How to Choose a Title Company When Buying or Selling a House

Purchasing a house is one of the largest investments a person makes in his or her life. Most people don’t fully understand the home buying/selling process. Every house transaction involves a title company that handles the actual transfer of the house. Title companies vary in quality, price, and experience. You have the right to choose your own title company. Most people don’t take advantage of this right. Choosing the wrong title company could cost you more money and title issues down the road. Here are some factors you should consider when choosing a title company in Maryland, Virginia, or Washington DC:

Reputation and Experience

Undoubtedly, you would want your work to be handled by a reputable and trustworthy company, especially if you want to sell my house fast in Maryland or Washington DC. Thus, it is essential that you check the reputation and track record of the company you are considering. Check online reviews and ask a few realtors if they have experience with the company. Call the company and ask them questions about their process.

Office Location

Choosing a title company near you is helpful if you need to discuss issues in person, drop off checks, etc. If you close at their office, having it near by will make your life easier.

Fees

House transactions are very expensive. The last thing you want to do is waste money on title fees when you are trying to sell my house fast in Maryland, Virginia, or Washington DC. Ask the company about their fees and force them to provide estimates. Check around with other companies and compare prices. You could end up saving thousands of dollars.

As always, at 8 Day Home Sale we buy houses in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington DC for cash. We have years of experience buying houses and working with title companies. If you sell your house to us, you can rest assured we will handle all title issues.

What is a Property Easement in Maryland?

You might be thinking I want to “sell my house fast” and buy a new one. If this is true, knowledge of any easements on the property is critical. An easement is a sharing of land. It gives the right to a particular person or group to utilize the land. When trying to sell your house fast, an easement can be problematic as it may affect resale value.

An easement dictates legal usage of the property by an outsider. That person or group cannot be stopped from using the space in specific legally designated ways. Easements occur in the following forms:

The Right of Passage – This easement entitles a person to cross through a property that is not owned by them. For example, if a person owns a house near the beach and the only possible way to the beach is on the property, the owner has to allow the people to access the beach via its property. The second example can be a neighbor that may not have access to any other road, which leads to the main road rather than the property of the owner.

The Right to Utility Maintenance– This easement entitles utility organizations to use property for laying power cables and/or reaching out to neighboring places for maintenance work.

The Right to Historic Lands – This easement involves individuals whose property is located in the same district as a historic property. The owner needs to abide by the rules of the historic property. The rules can be related to the coloring of the property or can also be related to structural changes that cannot be made to the property. Read about historical easements in Maryland.

Recreational Easement – The easement pertains to the usage of land which has not been developed. The government can allow public use of such land for recreational activities such as fishing, hiking, biking, etc.

Easements are listed on the property deed. For property you own, you should check the deed for easements before listing the property before you “sell my house fast”. When buying a house, always ask your realtor about easements. At 8 Day Home Sale, we buy houses for cash and have been doing so for years. As such, we always work with home owners to find and understand existing easements on their property.

5 Ways to Stop Foreclosure in Maryland

If you have missed more than three mortgage payments, or your lender has filed a Notice of Default (NOD), you might think the loss of your home is inevitable. Even at this stage, there are five strategies you can use to stop foreclosure in Maryland.

Foreclosure Workout. Up until the time your home is scheduled for auction, most lenders would rather work out a compromise that would allow you to get back on track with your mortgage than take your home in a foreclosure.

Short Sale. After your lender files an NOD but before they schedule an auction, if you get an offer from a buyer, you lender must consider it. If they foreclose on your home, the lender is going to simply turn around and try to resell it; if you present them with a reasonable short sale offer, they may see it as saving them the time, effort and trouble of finding a qualified buyer in a soft market. So, if your home is on the market, continue to aggressively seek a buyer for it, even after your lender initiates the foreclosure process. Read our guide on How to Sell Your Home Fast When Foreclosure Looms for action steps you can take to unload your home fast, then make your best pitch as to why your lender should agree to the short sale.

Bankruptcy. Bankruptcy stops foreclosure dead in its tracks. Once you file a bankruptcy petition, federal law prohibits any debt collectors, including your mortgage lender, from continuing collection activities. Foreclosure is considered a collection activity, and so the day your lender becomes aware that you have filed for bankruptcy, the foreclosure process will effectively be frozen. But here’s the rub; once you get to court, the bankruptcy trustee’s role is simply to play referee or mediator between you and your creditors. Bankruptcy really just buys you more time to replace your lost job or recover financially from a temporary disability; it doesn’t let you off the hook for your debts. The law requires your mortgage company and other creditors to work in good faith with you to formulate a reasonable repayment plan so you can get back on track. Consult with a bankruptcy attorney regarding whether filing for bankruptcy is a good strategy for you.

Deed in Lieu. A deed in lieu of foreclosure is exactly what it sounds like. The homeowner facing foreclosure signs the deed to the home back over to the bank — voluntarily. This sounds like it would be a great option, but actually has the same impact on a homeowner’s credit that foreclosure does. Lenders are very reluctant to agree to take a home back through a deed in lieu of foreclosure for a number of reasons: They fear the homeowner will sue later alleging they didn’t understand what was happening, the lender must pay any second or third mortgages or home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) off before executing a deed in lieu, and the lender wants to be certain that the borrower’s financial distress is real. Allowing the foreclosure process to proceed is one way the lender can be sure the borrower is not faking poverty.

As such, a deed in lieu of foreclosure is virtually never granted unless: foreclosure is imminent; the owner has had their home on the market for several months and been unable to sell it; there are few or no junior loans or liens the lender will have to pay off; the seller can document their financial hardship; and the seller initiates the process and documents the voluntary nature of their request for a deed in lieu. Even when all these factors are present, many lenders will not agree to a deed in lieu, but it is worth a try!

Assumption/Lease-Option. Most loans these days are no longer assumable. The average mortgage now contains a “due on sale” clause by which the borrower agrees to pay the loan off entirely if and when they transfer the property. However, if you are facing foreclosure, you might be able to persuade your lender to modify your loan, delete this clause and allow another buyer to assume your loan. The lender may want to assess the new buyer’s qualifications, but it can be a win-win-win option for all. You might be able to negotiate a down payment from the buyer which you can use to pay off your outstanding past due mortgage balance.

In a lease-option scenario, the buyer becomes your tenant, and you continue owning the property until the buyer has saved enough down payment money, improved their credit sufficiently or sold their other home. In some situations, the buyer will make a one-time, lump option payment upfront, paying you to obtain the option to purchase your home. You can apply the option payment to bringing your mortgage current. Then, the buyer will make lease payments monthly which you, the seller, then apply to your mortgage. To successfully use a lease-option to stop the foreclosure process, you must negotiate lease payments that cover most or all of your mortgage payment, property tax and insurance obligations — enough that you can make up any difference and still pay to live somewhere else.