Cohousing-L Mailing List: Communities that handle property buys and sells

[Thomas Lofft (tlofft]

Katie McCamant wrote:

 Home sales are regulated differently in every state. Some require an attorney, 
or closing attorney, and others don't.  In my community, Nevada City Cohousing 
in Nor Cal, we have seen homes sales in a variety of formats, but never with 
the community in the middle. I just closed on a new home in my community 
without either a real estate agent or an attorney. It was a sale between two 
original members, so we worked out a contract and took it over to the title 
company for the closing...all went very smoothly even as we worked thru a rent 
back.

We have also found a couple of local relators that will facilitate the contract 
and closing for a reduced fee of 1/2 - 1 % (instead of the typical 6% split 
between the seller and buyer agents), but that is only if seller and buyer have 
already fully agreed on price and terms and are ready to go into contract, with 
no complications.

And then I have neighbors that decided it was worthwhile to have their own 
realtor representing their interest, with the buyer having their own realtor 
like a more tradition sale.

If you talk with realtors and loan brokers that have worked with cohousers, 
they generally say we are pain-in-the-butt clients: asking tons of questions, 
wanting to look at every possible option in detail, and then expecting 
discounts on standard fees. Buyers have often complained that trying to work 
with a cohousing seller without a realtor nearly killed the deal (and who knows 
how many it did kill).

 Katie
--
Kathryn McCamant, President
CoHousing Solutions
Nevada City, CA 95959
T.530.478.1970  C.916.798.4755

Katie et al.: Although you may not realize it, if you had a title company 
handle your settlement, I believe that invariably there was an attorney at the 
helm. I have practiced real estate in several states and every title company 
was typically owned and managed by an attorney. The title company typically 
reviews and interprets the contract, prepares the settlement calculations for 
the lender and tax authorities and also issues your title insurance policy to 
insure against title defects and assures that your deed and mortgage agreements 
are filed in proper order to assure continuity of title and security for your 
lender.

Tom Lofft
Liberty Village, MD