From Market Trends to Homestead Protection in Vegas Real Estate

Can mastering recent real estate trends in Las Vegas lead to smart investment decisions? In our latest episode recorded live from our brand-new studio, we explore the vibrant Las Vegas real estate scene, highlighting a surge in single-family home listings and sales. We unravel the ripple effect of political events on the stock market and mortgage rates, offering insights into how these dynamics are shaping the housing market landscape. As we anticipate potential shifts from the Federal Reserve's upcoming decisions, tune in to uncover what these changes might mean for buyers and sellers alike.

We delve into the nitty-gritty of securing your home equity by filing a homestead in Las Vegas. Protecting your primary residence against certain creditors has never been more straightforward, and we guide you through the simple yet powerful process of filing for homestead protection. By demystifying the procedure, costs, and benefits, we empower you to safeguard up to $605,000 in equity without falling for misleading offers. This essential know-how is a must for homeowners looking to protect their assets effectively.

Our conversation takes a turn into the complexities of real estate transactions, covering everything from navigating buyer's brokerage fees to expert strategies in negotiating agent commissions. Recent changes in commission rules have altered the landscape for buyers, and we break it down into digestible insights. Learn how to handle home inspections and needed repairs, and discover the vital role of title companies and specialized contractors in ensuring seamless property sales. This episode is packed with actionable advice and updates that both buyers and sellers will find invaluable.

Chapters

• 0:13 Las Vegas Real Estate Market Update
• 9:25 Filing a Homestead in Las Vegas
• 16:13 Navigating Buyer's Brokerage Fees
• 19:52 Negotiating Real Estate Agent Fees
• 28:19 Navigating Home Inspection and Repairs

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:13

Hey, live from Las Vegas. Look at the new studio.

Speaker 2: 0:16

Yes, we are back here with our new studio. Welcome back to Vegas Realty. Check local Las Vegas real estate news. I'm Trish Williams and I'm Tiana.

Speaker 1: 0:25

Carroll. Welcome back you guys. Thanks for being here.

Speaker 2: 0:28

Yeah, if you're watching us live, you'll see a little bit of changes we're working on, so I hope you like it.

Speaker 1: 0:34

We got that, yeah, so if you're part of it, make sure you like, share and subscribe and join our tribes. That way, if there's any changes going on, you know about it. Not only that, you will be updated every week on everything real estate news, including the numbers that we start out with each and every week.

Speaker 2: 0:49

Yes, so what are our market numbers looking like today? This week makes me happy. It does, it does you know the election season is behind us now. People are ready to just move along. So we are moving along with everything, and our numbers are already showing it.

Speaker 1: 1:04

Our numbers are already showing it, even before. Everything is up up up, which is very nice, except for we've had some decreases in our price decrease, but we'll go over that. So today's single family homes 55, 76. 55, 76. So that's up like 78 homes from last week.

Speaker 2: 1:23

Yes, and you know another thing I was talking to somebody recently a couple of different people, I think that even sellers were doing a little bit of pullback on getting their home listed till after everything passed, and now they're like, okay, I'll go ahead and list, now, let's uh, let's get it done.

Speaker 1: 1:38

So they're picking up a little bit and um so even in our solds. I love this number because we have 468 sold this week. We're looking better. We are looking better and that, ironically enough, is a plus 78 as well. So both in our single family residence and our sold have gone up those extra 78, which is awesome.

Speaker 2: 2:01

So if you're going to be gambling in Vegas today, 78, remember that number and we want to cut. Yeah, you're welcome. Yes, thank you, yeah, so so, yeah, that's a 78 is our magic number for the day.

Speaker 1: 2:17

Yeah, and then and we have some under contracts have gone up, yes, we've gone.

Speaker 2: 2:23

We have 522 go under contract this week and do you know what those were last week? I think they were in the 300s, right? No?

Speaker 1: 2:29

no, under contract. Last week was 508, okay, sold. Sold was 300, 390, okay, all right so just a little bit more. So that's good, yeah, good yeah plus 14 extra under contract, which is nice. And then the price decreases fell, because they are at 433 this week and last week they were at 457.

