Real Estate Sales and Purchases – Page 2 – Marc D. Sherman & Colleagues, P.C.

Buying a home is much more than your investment in real estate. It is a part of your family’s estate plan. Younger homebuyers are taking the step to set down roots, raise their family and build equity in one of the most important life purchases they will make. Mature homebuyers likewise focus on community, but with a focus on securing value and preserving assets and equity for the benefit of loved ones who later inherit that value.

Don’t wait until you and your realtor have found your dream Home. Whether this is your first home or not, make the call to your Real Estate Attorney early. Marc D. Sherman & Colleagues P.C. is ready to help.

Helping You Understand Home Purchase Costs.

Your Real Estate Attorney helps you to understand the costs of purchasing your Home. Know and consider the out-of-pocket costs to be paid at the time that your contract offer is accepted. Also, be prepared and understand the costs you will pay at the purchase closing. Typically these costs of purchasing a home or condo are not in the hundreds but may be in the thousands of dollars.

The Real Estate Attorney explains how the real estate agent’s commission works. And there other costs and fees you need to be aware of, too. Your Real Estate Attorney helps you understand the usual costs, like pre-purchase inspections of the condition of the Home, and helps you know if there are taxes to be paid as a buyer at the time of your purchase (yes, Chicago has a VERY significant ‘welcome tax’ for home and condo purchasers). You should also understand and plan for how title charges and other fees will have to be paid at the time of the purchase.

Do you understand how real estate taxes are paid in your community? Are there other taxes to consider, such as special assessment taxes? Will those taxes go up?

At the same time, you will be reaching out and identifying a mortgage broker. They need to be on the top of your list. Understanding the cost and availability of mortgage financing is perhaps the most important element in the home purchase process. The Real Estate Attorney can stay on top of your mortgage professional’s efforts.

Selecting Your Broker and Understanding The Purchase Contract Process.

Your Real Estate Attorney will help you to understand what is involved in selecting a real estate broker and many important aspects of your real estate purchase contract as it is prepared when you find your new Home.

Your Attorney can explain special contingencies in your Contract offer to the Seller, such as the home inspection and mortgage financing contingencies, and the Attorney Review period that is a part of each standard purchase contract.

Your Attorney can explain the importance of closing and possession dates, including the importance of planning for the end of your current lease or selling your current residence, and particularly with new construction.

And, if you are looking to purchase in a community with a homeowner’s association or in a condominium property, your Real Estate Attorney can help you understand the many considerations that accompany such a purchase. How do you learn if there are special assessments being paid or that are being considered by the homeowner association? Will you be responsible for the assessments? Is there an opportunity to negotiate payment with the Seller? These are among the several considerations that your Real Estate Attorney can discuss with you.

Estate and Asset Protection Planning is an important part of the discussion.

Too often, first time homebuyers do not consider or understand how their new purchase fits into a discussion of their Estate planning. Sure, there is alot going on. It is a busy and exciting time. But the discussion need not be overly time-consuming.

Are you in a business? Are there potential liabilities that could affect you or your partner (like a personal guaranty of a business lease or contract) that should be discussed? Have you considered what happens to the ownership of the Home if you or your partner, or both, are sued? Not a fun topic, but a timely one.

Seasoned Homeowners trading up or downsizing should be particularly thoughtful about ownership of the new Home in their Living Trusts and other title ownership and succession planning vehicles that are useful and available There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach.

What will this cost?

The answer often depends upon the nature of your Home purchase and your personal circumstances. Your Real Estate Attorney will charge a fee for their representation. If there are Estate or other personal matters to work on separately, the Attorney will discuss with you the difference between hourly and flat fee billing for those projects.

The bottom line: Your thoughtful and experienced Real Estate Attorney should be prepared to spend time to discuss these issues with you. The Attorney is one of your trusted resources while you are moving ahead with your purchase.

The Attorneys at Marc D. Sherman & Colleagues, P.C. would like to discuss your plans. Please reach out for a free consultation.

Joint Tenancy Is Not Always The Best Estate Plan

March 1, 2024January 30, 2026 marcsherman

If I had a dollar for every time someone told me that they don’t need to worry about a Will or a Living Trust because they have made their children joint owners of their home or other assets, it would be a tidy sum!

While it often makes sense for spouses to hold their marital home in joint tenancy, naming your children as joint owners of your assets is almost always asking for trouble – in many ways.

“Oops, I didn’t realize that I was giving my child’s creditors access to my money or property.”

