Last year, I received dozens of emails saying that the Patient Protection Affordable Care Act included a 3.8% real estate transactions tax. Here's what the 3.8% tax is and what it isn't. In other news: Seattle area home inventory continues to be low. In my opinion, this is the ONLY reason Seattle home prices are going up, especially at the low to medium price levels. Read the rest of this entry »

Taking care of an elderly parent often includes the sale of their home. Sometimes, that sale takes place after the parents have passed away. In both scenarios title and deed issues take center stage. If the parent or parents are still alive and hold title to the property, the home can only be sold by a child or other relative who has power of attorney to do so. In the case of a living parent, there are two powers of attorney that make this possible Read the rest of this entry »

Last week's IPO of Facebook did not live up to the hype but at the end of the day the market capitalization of the newly minted social media giant was a whopping $105 billion. In my opinion, five years down the road we will look back at the hoopla the same way we now view the fate of AOL. Now, keep in mind that there is not a single property in all of Seattle that has lost as much in value as AOL. Read the rest of this entry »

The federal law offering protection for tenants in foreclosed rentals has been extended. The “Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act” (PTFA) was originally scheduled to expire on December 31, 2012, but the Dodd-Frank Act has extended it to December 31, 2014. That's good news for renters. Read the rest of this entry »

Who is in what position? A loan or lien is considered to be in first lien position when it is recorded prior to any other loans or liens. Loan priority is established by chronological order of recording, not by the date of the document. Financial institutions require that their purchase money or refinance loan is in first lien position in order for a transaction to close, since being in first lien position gives them the first right to reclaim the property in the event that the borrower defaults on the loan. But what happens if there is another loan, recorded later, that will not be paid off at closing? Read the rest of this entry »