Speaker 2: 2:48

Yeah, so so yeah, I'm looking good and I know it has been only a day, but it feels like a week, because yesterday morning my phone was blowing up and I was just like wow, it was seriously, for like the last seven days before that it was just like silence. All I was getting is the spam, likely, and the political calls and like all that stuff, like there was not much going on. And then yesterday it was like boom, boom, this, this. Everybody's like let's go, let's do it.

Speaker 1: 3:18

So it's definitely a change. It is definitely a change and we're glad to have it. Good to be out of election season. No more political ads, yes, or door knockers Well, I love that they're out there advocating for people to use their right to vote. So good job, guys. All the volunteers.

Speaker 2: 3:36

you annoyed everybody, but you did your job so good job and the scam likely calls have already decreased. There's still the auto warranty. I feel like they're never going to go away, but we're not getting so many like I'm running a poll. So, yes, we are all relieved that that is gone. Let's get into our listener questions. I feel like we're diving into them a lot earlier than we usually do.

Speaker 1: 4:04

Yeah, we usually talk about. The only real news is political and we probably shouldn't get into that.

Speaker 2: 4:10

Yeah, lots of stuff happening politically right now.

Speaker 1: 4:13

We're probably just not going to do that. We'll stick to real estate. I will say that yesterday the markets closed in stock. It was like they won the Superbowl. I was surprised they didn't pop bottles. It went up so high but everybody was thinking that was going to affect the interest rate. But that's just people selling off bonds.

Speaker 2: 4:30

Yeah, so it did affect the interest rate, so rates did spike.

Speaker 1: 4:33

Yeah, I was going to say they go up.

Speaker 2: 4:34

Yeah, because people are selling off bonds and putting them in the stock market, because the stock market's performing very well right now.

Speaker 1: 4:41

Right.

Speaker 2: 4:41

So that when you pull those bonds out of, when you pull your money out of bonds and you put them in stocks, that definitely the bond rate will affect the mortgage rates, which made the mortgage rates spike. But we're going to see some leveling out there and I believe it's today. What, what is it? Jerome Powell?

Speaker 1: 4:59

What is his name?

Speaker 2: 4:59

Okay, jerome Powell, the Fed dude.

Speaker 1: 5:02

The Fed dude, that's his official title the Fed dude.

Speaker 2: 5:05

I think they're meeting today. If not, it's early this week or sometime this week. They're meeting, so we're expecting an announcement from them. Some people are saying that we should have a quarter decrease in the Fed rate, or that's what they're anticipating from this meeting, and we will see. The last decrease didn't affect mortgages, so we're going to see how everything plays out, so we'll be watching.

Speaker 1: 5:30

We will be watching. I think everybody will be watching closely. I'm always so surprised at how many people are actually watching that closely all the time, because when there's little changes, people you don't think that are going to come out of the woodwork will come out of the woodwork and be like, hey, I saw this happen, maybe I should.

Speaker 2: 5:46

Yeah, and in the meantime, builders are still offering incentives.

Speaker 1: 5:51

Incentives yeah, are you kidding? They're offering like 4% contributions. We've had backyards, we've had all sorts of window treatments, I mean, but that goes for sellers too, like right now, in this moment. We've had full contributions to closing, happening a lot, both on the resale side and the new home construction, and people are out there wheeling and dealing and making things happen.

Speaker 2: 6:18

Yeah, yeah, we got a new build contract yesterday with a rate buy down at 3.99. So FHA was what they were doing that buy down on. If you want more information about it, give me a call. But it's happening. We got a contract sealed and delivered yesterday on that with a builder. So that is good, good, that is awesome. But the downfall of that is, guys, this is going to change as buyer activity picks up.

Speaker 2: 6:49

We're seeing signs that buyer activity is starting to pick up. Those are going to go away. So small window. It won't be there forever.

Speaker 1: 6:57

It won't be there forever and, like I said, sellers are willing to wheel and deal. So if you've been wanting to get a home but maybe you don't have that down payment or anything, now is a good time to grab closing costs and things from sellers because it is working out for buyers right now Absolutely, absolutely, unless you're using a down payment assistance. And then those interest rates are crazy right now 7.75. I locked one in this week.

