the wasserblawg

There are a lot of great ways for real estate agents and mortgage lenders to add value to the service they give their clients. Certainly knowing ways to save clients money are always helpful.  Knowing the lenders and loan programs that do so help too.  These are, of course, the same reasons it makes sense for Buyers & Sellers to work with the best professionals they can find for their real estate deals too.. Here is a good one:  First Advantage Mortgage has a new program benefiting members of the armed forces who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Qualifying borrowers are eligible to receive  $10,000  in assistance towards the purchase price and/or closing costs on their next home. (Hat tip Bob Brandle ) These funds are available to all veterans using conventional, FHA and VA financing. Buyers on active duty or in the reserves are only eligible for first time home purchases. The $10,000 grants are actually second mortgages (so do understand that the...

The Cook County Recorder of Deeds has announced a $2.25 fee increase for all document recording effective January 15th, 2012. Recording a standard two page deed will now cost $52.50, up from $50.00. The fees for longer documents increase based on the number of pages the document contains. The Recorder's office maintains the County's official public registry of  real estate ownership, and record of persons (other than the owner) that may have rights over that property. The record helps owners prove their ownership rights. It helps mortgage lenders, judgment creditors, contractors and others assert their lien interests against those properties, and helps the rest of us research and investigate land transfers and sale histories. Buyers who use mortgages to purchase Chicago area property typically pay for the recording of  two documents with each closing - the Deed and the Mortgage. Sellers pay to record a Release of each existing Mortgage that is being paid-off as a part ...

We all know that the three most important factors in determining the desirability of a property are location, location, and location. As such, sharp Chicago area home buyers and the real estate professionals who advise them, are discovering - and embracing - Derek Eder's Vacant and Abandoned building finder tool . Built on data from Chicago's 311 reporting service, this site shows detailed information about known "problem" properties on an easily navigated google map overlay. Mr. Eder built this as part of the Apps for Metro Chicago contest. This app was an AM4C community winner. At best, abandoned buildings pose a visual blight on their neighborhoods. Unoccupied, they detract from the economic and social vitality to their surrounds.  At worst, they abandoned buildings can pose severe safety hazards, criminal and structural. Woodstock Institute research shows that vacate and foreclosed homes contribute to declines in neighboring property values and increases in ...

Our great City of Chicago offers many many benefits to citizens. One of the less glamorous, albeit greatly appreciated services is garbage pick-up - at least for single family homes and small multi-unit buildings. The recognized that condominium owners were paying for this service through their taxes, without realizing any benefit. The result, a rebate program to qualifying Condominium Associations to offset some of the costs of waste disposal.     The most recent City budget and recent changes to the municipal ordinance make some very important , and time sensitive  changes: An association can only file for the rebate for the 2011 operating year. Applications for prior years are not being accepted.   If your association did not apply for rebates for prior years, you will not be able to do so for 2011 or future years (lets call this one the "you snooze, you lose" provision).  The rebate for 2011 will be limited to a total of   $75 per ...

Show of hands, how many of you can name  the second  leading cause of lung cancer in the United States? OK, the headline was the give-away, but that would be Radon Gas. Radon is released by the decay of uranium, a naturally-occurring ore found in our soil. When released, Radon can seep through cracks in basements and foundations into our homes. According to the U.S. EPA, one in every 15 homes in the United States have radon levels that exceed the recommended radon action level. In Illinois between 2003 and 2007, 42% of homes tested for radon gas had levels above the EPA radon action level. It is believed that Radon is responsible for an estimated 20,000 deaths per year in America. Unlike tobacco usage where you pretty much know how carcinogens are introduced into the body, Radon is a much more insidious health problem - it is an odorless, colorless and tasteless gas. It is a naturally occurring phenomenon. You will never know you are being exposed to it, unless yo...

A recently amended municipal ordinance that becomes effective on January 1st is likely  to cause some headaches for unsuspecting  real estate practitioners and will  definitely  increase fees that some of our clients are going to have to pay to effect property transfers The City of Chicago has long required that real estate sellers obtain a water department "full payment certificate (FPC)" before a sale transaction is completed.  The Chicago Department of Revenue will not seller property transfer tax stamps without the full payment certification, and the Cook County Recorder of Deeds will not accept a deed without the transfer tax stamps. Certain classes of transactions are exempt from having to pay transfer taxes and have been historically also exempt from the requirement of obtaining / presenting a full payment certification. These include transfers to add a spouse (or other party) onto a title; transfer to change the form  of...

Goods news this week from Washington, DC for real estate investors, and the real estate agents that represent them - The temporary waiver of FHA’s "anti-flipping" regulations has been extended through 2012. "Flipping" is the industry term of art for a real estate purchase that is quickly followed by a resale - presumably for a higher price and resulting (but not excessive) profit. With certain limited exceptions, FHA rules prohibit insuring a mortgage on a home owned by the seller for less than 90 days. In other words, Buyers willing to purchase a property that want to rely on an FHA guaranteed loan would only be able to do so if the seller has owned the property long enough. The FHA temporarily waived this regulation in 2010 through January 31, 2011, then extended the waiver through year's end. The extension allows buyers to purchase HUD-owned properties, bank-owned properties, or properties resold through private sales. The idea here is to allow homes to ...