TRUE STORY…

This just happened to my client (seller) on the sale of their condo. My sellers listed their property with me, and during the normal disclosure reported that they had no mortgage on the property, so we should expect a simple transaction at the time of their sale right! Wrong?

It turns out my clients purchased directly from a seller with out the use of a Realtor and without an attorney doing a title search. The folks they bought from had a mortgage briefly and paid it off seven years prior to selling privately.

Fast forward seven years my client hires us to sell the property and we negotiated the sale with a buyer who plans to close (on the purchase) in 30 days. Job well done everybody happy. Unfortunately, upon a title examination it is discovered that the prior owners’ mortgage was never discharged at the county registry and this will affect the new owners’ right to a clear title. The bank that issued the original loan is no longer in business and the bank that took them over would love to help, but would need the prior owners social security number and other information to chase down the account. How do you find an out of state seller who has since moved and in all likelihood tossed the paper work years after the completion of the “For Sale by Owner”?

The new issues are: will the buyer wait until we can resolve the discharge issue, how much will it now cost my seller to chase the discharge and record it (so they have clear title to sell) and will we miss the market in a seasonal area if this is not resolved quickly???

This is just one example of not having an experienced real estate professional working on your behalf from the start, there are plenty of other example to list. Any time you have a question please do not not hesitate to contact Alpine Lakes Real Estate. We have been here helping clients just like you for almost 25 years now.