Speaker 2: 7:24

But you know what I had someone else use that I spoke about a couple of weeks ago on the show that affordable home mortgage Guys look into that. It is such a phenomenal program. I had someone else that just got a pre-approval yesterday for it and this is the same program. Your income does not. Um does not determinate the, the program eligibility. It has to be primary residence but it's based off of the census map and the amount of there has to be um. It has to be under 50% or over I'm sorry, over 50% minorities or it has to be like under 50% median income, whatever with the zip code.

Speaker 2: 8:05

But Vegas is a melting pot. Right Exactly Everywhere, like almost every area, fits the criteria. So it's not, you know, it's really not that limited to areas. It's so surprising how much of the city qualifies for this. And no MIP and no MIP. It is no MIP and lower than standard interest rates. So right now, as of yesterday, rates were if you lock in a and it's a conventional loan, so maybe it's PMI, mip I get those mixed up all the time but it is a conventional loan. But if you locked in yesterday on a conventional loan you would have been in the mid sevens, and this approval that my buyer got yesterday was at 6.2. So yeah, no.

Speaker 1: 8:52

MIP, PMI, whatever that is.

Speaker 2: 8:55

So that program is phenomenal. I rarely ever hear about it. It was a surprise to me when I first heard about it and you were super excited about it.

Speaker 1: 9:04

Well, was a surprise to me when I first heard about it and you were super excited about it. I was excited. Well, still very excited.

Speaker 2: 9:07

Yeah, I was excited and was like I'll believe it when I see it. And, wow, I seen it. We closed a deal on it. We just got someone else pre-approved on it. That is a phenomenal program. You guys definitely should be looking into that. If you're looking to buy Yep, definitely do that, yeah. So let's get into these questions.

Speaker 1: 9:23

Pamela All right, pamela, let's see. Pamela says I've heard that in Las Vegas they allow you to file a homestead on your property. What does this do and how do I do it?

Speaker 2: 9:33

Yeah, this is such a surprisingly easy process.

Speaker 1: 9:37

Surprisingly easy, super protective of your property. It doesn't protect everything, but it is definitely worth doing for your primary residence. Yes, for sure. So you are gracious enough to do it for all of your owner occupants as a closing gift. Yeah, you already just take care of it for them.

Speaker 2: 9:57

Well, no. So I don't file the homestead for them. What I do is I'm filling out the homestead form. What I found that people have the hardest time figuring out is the legal description of the home and sometimes even the parcel or APN number. They're like I don't know what to do there. So all I do is I fill in the legal description and the parcel number and then I give them the form and tell them complete the rest. I'm not answering any questions for you or anything like that. So all they have to do is complete this form and then take it to a notary, get it notarized and then take it down to the county and record it.

Speaker 1: 10:32

So let's talk about for those who don't know what the actual homestead is. It is protective of your property. It doesn't protect against everything, but it will protect some creditors from coming after you. It won't protect against everything, but it will protect some creditors from coming after you. It won't protect against your mortgage, lender, taxes, hoa, anything that has to do with the actual property. But if you're talking about personal loans, medical bills, credit cards, things like that, it'll protect you up to $605,000 on your personal property.

Speaker 2: 11:02

Yeah, which it protects your equity from them coming after that equity. Now there are cases and there are scenarios where, like in a judgment, so it's it's to protect against judgments, but it's not, it's not foolproof. There are ways to push through it. You know, if the um, lawyers, attorneys, whatever's coming after you are aggressive enough, right, but it is. But it does build you a barrier. It's a nice safety net. Yeah, it does. It's a nice safety net, a nice barrier. From what I've heard, it's nearly impossible for medical bills to pursue further in those judgments when there's a homestead in place. But of course the circumstances can change. We all know stuff has to be played out in court and the decisions are made there. But it does provide you a barrier, which is very good. And the cost of it it's what? Is it $45 or $47 to?

Speaker 1: 11:56

record, is it even that much? I think it's like $35, $40. It's pretty inexpensive, very inexpensive to record.

Speaker 2: 12:03

You can send it in by mail with a check. You could drop it off personally at the recorder's office. Pay your. All you pay is your recording fee and then whatever fee it costs you to have it notarized, which is usually like $10 because it's one signature and there's a notary right at the assessor's office.

