liabilty claims resulting from anything other than the occupant's negligence shall be the responibility of the owner"

I know you are not my lawyer but:
It seems to me that this wording opens me up to a ton of liability issue. For instance, what if the movers damage something while moving the sellers out. What if they have their friends over the last night and trash the place?

Thanks for your opinions.

“Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws.”

crayon — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 12:50:44 -0800

Can you recommend a good (and reasonably priced) real estate lawyer in the San Francisco Area? I'm in the East Bay, but San Francisco is fine.

I've own a piece of property with someone else for 7 years. My buying partner has suddenly decided she just wants to stop paying and walk away. No, we don't have a funky mortgage and aren't really in trouble mortgage-wise. I need someone who has experience dealing with joint tenancy issues so I can figure out what my options are at this point.

I understand that lawyers cost money, but I also need someone who has a reasonable fees as right now I am suddenly faced with paying for everything on my own until the matter is settled.

Thanks in advance.

Does my dad's will override POD designation?

Anonymous — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:11:53 -0800

My dad's accounts are designated POD (payable on death) to me. Is that overriden by his listing of those accounts in his total assets, which his will divides among me and others, and which will is going to take some time to execute? My dad's estate is going to be complicated and take some time -- there's several apartments which will have to be liquidated in order to execute the will, which is set up 3/12ths of total assets to me, 1/12th to 9 other people IIRC.

He did name me as POD (payable on death) on his bank accounts. My understanding is that this bypasses the probate process -- I just show up with ID and death certificate and the bank turns over the accounts.

These are checking accounts whose balance fluctuated, but are small (<1%) compared to the total estate. I could use some cash right now to keep me in cellphone service and cigarettes.

However, he included those accounts in the listing of assets attached to his will. Specifically, he had a spreadsheet printout with those accounts' balances at the time, the appraised values of apartments, IRA and money market account balances, etc. I'm not sure if he filed updated versions with his lawyers each year or whatever, but there have been different versions.

So my question is, does his listing of those accounts among his assets override the POD designation? If it does, is the asset the account itself, or whatever balance was listed with the "official" balance sheet? Would I be able to get some money now?

At least it's on the right side of the tracks

howrobotsaremade — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 10:18:52 -0800

What are the non-obvious drawbacks of buying a house near railroad tracks? I just looked at a very nice house that I really love. In fact, it has every single thing on my list of needs, plus everything on my "would be nice to have" list. It far exceeds everything else that I've seen so far. The catch? It's fairly close to the railroad tracks.

The street is actually perpendicular to the tracks. It doesn't have a crossing (so no whistling) so it dead-ends to the tracks. It is about a block and a half away from them.

You can see all this if you look directly down the street, and quite frankly, it's sort of overgrown and ugly looking. On the other hand, you can't really see it that well from the back yard or even sitting on the porch because there are other houses and trees that block it off. The neighborhood around it is nice and well-kept, so obviously this isn't a problem for quite a few other people.

Since this is my first solo home purchase, I don't want to get carried away with emotion over the decision, but I am realistically also not going to find a house nearly this nice for that price.

I can see maybe noise, dirt and structural problems because of the vibrations being an issue. If I made an offer, it would be contingent on the inspection.

I have two dogs and a school aged child. We are of the type who could basically sleep through WWIII and I am not very sensitive to ambient noise. I clean constantly because of the dogs/kid anyway, so I'm not sure how much I'd notice extra dirt. The structural issue concerns me most.

So then, aside from those things, am I missing a bunch of other obvious problems that could come from this?

Home Sweet Brooklyn

Unred — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 19:39:40 -0800

When is the best month to move in New York?? Seriously! We all know moving in June is the worst because of all the kids leaving college and moving here. People aren't leaving their apartments in January and February, so that's not good either. So, when is the optimal time for a person to get the best deal on a rental in New York?

Standing out, in a good way

crewshell — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 08:51:19 -0800

I'm in Real Estate Sales. I want to stand out & be different. What are some creative ways to capture that in my Agent photo? Disclaimer - sure some people think agent photos are cheesy and not needed and while I think there is some truth to the idea that they are overused I do believe they have a place and time.

