In 2014 my parents moved into an assisted living facility and my brother has been living in our family home for the last couple years. Him and his wife recently decided to purchase the home from our mothers estate. My sister is the conservator for my mother and we are all for our brother purchasing the house. I obtained my Real Estate license in 2006 and was a Realtor for several years before leaving the brokerage and striking out on my own to wholesale Real Estate. I know the business well and have always been someone who looks out for my clients best interest even if it means I take a stove and refrigerator instead of getting paid in cash.
This deal between my mothers estate and my brother is a very simple deal and does not require a Realtor to make it happen. Unfortunately my brother and sister did not seek my advice and hired a Realtor to write up the purchase agreement. This is perfectly fine if the Realtor was not being greedy and looking to take advantage of my siblings lack of knowledge. To make things more complicated their Realtor was new to the business and was being "mentored" by a Realtor who claims to have been in the business for over 20 years. What the "mentor" should have said to his young padawan is "it would be in the clients best interest if you act as a transaction coordinator and charge the clients $1000 to do so". For a Realtor to justify a commission they have to facilitate the sale by bringing the buyer and seller together. In our case the buyer (my brother and his wife) and the seller (our mothers estate) were already in agreement and all that was left to do was write the purchase agreement, which is what a transaction coordinator does. However, the Realtor with 20+ years of experience suggested to his mentee that he take on a dual agent role and charge the maximum commission of 7%.
The house appraised for 175K, the purchase price was 157K and my mothers estate would net 120K...WTH??? There were a whole lot of questions that were not asked by the mortgage lender and the newbie Realtor. My sister as conservator has a fiduciary obligation to my mothers estate which means everything has to be done in my mothers best interest. The mortgage lender should have recognized that netting my mother 120K for a 175K home was not in her best interest. What really lit my fire was the Realtors charging my mother/brother (depending how you look at it) $11,000 for simply helping them fill out a purchase agreement. There are two way this deal should have been done. One is for the Realtor to act as the transaction coordinator and charge $1,000-$2,000 max for doing so. The other was for the buyers to have the Title Company who is going to close the sale to draw up the paperwork and then have an Estate Attorney review the documents to ensure the deal complies with the orders of the probate court which could be done for less than $1,000.
When I confronted the Realtors about this it became clear that the newbie Realtor had no idea what he was doing was unethical and unjustified. Now the 20+ year Realtor knew exactly what he was doing. To justify this outlandish deal he told me that the house was a FSBO (for sale by owner) and therefore they could charge a commission, the maximum commission at that. The house was never put up for sale, the house was never marketed, the house was never shown and there was only one interested buyer, my brother, so how in the world do you consider that a FSBO? As I explained my position he summed it up for me by saying "its legal and there's this thin grey line", that's his excuse for attempting to "hit a lick" at the expense of my mother and brother.
Needless to say the Judge did not approve the sale, which of coarse is all my fault for making a fuss about the commission (no good deed goes unpunished). I said all of that to say this, make sure to get a second even third opinion when you are making any major purchase. I believe most Realtors would have written this deal the right way, however there are scrupulous Agents out there who see opportunity to take advantage of peoples lack of knowledge. Just because someone talks a good game doesn't mean that they play fair. There are unprofessional professionals in every industry, whether it be Real Estate, Financial services even the medical field that is why doing your due diligence before hiring someone to assist you with a life transition is extremely important and can be the difference between a complicated process and a simple one.
This deal between my mothers estate and my brother is a very simple deal and does not require a Realtor to make it happen. Unfortunately my brother and sister did not seek my advice and hired a Realtor to write up the purchase agreement. This is perfectly fine if the Realtor was not being greedy and looking to take advantage of my siblings lack of knowledge. To make things more complicated their Realtor was new to the business and was being "mentored" by a Realtor who claims to have been in the business for over 20 years. What the "mentor" should have said to his young padawan is "it would be in the clients best interest if you act as a transaction coordinator and charge the clients $1000 to do so". For a Realtor to justify a commission they have to facilitate the sale by bringing the buyer and seller together. In our case the buyer (my brother and his wife) and the seller (our mothers estate) were already in agreement and all that was left to do was write the purchase agreement, which is what a transaction coordinator does. However, the Realtor with 20+ years of experience suggested to his mentee that he take on a dual agent role and charge the maximum commission of 7%.
The house appraised for 175K, the purchase price was 157K and my mothers estate would net 120K...WTH??? There were a whole lot of questions that were not asked by the mortgage lender and the newbie Realtor. My sister as conservator has a fiduciary obligation to my mothers estate which means everything has to be done in my mothers best interest. The mortgage lender should have recognized that netting my mother 120K for a 175K home was not in her best interest. What really lit my fire was the Realtors charging my mother/brother (depending how you look at it) $11,000 for simply helping them fill out a purchase agreement. There are two way this deal should have been done. One is for the Realtor to act as the transaction coordinator and charge $1,000-$2,000 max for doing so. The other was for the buyers to have the Title Company who is going to close the sale to draw up the paperwork and then have an Estate Attorney review the documents to ensure the deal complies with the orders of the probate court which could be done for less than $1,000.