Speaker 1: 12:20

Okay, so I've had people just go in there, fill out the paperwork, have it notarized, have it filed that same day, and then, wham bam, you're done. You are now homesteaded.

Speaker 2: 12:30

Yeah, and the beauty of it, it's not a recurring cost, you don't have to renew it, it's there Once it's on the property, it is there. You're allowed only a homestead on your primary residence. Yeah, does have to be the home that you are occupying as your primary residence. There is a certification on there where you certify that that is true and that's the reason for it to be notarized, because you're making an official certification. So don't try this on something that's not your primary residence, because that is breaking the law. Yeah, let's not break the law. You guys, yeah, do not break the law. And then um the yeah, once it's on there, it's done. If you then sell that property and get another primary residence, there's a spot on the form to abandon the previous homestead and put the homestead then on the new home. All done in one form. So simple. There is zero reason why everybody should not be doing it.

Speaker 1: 13:32

Right All of the sort of red tape and bureaucracy that happens in the government. It's nice that this is just streamlined easy there to protect you, protect your, up to $605,000. So definitely it's worth the $40.

Speaker 2: 13:48

Right. And then one reason why I do that just fill out the parcel and the legal description is because I had had in the past so many homeowners that buy their home. They send me these letters. You get all these letters. They look like they're official from the county. They buy their home. They send me these letters. You know, you get all these letters. They look like they're official from the county, their advertisements and they say pay us this much money and I think it's like 50 to a hundred dollars or whatever to fill out your homestead form for you and literally they just put in the legal description.

Speaker 1: 14:16

Right, the parcel number is really the big one, they are not answering the questions.

Speaker 2: 14:20

They can't answer the questions for you. So it's like, yeah, pay us to do this. And then they send it to you and then they're like pay me another hundred dollars and I'll file it for you or pay that. So yeah, there's no reason to pay for those services.

Speaker 1: 14:34

Yeah, you can download that form right on the website. You can get it in person right there at the assessor's office. There's no reason for you to have to pay for that. But you're right At the recorder's office. You do buy a house. Then you're going to get all sorts of mail that looks official. I have so many people calling me going. I just got this. What is this? What is that? What is that? And I'm like that's just somebody looking to make money off of you. Disregard that.

Speaker 2: 15:00

I tell people, send me pictures of the envelopes and I'll probably tell you to throw them away.

Speaker 1: 15:05

You're like that's what we're going to use for kindling this cold winter.

Speaker 2: 15:08

Yes, like it's. It most of it's nonsense and they um the deed there. There's. There's some service that sends you. You own a home, you have to have a deed, you have to have a copy of your deed and $200. We'll get you a copy. You know how they're getting you that copy for $200 is they're downloading it off public record because it's on the recorder's office. And you can get that too, and it's very easy to access and if you're using us for real estate.

Speaker 2: 15:39

We can get that for you in one email, one call. They send us a copy of it at closing. You probably got a copy of yours in your closing package. You just don't know. It's there and, yes, don't waste your money. Don't waste your money.

Speaker 1: 15:51

But I got to appreciate the hustle right. They're out there trying to make all sorts of money off the real estate. Once you've been through it, they're like, hey, we could homestead your house, we can get you a deed. Do you need an extended warranty?

Speaker 2: 16:02

Yeah, use that $200 towards something for your house and not towards that waste of money and enjoy your new house.

Speaker 1: 16:12

Congratulations on buying. Yes, absolutely All right. So let's move on to our next question. I hope we answered everything about Homestead. If not, you can reach out to us on our link tree and that's at realtycheckvegas, so you can reach out to us there and we'll answer any questions for you as well. Now we have another question that came to us from Christina and she said I heard that there's our new rules and that I have to pay for every house that you show me. Is that correct? I love how much misinformation is out there. When I hear questions, I'm like this was in the news all summer long and still the general public has very little clue what it actually means. And even a lot of agents through all of the work that different brokerages have done the LVR, the division, just the National Association of Realtors trying to educate realtors on what the actual suit was about, what the outcome is going to be and how we move forward. It's still sort of a gray, cloudy area, don't you think?

