Blog - ATG Title

What is an Escrow Agent? How Are They Part of Real Estate?

November 30, 2021 By Jeremy

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. They also may assist in a number of other jobs, such as writing the deed, initiating a title search, and finding title insurance.

Escrow agents are typically agreed upon by both your lender and the seller to help manage the transaction. By acting as a neutral party, escrow agents represent the interest of both the buyer and seller to help minimize risk in real estate transactions for both parties.

But, you still may be wondering who an escrow agent works for and who hires an escrow agent. Let’s dive in to learn more about who your escrow agent works for, what their job is and other questions you may be thinking.

Who Does the Escrow Agent Work For?

The escrow agent works for both the buyer and seller and is typically agreed upon by both parties or their agents. The primary interest of the escrow agent is to handle all of the terms and contingencies of a real estate contract and will help to ensure you have a smooth transaction. [Read more…]

What is Ownership Interest in a Property?

November 23, 2021 By Jeremy

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 don’t have to live in a home to have an ownership interest in a property. Likewise, you can have an ownership interest if you inherit a property, split the property in a joint tenancy with your spouse, or invest a little amount in exchange for a percentage-based interest of the property.

While owning a property may seem fairly straightforward, understanding what ownership level is becomes important when applying for specific loans.

For example, HUD defines a first time homebuyer as someone who has not had an ownership interest in a home for the last three years. Even if you did not live in the home or had a 1% financial interest, you still would not qualify for an FHA loan or other first time homebuyer programs.

Now that we know what ownership interest in a property is defined as, we need to discuss what qualifies as ownership interest in a property. [Read more…]

What is a CLUE Report? And How to Order One.

November 16, 2021 By Jeremy

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 home for, and the rates your coverage will be at. But CLUE Reports do not solely benefit insurance companies.

CLUE Report disputes can help you uncover any hidden damage or issues that a previous homeowner may be hiding. Similarly, a CLUE Report can also be a good selling point when you are selling your home as long as no claims have been made in the past 7 years as it may appear your home is in really good condition.

Now that you know what a CLUE report is, let’s jump into what is included and how you can order a CLUE report for your home or the one you’re thinking about buying.

What Does a Clue Report Include?

A CLUE Report includes all insurance claim information about a property for up to 7 years. [Read more…]

What Does Pre-Foreclosure Mean? And How to Avoid It.

November 9, 2021 By Jeremy

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 scary process, it is also an opportunity for you to get your finances back in order and to keep your house or walk away with cash-in-hand. Foreclosure is very expensive for your lender and oftentimes they will be ready to work with you on a solution that saves you your home and saves them their money.

Fortunately, there are solutions to get you out of debt and help you escape foreclosure without losing your house, and that is what you will learn in this post.

Below you’ll discover the process of pre-foreclosure and the options you have to avoid the bank completely foreclosing on you. But first, let’s learn the difference between pre-foreclosure and foreclosure.

What’s the Difference Between Foreclosure and Pre-Foreclosure?

The difference between foreclosure and pre-foreclosure is that foreclosure enables lenders to reclaim the remaining balance on your loan, typically by auctioning off your home. Pre-foreclosure is the preliminary process that gives homeowners a heads up that their lender has begun the process of foreclosure. [Read more…]

What is Off-Market in Real Estate?

November 2, 2021 By Jeremy

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 when a professional real estate agent may also list a property off-market.

The reason a seller and agent may choose to do an off-market listing instead of the MLS is to protect the client’s privacy or negotiate a higher sales price.

Bonus tip: If you are buying or investing in homes, off-market in real estate means you can access additional inventory that other buyers are not seeing and in many cases access really unique properties.

The term off-market in real estate is not the same as pending or contingent sales, which are still listed on an MLS, but not necessarily active. For example, your home may be considered off-market if it is sold before it is listed or if you sell your home without the help of an agent or broker (FSBO).

To learn more about what is off-market in real estate, we would like to show you the advantages of off-market real estate deals.

