Category Archives: Real Estate FYI

Real Estate FYI

Rent, Sell, Save: Evaluating Homeowners’ Options When Moving to Assisted Living

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Senior Citizens have choices when relocation to assisted living homes
Senior Citizens have choices when relocation to assisted living homes

As we get older, there are often things that become too hard for us to do on our own. For many seniors, this is the main factor that drives the decision to move into an assisted living facility. These communities allow older people to live their lives with a supportive staff, and provide assistance with housekeeping, cooking, medical care and more.

Assisted living can be the perfect option for the senior living alone that simply has more needs than they can manage by themselves. Make sure to tour several places to make sure you’ve found a facility that balances care and freedom. Getting help shouldn’t mean giving up your independence. You also need to consider the cost of the facility; contact several local centers to ask about buy-in and monthly fees. 

It’s often difficult for those moving into assisted living to decide what to do with their homes when it’s time to move out. Here’s a look at your options and the pros and cons of each so you can decide which is right for your situation:

Renting

Pros: Renting out the home is a great option for many seniors. By allowing someone to live in the house while you’re not there, you ensure that few problems like leaks get caught before they become big issues.

Moreover, you make income each month. This can be particularly useful for those whose income only just covers the costs of the assisted living facility. Bringing in a little extra cash each month protects you in the event of unexpected costs.

Cons: Being a landlord is a lot of work. Depending on why you need to move into assisted living, you may not have the time or energy to manage an investment property. If a family member can manage the property on your behalf, you may be able to mitigate this issue.

Another con of renting is the fact that you can never be sure tenants will treat your home respectfully. There’s no guarantee that renters will care for your space, pay rent each month, and stay to the end of the lease.

Selling

Pros: If you sell your home, you’ll have a nest egg available to cover any unexpected costs in the future and to put toward your estate. You also won’t have to worry about maintaining the house. This is a great option for seniors who would rather let the property go than deal with the taxes and upkeep. 

Cons: Selling a home can be a lengthy process, and it can require a lot of work on the seller’s part. You may need to hire someone to clean the home on your behalf as part of the staging process. You will also need to find storage for the things you had to remove from the house but are still unsure whether you wish to keep or toss. Keep an eye out for deals on storage units in the Kansas City area. 

Keeping It in the Family

Pros: If you or your loved ones can’t bear to see the house in another owner’s hands, you can have someone in the family take care of it on your behalf. This is a good call for those who would like the property itself to become part of their estate, as its value will likely continue to go up with time.

Cons: If you go this route, you or a family member will have to continue paying taxes and other upkeep costs. This can be a financial drain, so you must first ensure you have the funds to keep the home to begin with.

Ultimately, there is no right or wrong choice for your home. By examining the options thoroughly, you can figure out which option is best for you and your family. The transition to assisted living can be made much easier by planning ahead.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

by Andrea Needham | eldersday.org

Real Estate FYI

3 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Buying or Selling a Home

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There’s a lot to accomplish before buying or selling a home. For starters, home buyers should find out their credit rating, research what kind of mortgage they would be approved for, and decide on a location to move to. Sellers need to declutter, stage their home for selling, and research the ideal price to sell their home. That sounds like a big list, but it all boils down to three big questions:

1. What Do We Want?

It sounds simple, but unless you’re commissioning a new build without a partner, the question of what your ideal home looks like is actually fairly complicated. Before you start sketching mockups of your dream home, visit open houses to see what’s available, and use the local housing stock to inform your preferences.

If you’re buying a house with a significant other, make sure you’re on the same page about what you want. Buying a fixer-upper, for example, could be a disaster if only one partner is up for remodeling a house. It’s important to have a shared vision for the unchangeable features of your future home, like neighborhood, lot size, construction style, and floorplan.

2. How Are Our Finances?

Your financial health determines how much home you can afford—and what kind of mortgage rate you’ll pay. According to the Washington Post, homebuyers with credit scores above 725 enjoy significantly lower rates than buyers with lower scores. Hopeful buyers with credit scores below 625 may be unable to get approved at all. Before you start shopping for mortgage lenders, pull your credit report and score by following the instructions at USA.gov. If you’re buying a house with a partner and using both incomes to qualify for a mortgage, both credit scores will be considered by lenders. If either partner’s score is low, you may need to spend time improving it before buying a house.

If you’re confident in your creditworthiness, you’re ready to talk to a lender about mortgage pre-approval. Pre-approval indicates that you’re a serious buyer, which makes sellers more likely to accept your offer. But first, you have to find a lender. As this mortgage guide informs buyers, “The most common types of lenders are banks, credit unions, and online financial institutions. Not all lenders offer the same rates or loan types, so it’s important to shop around. Talk to at least four different lenders and try to compare loan rates, fees, and product attributes."

Don’t assume you should spend the full amount of your pre-approval. Depending on your budget and financial goals, it may be wise to spend less than you’re approved for. Discuss your finances thoroughly before settling on a price range.

3. What Is Our Home Worth?

If you’re selling and buying, this is a big question that impacts your home-buying budget. While you won’t know the actual number before getting a comparative market analysis from an agent, it’s important to do some preliminary research.

Look at recently sold homes in your neighborhood to understand the price range you’re working in. Don’t just look at selling price; take note of how long homes spent on the market and their condition. Did the home with the upgraded kitchen sell faster and for more than the home with white appliances? These differences indicate the features that matter to homebuyers.

