All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

@Tom Gimer Do you have a reference where I can learn more about the bare v. full powers life interest.  That was not something I learned about in my real estate law class.  Is it something that can be state-specific?  If the life tenant can sell, then doesn’t that defeat the whole purpose of a life estate?

@Monique O. did you verify that the occupant is a life estate occupant and not a lifetime lease occupant?  There is a difference.  I had never heard of a lifetime lease until a few months ago, but apparently they do exist.  I saw another discussion on here about it.

@Nick Rutkowski Agents actually do have a fiduciary duty to all persons they deal with; they just have more duties with those they have a legal agency relationship with.  All agents are required to follow the duties of reasonable care, obedience (within the law), loyalty, disclosure and confidentiality with their clients that they have a agency relationship with.  However, they are also still required to follow the duties of honesty, reasonable care and material disclosure (specific to a transaction) with all persons they work with.  That disclosure does not extend to revealing the presence or absence of competing offers and/or the amount of those offers, unless the seller gives permission to reveal that information.  Could the agent be lying?  Sure.  Like others have said, it would be difficult to prove it and probably not worth the time.  Just because a property has been on the market for 200+ days doesn't mean the seller hasn't received offers; maybe he/she is just sticking to a certain price and not compromising (or being unrealistic).

Life estates are a specific form of ownership in which a person is given all the usual rights of ownership to a property except the right to sell it.  When the “life tenant” passes away the property goes to a “remainderman” who was selected at the time the life estate was created.  The life tenant is expected to take appropriate care of the property but the remainderman has no right to the property until the life tenant dies.   He only has a future interest.  I suppose a remainderman could theoretically sell his future interest to another person, but the buyer would still have no right to the property until the life tenant dies.  An example of a life estate is when a person wills a property to, say, his cousin, until the cousin dies, but then the property goes to his grandchildren.  The grandchildren are the remaindermen.  They don’t inherit the property until the cousin dies.  And the cousin cannot sell the property.

No, they can’t. Real estate agents are required to treat all clients AND customers with the fiduciary duty of honesty.  Even if the seller told him/her to say that, he/she should not.

If you only get two options for a quartz pattern stick with the laminate for now and consider upgrading when it comes closer to retirement - IF the comps justify it.  Then you will have more choices since you won’t be stuck with what the builder offers, and can even do just the kitchen if you want.

Are you saying that the space was converted from a garage to living space including another bed and bath?  If so, then you definitely need to check for proper permits.  If it was never permitted you will have to get that done now if you want to have that square footage added legally.  And be very careful it was done properly  or you could be forced to undo or redo it.

The Mrs. Murphy law does not apply in Ohio.  Ohio fair housing law is more restrictive than federal law.  I don’t know NY but you need to check your state’s fair housing law as well as federal law.  I don’t know if there any other states that are as restrictive in Ohio.  Also there can even be local laws as well.  There are some cities in Ohio that have added even more protected classes than federal and state law.  But if you are screening on basis of finances and credit scores you should be fine as long as you are consistent across the board.

I’m from Ohio, so I don’t have any idea what is the standard layout in your area.  Please clarify if the existing three baths are all full baths, and if your proposed fourth would also be a full.  You mentioned that you wanted to add it to the living area; does that mean it will be in an odd place relative to the bedrooms?  I wouldn’t want to have to walk through a living area to take a shower.  Also, how big is the house and how much space would the new bath take up relative to the house size?  And are five bedrooms common in your area?

You also mentioned trying to do most of the work yourselves.  That will be very difficult to do if you aren’t a plumber and you end up adding the bathroom.  And please make sure you don’t remove a load bearing wall improperly if you decide to go the open concept route.

Now that I’ve seen your master closet, is it possible to move the door to the master bedroom down two feet in order to make the closet bigger?  Can’t tell from the photo as we can’t see if the hallway ends there.  Also curious if you could switch the kitchen sink and range.  Even if you don’t add a window over the sink, you would then have more room on each side of the range. I’ve never seen the stove so close to the fridge - the heat from the stove/oven could make the fridge have to work harder.

Make sure you tell us what you decided!  I'm very interested to know.