Speaker 2: 17:11

Yes, I had the other day the buyers I got on contract yesterday. As a matter of fact, they were in another state, purchased a lot of real estate in the past and it was their kid that I was helping to purchase now and I just had a long conversation with them because we sent the buyer's brokerage again. He said I've never seen anything like this before. I bought so much real estate, never seen this. And I'm like, well, it's always been around, it's been here.

Speaker 1: 17:40

This is nothing new. There's always been a BBA.

Speaker 2: 17:42

Yeah, but I spent quite a long time on the phone with him explaining, um, just going through regulation, explaining how everything is, how it works, how it plays out, and, um, you know, luckily at the end of the phone call he did. You know, it does help when people have trust. You know, like, so he did trust, take my advice and and whatever we got in contract, everything played out fine for them. Um, and you know, we we went in contract on a new build builders covering the agent's side of the transaction, the buyer's brokerage fee, and it was no problem. And even after, when we go into contract, he calls me immediately, the dad. He's like, hey, so do I have to pay that fee? And I was like, well, nope, the builder's offering to pay it and it's right there. I showed him where it was in the contract and he's like oh, all right.

Speaker 1: 18:34

All of that stress and nervousness for nothing.

Speaker 1: 18:37

So, if you're out there in audio land and you're listening to what we're saying and you're still going, hello, you haven't told us what the regulations are or what they mean. Let's get into that right now. So traditionally, when you take a listing to sell a home, there would be conversations that you would have and we're still having those conversations, but they used to be in the listing agreement contract that that seller is willing to contribute to the commission that the buyer's agent will get for bringing a viable buyer to that transaction.

Speaker 2: 19:09

Correct and it used to be displayed on the MLS, Right, so there was no question about it. That you know, when you're going out shopping with a buyer and you have a buyer's brokerage agreement with them, say just, for instance, say it was I'm going to say apples, because people get all crazy when we talk percentages I'm going to say apples, so say it was three apples, right. Say you say I want three apples to represent you. You know, just in a scenario this is just a scenario Say I want three apples to represent you or whatever, and then the on the MLS it said two apples. Then you know the agent has a conversation with the buyer. Sometimes that conversation is like, oh, they're paying two apples, Now you have to pay another apple. Or sometimes they're just like, ah, they're paying two Apples.

Speaker 2: 19:51

I know we said this. Sometimes there'll be changes and not always, but there's just different circumstances. So those are all conversations Used to be there. It used to be displayed. You would know what you're going into before you even made the offer. Right, it was just upfront, yes, so now they're more transparency act removed to the transparency.

Speaker 1: 20:16

In order for better transparency. We're going to take all the transparency away and it's just going to be something that you negotiate after you decide what house you're going to offer on. Now it is in the residential purchase agreement, which is how we make offers here in the Valley, so now there's a spot for the buyer then to proactively say hey, I'm going to need a contribution, I want you to pay this towards my buyer's agent, and it was always negotiable before. It is still negotiable now on how it works out. But I think they just wanted to make sure that the buyers are aware like, hey, there's a ton of money going to this buyer brokerage and it was typically paid by the seller For some reason. If the seller isn't willing to pay for it for you, you'll have to pay for it for yourself. Just making the buyers a little more aware that they could be liable if their agent isn't strong enough to negotiate that with the sell side.

Speaker 2: 21:17

With the sell side. Yeah, and then one caveat to that, because it's always negotiable. It's always negotiable. Once you enter into that sales contract and it's fully agreed upon by all parties, the commissions no longer get negotiated. They don't get negotiated at the repairs request or they don't get negotiated anywhere after that. There's a statement or a line in there that once that's fully executed off the table Done.

Speaker 1: 21:41

Yeah, done, it's a done deal. Then you already know how that money is going to be dispersed, where it's coming from, and that's it. I think that sellers have been very conditioned over decades to understand that this is the way that it's going to work, that everything's negotiable. People are going to come and ask for them and some people are playing ball. Some people are coming back with just two apples instead of three apples or what have you. But it's all a negotiation process, process and it's all worth it. But I always love it because if you're an agent and you're out there negotiating for your own commissions and stuff, you have that skillset. Then you're going to be skilled at negotiating all the terms in the contract for your buyer.

Speaker 2: 22:25

Absolutely. And back to your question, though, christina, you have to understand that every agent has their own practices of how they operate and do business. So I have heard of some agents out there that are now transitioning into like an hourly rate or a, and it seems so bizarre to me because hourly rate, I'm telling you, you guys have no idea how much hours we put into a transaction. I would not sign that contract.

Speaker 1: 22:56

but that's on you, you decide. Going for the pay me at the close of escrow with my commission is probably going to work out better for you. You did not want to be in an hourly rate.

Speaker 2: 23:07

Yeah, I'm sure, and I have heard of people that are now doing or transitioning into a per-home contract and it's like an a la carte service fee structure Again, pretty bizarre to me.

Speaker 1: 23:26

Well, I think the changes in the transparency act are now opening the doors for those scammers who send the let me homestead your house, let me get you a deed Now. It's a way for people to be like oh, I'm going to charge you on a per basis, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that. It's more a la carte. That has me a little concerned on the type of representation that you could be getting here. It is here's the facts. Each agent, each business is run its own way and is completely different. There are some fantastic, amazing, wonderful agents out there, and then there's some crap.

Speaker 2: 24:01

Yeah, and they have the ability and they are allowed to structure their business and operate it however they want. So if that's their structure, and I guess my biggest advice would be just check around and preview your options.

Speaker 1: 24:15

Yeah, because it's not going to be across the board. Everything in real estate might have some sort of structure to it, but each agent, each business, each deal is going to be its own life force. So just make sure that you're asking the right questions, asking are there any fees up front for showing the property? Are we doing the commissions? But all this should be talked about during your buyer brokerage agreement, when you have your consultation with your agent. And, if it's not, make sure you're prepared when you go in there and you know what. You're asking your agent because you don't want to be surprised. You want to know that they're going to negotiate for you. You're going to want to know that they are there to service you to the best of their ability and, in part, they're servicing themselves as well. You guys become a team. If it doesn't close, they don't get paid. So they want to get you to the finish line as much as you want to get to the finish line.

Speaker 2: 25:07

Absolutely. Yeah, ask questions. Do interviews know what you're getting into? Yeah, ask questions. Do interviews know what you're getting into? Yeah, just clarify what's going on. Yeah, and then we got a few minutes to go into Albert's questions.

Speaker 1: 25:17

Ooh, look at us.

Speaker 2: 25:17

Yeah, so, albert, I'm in contract to buy a house. Home inspection showed the roof was damaged. After getting quotes from roofers, it is apparent that the roof needs to be completely replaced. What happens if the seller refuses?

Speaker 1: 25:35

Oh see, this is all negotiation. These are the conversations that your agent is having and working in the background to help you out, and I know that everybody laughs and say we just opened doors or whatever. But the reality is things happen foundations, roofs, acs and they need to be addressed during this process. So you could freak out and cancel contract. But it's really not necessary, because there's ways of getting that roof taken care of. That would benefit both the seller, because the seller is going to have to deal with it. Whoever he sells it to, it's always going to show up on an inspection report. So dealing with that from the seller end is something that's going to have to be done. And then if you're lucky enough to be the buyer already in contract with that seller, then you have a foot up and you have those negotiation skills.

Speaker 1: 26:24

In some places that real estate runs a lot slower than Vegas. They will have those repairs done prior to the close of escrow. But in a fast moving market like this, there's things that you can do, and you had a situation almost identical to this. Do you want to speak on that?

Speaker 2: 26:42

This was Albert's question. This was the situation.

Speaker 1: 26:46

This is a real thing, this really happened.

Speaker 2: 26:47

This was a client, it just took us a few weeks to get to the question because we had a lot, but yeah, so in this situation, the seller. So, word of advice, if you're doing a certain type of financing, you're limited to the amount of credit that you're allowed to take from the seller. So the seller in this case we're looking at I don't know $27,000 for the roof.

Speaker 1: 27:11

Yeah, it's like almost $30,000.

Speaker 2: 27:12

Yeah, and the seller was already contributing the max contribution to the buyer's closing costs, which was great for the buyers Because everything's negotiable, Everything's negotiable, so they were always so. If they would have and the seller proposed this, they were like, yeah, how about you just take my credit?

