Ute Ferdig - Greater Sacramento Area

Hello Vivek. You may want to talk to someone who specializes in asset preservation. There are ways to protect your family's assets and it goes well beyond making a decision between holding title as joint tentants or as community property. Holding property as joint tenants with right of survivorship will not protect you from judgment liens. The main significance of joint tenancy with right of survivorship is upon death of one of the joint tenants as the decedent's property interests pass automatically to the surviving joing tenant. Anybody can take title to a property as joint tenants while only married couples can take title as community property. For purposes of property division as a result of a divorce, properties held in joint tenancy by the spouses are presumed to be community property under CA law unless there is either a clear statement in the deed or other documentary evidence of title by which the property is acquired that the property is separate property and not community property or there is proof that the parties have made a written agreement that the property is separate property. I hope this helps. Good luck to you. - Fri Jul 18 2008, 23:46

Hi Patti. What exactly do you mean by being "tossed to the side." I knwo that CalVet used to be not so popular in the hot real estate market because it involves more paperwork and may take a little bit longer than conventional financing, but these days, sellers typically look at any offers and CalVet financing is not a huge deterrant except for some REO properties that will just not meet CalVet standards.

I am really interested in hearing more details about your personal experience when making offers with CalVet financing. - Fri Jul 18 2008, 23:24

Hello Joe. The office manager's job is not to know every detail of every contract instantly. Depending on the office manager's function within the office, the manager may never know the contract price. Unless the office manager is also the designated broker who will review the agent's files and paperwork, there is no need for the office manager to know about it as she could not reveal that information to anyone anyway. If asked about the accepted price (prior to closing), the office manager would have to say that he/she can't disclose it. I hope this helps. - Fri Jul 18 2008, 07:16

Hello Mike. I am assuming that you are dealing with a short sale. The answer to your question is, no there's no specific rule that states that the listing agent has to submit the offer that the seller accepted within so many days to the lender. The listing agent's primary responsibility is to the seller and obviously sitting on the offer too long is not in the best interest of the seller unless the agent knows that other offers are coming in. If there are other offers in the works, the agent will want to submit them all with the same short sale package. While the other offers will be only backup offers if the seller has already signed your offer, the listing agent will want the bank to know about them. The other offers can make the first offer look stronger or weaker, depending on the terms you offered. For instance, if your offer was close to asking price and the other offers are low ball offers, the offers will help your position.

Sometimes, it also takes a few days to gather all the documents that the lender requires for a short sale package. Some lenders will require a preliminary title report and that can take a few days to receive. I think it's reasonable to expect the short sale package to be submitted to the lender within no more than a week from the time the seller signed your offer. I hope this helps. - Fri Jul 18 2008, 07:03

Hello Ginger. The rules vary a little depending on which MLS an agent belongs to, but usually it's within 48 - 72 hours of taking the listing unless the client signs a non-submit form. If there's a good deal, agents usually spread the word within their agent netword quickly or they may even have an interested client themselves. If your agent has a good deal, you would expect your agent to tell you about it too before he puts it in the MLS. In the end, the goal is to get the house sold for the most money and putting the property in the MLS is just one of many marketing tools. If you have not already done so, ask your agent to set you up for automatic listing notification, which will send you an e-mail any time a new property comes on the market that matches your search criteria. Good luck in finding the right home that does not already have a contract on it. - Fri Jul 18 2008, 06:51