What Does PITI Mean?

 

Video Summary

What is P.I.T.I.?  That’s a term that is used when getting a mortgage through an institutional lender.  It stands for Principal, Interest, Taxes, and Insurance, and relates to what your monthly mortgage payment will include, which will be a portion of the principal, the interest, a portion of the taxes, and a portion of the insurance.  How they calculate that is, of course, amortized which means they spread out your payments over a certain period of years in order to come up with that dollar amount.  They divide the amount of your insurance by 12 and come up with a monthly amount, and do the same thing with your taxes to come up with your monthly payments in order to come up to your total monthly payments which will include PITI – which is Principal, Interest, Taxes, and Insurance.

If you have any questions about your mortgage, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.

What is a Wraparound Mortage?

 

Video Summary

What is a wraparound mortgage?  Wraparound mortgage is usually associated with what you call creative financing wherein an owner finances the property.  When they finance the property they have an existing mortgage and they agree to accept a larger mortgage from the buyer.  The buyer pays a larger mortgage to the seller.  The seller then, in turn, continues to make their payment out of the first mortgage.  An example of this would be: let’s say a seller owes $50,000.00 on this property and he sells his property to a buyer for $100,000.00.  The buyer only has $20,000.00 to put down, but the seller agrees to hold an $80,000.00 mortgage and that would be a wraparound mortgage since they would be making the payments or collecting the payments on $80,000.00.  They in turn would be responsible – the seller would be responsible for paying the underlying first mortgage in that they would not satisfy their first mortgage.

There are problems that can be associated with this in that the buyer may be concerned that the seller may take his payments and not pay his first mortgage, so we have to use care in assuring the buyer that the seller pays their payments so that they don’t get foreclosed upon.  Also, almost with all institutional mortgages there’s what they call “due on sale clause” meaning that whenever the property is sold or transferred then the loan can become due with payable.  With as many defaults of mortgages these days, there’s usually not too many lenders that are hauling along due with payable, but it does get complicated when dealing with the insurance and how the loan – the taxes – come out in the new buyer’s name.

The wraparound mortgage is a little complicated.  It’s a way of doing creative financing.  There certainly needs to be some guidance from a good real estate lawyer if you’re going to consider either taking back any wraparound mortgage, or if you’re a buyer and you want to give the seller a mortgage and they’re not going to pay off their underlying first mortgage.

So if you have any questions about a wraparound mortgage, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.

When do I Need a Title Search?

 

Video Summary

When do you need a title search in a real estate transaction? You usually need a title search anytime that you transfer the property or sell the property to a third party. They’re going to want to know whether or not there are any liens against the property. Many people say, “Well, I know there are no liens on it.” However, usually your word is insufficient, so they want a title search or title insurance to ensure that they have marketable title to the property and to insure them against any hidden liens or other problems that were in the chain of title prior to the present owner selling the property. Also, title searches are needed whenever you mortgage the property in that the new lender is going to want to have title insurance to ensure that there are no outstanding liens and who the owner of the property is.

Title searches are conducted in order to have title insurance issued. That’s something that the attorney or the title company reviews. They are now computerized. You can do what they call an ownership and encumbrance search fairly inexpensively if you just want to check to see if there has been any change in the ownership. However, you don’t have any assurances if it’s not accurate; if liens do come up you don’t have any insurance against it. Anytime that the property changes hands, it’s a good idea to get a title search just to make sure that the proper properties were signing the deeds and that there are no mortgages on the property or liens that either the seller or the buyer didn’t know about.

 

If you transfer in some property and want some title insurance or get a title search, give me a call at (727) 847-2288. Thank you.

 

 

Video Summary

Should I have a revocable trust?  Well, many people contact me and ask about having a revocable trust prepared, and I always ask them, “Why do you want a trust?”  And the usual answer is, “Well, we wish to avoid probate.”  If you have a functional family wherein you’re still on your first marriage and you want your inheritance to simply go to your children, then I don’t usually recommend a revocable trust for the purposes of avoiding probate, since if you hold property as husband and wife then you avoid probate when the first person passes away.  If you’re by yourself, however, then you may want to consider drafting a revocable trust.

There are also other circumstances such as second marriages or if you have a child that has special needs that you need to set up a trust for.  Also, if you have a child that has a spending problem, cannot manage money, we can set up a trust to protect whatever inheritance you leave behind.  Also, something that we’re seeing more and more is grandparents want to provide for their grandchildren. Possibly their children already have enough money or they want to take care of their grandchildren, since they don’t know whether their children will be able to take care of the education of their grandchildren.  So there are any number of reasons to set up a revocable trust.

Whether you need a trust or not, or whether you should set one up depends upon your circumstances.  So if you’d like to come in and talk about setting up a revocable trust, give me a call at 727-847-2288.  Thank you.

What is a 1099-C?

 

Video Summary

What is a 1099-C?  It’s an IRS form which is completed by a lender whenever they forgive debt of a borrower.  Usually, a 1099-C is issued whenever you have a short sale, meaning that you sell the property for less than the amount of money owed.  The difference, if the lender forgives it, is shown on the 1099-C, which is reported through the Internal Revenue Service as income.  And if you receive a 1099-C, you need to contact a knowledgeable certified public accountant. You will not necessarily have to pay taxes, and you will be able to subtract your basis if it’s investment property from whatever gain the lender has reported under the 1099-C.

If it has to do with your primary residence, and you get a 1099-C, you may not have to pay any tax likewise, and as an individual you can exempt up to $250,000.00 of gain as far as the sale of your home if you’ve lived in the home for two out of the past five years. Also, if it was the original mortgage and you did a short sale there’s some federal legislation that may also excuse the issuance of a 1099-C. I would also add that many times on a short sale, the lenders don’t necessarily issue 1099-Cs. So if you do get a 1099-C, I suggest that you consult with a knowledgeable certified public accountant and ask them how much you’re going to have to pay or recognize as income.

And if you have any other questions about 1099-C, give me a call at 847-2288.  Thank you.