Speaker 2: 27:28

You know, and I was like ha ha ha, I know better, that was good, you could have got me there, but no, so no, because if they would have taken that $27,000 credit to closing costs and they're already getting max closing costs their loan program would forbid them from taking that additional credit Then it just automatically goes back to the seller and then that buyer is SOL.

Speaker 2: 27:53

Yeah, and you're done. It's done, and by that time that you figure that out, you're past due diligence and it's no longer an item to be negotiated, because you already agreed on taking that credit even though you didn't know that it would not be able to be obtained, so you didn't fall into the pitfall of.

Speaker 1: 28:11

I'm going to throw so much money here, but you're only going to be able to get the max amount for your loan and I'm going to get all of my money back. So what did you do?

Speaker 2: 28:19

Most title companies will allow you or allow the seller to do a separate holdback. They call it a holdback towards necessary repairs to a contractor and those you know. In that case the roof job was a couple you know going to be a couple months out. We didn't obviously want to extend the escrow for that long. The buyers needed to get in the home Right and the roof wasn't destroyed. It was definitely needed to be replaced.

Speaker 1: 28:47

It needs a new roof, but it didn't need to be replaced today. It needed to be replaced to be livable within the next few months.

Speaker 2: 28:54

Right. So they allowed for the seller to do a holdback or basically allocate some of his closing funds to pay the contractor directly. Contractor did the estimate, we had everything lined up, the invoice sent to title everything. Title paid out the roofing contractor. Roofing contractor started the job. It was that simple, that easy. And this situation, it was not an appraisal condition, because appraisal conditions even though the roof did need to be replaced, the appraiser will call a condition if whatever it is makes the house not livable. So the roof needing to be replaced but not being open or destroyed to some degree does not make the house not livable.

Speaker 2: 29:47

So it wasn't an appraisal condition that was conditioned upon us closing. So if it's an appraisal condition was conditioned upon us closing. So if it's an appraisal condition, that's a different situation, because that means it needs to be done prior to closing Yep.

Speaker 1: 29:59

Yeah, if it's appraisal condition, they're not going to give you the money for the house unless those things are fixed.

Speaker 2: 30:04

Yeah, so, um, so, definitely depends on your scenario, but there's options and and you know that that really really that helped the seller out a lot too, because the roof replacement wasn't Inevitable.

Speaker 1: 30:15

Yeah, it had to happen period.

Speaker 2: 30:17

We had four estimates, and the estimates came from the seller too, because the seller was like I don't even know if I trust your Contractors, I'm gonna send out my contractor. And his contractor said roof needs to be replaced.

Speaker 1: 30:28

Yeah, like it was, yeah when it. When it's, when it's a the mechanics or the functioning of the home and stuff, everybody's going to call it out. It's not like you're like oh, I don't want to deal with buyer A, I'm just going to go over here to buyer B and they'll buy this house. No, if there's something that needs to be fixed with the house, it should be dealt with period.

Speaker 2: 30:48

Yeah, and the seller didn't have the funds to front out $27,000 up front prior to selling the house because the funds for that came out of the closing funds. So that scenario helped the seller also get to that finish line. So there's options and we have answers.

Speaker 1: 31:10

Yeah, and that's the whole thing right, because I'm sure that when Albert first heard about this roof, it had to be very scary. And here's the thing In some situations I would be like just walk away, forget it. If the seller's not playing ball, this is too much or whatever. In this particular situation it was like the quote unquote worst case scenario for the best house in the best area that he wanted, and it was so. Instead of walking away, getting the seller to hold back from their proceeds, have that paid directly through escrow to the contractor? New roof worked out well for everybody.

Speaker 2: 31:51

Yeah, and also they were tied and committed to the house. And also that they were, they were tied and committed to the house. You know, and sometimes that's the scenario Like you really want this house, this is the house for you. Walking away, it doesn't, you know, it doesn't feel right. Yeah, it isn't always what the buyer wants. So, you know, we try to work to get um to to get the best outcome possible. And another note that I think is very important to just throw in there too all the home inspectors said was there's a lot of damaged roof tiles, because that's the limit of where they can go.