That’s right. When you add someone to your real estate title or to your account or other asset as a joint owner, you are giving that person a present interest in the property. This means that the person, for this example your child, is immediately entitled to their interest in the asset. Your child will not likely take what is not at that time intended for them to have. But if the child is sued, or has to file a bankruptcy, or has a tax lien, the law says that the creditor or bankruptcy trustee or taxman CAN get at the child’s interest in your property. And there is little that you can do at that point to stop them.

It doesn’t matter how highly you regard your child and how very responsible you believe them to be. All you have to do is consider that the child may have an uninsured or underinsured motorist claim, or sign a personal guaranty of a business debt that goes bad, or fail to pay their taxes, or a myriad of other situations.

A better option? Discuss with your Estate Planning Attorney if one of the following is a better fit for you: Naming your child your power of attorney, so that they can take actions for you in the event that you cannot do so yourself; add the child as a payable-on-death beneficiary to your account; use a Transfer On Death Instrument to pass real property interests to your child or other beneficiaries; or, put your assets into a living, revocable trust and make the child the successor trustee.

Good intentions just won’t cut it. There is no “good intention” exception under the law when a child’s creditor comes knocking at your door to collect the child’s interest in your property.

And if that isn’t scary, consider that even if the child’s creditor doesn’t come after your asset, the use of the wrong method to pass your property could result in a serious tax hit. That’s right. Ask your accountant. They will tell you that there are certain advantages of passing property via correctly created estate planning tools, and that the lifetime transfer to a child of a joint ownership interest in your property may limit or destroy these positive tax attributes.

The team at Marc D Sherman & Colleagues PC is available for your questions. Reach out to set up a consultation.

Real Estate, Real Estate Development, Real Estate Sales and Purchases

Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac New Considerations For Condominium Loans

April 21, 2022January 30, 2026 marcsherman

Effective January 1, 2022, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced that they will not purchase loans on condominium units in projects with significant deferred maintenance or unsafe conditions, where there is a failure to obtain a certificate of occupancy, where there is a failure to pass a regulatory inspection, where there has been an issuance of large special assessments, or where there is a failure to reserve 10% of the annual budget for maintenance and repairs. Residential condominium purchasers and their attorneys should be aware, so that additional information beyond the traditional information required by Section 22.1 of the Illinois Condominium Property Act can be obtained in order to allow the buyer’s lender to have the information needed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. For Condominium Associations, this may also mean that the Association may need to review available information and conditions, and be prepared to generate the additional information.

General Litigation, Real Estate, Real Estate Sales and Purchases

Thoughtful Reminder: Be Alert For Check Fraud

February 18, 2022December 21, 2025 marcsherman

A reminder from the Chair of the Illinois State Bar Association’s Senior Lawyers Section, Don Mateer, in the February 2022 newsletter, is important for us all. Check fraud, including the instances of electronic checks submitted to our bank and financial institutions, is on the rise. Since it has become commonplace for most of us to be using electronic transactions for payment for goods and services, financial institutions will often clear e-checks even if they do not have a signature.

What to do? The first line of defense, Attorney Mateer suggests, is to be vigilant. Review your bank account activity often, and question even small amounts that do not appear to have come from transactions that you initiated or approved. Mateer warns that a missed small amount transaction may tip off a fraudster that you are not checking your account and if they see that is the case, then “the next check could be a lot larger.” Another useful suggestion, he advises, in addition to checking your credit report and putting a freeze there, is considering reaching out to ChexSystems (www.chexsystems.com) as tool to prevent someone from opening a bogus account in your name.

While these suggestions are certainly useful for our senior clients (or their children helping to keep an eye on parents’ accounts and finances), they are good considerations for us all.

Our blog posts are designed to help you follow up on items that can save you time, save you money and protect many aspects of your life and your business.

If you hear of other hints and helpful strategies that our clients and colleagues may benefit from, please send a note or a link to: mshermanlawoffice@icloud.com

Real Estate, Real Estate Development, Real Estate Sales and Purchases, Real Estate Tax

December 2020 Real Estate Topics

December 21, 2020December 21, 2025 marcsherman

Real Estate Owners:

The Illinois State Bar Association Real Property Law Attorney Section reminds us of two useful hints and strategies:

– Update: Cook County property owners are alerted that the first installment Cook County real property taxes for 2020 are due on March 2, 2021. Keep in mind, though, that the Cook County Board will allow payment through May 3, 2021 of that first installment bill without a late charge being assessed. Other counties may extend the non-penalty date as well.

More information? Reach out to us with your real estate and real property law questions. And for more information about the manner in which your property taxes are determined, billed and paid, contact the Cook County Treasurer’s Office at www.cookcountytreasurer.com or (312) 443-5100.

Helpful hints, tools and strategies for our Clients: