An escrow agent is the person who handles all escrow services when you buy or sell a home, such as distributing money between the buyer and seller and managing all of the necessary paperwork to help you close. Escrow agents help make sure that all financial documents are completed in a timely and accurate manner. …
What is an Escrow Agent? How Are They Part of Real Estate? Read More »
Ownership interest in a property defines your rights as an owner of a property or that you have a claim to the property. Ownership is the highest form of interest and typically gives you the full rights as an owner to do what you please with the property, within the limits of the law. You …
A CLUE Report, otherwise known as a Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange Report, is a document that provides a list of all insurance claims that have been made on a house. CLUE Reports are used by insurance companies to determine whether or not they want to cover your home, how much they want to cover your …
Pre-foreclosure means that your lender has issued a notice of default (a public notice filed with a court) and that they are beginning the process of foreclosure. Fortunately, pre-foreclosure does not mean that your house will be foreclosed upon and there are many ways to get out of pre-foreclosure. While pre-foreclosure may seem like a …
What Does Pre-Foreclosure Mean? And How to Avoid It. Read More »
Off-market in real estate means that a house is for sale but is not listed on multiple listing services (MLS). Only licensed real estate professionals will have MLS access so if a house is listed as 0ff-market it may mean that the house is also for sale by owner. But there are plenty of times …
The cost to buy a house varies depending on where you live, the demand for the type of house you want to buy, closing costs, and how good of a negotiator you are. One important thing to keep in mind is that the monthly payment you’ll make on your mortgage should be no more than …
An escrow balance is the amount of money a lender sets aside to pay for homeowners insurance, mortgage insurance, future interest, and property tax payments. As most of these payments are often made on an annual or semi-annual basis, your lender will bundle all of these payments together in an escrow account to be paid …
Underwriting in real estate is the process of a third party determining how much risk a lender or insurance company is willing to take on a person. There are three types of underwriters in real estate: Mortgage underwriter Title insurance underwriter Homeowner’s insurance underwriter Each of these underwriters are tasked with ensuring you and the …
A real estate broker is a real estate agent who has obtained a license to become a practicing broker within his or her respective state. Unlike traditional real estate agents, brokers can work independently, hire staff, and create their own firm whereas traditional agents must work for a qualifying brokerage. Real estate brokers are essential …
Unimproved land (sometimes known as vacant lots or more commonly raw land) is land that does not have any active services or public utilities running through it like water lines, electricity or even street access from the public roadways. Improved land is different from unimproved land in that it will have at least a few …