Speaker 1: 32:24

They're not roofers, they're not roofing contractors and they're not electricians and they're not plumbers. They're just basically people knowledgeable about construction of the house and going oh, so that could be an issue, or oh, that's outlets, not grounded, or whatever.

Speaker 2: 32:40

Yeah, and maybe you know, people all the time will say to a home inspector well, there's a lot of loose tiles. What does that cost to replace the broken tiles? Usually you know in the couple thousand dollars or whatever you know, but it's like they don't know because they're not a contractor or a professional to diagnose the roof. So in that case we had to stretch out that due diligence. We sent an addendum, we extended the due diligence and we had to get estimates and analysis from actual roofing contractors. So remember that too. Some people expect the home inspector is going to be the contractor of everything, right?

Speaker 1: 33:16

And they're not. They end all of the information.

Speaker 1: 33:24

Yeah, they can only give you information on what is apparent, what is visible, right, I always say it's a good jumping off point. We're going to get a snapshot of the condition of the property that we're looking at now. Once we have a snapshot of it, if there's things we want to address, like if they found a leak in the pool equipment, then we bring out a pool specialist. If there's AC issues, we bring out the HVAC system pros, like the people who are dedicated, and all of that stuff also is in our residential purchase agreement on who's paying for what and what sort of services, inspections and stuff that the um buyers wanting to have and, you know, willing to have.

Speaker 2: 34:01

Yeah, so yeah. So a home inspection is just kind of the front line, you know, getting things started that quick snapshot to see kind of the basic condition of the property at the time of purchase. But if anything is of concern to you, that's where you therefore hire a professional to give a diagnosis of what exactly is the time of purchase. But if anything is of concern to you, that's where you therefore hire a professional to give a diagnosis of what exactly is happening there.

Speaker 1: 34:20

Right, and that's even why in the RPA, when it says are we doing like a septic inspection or a well inspection or any of the vast array of inspections that we have, I always throw in there that everything is going to be done. I don't do anything that is waived or non-applicable or anything I'm like. If it comes up, we want the opportunity to be able to inspect it.

Speaker 2: 34:41

Yeah, yeah, well, the home inspection too. The home inspection does, if there is, if anything comes up, and there's also like wording for there. If you just choose the home inspection and anything arises or comes up, that triggers the next certification. So it is kind of automatic. So there's options there.

Speaker 1: 34:58

But I love that about our contract Our buyers are really, really protected in the Valley. There's so many places for them to be protected, whether it's with the CIC package or the due diligence or the loan contingency or the appraisal contingency, or even in the inspections Yep absolutely so.

Speaker 2: 35:16

if people want to get some more information on anything that we talked about today or anything on real estate in general, how do they reach out to you If you just have?

Speaker 1: 35:22

questions. Give me a call, shoot me a text. I'm Tiana, I'm 702-379-9948. And Trish, they get ahold of you at 702-308-2878.

Speaker 2: 35:32

702-308-2878. Make sure that you like share, subscribe, follow us at RealtyCheck Vegas. And we actually do listen to our listener feedback, because a few months ago, one of our listeners said hey, how about you guys think about changing the background up a little bit? Well, hey, look at us, we have a new studio. We're in a new bit. Well, hey, look at us, we are-. Look at, we have a new studio room. Yeah, we're in a new studio.

Speaker 1: 35:58

We got some changes in place. Wait, can the engineer pull out and show the camera and everything? It's so awesome.

Speaker 2: 36:03

So here we are. Hello, yeah, we're listening to you. So keep on sending in that feedback. Send us your listener questions. We are paying attention, we're listening. Sometimes I don't respond immediately or whatever, but we're listening, we are paying attention.

Speaker 1: 36:21

So we want to hear from you. I want to just say, when she says she doesn't respond immediately, I've never known you not to respond within two hours on anything, whether it's an email, a text or a phone call. So you do better than the average bear. Okay, you do just fine.

Speaker 2: 36:36

We're paying attention, yeah.

Speaker 1: 36:41

But if you're shy and you don't want to actually make a phone call and contact us, you can always send those listener questions into the realtycheckvegas. That's where you can find our link tree. Find us on social.

Speaker 2: 36:48

We're available to you, yep, and thanks guys for listening and we'll see you next week. Have a great week. See you next time. Bye.