If you want to list at the top of your price range, consider how you can add value to your home before selling. Are there loose doorknobs to tighten or odd-colored rooms to repaint? Small updates can help your home sell, but talk to a real estate agent before making any major investments into your home’s appearance. Not all improvements pay off. Selling and buying a home can be stressful. But at the end of it, you deserve to feel good about your real estate experience. By having these important conversations before you hire a real estate agent, you can buy and sell with confidence.

Bret Engle | DiyGuys.net
bret.engle@diyguys.net
Real Estate FYI, tax sale

My Experience at Wyandotte County / Kansas City, KS DELINQUENT Tax Sale Auction

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? ? This year's Wyandotte County / Kansas City, KS (or Unified Government) Tax Deed Sale was at Memorial Hall, located at 600 N 7th St., KCK 66101. Wyandotte County has multiple real estate tax sales each year, this one was on August 29, 2019 with the next sale in mid-December. Check their website for details and dates: https://www.wycokck.org/Delinquent/Sale.aspx

Memorial Hall Downtown Kansas City, KS

Unlike the Jackson Count Tax Lien Sales, this tax sale was indoors in the old hall in downtown KCK. There's convenient parking everywhere with a paid lot behind the building for $6 a day. If you get chilly easily be sure to bring a jacket, despite this tax sale event held in August, the building is well air conditioned.

  • Memorial Hall KCK - Location of the Wyandotte County Delinquent Tax Lien Sale Auction

Wyandotte County knows how put on a tax sale and I feel it is the best, most efficient, well organized real estate tax event in the Kansas City metro area.

They also have online registration! It's the only one I've found where you can simply submit the necessary documents online and complete your entire registration paperless. You just pick up your bid card at the Hall The day of the auction before the auction begins at 10:00AM.

Here's the tax sale online registration form: https://fs26.formsite.com/DLp325/form1/index.html

Wyandotte County also has a thoughtful delinquent real estate tax list where you not only get the excel sheet in order of case #, you also get additional information on the house, pictures and whether the property is a vacant lot (indicated by a V on the list) or has a house (I on the list). Quite the opposite on the Jackson County tax list where it is impossible to tell what you are looking at until you drive by the address and determine if it's land or a house/building.

Just as any tax sale in the area, you are subject to as-is conditions of the property and it's important to drive by the property and inspect it the best you can without trespassing. We looked at about 60 houses in this sale and it took about 8 hours to do the driving and about 3-4 hours to research beforehand the properties we felt were worth seeing.

Since the Kansas City area borders two states, it's important to distinguish the difference between Kansas, which is a Tax Deed State and Missouri, which is a Tax Lien State. Here's a great site that explains the differences: https://retipster.com/tax-liens-tax-deeds/

In Kansas Tax Sales, you are actually purchasing the deed and property ownership, however, It's also important to remember that you are buying the deed while paying off the taxes and that you are responsible for any other liens and if there is a mortgage, all this in order to acquire the deed after the confirmation hearing. The owner has the right to pay you for your bid purchase price and take back their property during the 12 month challenge period after the sale. It is important to consult an attorney and do your homework on a "quiet title" suit to better secure the asset. Later on if you want to sell a property from a tax deed sale, you may need a quiet title because some title companies wont insure a title for a property purchased from a tax sale.

Here are a few guides the county has about the tax sale and what to expect after: http://maps.wycokck.org/gisdata/TaxSale/Bidder_Instructions_English.pdf

The Experience:

There were over 700 case #'s (cause of action #'s) on the list at this sale with about 100 bidders in attendance. Most properties were vacant lots of land in the inner city area's of zip codes 66101 and 66104. These are plots of land where houses probably stood at one time, however, the owners have either passed away of just refuse to pay taxes on what most people would consider useless land in very low income, urban areas. One thing I would like to see Wyandotte County do is bundle the land bids together and bid them out at the end of the auction so that bidders who only wanted to bid on houses or commercial property could leave sooner. Most of the available houses were in zip codes 66101, 66102 and 66104.

In my opinion this tax sale offered overall the highest quality of houses to bid on in the Kansas City area based on the total numbers of homes available. You could probably reasonably generate cash flow from any house on the Wyandotte County list and it really comes down to your personal risk factors, tolerance and knowledge of KCK. Unlike the Jackson County tax sale last week where there were a number of houses on the list you just couldn't access how high or how costly your risk might be. There are some neighborhoods and streets in KCMO where most of the homes are boarded up or have evidence of a fire - this is not the case in KCK.

The auctioneer was easy to hear, despite the loud children in the back of the hall, and he never missed a bidder. The announcements and opening instructions were done in English and Spanish

Don't expect to find prime properties or any property for that matter, at this sale, to go under $10K. Prime zips codes in Kansas City, KS tend to be 66103 - Rosedale , 66106 Rosedale & Argentine, 66109 - West KCK, 66111, 66012 and 66226 - Bonner Springs. There were no available houses in the Turner area of 66106.

It seems like most people who bid and won were looking for one special house to purchase and probably planned to utilize it for their personal future home or for a family member. This is nice to see, however, this motive drives up the bid for each property and it makes it nearly impossible for a real estate investor to acquire houses at tax sales to fix and flip or fix and rent.

The tax sale started at 10:00AM and ended at about 1:00PM. This gives you time to run to the bank, because if you have a winning bid you are expected to pay no later than 4:45pm the day of the sale via money order or cashier's check - written out for the exact amount you owe and to the "The Clerk of the County Court." If for some reason you decide to renege on your bid you will be restricted from participation in the Wyandotte County Tax Sale for 2 years.

If you have any questions or thoughts about this tax sale please email me at jwoods@wootinvestments.com or leave your thoughts in the comments below

I hope this helps you if you plan to attend future tax lien or deed sales!

John Woods