With that being said - I do not include my photo on my card and I do not have any mugs or frisbees with my face blastered on them, but I do have a website that I want people to see a photo of their agent and I also want my automated emails to have a small shot.

So far I was thinking about taking a photo with a "For Sale" sign in it, with a house in the background. Leaning on the post, or having my arm over it or something, then a friend also suggested it might be funny to have a photo of me hugging a building or otherwise changing it up with some comical shots.

The idea here is to break the norm of craptastic blue background photos and stand out from the pack without seeming childish or unprofessional (its a thin line to walk)

Ideas?

How does a land contract work?

howrobotsaremade — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 10:53:38 -0800

Is buying a home on land contract or as a lease option ever a good idea? For the last couple years I have been working diligently to clear up my formerly terrible credit. However, it will probably be a year or possibly two before it's in good enough shape to qualify for a mortgage, even with a cosigner.

The problem is, I have recently found out that I will probably need to move out of the house I'm renting in the next 6 months. I live in a very tight rental market. I am not finding any suitable rentals within my price range that are kid/pet friendly in this school district.

As I've been looking, I keep seeing listings for companies who are offering homes as a lease with option to buy, or on land contract. On the surface, this sounds like a good idea for someone like me. But if it was that easy, why don't most people buy homes this way instead of going through a regular bank?

Is this fundamentally a bad idea? Will I end up paying much more for the home, even if I buy it out with a bank mortgage in a couple years' time when my credit has recovered? Does buying a home this way remove any of the legal protections that one would normally get in a conventional home purchase? From what I understand, the biggest concern is that often the contract is written in a way that makes it very easy to lose the home and any money invested into it, for a multitude of reasons. But does this work well for people if the payments are always made on time?

I have not had much luck finding straight answers on the pitfalls of doing one of these deals. Google turns up a lot of real estate seminars and make money schemes, which makes me believe that maybe this isn't the greatest idea after all.

I know the answer to this question is probably "lawyer up beforehand", which is a stellar idea no matter what. But first, I'd like to know is if it's a waste of time to pursue looking for one of these homes in the first place. If it's feasible, I really need some good, legitimate resources to understand how a land contract (or lease with option to buy) should be structured and how it works and what I should be asking if I decide to go this route.

Any good or bad personal experiences are welcome, too. Also, if it matters, the state is Indiana.

What do you wish you would have known before you sold your house?

Twicketface — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 10:26:37 -0800

What do you wish you would have known before you sold your house? My wife and I are contemplating buying a larger house and selling our existing one. It's the only house we've ever owned and I'd like some tips/hints on how to make it go smoothly. Visions of finding a dream house but not being able to sell ours are dancing in my head and I'd like to learn from your experiences.

Give my money back!

LittleMissItneg — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 00:18:56 -0800

Will they return my reservation fee? So I made my initial reservation (which is 20% of the total fee) for a new house and lot I was interested in last June 5th and then I went back to the developer's office to pay the other 80% of my reservation fee last June 10. Now, the package deal I was interested in, turned out it cannot be made into two floors, and the house will remain bungalow, that means misleading or false information for me because they gave me the idea that I can have an additional floor for the house. So they calculated and presented to me a new package again. This time, with a second floor, but right after I gave my full reservation fee, they told me that there will be additional fixed factor rate that I wasn't aware of before even giving them the full payment. That means undisclosed information for me. So after that, we went back to the site, and they showed me the place where the chosen package will rise but since it is not in a very good location, we decided to look somewhere. We found a better area, and I asked them if that will have the same pricing with the chosen package we have, and they said YES. Tripping's done, after a day they called me again, to tell me that the price went higher AGAIN, for additional P25, 000 or around USD520 more. So that is when I decided to just cancel the whole thing and just get my money back.

Now, according to their form, it says "Reservation fee is valid for 30 days, non-refundable, non-transferable." My take on that is that, I just finished paying the total fee last June 10 so obviously I still did not reach the 30-day period. I know laws vary by country and I am a total newbie with this but I just want a clearer picture if I can still have my money back, or at least a good percentage of it. What do you think guys?

