Before You Sell
With much emphasis placed on the cost of buying a home, it's easy to forget sellers have their own set of expenses.
It costs an average of eight to 10 percent of the home's sale price to sell a home in the U.S. Costs vary based on the local market, property conditions, and buyer/ seller negotiations. Selling costs can include agent commissions, attorney fees, seller-paid closing costs, required repairs or improvements required before closing, transfer taxes, and fees.
Typically five to six percent of the sale price goes toward commissions, split between the listing agent and the buyer’s agent. Approximately two to four percent of the selling price is spent on transfer taxes and other real estate fees.
Existing mortgages don’t magically disappear with transferred ownership of a property. Bankrate.com reminds sellers, "You have to pay off any remaining balance before the sale can be finalized. There may be prorated accrued interest added to the total balance, and if your mortgage carries a prepayment penalty, that could be an additional fee."
Sellers who hire professional help to address many basic seller prep projects like painting, staging, carpet cleaning, lawn care and gardening, and local moving costs will need to take those costs into account as well.
Moving fees are a commonly forgotten cost in the process of selling a home but it's an expense sellers need to factor for. According to Housebeautiful, moving costs have a wide range, from $400 to about $10,000, depending on the size of your home and how far you're moving.
Even in the hottest housing markets in the country, selling a home takes time and costs money. From decluttering and staging to pre-inspections, agents and homeowners often spend months behind the scenes prepping a home – well before it's listed on the market. If you're planning to sell this year, try to take some time to research what costs you may be responsible for and how they could affect your profit or even budget for your next house."
"Fix it to sell" is a common expression in the real estate industry. Take time to research what items need attention and which can be left alone, then proceed accordingly. In the end, making the right improvements can ultimately help sell your home faster and at a higher value.
Vacant and Abandoned Properties: What You Need to Know
Legislation exists to address the challenges posed by vacant and abandoned properties – so-called “zombie properties” – to communities throughout New York.
Once a property has been deemed to be vacant and abandoned, the mortgagee must take reasonable steps to ensure that the property is secured and maintained in order to minimize public safety risks and related blight to the neighborhood and surrounding community. Required maintenance includes cutting the grass, securing the property against squatters and removing garbage.
What is a Zombie Property?
Zombie properties are homes that the homeowner has abandoned, typically in the face of a foreclosure action. With no occupant to perform basic maintenance, these homes can fall into a state of serious disrepair.
Dilapidated vacant and abandoned properties can have a corrosive effect on local communities, lowering property values, attracting criminal activity, creating health and safety hazards, and imposing extra costs on local governments due to the additional police, fire and building safety resources they require.
The negative impact these properties create can last for years while the community waits for the property to be foreclosed and sold to a new owner.
The law seeks to limit the damage caused by
zombie properties by requiring mortgage note holders (“mortgagees”) to inspect, register and maintain zombie properties until the foreclosure process is complete.
How is a Property Determined to Be Vacant and Abandoned?
Mortgagees must begin conducting occupancy inspections of a home when the homeowner is 90 days behind on their mortgage payments. These inspections must be conducted every month for as long as the loan remains delinquent.
The property is deemed to be vacant and abandoned if, after three consecutive inspections, the mortgagee finds that:
No occupant was present and there was no evidence of occupancy at the property
Basic maintenance work is not being performed
A property also may be deemed to be vacant and abandoned by an order of a court or an appropriate local official.
What Property Maintenance is Required by Law?
Once a property has been deemed to be vacant and abandoned, the mortgagee must take reasonable steps to ensure that the property is secured and maintained in order to minimize public safety risks and related blight to the neighborhood and surrounding community. Required maintenance includes cutting the grass, securing the property against squatters and removing garbage.
Maintenance requirements are intended to protect against health and safety issues and to avoid having properties fall into major disrepair. For example, boarding up the windows of a vacant and abandoned property may be an appropriate action to secure a property against vandalism or criminal activity, even though a boarded-up house may be an eyesore to the local community. There are, however, limits to the extent of maintenance work required by the law.
What is the Zombie Property Registry?
The law requires mortgagees to register zombie properties with the Department of Financial
Services within 21 business days of learning that the property is vacant.
The Department maintains a registry of vacant properties that it makes available to local government officials.
By law, the registry is confidential and not made available to the public.
When Does the Law Not Apply?
The law applies only to one- to four-family residential real properties that are subject to a mortgage. Larger residential buildings and commercial buildings, vacant lots, and any property that is not mortgaged, are not subject to the maintenance requirements. Also, banks, credit unions and other specified financial institutions that do not engage in significant real estate lending are exempt from the requirements of the law. Lastly, the maintenance and registration obligations will cease if:
•The borrower has filed for bankruptcy or is actively engaged in loss mitigation efforts
•The mortgagee sells the mortgage or releases the lien on the property
• An occupant of the property has asserted his or her right to occupy the property, as in the case of squatters
• The foreclosure action is complete
How Can the Department Help?
Complaints about vacant and abandoned properties can be reported to the NY State Department or Finance through their toll-free hotline (800-342-3736), or online via the DFS online complaint portal.
DFS will seek to determine whether the property is subject to a mortgage, and, if so, to identify the party responsible for inspecting, securing, and maintaining the property in question.
Once identified, the Department will contact the responsible party to ensure that it is complying with its obligations under the law.
(Source .dfs.ny.gov)
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