The Advantages of Selling Your Home Off-Market

There are a number of advantages to selling a home off-market:

Protected privacy
Limiting the buyer pool to increase quality
Less price negotiations
Eliminating unsolicited offers

For example, many celebrities like to sell their home off-market to keep their privacy protected during a major transaction. Additionally, if you have an expensive home and don’t want to waste your time with low-ball offers, an off-market sale can help you find more motivated buyers.

Investors like to purchase off-market homes that are hard to sell through traditional means because they are in disrepair or have an existing lien on them. If you are an investor, you can [Read more…]

How Much Does it Cost to Buy a House?

October 26, 2021 By Jeremy

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 30 percent of your monthly income. But this only applies to you if you’re a consumer buying a house and not if you’re an investor, wholesaling real estate, or if you are paying cash for a house.

If you’re paying cash for the house then you’re paying for everything up front so there is no need to worry about affording a mortgage. Investors and wholesalers are either going to pay for cash upfront or they’ll be using a hard money loan and have already forecasted a net income on the resale and this is part of their business. They do not plan on living in the house which is why their monthly income is not important whereas you as a home buyer or resident is.

But why are we saying the monthly payments for non-professional home buyers should be no more than 30% of your income?

Simple, a bank or mortgage lender needs to [Read more…]

What is Escrow Balance?

October 19, 2021 By Jeremy

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 alongside your monthly mortgage payment.

When you access your monthly mortgage statement, you will find your mortgage payments separated into three categories:

Interest Payments
Principal Payments
Escrow Payments

Unlike interest and principal, escrow payments don’t count toward the actual debt of your loan. Rather, escrow counts toward the auxiliary services and fees, such as insurance premiums and property taxes that must be paid under law.

Your lender handles payment of your escrow services because it would be difficult for most people to come up with the considerable sum of money required each year to pay for property taxes, semi-annual insurance premiums, etc.

Now that you know what escrow balance is and how it works, lets look over some common questions about escrow balance.

Can I transfer money out of my escrow account?

[Read more…]

What Is Underwriting in Real Estate?

October 12, 2021 By Jeremy

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 property you are buying will be a safe investment for their companies to make.

All forms of real estate underwriting occur in the background of the closing process, and you will have no contact with the underwriter other than through your lender, insurance agent or title company.

Now that you know what underwriting in real estate is, lets look at the role each underwriter plays in the process when you buy a house.

The Role of the Mortgage Underwriter

A mortgage underwriter’s role is to determine your financial ability to pay the lender back for your mortgage. [Read more…]

What is a Real Estate Broker?

October 5, 2021 By Jeremy

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 intermediaries in the transaction process, navigating transactions from initial listing and discovery to closing.

When you hire a traditional real estate agent, you are also getting the complete package of a brokerage, which provides access to an MLS, lenders, title insurance company recommendations, supervising agents, and so much more.

While agents can help buyers and sellers get through the initial stages of the transaction, a broker is required by state law to finalize the process.

Brokerage laws differ by state, but generally, you must complete a broker’s license exam to become a broker. For example, in Colorado and New Mexico, all real estate agents are licensed as brokers. However, these states require an additional exam and license before a licensed broker can hire agents and start their own firm.

While many may understand what a real estate agent is responsible for, it’s just as crucial for both agents and prospective home buyers to understand the role of the real estate broker. [Read more…]

What is Unimproved Land & Is It Worth Buying?

September 28, 2021 By Jeremy

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 of these services making it easier to buy and develop. But this doesn’t mean you should avoid investing in unimproved land.

You can use unimproved land for:

Holding and reselling once property values begin to increase
Building a dream house
Creating an investment property to rent or sell
Developing a community or private grouping of homes
Designing a park and area to give back to your community

So if you’re wondering whether or not to invest money to build on unimproved land, that will depend on your situation. So if you’re thinking about purchasing unimproved land, below you’ll learned when it is a good and when it is a bad idea to make this investment.

When Is It Smart to Buy Unimproved Land?

[Read more…]