Wondering if I can save a few bob on a housing deal

mjg123 — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 14:46:55 -0800

You are not my lawyer filter. Can I avoid estate agent commission and fees by approaching a seller directly (in the UK)? My wife, kid and I are currently renting a 3-bed house in a small town in Wiltshire. My next-door-neighbour-but-one has put their house on the market. Can I approach them and ask if they would sell it to me under the counter, as it were? I do not know these people except to say "good morning" to, but it is totally plausible that I had heard about their upcoming house sale before the massive "FOR SALE" sign appeared in their garden.

It seems like it could save us both a few 000s of pounds, as typical estate-agency fees are 2-5%, I think.

Specifically:
1/ Am I breaking any laws by asking them to do that?
2/ Am I asking them to break any laws?
3/ Would doing this affect my ability to get a mortgage from my bank?
4/ Is there some other reason why I don't want to do this?

Perhaps it is relevant to say that this is definitely the cheap end of the housing market...

Please help me deal with my father's sudden passing.

haplesschild — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 11:57:51 -0800

My (estranged) father just died. I don't know if he left a will. What are my next steps? I think I need to preface this by saying that when faced with a huge situation, my brain goes into practical mode, so here I am sitting on the bed after a cryfest, trying to get my ducks in a row and concentrate on some facts so I know what to expect.

I found out my father died today. I have not seen him in about 20 years, and I talked to him maybe 2 years ago. As of right now we have no idea if he left a will. He died in Arizona, where he had just moved. Currently his body is with the coroner, who is expected to declare the cause of death.

I am his only child. He has never remarried. He has one sister, and a father who is in a nursing home.

I don't live anywhere near Arizona, but I can get off from work to go down there, but only for a few days. He has a space in the family plot in Kansas, and from talking to the coroner, getting him cremated would be the best option because I was told his body was not found in good condition.

I guess my question is what steps do I take? I read some other askmefi answers, and a lot of those start with "get a lawyer"... and I really don't have the money to, nor do I know what/if he has anything. I'm really nervous that I will have to pay his bills, or rent, when I just don't have the means right now to handle it.

He was renting an apartment- do I need to go down and clean it out, and am I allowed to take anything, or does it go into storage while the courts deal with it? Where do I begin looking to see if he filed a will? In the next 24-72 hours is there anyone who needs to be called (besides family)?

I am kind of overwhelmed and I don't know what needs to be done, and it is awkward since it has been so long since seeing him. Any help you can give me, or a "checklist for only children of deceased absentee fathers" would be great.

Just visiting for tax purposes?

retiree — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 06:39:56 -0800

My friend's mother has lived in Florida for over 20 years in a home that she owns outright. Three years ago her mother moved to a different state so she could live in an independent-living facility near her daughter. She kept her house in Florida, she paid all applicable Florida property and income taxes, and she voted absentee in Florida. Her income comes from Social Security, a pension and investments. My question is, should her mother be paying taxes in the state that she is living in now? Also, when she dies, should her estate be managed as though she had lived the last years of her life in Florida?

What's with all the un-permitted additions on houses in San Francisco?

jillsy_sloper — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 09:42:31 -0800

I'm shopping for a single-family home in San Francisco, and nearly every house I've looked at has "unwarranted" addition in the basement or rear -- either a bonus room or an entire "in-law" unit with bathroom and kitchen. My question is fourfold: 1. Why does nobody get permits for their additions? Is it particularly difficult or expensive in San Francisco to get a permit?

2. This is so prevalent, and talked about openly in real estate listings -- why doesn't the city crack down and issue fines?

3. Has anyone heard of someone in SF having to remove an un-permitted addition?

4. If I were to make an offer on one of these houses, what would I need to know? What should I do differently from bidding and signing a contract on a normal house?

One real estate site I saw online said that you should only pay what the house would be worth without the unwarranted area, because you could be forced by the city to rip out the addition at any time. But that doesn't seem to be realistic here -- in San Francisco, sellers definitely don't seem to be giving a discount based on the lack of permit for their "bonus" rooms.