When I confronted the Realtors about this it became clear that the newbie Realtor had no idea what he was doing was unethical and unjustified. Now the 20+ year Realtor knew exactly what he was doing. To justify this outlandish deal he told me that the house was a FSBO (for sale by owner) and therefore they could charge a commission, the maximum commission at that. The house was never put up for sale, the house was never marketed, the house was never shown and there was only one interested buyer, my brother, so how in the world do you consider that a FSBO? As I explained my position he summed it up for me by saying "its legal and there's this thin grey line", that's his excuse for attempting to "hit a lick" at the expense of my mother and brother.
Needless to say the Judge did not approve the sale, which of coarse is all my fault for making a fuss about the commission (no good deed goes unpunished). I said all of that to say this, make sure to get a second even third opinion when you are making any major purchase. I believe most Realtors would have written this deal the right way, however there are scrupulous Agents out there who see opportunity to take advantage of peoples lack of knowledge. Just because someone talks a good game doesn't mean that they play fair. There are unprofessional professionals in every industry, whether it be Real Estate, Financial services even the medical field that is why doing your due diligence before hiring someone to assist you with a life transition is extremely important and can be the difference between a complicated process and a simple one.
I have finally decided to take the plunge and add a blog to my site. There is so much I want to share with the world concerning Authentic Wealth and the pursuit of it so I am using this blog as a platform to do so. I named my blog "Health Is Wealth" because I believe the quality of our health plays a major role in the quality of our authentic wealth. Its my opinion that our authentic wealth is determined based on the level of quality in five (5) areas of our lives; Our Family, Health, Occupation, Recreation and Finance respectively. One can argue that Health is the most important pillar before Family because when ones health fails it can have a devastating impact on their loved ones.
Watching my Dads health decline over a two year span and rapidly decline during the last year of his life made me realize how important a role our good or bad health plays in the lives of our loved ones. After my Dad had fallen and broke his collar bone we were sitting in the Rehabilitation Dr.'s office and the Doctor asked my Dad, "LeRoy, what is it you miss doing the most". I was certain my Dad was going to say golfing or fishing which are two of his most beloved pastimes. My Dads answer without hesitation was "walking, I miss going for walks" was his response. The thing most of us take for granted was the one thing my Dad wanted to do more than anything else. My Fathers passing taught me so many life lessons and was life changing for me. My views towards so many things have changed and my life, including my health is much better than it has been in over 20+ years.
One of the main takeaways from my Dads passing was how important our diet is to our health. My Dad was diagnosed with diabetes in the late 90's and it would eventually leave him partially blind, he would suffer two strokes and cause End-stage renal failure forcing him to go to dialysis 4 hours a session3 times a week. We are told that disease is hereditary and we accept that as the truth. While there may be some diseases that are genetic, many are passed along throughout generations through cooking and eating habits. If you grew up eating processed and fatty foods, chances are you are cooking and eating the same type of foods and passing those unhealthy habits down to your children. The good news is, its not too late to break that generational curse. I hope my time in writing this blog is not in vane and it inspires someone to become more mindful of their health and well being.
Below is a link to an great article that anyone thinking about or already in the process of changing their cooking and eating habits should read.
http://www.collective-evolution.com/2017/10/03/studies-show-what-happens-to-your-heart-when-you-go-v...
Watching my Dads health decline over a two year span and rapidly decline during the last year of his life made me realize how important a role our good or bad health plays in the lives of our loved ones. After my Dad had fallen and broke his collar bone we were sitting in the Rehabilitation Dr.'s office and the Doctor asked my Dad, "LeRoy, what is it you miss doing the most". I was certain my Dad was going to say golfing or fishing which are two of his most beloved pastimes. My Dads answer without hesitation was "walking, I miss going for walks" was his response. The thing most of us take for granted was the one thing my Dad wanted to do more than anything else. My Fathers passing taught me so many life lessons and was life changing for me. My views towards so many things have changed and my life, including my health is much better than it has been in over 20+ years.
One of the main takeaways from my Dads passing was how important our diet is to our health. My Dad was diagnosed with diabetes in the late 90's and it would eventually leave him partially blind, he would suffer two strokes and cause End-stage renal failure forcing him to go to dialysis 4 hours a session3 times a week. We are told that disease is hereditary and we accept that as the truth. While there may be some diseases that are genetic, many are passed along throughout generations through cooking and eating habits. If you grew up eating processed and fatty foods, chances are you are cooking and eating the same type of foods and passing those unhealthy habits down to your children. The good news is, its not too late to break that generational curse. I hope my time in writing this blog is not in vane and it inspires someone to become more mindful of their health and well being.
Below is a link to an great article that anyone thinking about or already in the process of changing their cooking and eating habits should read.
http://www.collective-evolution.com/2017/10/03/studies-show-what-happens-to-your-heart-when-you-go-v...