Buying a home can be exciting and scary. It’s easy to overlook little things, and easy to get nervous over the prospect of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars. And that brings me to the Tale of the Secret Mold Cellar: it seems a family purchased a bank-owned home only to discover a secret room hidden behind a bookcase; the secret room contained a note from a previous owner, and toxic mold. Apparently, the prior owner could not get the mold problem taken care of and let the bank take it back. They left the note to warn the new folks what they were getting into. I’m not sure I would go so far as to recommend everyone get a mold inspection when buying a home, but pay attention when the regular inspection is done, and make sure you look for “surprises” with a critical eye. These things go double on distressed properties that have things like “short sale,” “repo,” “REO,” “foreclosed,” or “bank owned” in the description. Disclosure laws are disclosure laws, but odds are really good that the bankers have no idea what the property even looks like, let alone what things are wrong with it. Sure, maybe you’ll pick up a bargain. On the other hand, maybe you’ll pick up a money pit.

Here’s a great commentary on the importance of doing research before deciding to buy a house — or any other investment! Your housing decision has to be based on your individual financial circumstances, not some blanket statement about the benefits of owning real estate.

I am very picky about what title companies I use for client transactions. Today, Inman News Blog spells out exactly why every real estate agent should be just as picky as I am. Several title companies in California are “consolidating,” and in one case closing the doors forever without bothering to even tell the employees. Closing on a house purchase or sale is stressful enough without worrying about whether your title company will still be there in 30 days!

For the last item of the day, we have restaurant picks from LasVegasUSA.org. It really would have been nice if they had included addresses, but alas you’ll have to Google your dining selection independently.

This entry was posted on January 9, 2008 at 5:04 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Posted in Distressed Property General Real Estate Vegas Dining by Bridget Magnus Comments Off