Dear Rosie

Submit anonymous questions without offending your sister's in-law's cousin--once removed. Or whoever is giving you advice that you want a free second opinion on. 

This is for educational and thought-provoking purposes only and does not imply any established relationships.

Scroll past the form to see the recent anonymous questions and their answers. 

This is shared publicly with the intention to help others find answers by sharing knowledge.

ANONYMOUS QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 

Dear Rosie,

What's the difference between a condo and a TIC? I see a TIC property available near Lake Merritt that looks enticing...

Sincerely,

Enticed

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Dear Enticed,

The difference between a condo and a Tenancy In Common (TIC) lies in how title is held when a property is purchased. There are legal technicalities with buying a TIC instead of a condo, which is when an attorney may come in handy. Getting down to the basics, condos have one deed per unit with divided interest. Tenancy In Common differs because there is one deed per property with undivided interest. However, there is an additional document called a TIC agreement which spells out the actual percentage of the property you’re buying. The TIC agreement is not public record, but each owner of the TIC must get updated TIC agreements whenever there is a change in ownership. For more details, check out this article: https://www.kevinandjonathan.com/tics-v-condos/

Yours Truly,

Rosie the Realtor

Dear Rosie,

I have experience buying and selling homes. I currently have 3 residential single-family house rentals. My realtor that I've used in the past is insisting that I have to pay out of pocket for certain things I never did in the past. They want me to pay for inspections upfront, like home inspection, pest inspection, roof inspection, and even sewer lateral. I know that the buyers will have their own inspections done. Why is my realtor suddenly changing this part of their process and do you think I should listen to their advice?

Sincerely,

Seasoned Seller

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Dear Seasoned Seller,

I can advise you that current lisiting strategies have evolved. Depending on when you completed your last real estate transaction, you may not have needed to do these pre-listing inspections. However, within the past years, where buyer competition was very strong and inventory was moving very quickly, it was inthe seller's best interest to try to provide as much information about the property upfront. Often, buyers were willing to accept the pre-listing inspections and waived their inspection contingencies to save a couple of days off of their time line to make their offer more competitive. 

Since I don't know exactly what is being practiced in your local market, I will advise you to follow your Realtor's suggestion to get the pre-listing inspections. You may be surprised, the house condition could be better than anticipated and therefore have more value which is better for your bottom line. On the contrary, if the inspections reveal a lot of urgent items that need repair or corrections, you can adjust your expectations of what you may actually close at. It is the buyer's responsibility to investigate the property to determine the current condition, and it would be very unpleasant surprise to you if say, a sewer lateral replacement estimate of $25,000 suddenly becomes applicable. The more information you can provide upfront to the buyer, the faster and smoother you can expect your transaction to go.

Yours Truly,

Rosie the Realtor

Dear Rosie,

How do I find a good house in San Pablo?

Sincerely,

Good House Hunter

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Dear Good House Hunter,

How to finding a good house in San Pablo is a great question.

To better identify what qualifies as a "good house" in your mind, let's chat more about what you're looking for and what's important to you.

Here are some topics to consider: location proximity to work, family, grocery stores, number of bedrooms, number of bathrooms, number of stories, living space square footage, lot square footage, proximity to the freeway/major roadways, what type of house--detached, condo, townhouse manufactured, garage,  and your thoughts on having a HOA.

And as always, I highly encourage all new buyers to get pre-approved with a local lender as their first step. That way, when you start looking at available houses on the market, you know what you can afford and better determine what’s ultimately in your best interest. 

Yours Truly,

Rosie the Realtor

Dear Rosie,

My family is relocating from out of state. We don't know the different neighborhoods yet. We're looking at the Richmond area and also Crockett. We have major health concerns about living close to major refineries such as Chevron. Where can we get information about that before getting into contract?

Sincerely,

Reluctantly Relocating

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Dear Reluctantly Relocating,

First of all, your concerns are valid and fortunately for you, it is common for most listings to have disclosure packages available online for you to review before going to see the property and writing offers. In the disclosure package, the sellers will provide a Natural Hazard Disclosure, (NHD). This will be your starting point in researching any and all natural hazards that may affect the property you're interested in, including flood zones, underground gas storage tanks, etc. The NHD will be hyper-linked and take you deep into the details. 

I don't have the information readily available about long-term or short-term heatlh affects about living near a refinery such as Chevron. However, I can advise that you start with the NHD and go from there. If your concerns are not answered, it may be best for you to find a different neighborhood.

Yours Truly,

Rosie the Realtor