On April 2022 Lunch and Learn Event Housing, Relax Teams member Heather Crockett shared her knowledge and expertise on settlement needs and reverse mortgages.

Title insurance protects real estate owners and lenders from financial loss 

Presentation by Heather Crockett

Did you acquire a property recently? Did your lender require you to get title insurance? Most people don’t realize how important title insurance was until it’s too late because of liens, encumbrances, and other undiscovered issues. Most of these don't show up in the initial title search and arise only after the sale is closed. Find out more about title insurance to save you from unnecessary hassle.

Heather Crockett works on title insurance. They don't typically deal with clients face to face but they're on the back end of things, working with the lenders and the attorneys to get the title searches squared away and making sure their clients have full ownership of their house and no liens recorded.  They basically partner with lenders for the most part and aim to be that single point of contact for all of their out-of-state settlement needs.

 When will the real estate market cool off?

Heather believes that the prices in the real estate market aren't coming down anytime soon. People are getting frustrated and they are hoping that prices are going to come down. But the reality of it is, that the builders are now gearing up to build new homes and it's going to take a while to catch up. Buyers have to realize this fact and they need to be patient. The inventory can’t catch up to the demand, and it's not going to for a while. COVID has affected everything with production and manufacturing and supply-demand issues and it will take a while before it can recover.

 

Inventory is at a low and not meeting the demand same as it was before COVID. When COVID hit, it added to the supply issues and people can't find enough help from all of those issues. Building more houses is going to take a while to catch up and then allow the builders to finally get their foothold into having enough inventory for the people that are out there.

Reverse Mortgages on the rise

In the next several years, Heather predicts an increase in reverse mortgages. They've been doing it since they opened their doors. In fact, their first client was a reverse mortgage client. People are starting to realize that reverse mortgages can help them. 

Are reverse mortgages safe?

They're not the reverse mortgage with the 80s and 90s where people did get taken advantage of. There are a lot of regulations now surrounding reverse mortgages. 

The purchase market and the refinance market are very cyclical, very up and down, but reverse mortgages have been pretty consistent and it’s going to be on the upward swing. As far as purchases and supply and demand, all of that remains to be seen, but prices definitely are not coming down for a while. Buyers need to stay the course and be patient.

If you're considering a reverse mortgage, you should:

• Talk to an attorney 
• Talk to your accountant
• Talk to your family

Make sure it's the right decision for you and that you know what are the regulations around everything with reverse mortgages. You want to talk to all these people to advise you properly rather than just jumping into reverse mortgages, because the lender, a friend, or a family member is telling you. Be sure that you're in that age bracket because it is helpful for a lot of people and it does get them through their retirement so it can be a great option for people. 

 

 

Home Title Insurance

Most buyers didn't have an idea what title insurance was until they needed it. In fact, one person told  Heather that at first, he thought that it was “just a racket”.  About a year later, he got a knock on the door. He can't remember if it was like a sheriff or a collection for some, but they proceeded to tell him that he owed around $75,000. He found out that his wife purchased this house which was a flip but thankfully he had title insurance that the lender required him to get for $3,000 at that time. And because of that, he did not have to pay out that $75,000 to pay an attorney to deal with it.

He was completely hands-off and it took them about a year to figure it all out. He was very very thankful for the title insurance at that point.

 

KEY TAKEAWAYS 

Don't complain about your lenders requiring you to have title insurance. With everything being so digital now you might hear about deed fraud. Criminals are getting smarter and smarter. There's more and more stuff about you online. Identity theft and ransomware attacks are going to be more on the rise as we live more digitally. 

April 2022 Lunch and Learn Event Housing

 

• Volunteer For A Good Cause At Warren County Habitat for Humanity
• Here’s What To Expect In The Housing Market This 2022
• Managing Expectations When Looking For A Home 
• How a Great Realtor Can Help You Find Your New Home

 

Recommended Readings: 

• How to Get Your Offer Accepted in a Highly-Competitive Housing Market
• The Key to Getting the House that You Want
• Helpful Advice When Selling or Buying Real Estate
• Running out of space or moving into a smaller home?.