Title Binder Policy Can Save You Money

In the Palm Springs market place a typical expense of a seller is to pay for the title insurance policy for the buyer when they sell their home. However, if the seller had purchased a Title Binder policy before closing escrow their escrow (back when they purchased the home) the seller can now realize a substantial savings upon resale.

How does this work?

When you are the buyer getting ready to close escrow (finalize the sale) on your new home be sure to request that you be issued a Title Binder policy.The seller you are buying your home from is actually paying the cost of your Title Policy. However, you would request and pay for the Title Binder policy

(typically a few hundred dollars or less - 15% of the cost of the title policy) yourself.

Then three years or less down the road when you go to resell your home you tell your agent that you have a binder policy for the title company. This gives you to a substantial discount on the policy you are going to have to provide for your buyer. Your only fee will be on the difference between what you paid and what your buyer is now paying. Again typically a few hundred dollars versus the thousand plus that you would otherwise be paying.

The three year restriction may not work for you if you are planning on buying and holding the property. Some title companies will allow you to extend it to four years for a small extra premium. Despite this is if you are buying for the short term, know you will be transferred, up-size or downsize or even if you are flipping houses for profit
Title Binder Policies make lots of sense.

Small savings like these may not be dramatic but can really add up overtime and maximize the value of your home ownership experience.

 

A Most Happy 2011 To You!

A very sincere wish that 2011 is the year that brings you the people, things and experiences that are most important to you.

Market Trends and This month In Real Estate

November numbers are out for the Valley and show a decided drop in the over all sales. A 7.7% drop from Novemebr 2009 when 826 total properties sold vs. 762 in 2010.

Difficulty for consumers in obtaining loans and the vast number of short sales (delayed property closings) surely contributed to the lower number as did a general slowdown in foreclosed properties coming to the market.

There were some bright spots in the market - as always Real Estate is local and a look at the local areas confirms that. Palm Springs Central (north of Ramon Road but south of Vista Chino) saw an increase of 29% in the number of homes sold year over year. It was also the second month in a row as October had a 22.2% increase. Thousand Palms and La Quinta as well as two of the three sections of Indio all saw significant double digit gains in numbers of properties sold year over year.

At the end of the day, however, we saw a drop and the inventory slipped back up to 9.7 months. This is the number of months it would take to sell existing inventory at current rates if no other homes came on the market.

In the new year we will be looking for government programs, incentive and consumer confidence to drive home sales. Additionally the banks, at least in the Palm Springs marketplace, should start releasing more homes from their foreclosure inventory in the lower price ranges. There is a pent up demand for the lower priced homes that has not been addressed on the local level.

See More Reginal and National Statistics in my One Minute Real Estate Report

Merry Christmas!

Just A Simple Holiday Wish That you may Know Peace, Love and Joy on this special day.

The Mesa In Palm Springs

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Listed for Sale a great lot in the Mesa At just under an acre you can enjoy the seclusion, views and premium location of this great homesite. Offered at $499,900. The Mesa is an area of unique and historic homes. Many celebrities have lived in the Mesa over the years. Look at all properties for sale in the Mesa

Right next door is a beautiful modern home and a great example of what you could acheive on this lot. See the nice article in Palm Springs Life about the architecturally interesting home next door.

So California Edison Billing Issues

ALERT!!! For any readers who own a home in the Palm Springs area be sure to check your Southern California Edison electric bills very carefully.  I was dramatically overcharged

in September and I have since talked to several other people that are experiencing the same thing.  If your bill was substantially higher in the last three months for no good reason request a meter read and a check.  I Know in my case I got a $90 reduction and a friend received a $456 reduction!  If you have had this problem I would be interested in hearing from you.

Recently Edison had been installing new meters on every home but I am not sure if this has anything at all to do with the overcharges we have been seeing.  My over charge happened prior to the new meter installation.

You can visit the Southern California Edison site with this link.

See a list of other utility company sites for the greater Palm Springs area.